Fellows Spotlight: Eliana Pipes

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

This series of interviews put the spotlight on individual DGF Fellows and invites you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

The 2020-2021 class of fellows was asked a series of questions exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Eliana Pipes!

What was your first experience with theater?

I can’t recall a first experience in the theater, because thankfully it’s been part of my life as long as I can remember. My parents met in a writers group/book club, so needless to say they’ve always appreciated the arts and made an effort to take me to see live theater.  I grew up in a pocket of Los Angeles called Culver City, and in the early 2000’s two theaters opened blocks from my house which gave me access to a lot of free arts education very early in my life. In particular, a nonprofit called YoungStorytellers that came into my elementary school and gave me a mentor to guide me through writing my first script in the 4th grade.  YoungStorytellers was the first of a string of arts nonprofits — from Center Theater Group’s education department, to Sony Studios, to the Actor’s Gang — that shepherded me into the theater.  Thanks to them, the arts and advocacy have always been tied for me.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

I’d been commandeering girl scouts skits and putting on backyard plays with friends for a long time before I ever really considered myself a writer — but for me, a turning point came in high school.  I went to a public performing arts school as an actress, and I quickly became frustrated with the kinds of roles that were available to me as a young woman of color (the spunky best friend or supportive girlfriend if I was lucky, more often than not the silent maid).  

I started writing plays in my junior year of high school as part of a conscious effort to create space for myself and my friends, to create roles that felt authentic, where we could reimagine and redefine who we could be.  One of my high school plays ended up being part of our school’s fourth year project, which I’ll always be proud of. Countless plays and writers were influential, too many to thank here — but I try to thank them in my writing instead. 

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

My body of work is incredibly varied because experimenting with style and form is part of how I have my fun. After staring down the barrel of an American canon that seemed entirely uninterested in people like me, I was immediately drawn to experimental theater that shattered tradition, challenged norms, and moved the goalposts on what a play could be.  

Now, my point of view as an artist stems from a devotion to spectacle in service of story — plays where the dramatic frame and devices are crucial to the theme. I want each play to feel like its own genre invention. I’ve written surreal dreamscapes on reality TV, drag fairy tales, meta-theatrical vignette epics, and even a naturalistic two hander. The play I’m working on for the [DGF Fellows Program] begins with a man’s liver sitting in a cooler on ice.  

Even with the variation, there are still common threads.  I always reach for large-scale theatricality, for imagism and heart.  I always write marginalized characters who have agency, who have complicated desires.  And my writing is always ferociously personal. 

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

The Cowboy and the Moon uses imagistic spectacle to explore the way a modern-day alcoholic Father sees himself within his addiction: as a wandering Cowboy in the Wild West. But outside of the Father’s drunken fantasy, the real world churns on for his wife and daughter.  The women must negotiate between playing along with his Prairie world and grappling with the impact of his drinking on their day-to-day lives.  

I’m aiming to confront and subvert the western theater canon, which is full of stories of Alcoholic White Fathers, usually written by Alcoholic White Sons. I felt called to disrupt that lineage by moving beyond naturalism, introducing the lenses of gender and race, and approaching all characters in the orbit of addiction with compassion.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

For me, the most rewarding thing about being a writer harkens back to those early experiences of making space — both by making space for other artists to practice their craft, and also creating a vocabulary that makes people feel seen.   

My early relationship with writing came out of feeling isolated — thinking that nobody else shared or understood my experiences.  But then, once I’d committed to articulating those experiences in writing, I got the absolute shock of discovering that there *were* other people who shared my experiences, we just hadn’t been given a shared vocabulary for expressing them.  And that vocabulary is also rendered by actors and designers who bring their own experience and expertise into the work. 

One of my happiest writing career memories came during rehearsal for a festival showing of my play DREAM HOU$E. I had invented a convention in the play where brackets would indicate when a word was pronounced in Spanish — so [Julia] for the Spanish hu-lia pronunciation and [Julia] for the english pronunciation. That convention opened up a world of new conversations for us in the room — how would a character pronounce “quesadilla”? Or what about her mothers name? In the process, we all reflected on how we code switched in different spaces and realized we all had common experiences that we thought we were alone in. 

To me, the greatest gift of being a writer is being able to facilitate those moments of questioning and communion — whether it’s just for myself in the glow of my laptop as I’m drafting, or for a group of actors doing table work, or (hopefully) eventually for a full house and a long run.

Do you have any upcoming work you’d like to share?

Yes! 

I wrote a solo show called “Unf*ckwithable” about a girl living in a van, vlogging for #vanlife by day and shooting down delivery drones to loot the contents by night.  It was  produced for Drama League’s Directorfest and directed by Cristina Angeles.  The show is fully designed and recorded from a theater — which has been so thrilling to watch after a year on Zoom.  It’s available to stream from June 14-21 202 and tickets are available at: https://directorfest.org/unfuckwithable

Thank you Eliana, for contributing to the blog! You can stay up to date on Eliana’s work by following @elianapipes on Instagram and Twitter or visiting www.elianapipes.com

Fellows Spotlight: Dylan MarcAurele

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

This series of interviews put the spotlight on individual DGF Fellows and invites you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

The 2020-2021 class of fellows was asked a series of questions exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Dylan MarcAurele!

What was your first experience with theater?

I didn’t grow up with much exposure to theater. I didn’t get to see a Broadway musical until I was in college. But I did go to a public high school without much arts funding, which is cool because one year I was asked to music direct the school musical. In retrospect I had no idea what I was doing, and I’m sure I would laugh if I saw a tape of it today, but I had a blast and have been working in theater ever since.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

Harvard has a tradition called the “First Year Musical” where a group of first-years is selected to write, produce, and direct a two-act musical. I applied on a whim and somehow they let me do it, and we (including my DGF collaborator Mike Ross) wrote a very silly show about a guy who goes to Hell and attempts to freeze it over in order to impress a girl. I still feel like I’m ‘winging it’ as a writer just as I did back then, but I’d say I’m most inspired by composers like Bobby Lopez and Lin Manuel Miranda who write songs that are hilarious, heartbreaking, and catchy.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

I’m still trying to figure out my voice. But one thing I care about is accessibility. I try to ask myself, “Will my friends outside of the theater community like this?” “Will my PARENTS like this?” I never want to write for an echo chamber, and I think it’s possible to create meaningful work that engages even the least ‘theater-obsessed’ audience members.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

Our show is a folky/americana musical tragicomedy called Lewis Loves Clark. It’s a show about the aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition that the history books don’t tell. It’s evolving as we’re writing it, so I’ll stop there!

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

Watching people’s reactions on opening night.

Thank you Dylan, for contributing to the blog!  Stay up to date on Dylan’s work here: 

IG and TW: @rhonymusical 

Fellows Spotlight: Christiana Cole

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

This series of interviews put the spotlight on individual DGF Fellows and invites you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

The class of fellows was asked a series of questions exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Christiana Cole!

What was your first experience with theater?

I was a shy, anxious kid, and although I felt deep emotions, I struggled to express them. I felt misunderstood by my peers, and had trouble making friends. I felt very lost.

But then, something happened.

When I was 9 years old, I saw the national tour of CATS in my hometown of Austin, Texas. As Grizabella belted out “Memory,” a new sensation flooded my body: I was emotionally connected to the people around me. I was crying, which normally would have embarrassed me, but when I looked up, I saw that my parents were crying too. The whole audience was just as enrapt and sympathetic to the downtrodden glamour cat as I was. Suddenly, my emotions were not silly, or “too much” – they had a home, and that home was the stage. It was the best thing I had ever seen or felt. At that moment, I dedicated my life to musical theater.

In the days that followed, I obsessively re-enacted CATS at home, throwing couch cushions around to make the junkyard, wrapping a green quilt around my shoulders to be Grizabella one moment, and attempting spasmatic gymnastics as Mistoffeles the next. I began collecting cast albums and renting every possible movie musical from Blockbuster (except “Damn Yankees,” because it had a swear in the title, and I was a scrupulous Catholic child).

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

My senior year of high school, I had to decide whether I would major in creative writing or music. On the one hand, I was a compulsive journaler and poet, the comedy editor of my high school newspaper, and all-around English nerd. But, I was also a talented singer. I was first chair soprano in All State Choir both my junior and senior year (huge deal in Texas), plus I had been the ingenue in a dozen local kids theatre shows. In the end, I chose to study opera, because singing is essentially a sport: you must train your animal at a young age if you want to be competitive on a world-class level. I remember thinking, “Well, I’ll always write, but if I don’t get musical training now I’ll always regret it.”

I moved to New York to study opera at the Manhattan School of Music, where I got the best musical education money can buy. Although I preferred singing musical theater (I had only seen one opera before making the decision to major in it, and I fell asleep), I never considered majoring in musical theater. I knew that I wanted the most hard-core musical education I could get. I loved learning about the origins of music-drama, and finally wrapping my brain around music theory. I didn’t fit in very well with the singers, but I did fit in the with the composers, who became my best friends. I sang the hardest, weirdest new music I could get my chords on. I also began writing my own music and featured original works on both my junior and senior recitals. The composition faculty was very welcoming of me, a non-major, and allowed me to audit many composition classes. I also managed to audit a creative writing workshop at Columbia University, across the street. I am still so grateful for the years I spent at MSM, because they let me do my own thing and chase every angle of musicianship and creation.

After graduation I decided against pursuing an opera career because frankly, it was too expensive. (In classical singing, you pay to audition, and often work for free or near-nothing for many years.) I realized that unlike operaland, which operates as a museum/country club, Broadway was a real commercial business, so I began auditioning for musicals.

I attended a free seminar at the old Reproductions photo lab, where a nice lady named Judy talked to us about how to get an agent. But the thing that hit me hard was this flow chart. Judy put everything into perspective: at the top of the white board, she wrote the word “Producer,” the apex of the Broadway food chain. Below that, she wrote “Director,” then “Music Director,” “Assistant Director,” “Stage Manager,” so on and so on, until she got to “Junior Assistant Janitor.” She wrote “Actor” below that.

Then, she flew that magic little marker all the way up to the top of the pyramid. And at the tippy-top, above “Producer,” she wrote “WRITER.”

“Without the writer, no one else on this list has a job,” she said, poking the board for emphasis. “The writer is always the number one voice in the room.”

My student-loan-riddled, control-freak ass was sold at that point, although it would take years to accept it, because I was attached to the notion of being a singer.

But as time went on, I wrote more and more, and it became clearer and clearer that writing was a deeper, more intimate art form for me. I didn’t want to be a replaceable person, trying to do something interesting with “If I Loved You.” I wanted to bring something completely new into the world. I wanted to create entire universes for all those people on the flow chart to be a part of. I didn’t want to play Grizabella, I wanted to explode with a thousand Grizabellas, who could sing on and on long after I’m gone.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

My writing is weird, cute, unpredictable, colorful, wildly funny and deadly serious, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In the years leading up to now, I’ve written a musical about hamsters. I’ve written a musical about magic underwear. I’ve written a musical about a drag queen who fights Nazis. I like to write about things that only make sense on the stage. I like to write roles that actors feel excited to tackle because they’re unlike anything they’ve done before. I like to write melodies that feel cathartic to sing.

I am an autistic person (mildly impacted, I mask very well, I’m reasonably good at parties). I am also a non-binary person. I have felt my whole life that my brain is simply different from other people’s. For a long time, I felt ashamed and tried to blend in. But now, I’m proud of who I am. My unusual brain is the reason I write unusual things.

Looking ahead at the major works I have planned, one theme jumps out again and again: religion. I have spent decades of my life working as a professional church musician. Before attending MSM, I went to a small Christian college in Texas for two years where I test-drove evangelical Christianity, and otherwise I was an enthusiastic Catholic. But faith has a way of cracking when you put weight on it.

Some people like to write about romantic love, or certain time periods. But I am obsessed with writing about faith and magical thinking, and reframing stories we think we know to reveal the shocking truth beneath them. I have occasionally thought about changing my name to something more gender-neutral, but “Christiana” is so apt, given that a lot of my writing is somehow a reflection (or rebuttal) of Christianity.

In the years to come, I look forward to sharing my work with America and the world, because I think musical theater has thus far failed to examine religion in a large-scale, candid way. It usually gets an ecumenical, pro-delusion pass. But I think we’re ready for something more provocative now.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

TRIBE WITHOUT A GOD is a new original musical comedy. It’s about a tribe of Neolithic people who are hit by a big flood, and almost all of them die in the river. That’s a problem! But it’s an even bigger problem…because they worshiped the River God. We follow runaway human sacrifice Silverlight as she falls in love with TomTom, an existential ex-River Priest struggling to lead a straggling band of survivors. Will the tribe keep worshiping the River God? Or is there a bigger, better god just around the corner, waiting to be worshiped? At its very core, TRIBE WITHOUT A GOD explores who and what gets sacrificed in a world where god and government are impossibly tangled.

The music is a cross between Radiohead, Joni Mitchell and Stephen Schwartz, and the tone is like The Simpsons. The entire cast will be wearing knit bodysuits that allow their characters to be naked onstage (without requiring nudity from actors). There are roles for all kinds of actors who are normally not centered: black trans women, Asian men, short dudes who are baritones, fat people, etc. Basically, a show that isn’t a love story between two white straight people with long legs. Sondheim says he goes to the theater to meet people he hasn’t met before, and I take that charge very seriously in my writing.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

I find writing rewarding because if I didn’t write down all the things in my head, I would explode.

In all sincerity, there is nothing more thrilling than watching my words come to life with actors. I love making edits, I love rewriting, I love tweaking and finessing and fixing. I love it when a scene is perfect, when it has that SHWING! sparkle, with each line fitting perfectly in the chain, one pearl after another. My dad is a retired TV director for the local news, and my mom is a TV producer-turned-realtor. Between the two of them, they taught me about dramatic pacing, about how language should flow, how a show should be thrilling, how it’s not enough for something to be nice, it needs to be gripping. I live for those moments, both as a writer and an audience member.

Thank you Christiana, for contributing to the blog!  Stay up to date on Christiana’s work here: 

https://www.facebook.com/christianacolenyc

www.christianacole.com

Fellows Spotlight: Kyoung H. Park

Posted on September 10, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

This series of interviews put the spotlight on individual DGF Fellows and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

This year, you’ve met Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, Andy Roninson, Kate Douglas, Avi Amon, Nikhil Mahapatra, Nolan Doran, and Andrew Rincón.

As we wrap up the 2019-2020 Fellows calendar year, we are pleased to feature Kyoung H. Park and Melis Aker, and we hope you’ll revisit the collection of Spotlights .

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Kyoung H. Park!

What was your first experience with theater?

Growing up in Santiago, Chile, my first experience with theater was acting in middle school plays: I had small roles in David Ives’ “All in the Timing” and played Dracula in Tim Kelly’s “Seven Wives for Dracula.” I was a rather shy kid and a school nerd that often got bullied, so acting in plays helped me stay social and make new friends. In high school, I played the Marquis de Mascarille in Moliere’s “Two Precious Maidens Ridiculed,” Jean in Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” the Poet in Strindberg’s “Dreamplay,” Haemon in “Antigone” and the Nurse in an adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” where all the characters’ genders were reversed. I think my drama teacher knew I was queer before I was able to admit it to myself – I found acting quite liberating and an opportunity to express myself and be seen! I mean, I was also a high school cheerleader – maybe I was just living in denial.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

I moved to New York to study film directing at NYU, but after a year, I dropped out of film school and switched majors to Dramatic Writing. My first one-act play, PLAY FOOL, which was about a lesbian woman handcuffing a male escort over Christmas dinner so he could impregnate her, won a student writing competition and was produced in a basement theater in the West Village. Seeing my work produced changed my life; I decided to leave my film ambitions aside and figure out how to be a playwright. I became obsessed with tragedies – mostly because I came of age living through 9/11 – and Edward Albee’s “THE GOAT, or Who is Sylvia? (Notes Toward a Definition of Tragedy)” influenced my writing, for sure. Mr. Albee was actually my first mentor – I wrote to him after seeing THE GOAT, and he offered to talk with me about tragedy, read my plays, and he even invited me to write at his Barn in Montauk, which is where I wrote my first full length. Mr. Albee also taught me the importance of the Dramatists Guild’s work in protecting the rights of American playwrights, and how critical it is for theater artists to see and read as much theater as we can. Especially Brecht.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

Because I am an immigrant, I didn’t have access to traditional opportunities to develop and work in theaters. In fact, during my mid-twenties, I was deported so I spent a few years making theater abroad, working with companies such as Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro and the Royal Court Theater in London. By the time I felt ready to give New York a second try, I made a commitment to myself that I’d immigrate to the States and write, direct, and self-produce my own work, to make sure I’d see my plays up on a stage. I founded my company, Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, eight years ago and in collaboration with artists from different cultures and different disciplines; we devise our work and center stories of (im)migration, queerness, identity and the ways these intersect in communities of color. Our company distinguishes itself for being a peacemaking theater company – our work values boundary-breaking discourse, aesthetic rigor, and non-violent, social change.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

I’m working on a new play called NERO, which re-tells the story of George W. Bush’s War on Terror as an anachronistic rendition of Nero’s Roman Empire. NERO centers a white, male actor embodying white supremacy in the middle of a diverse ensemble representing a rising minority-majority vying for power. For me, I think this is my everything play—a play about peace and war; about the history that has shaped me; my inner conflicts becoming part of the American experiment—which can also be a violent, racist, Empire; and reconciling truth, memory, and history in a way that reflects my post traumatic experience of being alive in these times. In performance, the play asks: how do we center our cultures of origin, heal our (broken, migrant) relationships to land, and dismantle white supremacy to co-create a new “state of the nation” play? During my fellowship, I went through research materials I gathered from the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas and I’m currently collaborating with composer Helen Yee, our lead actor Dave Gelles, video designer Marie Yokoyama, sound designer Lawrence Schober, and vocal coach Rachel Kodweis to create original songs for the show. Over the course of the next ten months, we’ll continue to collaborate virtually to develop a Zoom version of the play with support of a grant from the MAP Fund. As a peacemaking theater artist, I feel like this is an appropriate time to tell the story of a narcissistic tyrant who blissfully plays the lyre as his Empire catches fire.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

I’m a survivor of childhood abuse; I’ve endured and witnessed physical, verbal, and sexual violence. I discovered my voice journaling in the fifth grade. My journal became the only safe space where I could express myself. A few years later, theater taught me how to wear a mask that allowed me to be heard and seen. Since then, I’ve worked as a playwright, director, and facilitator in order to live in my skin. I’m still healing from complex PTSD; if I don’t do this work, my memories fade into darkness. The way memories manifest in my plays is my way of processing the events of my past and my inherited, intergenerational trauma. I write to live because I’ve survived. I find this reminder utterly rewarding. Also, I’d like to express my gratitude for being part of this fellowship program. For two years, I couldn’t write a word and thought I had lost my voice. Lucy, Migdalia, Allison and my fellow fellows saw me crawl back to life through my writing. This opportunity could not have come at a better time. 

Thank you Kyoung, for contributing to the blog! You can stay up to date on Kyoung’s work by following him on social media: 

Instagram: @kyoungspacificbeat, @kyounghpark

Twitter: @kyoung_h_park

Facebook: Kyoung H. Park, Kyoung’s Pacific Beat

(Featured Image Credit: Tahir Karmali) 

Fellows Spotlight: Nolan Doran

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

These interviews put the spotlight on individual DGF Fellows and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

This year, you’ve met Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, Andy Roninson,  Kate Douglas, Avi Amon, Nikhil Mahapatra, and Andrew Rincón. And we’ll wrap up the 2019-2020 Fellows calendar year by continuing to introduce you to all the fellows: Kyoung H. Park, Melis Aker, and Nolan Doran.

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Nolan Doran! 

What was your first experience with theater?

My first experience with theatre was probably watching the filmed version of “The Sound Of Music” , “The King and I” and even “The Wizard of Oz” on TV with my mom. They used to play those movies on TV at the turn of the seasons. Growing up in Salt Lake City, those films showed me that the world was much bigger than that little mountain town where I was born. At age 9, we moved to Richmond, VA and my grandmother took me to the Broadway touring houses to see shows like “A Chorus Line” and “Starlight Express”. We’d also go see the local regional dinner theatres with shows like “Nunsense” and “Godspell” and “Joseph and the Amazing….” I soon was acting and singing in plays and musicals in middle school and high school. Then came “RENT,” which was one of those pivotal moments that changed everything for me.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

Writing songs runs in my family. My grandfather played a mean Gibson Southern Jumbo and my mom carried that torch. She played that same guitar and sang in a group with my aunt as they traveled the world with Glenn Close in the 60’s with Up With People. My father was also a singer and a songwriter and he met my mother in that same group. I grew up surrounded by music and was always singing and writing little songs here and there. I think I wrote my first show around the age of 9 years old and would put on little puppet shows for my mom.

I don’t think there was one particular path that brought me to writing musicals – it was a combination of experiences from singing in choirs and performing in musicals to writing pop songs and working in the studio scene and learning how to produce records with R&B masters. Then later after performing and traveling, I wanted to take my songwriting skills and tell a story onstage. The most influential show in my early life had to be RENT because it taught me about what life could be like in NYC: wonderful, scary, lonely, vivid but meaningful. It taught me the meaning of, “No Day But Today” and how important it is we use art to tell stories that matter and spread a message of love and hope instead of fear.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

I started singing at an early age and didn’t come from the traditional theatre background. I always had a great love for R&B and Pop music – some of my influences range from Mariah Carey to Michael Jackson to Take Six to Kim Burrell to Brian McKnight and Boys II Men. I even had a boy band back in the day and we wrote Hip Hop/R&B songs. We even sang for Michael Jackson twice and had a single with Jadakiss. I still can’t believe that!

When I write, I pull from those pop, R&B, and Gospel musical influences and look for ways to bring fresh sounds to the stage that can use familiar sounds to tell a powerful story. l love SCI-FI and any day I can write about a character who travels to other galaxies in outer space, I’m into it! I’m drawn to underdogs and subcultures and the people living on the other side of the tracks. I love to explore characters who are overlooked and forgotten and look for ways to shine a spotlight on them, so we can see our own humanity through them.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

As a Fellow, I’m working with my collaborator Avi Amon on a new piece called “The Lesson” which is a musical fantasia about a theoretical lesson between Mozart and Beethoven who met in Vienna in 1787. Its like a steampunk alt-future trip into an alternate universe with two characters you think you know but will learn you know nothing about. We started writing it as a song cycle, and we’ve used our year as fellows to rework our outline and build out our scenes and create new songs.

I love being in those sessions with Larry, Michael, Allison and our class of fellows because of the incredibly generous feedback they provide. Everyone is invested in each others work. Being able to share our writing helped us see new areas where we can push the characters further – which in turn helps push the lyrics and music to new heights. Living in NY, the year as a fellow gave us the space and time to focus on our project and the luxury of the incredible DGF staff who support you every step of the way. It’s almost unheard of for someone to say, “Hey, your work matters – Go write that – Go finish it. We have your back. What do you need from us?” The year has been like a dream because DGF believed in our work and reminded me that we as writers have value and what we do still matters.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

The most rewarding part of being a writing is being able to lose yourself in a character and a story and create new worlds and experiences you may not be able to have in real life. It’s also one of the most incredible gifts to watch your own writing performed by insanely talented actors who make your work their own by infusing their unique experiences with yours. Writing is the incredible gift of giving and allows us to hold up the mirror to the audience so we can all see ourselves reflected back from the stage. My biggest wish has always been to “Help others through music” and if I’m lucky enough to ever do that, I hope my writing will help someone else know that they are seen and worthy. That will be my greatest gift.

Do you have any upcoming work you’d like to share?

[Yes!] I’d love to talk three things:

1. I’m releasing a video for a song I wrote called, “That One Thing” featuring Curtis Wiley from AIN’T TOO PROUD. [ You can watch “That One Thing” here!]

2. I’m Producing an event called ARTISTS FOR CHANGE with Julie Boardman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to help flip the Senate featuring some incredible artists like Tony Kushner, Young Jean Lee, Paula Vogel and Dominique Morisseau, Alex Dinelaris, Bernadette Peters, Forest Whitaker and more!

3. I’m working on Broadway For Biden as Executive Producer along with Julie Boardman, Halle Morse and Jeff Metzler to produce a large Broadway Concert to celebrate an inclusive forward thinking diverse Broadway and show our support to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harrris.

Thank you Nolan, for contributing to the blog! You can stay up to date on his work by following him on social media! www.facebook.com/NolanDoran Insta: @nolaninyc Twitter: @nolandoran

Fellows Spotlight: Nikhil Mahapatra

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

These interviews put the spotlight on a DGF Fellow and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

This year, you’ve met Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, Andy Roninson,  Kate Douglas, Avi Amon, and Andrew Rincón. And we’ll continue to introduce you to all the  2019-2020 Fellows: Kyoung H. Park, Melis Aker, Nikhil Mahapatra, and Nolan Doran.

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Nikhil Mahapatra! 

What was your first experience with theater?

My absolute first? Playing a random person in a Sunday School play, where I refused to speak during rehearsal because I already knew my one line, and I didn’t understand why I had to practice saying the one line if I already knew what it was (I was 5). Acting was never in the cards.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

I was working in a really depressing and difficult job and it sort of forced me to reckon with what gave me joy – and I realized it was always writing.

I suppose I first loved Noel Coward’s plays because they were always so delightfully funny, and I think it was, for me at least, a really accessible way to enter theatre. There is a deep focus on the psychological, philosophical and societal analysis in theatre today, which really resonates me and I absolutely love! But I also think we should never forget the importance of implanting joy into our work – and how that simple emotion can really drive connection and understanding to the core material of a piece.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

I feel like every play is different, so it’s hard to get a grip on what my overall theme is. I would say that I really enjoy creating a story that surrounds a deep central question that has no, and can never have, a clear and correct answer. Living in that enigmatic space, with an added splash of dark humour and a dash of eroticism is what brings a story to life for me.

As for what sets it apart – I have a feeling this is something you can tell only over a long period of time or experience, or perhaps something you would only ever know if you’re extremely gifted at introspection.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

I’ve been working on two pieces – a story about two restaurant-owning families and their attempt at holding onto their lives in rapidly gentrifying crown heights. It’s sort of a queer coming of age friendship and family love letter that seeks to present the change that is a natural part of life – with all its gifts and inevitable losses. The other piece is much younger, and is a racial and queer retelling of the little mermaid fable – with some twists and liberties taken.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

It used to be a physical reaction from an audience. It’s perhaps a little sadistic or narcissistic, but there is just such a pleasure from seeing people react viscerally to something you’ve created – and usually from something you’ve created from a deep place. Our current situation in the pandemic however has sort of released me from that need for exterior approval. At the moment, I’ve been taking the time to really languish in the stories and people I’ve been creating, and looking at how they reflect both the good and bad parts of myself and my life. It’s kind of like a form of introspection and self-discovery that I feel is very necessary for growth – not only as a writer, but as a person too.

Fellows Spotlight: Avi Amon

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the July Edition of the DGF Fellows Spotlight.

These interviews put the spotlight on a DGF Fellow and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

This year, you’ve met Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, Andy Roninson,  Kate Douglas and Andrew Rincón. And we’ll continue to introduce you to all the  2019-2020 Fellows: Avi Amon, Kyoung H. Park, Melis Aker, Nikhil Mahapatra, and Nolan Doran.

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they hope for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Avi Amon! 

What was your first experience with theater?

Auditioning for West Side Story as a freshman in high school. You may remember me from my role as unnamed Shark #3? My acting career has been in a steady decline since that moment. 

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

After I finished my undergrad at the University of Delaware – I majored in economics and history – I worked as an admissions counselor there for a few years. I’d been studying piano for almost 20 years at that point, usually disappointing my very patient teachers by improvising around the lessons they gave me. And I was a huge a-cappella nerd while in school, so I had been vocal arranging for years but I’d never really written anything substantial. During a staff meeting, I pitched the idea for a video musical as part of a new marketing campaign and for some reason, they said yes! Delaware: The MUSICAL is a super silly and fun little piece (which a little bit makes me cringe now), but it received some national press and was a huge success on campus. And then I quit my job and used it as part of my application to grad school at NYU. And the rest is still happening. 

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

I am a sort-of chameleon when it comes to writing! I love to dive into the specificities of genre, learn, absorb, and recreate in my own image. I usually consider a song a success if it feels so authentic that it makes you question if it exists already. And not as in, “does this song sound exactly like a song I’ve heard a thousand times?”, but rather, “do I believe that this song exists in the world in which we’re creating?” I also tend to use Middle-Eastern and Balkan tonalities and rhythms while writing, leaning into my Turkish heritage. This part of me has become more present as I’ve gotten older. The various music, rhythms, and languages of my immigrant parents – and their friends – heavily influences my “sound.”

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

THE LESSON is a fantastical reimagining of an actual (aka possible) lesson given by Mozart to Beethoven in Vienna in 1787, set in an alternate steampunk-inspired universe. The piece is a meditation on the purpose of artistic expression, the influence of family on who we are, and the control of information and ideas by the government. Pieces of their concert music will be peppered throughout the show, contrasting and intertwining and influencing the modern art-pop/electronic world we’re developing for the original score, creating a truly unique and hybrid piece of music-theater. We imagine it as part chamber-opera, part projection installation, and part dance-party. 

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

This is one of the few careers where our coworkers & community are genuinely one in the same. Collaborative writing is a tool for empathy – for the creators and for all folks involved in any part of the process. In order to share a part of ourselves, we must create space not only for others to do the same but to truly receive that sharing. I feel very lucky to collaborate with so many wonderful people who are not only doing the work, but are also fighting for equity and justice within artistic spaces and in the outside world.

Have you been working on anything lately that you’d like to share?

Fellows Spotlight: Andrew Rincón

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the May Edition of the DGF Fellows Spotlight!

Each month we feature a DGF Fellow and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

We’ve introduced you to Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, Andy Roninson and Kate Douglas. Over the year, we’ll be hearing from the rest of the 2019-2020 Fellows: Avi Amon, Kyoung H. Park, Melis Aker, Nikhil Mahapatra, and Nolan Doran.

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they see for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on Andrew Rincón!

What was your first experience with theater?

I didn’t grow up with theatre – I didn’t come from a culture or environment where that was a thing, or an art form my family knew anything about. So for me when I think of my first experience of theater that really affected me – was a class I took when I was twenty, studying theatre at Florida State University. I took a course called Latino/a Theatre History led by an artist and Chicana scholar, Dr. Irma Mayorga. Mayorga introduced me to the idea that I could see my own culture in the art I consumed. It was a Dead Poets Society moment, the plays I read in that class (including plays by DGF mentor Migdalia Cruz) reshuffled my brain and made my soul sing. I think of that class often and I consider it my first real exposure to the power of theatre.

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

The idea of writing started to tickle my brain while I was in that Latinx Theatre class, and reading plays like 26 Miles by Quiara Hudes, Marisol by Jose Rivera, and Electricidad by Luis Alfaro really pushed that idea into my bones. I started writing then and haven’t stopped, and I really owe that to my elders and betters in the Latinx community.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

I know some incredible writers who lean into creating stories with intricate plots, filled with twists and turns that make an audience think and lean in. They are impressive as hell.

But I don’t do that.

My writing lives more in my gut and heart. I’m passionate about writing characters first and foremost, so I focus on writing stories centered on people who laugh hard, scream and fuck. I’m interested in writing complex characters that live in Queer theatrical worlds and show us the beauty and heartbreak of life. As the elder María Irene Fornés said – theatre is life, life is theatre. I write life as I see it – joyous, annoying, fucked up, laughable life.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

The work is a new piece called I’ll meet you outside the airport, ok? It’s about a Colombian American family in Miami, FL who produce a local access Spanish language telenovela. I’m still fussing with my goals for the piece and the things I want to talk about in it (racism, Latinx representation in entertainment, the joy and pain of immigrant families) are shifting and changing as I work. At the end of the day, I want the piece to be a love letter to Latinidad.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

So many things. But I don’t think anything, and I mean ANYTHING comes close to the emotion I feel when a Latinx person thanks me for writing Latinx characters that are more than just stereotypes. It warms my already bleeding Latino ass heart!

ABOUT:

Andrew Rincón is a Queer Colombian-American playwright. His plays have been developed with Rising Circle Theatre, Amios, Austin Latino New Play Festival, PFP Productions (Seattle), Out Front Productions (Atlanta) and The 24 Hour Plays. He was a member of Wright Club, The Amoralist’s Theatre Company’s yearlong playwright development program (’15-’16). He was a member of INKtank Lab for Playwrights of Color (2017) and the 2017 Fornés Playwriting Workshop (Chicago). He is the winner of the 2018 Chesley/Bumbalo Grant for writers of Gay and Lesbian Theatre. Company member of Unit 52 at INTAR. Plays include You Got That Same Kind of Lonely and That Rhythm in the Blood and I’ll meet you outside the airport, ok?

His play I Wanna Fuck like Romeo and Juliet is the winner of New Light Theatre Project’s “New Light New Voices Award” (2019) and will receive its New York stage premiere in their 19/20 season.

Fellows Spotlight: Andy Roninson

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Welcome to the April Edition of the DGF Fellows Spotlight!

Each month we’ll feature a DGF Fellow and invite you to take a behind-the-scenes look at our program.

We’ve introduced you to Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz;  Paulo K Tiról, and Kate Douglas. Over the year, we’ll be hearing from the rest of the 2019-2020 Fellows: Andrew Rincón, Andy Roninson, Avi Amon, Kyoung H. Park, Melis Aker, Nikhil Mahapatra, and Nolan Doran.

Each writer is asked a series of questions to help us get to know them better, while exploring where they’ve been, what they’re up to now, and what they see for the future.

Please take your seats, unwrap your candies, and silence your cellphones as we put the spotlight on DGF Fellow Andy Roninson!

What was your first experience with theater?

I can’t remember. I know I would watch the VHS tapes of West Side Story and the original Broadway production of Into The Woods (and I did play the Mysterious Man in Into The Woods Jr. when I was 10) all the time. I know that I wrote a few lines of lyrics for a class play when I was maybe seven or so. Something like “He’s Seal, and I’m Otter/And we like to play in the water.”

When did you decide to become a writer? Is there a writer, show, or piece of writing that was particularly influential on your path?

The decision to write a song must have first come about for my high school rock band. The decision to write a musical was in freshman year of college (for a show called Exorcism on Aisle Five). I can’t pinpoint exactly when I decided to pursue writing above all else, but it must have been during my first years at the BMI Musical Theater Writing Workshop.

As far as writers being influential… Hm…. Here are the writers about whom I have thought “And now I will write a song that sounds like _____”: Bob Dylan, Ben Folds, Jeanine Tesori, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Regina Spektor, the Beatles, Robert Johnson, John Williams, the Gershwins. And forgive me, Sondheim, for how much I have stolen. I am a well of unoriginality.

How do you describe your work overall? What sets your work apart?

There’s an emoji that doesn’t exist, but should. It’s just a happy smiley but with one tear coming down. That’s how I would describe my work.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been developing as a Fellow?

It’s a new musical– very, very new– loosely based on the experiences of my parents growing up in the Soviet Union. It’s about a young woman in Moscow in the 1970s who gets into bootleg rock records and decides to leave the country.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a writer?

When a great actor performs one of my songs, and they create something new and miraculous I could never imagine… That’s just the f-ing best, my friend.

Resources for Writers

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Hannah Kloepfer

Your health and safety is of the utmost importance to us. With the outbreak of COVID-19, we are here to support you through the emotional and financial toll this is having on our beloved theater community.

*Grants and Aid:
For those already experiencing emergency needs, please reach out to us through our Emergency Grant program for financial assistance.

*Education:
We will be diligent in updating this community with information and opportunities for relief as we learn more day by day. We will update this blog post regularly with resources, educational tools, and opportunities for writers.

Playwright Sarah Ruhl reminded us that, “The theater has survived a plague before, not only in the 1600s, but also in the 1980s. And the theater, with its tender heroism, empathy and propensity to help others, will survive again.”

Take care of yourselves and one another. Keep communicating, creating and sharing your voices. Please reach out to us when you’re in need. We believe in you. And we believe in your boundless creativity.

Resources for Writers:

“The theater has survived a plague before, not only in the 1600s, but also in the 1980s. And the theater, with its tender heroism, empathy and propensity to help others, will survive again.” -Sarah Ruhl

Additional COVID-19 Relief:

• UPDATED: COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits for Dramatists
• Resources for Freelance Artists
• Resources for Freelancers
• Resources for Musicians/Composers (other than musical theater)
• Resources for Novelists, Fiction, and Non-Fiction Writers
• Resources for Screenwriters 
• Resources for Actors 
• Resources for Journalists 
• Resources for Directors

Education:

• UCB writing workshops
• Groundlings’ new online classes (including writing, monologue creation, + zoom-improv).
• The National Theater is offering “Resource Packs” on many of their past productions.
• 380 free Ivy League courses online. 

• TEDX:The power of digital storytelling | Emily Bailin

• There are tons of TV scripts and teleplays available online. Check out:

  • https://thescriptlab.com/

  • http://thetelevisionpilot.com/

• The World Monologue Game by The Monologue Project 
• Try a free week of Broadway HD!
• The 24 Hour Plays launches Viral Monologues.
• Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley host daily live-streamed concerts with stars of stage and screen on Stars in the House benefiting The Actors Fund.
• Enjoy The Metropolitan Opera’s nightly opera stream.
• NYC cabaret hotspot 54 Below streams past concerts.
• STAGE offers free streaming of exclusive theatre sitcoms, like the wildly popular “Submissions Only,” and other series.
• HERE@HOME hosts watch parties every Wednesday evening of their full-length productions
• Get your fix of The Bard through full productions from British theater company Shakespeare’s Globe.

Submissions:

• ABC Discovers Writing Showcase. DUE MAY 15!!
• 7×7 10-Minute Plays is going virtual! Email RuleOfShow@gmail.com to submit your work or to register and watch on Zoom!
• Cabin Fever Film Festival will host WEEKLY short film competitions
• Women in TV – Submissions are open for The Blacklist’s 5th annual @WomenInFilm and @theblcklst Episodic Lab. (Due: July 19)
• Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition seeks to discover and support the most original and innovative screenplays from emerging and established screenwriters from around the world. 25% off entry w/ code: BAFFSPRING2020.
• Coverfly & The Script Lab  are offering a FREE screenplay competition to help open talent-discovery to anyone and everyone, regardless of financial ability. This contest is open to feature, TV and short screenplays. Deadline 4/30.

Mindset:

• Free meditation resources.

• Yale’s popular “The Science of Well-Being” or “Happiness Project” is now available for FREE online.
• Podcasts for theater artists in self-isolation.

• The LA Times assembled this list of 100+ fun things to do while in quarantine.