Why I Write

I started writing at a time when I was trying to find a way out of my acting anxieties. I figured it was the next best thing to do in the world of theatre without having to actually be in front of people. Obviously not the most inspirational start to a writer’s story, but that was just the way it came to me and I wouldn’t change a thing because I also found myself in the process.

At a time when I was low in my artistic career I found another way of expressing myself and I found I wasn’t half bad at it. It started with a small push in the form of sketch writing and grew into full length plays.

With writing I found a new freedom I hadn’t found in acting. I was writing about what I wanted to see on stage and screen instead of doing what had already been written. I was writing about things that related to me and the way I grew up. I was giving a voice to the people I grew up around and the struggles we all faced with our own beliefs compared to those of the Bible Belt we grew up in. (For those of you who don’t know, there is an area in the south of the United States known as the Bible Belt where most everyone is VERY conservative and VERY religious. You can find a church LITERALLY on every street.) So, it was important for me, especially at that time, to explore my past and come to terms with what I was taught to believe and what I, as an adult, CHOSE to believe. I began to ask myself and old friends questions relating to church and sex, church and homosexuality, church and inherent sin, the list goes on. It was eye opening and created a dialogue for me where I was able to come up with storylines and characters that encompassed that particular life style and the difficulties within them.

In each of my plays there is an undertone of those dialogues I had all those years ago and have continued to have since. In Falling Cradles, religion is leaned on heavily by both characters. One in terms of relying on it and the other as using it as an excuse for actions. In Coma, the strict conservative life code is what has torn this family apart and is initially what will bring them together or separate them forever. In Entrelazadas, a lesbian couple lives and works in a conservative town in Texas that effects the whole of their story. Most recently I have been working on a piece called Virginia about a girl who is still a virgin at 30 because, even though she is not a practicing Christian, she still can’t get past the trauma of her religious upbringing. Even in some of my sketches, I explore the comic nature of some of the ridiculous rules and expectations people are expected to live up to.

I find that these stories are important and have given me room to say things I never could have on my own. These characters have given me hope and well as a new perspective on how to look at the past and accept it instead of looking back with distain.

Writing has become more than just a play to be performed, but a voice to a group of people facing the aftermath of their upbringing and creating a new story for their future. I hope that with my writing people will feel heard and seen and start a dialogue that will extend well past the closing curtain.