Hey there, Jordan! How are things?
Great! I'm really enjoying being back in the Bay and escaping a sweltering summer in New York.
Are you ready to jump into your 5 questions?
Definitely!
Question 1: "A Driving Beat" is a mother and son road trip story. Do you have a favorite road trip memory?
In the summer of 2017, I drove the reverse of the road trip in the play from California to Ohio with my then-partner. I don't want to give away too much, but a lot of the things that happen in the play, the good and the bad, happened on our road trip in real life.
The good and the bad, happened on our road trip in real life.
Question 3: One of the themes of "A Driving Beat" is that of transracial adoption. How did the idea to explore adoption across race and ethnicity come about and what was it like to write this loving and complicated relationship between Mateo and his mom Diane?
Even though, I wasn't adopted, my skin color is a different shade from all the people in my family that raised me. So, from a young age, I've always been acutely aware of how we're able to move through the world differently as a result of how people see us. At the time that I wrote the play, my partner and I were seriously discussing adopting a child, and so I was spending a lot of time considering what that might look like. I also wrote and cast the first reading of this play while I was a graduate student at Ohio University. I wrote the parts of Mateo and Diane for very specific student actors there. All of those factors led to the relationship that's now intregal to the script.
From a young age, I've always been acutely aware of how we're able to move through the world differently as a result of how people see us.
Question 4: You are a Bay Area native. You used to work at various Bay Area theatre companies, which is how we originally met. After achieving various milestones in your career of late – including finishing your studies at Julliard – how does it feel to come back home to the TheatreWorks New Works Festival?
Even though, I wasn't adopted, my skin color is a different shade from all the people in my family that raised me. So, from a young age, I've always been acutely aware of how we're able to move through the world differently as a result of how people see us. At the time that I wrote the play, my partner and I were seriously discussing adopting a child, and so I was spending a lot of time considering what that might look like. I also wrote and cast the first reading of this play while I was a graduate student at Ohio University. I wrote the parts of Mateo and Diane for very specific student actors there. All of those factors led to the relationship that's now intregal to the script.
Question 5: What do you hope audiences get from watching "A Driving Beat"?
My goal is that by watching a specific relationship on stage, audience members think about the loved ones who have impacted their lives. It's my dream that this play makes audiences want to call up a family member—maybe the person who raised them or a person that they raised.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.