Writing, Writing, and More Writing

It's been three years since I've touched a half written play of mine entitled dtroublewithnormal. I started writing the play when I was in my first semester of graduate school for a class entitled The Art of Adaptation. Inspired by Willa Cather's short story "Paul's Case," I started writing a play exploring the intersections of race, belonging, queerness, social mobility, and love. It was only then that I started writing for the stage, and by the end of the course I was only able to finish half of the play. I was at first taken aback by my style of writing. I was pushing for poetry, music, and imagery to tell the story; influenced heavily by Ntazoke Shange, Ping Chong, and Sarah Kane.

It has been fun to return to the piece, now with clearer eyes. I've been angry lately reflecting back at my experience as a queer POC in an MFA program, and now realizing how I sometimes was simply robbed of opportunities to really explore what I personally wanted artistically. Now that I'm out of academia, which is often white American-Eurocentric, I've been more generous to myself with my odd style of playwrighting. No matter how weird my writing may be, there is a place for me in theatre.

It hasn't been difficult writing lately, and I hope I continue finding ways to do so. Writing makes me happy. Simple as that.