Over the past four years, I’ve found myself in two simultaneous processes of self-discovery. The first is the discovery of my own sexuality, and the process of getting to know myself as a gay woman. The second is the realization that I am a writer, and that writing for television is how I can best express and empower myself in the world. These two discoveries came together during a summer at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where I wrote my first television script. That summer, I’d made the decision to try being open about my homosexuality for the first time. The acceptance I felt from my peers at Williamstown gave me the courage to write The Coward, which delves into the not often discussed challenges of self-acceptance surrounding female sexual identity. In presenting The Coward, I tried my hand in turning a painful personal experience into something beautiful, and the results were well received and very fulfilling. It made me eager to add my voice and perspective to the theatrical conversation about what it means to be a young gay woman. Since this has been the main focus of my work and writing.
More often than not, I am very bothered by the way female homosexuality is portrayed in contemporary theater. Within the last ten years, too many works depict gay women as ‘unappealing’ or as all dealing with the same generic problems. These works, rather than expressing truth about being a gay woman, distance the audience further away from the message they are supposed to receive. Much of my work is an attempt to cross genres by addressing the struggles associated with homosexuality (female homosexuality, in particular) in the same way that the topic of any other minority (racial, ethnic, religious, etc.) would be discussed, therefore appealing to all audiences, not just those that are mostly LGBT or male.
One of the ways I hope to expand the portrayal of women and LGBT people in theater is through the use of comedy in what may be considered tragic situations. Minorities have always made the best comedians. Self-deprecating or socially critical, they perform out of the need to heal from a deep pain. They initiate dialogue through laughter, because no one needs laughter more than the oppressed. This concept is always in the back of my mind while writing plays. Not only does the use of comedy help me find peace and understanding in experiences and struggles of my own, it makes the stories I want to share more accessible and universal.