We are all flawed. We are imperfect. We doubt ourselves. We fear what we don’t understand. We are capable of great and terrible things. As human beings, we share these qualities. I want audiences who see my plays to feel seen on a deep and cathartic level. I want them to walk out of the theater seeing something about themselves they haven’t been willing to see before. I want them to be inspired to face the dark edges of themselves and know that they aren’t alone. I want my plays to make people laugh and cry and feel and grow. When I write, I go through this same process. I never strive to write a perfect play (I don’t believe in such things,) but to write a rigorously truthful play that makes people FEEL. I lean into what scares me, I challenge myself to try on a point of view I would never consider before. I call myself out on my own righteousness. I make myself as vulnerable as possible. If I’m not willing to go there in my writing, how can I expect that of our audience? I believe that theater is a conversation between the playwright and the audience and that listening is the most important ingredient. As a playwright, I endeavor to listen without filter in an effort to really hear something I’ve never heard before. And I hope to translate that to my plays and that it feels like truth.