Artistic Statement
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Harold Taw
Artistic Statement
I am a wordsmith working in many forms to explore the human condition.
My novel Adventures of the Karaoke King, a karaoke grail quest, examines social inequality and how experience shapes a person’s “voice.” My novel-in-progress, SATURDAY’S CHILD, follows an adolescent girl’s journey from the countryside to the city during the tumultuous 1970s in Southeast Asia, and details how people, villages, and aspirations have been transformed by rapid economic development. My short story “The Making of a Pillow to Awaken the Senses” tells the tale of an 87 year-old Buddhist monk who can’t sleep and the gift he receives from his college sweetheart.
As part of The 5th Avenue Theatre Writers Group, I wrote the book for a one-act musical and a full-length, two-act musical alongside award-winning composer/lyricist Chris Jeffries. In the original, one-act musical, THE MISSED CONNECTIONS CLUB (2014), a young woman forgets to live her own life when she becomes obsessed by the “what ifs” of Missed Connections ads. In PERSUASION (2015-17), our musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel that premieres in 2017, a no-longer young woman explores whether a more profound and happier ending might follow years of pain and regret.
I am currently writing book and lyrics alongside rock composer Mark Bombara for SEPARATE STRINGS: A Multiverse Musical, a full-length Steampunk musical about a mixed-race protagonist who travels through alternative realities in search of one where he won’t be separated from his true love by race, class, and sexual inequality. But can the world truly change if the people within it don’t?
My goal as a writer is to connect my readers and audience with the fleeting fragility of life. As Stephen Sondheim wrote in a lyric: “Careful the wish you make/Wishes are children/Careful the path they take/Wishes come true/Not free.”
My novel Adventures of the Karaoke King, a karaoke grail quest, examines social inequality and how experience shapes a person’s “voice.” My novel-in-progress, SATURDAY’S CHILD, follows an adolescent girl’s journey from the countryside to the city during the tumultuous 1970s in Southeast Asia, and details how people, villages, and aspirations have been transformed by rapid economic development. My short story “The Making of a Pillow to Awaken the Senses” tells the tale of an 87 year-old Buddhist monk who can’t sleep and the gift he receives from his college sweetheart.
As part of The 5th Avenue Theatre Writers Group, I wrote the book for a one-act musical and a full-length, two-act musical alongside award-winning composer/lyricist Chris Jeffries. In the original, one-act musical, THE MISSED CONNECTIONS CLUB (2014), a young woman forgets to live her own life when she becomes obsessed by the “what ifs” of Missed Connections ads. In PERSUASION (2015-17), our musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel that premieres in 2017, a no-longer young woman explores whether a more profound and happier ending might follow years of pain and regret.
I am currently writing book and lyrics alongside rock composer Mark Bombara for SEPARATE STRINGS: A Multiverse Musical, a full-length Steampunk musical about a mixed-race protagonist who travels through alternative realities in search of one where he won’t be separated from his true love by race, class, and sexual inequality. But can the world truly change if the people within it don’t?
My goal as a writer is to connect my readers and audience with the fleeting fragility of life. As Stephen Sondheim wrote in a lyric: “Careful the wish you make/Wishes are children/Careful the path they take/Wishes come true/Not free.”