Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

As a playwright I love to ask questions about our perceptions of the world and the power those perceptions hold over us. I focus on writing stories that explore the dualities I have noticed along the way: illusion versus truth, who we should be versus who we are, what this experience looks like on TV (and social media) versus the reality of it. I find the theatre to be the realm where we can boldly ask questions about the world around us and inside us. Plays specifically provide a space to go deeper into our pain without necessarily worrying about what is least offensive to large audiences. 

In my short play "Wine Night" I examine the concept of female agency and how we police each other in our feminism through a group of progressive women conflicted about whether it is appropriate to drink wine while pregnant. I am particularly fascinated by how female agency changes the moment a woman becomes a mother, even in the most progressive circles. We are living in a time when we have the most access to information and data, yet it is easier to find social contracts and opinions than evidence-based recommendations.      

I continue to explore perception in the play Gifted*, a dramedy that asks questions around parenting and which values are most important to instill in our children, the image of intelligence versus what it actually means, how race affects our perceptions of high IQ, and how code switching is an aspect of success that requires a lot of thought and energy in social interactions.

In my writing I draw on my many lives and experience as a multi-racial Latina and mother. I aim to create works of art that engage audiences and connect with those who do not identify with the default narrative.

I am currently working on a new play about a Latina who discovers she comes from a long line of curanderas and must decide whether to follow her unconventional destiny or continue down her current path at respectable job and down the aisle with her respectable fiance.