Sònia Victoria Werner

Based on a photograph by Diane Arbus, Grassy Gal exists in two versions: a monologue and a play in conversation with her older sister and "swings gal" Shelby. Here, Grassy Gal examines personhood without a name and a refusal of growing up without anyone to hold her.

the Up Above is a new theatrical work written primarily for high school audiences. When group of high schoolers Genevieve, Clay, Dolores, and Ilona find themselves trapped in their school’s basement (a space coined “the down below”), it’s up to them to figure out how and why they got there, whether it’s safe to leave, but most importantly, how to live with the new normal. Acting as an incubator of youth and juvenility, “the down below” means different things to each of the teens. As time ticks away and a fifth (slightly younger) member is introduced to the already tense social dynamic, the anxieties of modern teenage life take control of the underground bunker. A below-the-surface look into queerness and identity in a transient, unfamiliar space, the Up Above centers in on teens as they navigate their new circumstances and complicated feelings for one another, the mysterious world above, and the urge to sacrifice the collective in order to save the individual.

the searcher is Lost is a collection of live vignettes utilizing the Zoom space to its fullest potential to examine the certainty often found in the uncertain (and vice versa) and the value and meaning of meaning.
The scenes in this play have been carefully ordered, encapsulating the essences and progression of various emotions experienced in isolation.

Note: there are two versions of this play. One is written specifically for Zoom and the other is written for the stage.

This one-act written specifically for the Zoom platform utilizes this virtual space to examine post-isolation connection through the illusion of choice. The piece places the audience in ‘control’, frequently asking them to weigh in their opinions and perspectives utilizing Zoom’s POLL function—quotations are used here because this control is largely an illusion. In other words, the audience can interact/vote, but the results will not be shared (until the final poll).

"If we understood ourselves better, we would damage ourselves less"— An exploration of this quote from The Creative Process by James Baldwin, i don't know where we are explores the complexities and consequences of undefined identity.

At its core, "Decaer or and Waiting" and is an experiential dramedy centered around the individual grieving process within a culture that historically prioritizes the collective. It’s a story about the loss and mortality of an individual amidst the self-discovery of another. Through various vignettes, it explores themes such as Spanish/Catalan/Latinx mythology, the impact of language barriers on understanding, the transitions between the stages of grief, celebration and grief in community, the distance between three realms of life (Womb, World, Afterlife), and a fragmented identity, triumph, and concept of ‘you’. We follow mythological figures, humans, and a family, all in pursuit of answers that exist outside of the self.

Is it better to live in the past or in the future when the present is no longer a possibility? A contemporized look into this philosophical conundrum, one-act dramedy “Keen on Commiseration” confronts two roommates living in respective pursuit and regret.