Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

I started writing plays to better understand the actions of others. It gave me space to slip into the skin of people who pissed me off, allowing me to experiment (in a relatively safe and environmentally-friendly way) with their perspective. This is part of the reason I am attracted to protagonists and themes that push painful political and religious debates to their limits.

But as a woman of Jewish descent raised by some self-loathing, late-in-life Christian converts, I believe heartfelt humor is the best way to bridge ideological gaps and build empathy amongst audiences and people in general. To accurately represent my millennial comrades on stage, I always integrate our electronic overlords —phones, screens and social media— into the dramatic, often magical worlds, I create.

For this same reason, the women in my plays tend to be young, anxious, sheltered and/or closeted in some way. My characters constantly question themselves, their faith and their identities because that is what I and most of my peers are doing in our mid-twenties. This also happens to be an emotional space most of the country is inhabiting (whether we want to or not) in these interesting times and I hope to continue reflecting and refining these feelings in my work going forward.