get tickets to how to make An American Son here

 

When did you write your first play? What was it about & how do you feel about it now?

i wrote my first play in college.  it was about a guy working out his broken heart by writing a play about his friends and then staging it.  it was very meta.  in hindsight, it was the play that everyone writes their first time out.  the great thing about it however, is that it showed i had skill and got my into grad school.

 

What are your main influences for your writing?

wendy wasserstein used to say that walking around was research.  i agree.  you can’t write about anything if you have no life experience to write from.  so i am influenced by the things i experience on a daily basis.  i am influenced by politics and the news.  i am also influenced by pop culture and other artists.  i love going to the whitney and walking around for an hour before sitting down to write.  i read two or three books a week, at the same time.  i read television pilots.  i think its important to be a sponge and then process that in your own way and use it in your own work.

 

Do you have an established writing process or do you approach each project differently?

every project is different but im not one of those people who claims to write every day or every morning.  i write when i absolutely have something that needs to be said.  i think when you are a theater maker you are inviting people to give up their time and money to come engage your work.  i think thats incredibly selfish.  if youre going to ask that of people, you better earn their time.  you better have something to say.  you better be digging deep.  if i feel I’ve gotten there, i usually engage one of the many places that have given me a home and ask them to give me some sort of writing retreat.  the lark, new dramatists, arizona theatre company, are places that will lock me away and give me the time to disconnect from the rest of the world and make work if im ready to.

 

What do you consider the major milestones of your artistic career?

being an artist is incredibly hard.  theres very little money.  our institutions are inherently misogynistic and racist (if it upsets you reading this, go look at all the artistic directors and literary people of the theaters you go to. what do they look like.  why?)  – if there was one milestone we’d live in constant depression.  as it is, its hard to get out of work every day.  having my first production in new york was a huge milestone.  writing for television was a milestone.  writing for hbo was another.  every time someone commissions me, that support is a milestone.  i got into my dream school many years aho (nyu – tisch) that was a milestone.  when i got asked to teach there, that blew my mind, how could it not be another?  anytime an artist i respect reads my work, or takes time out of their lives to help me develop something, thats a milestone.  the people that support you, that is the biggest milestone, and its important to be grateful and remember that every day.

 

What has been your most ambitious undertaking as an artist?

i think its important to write plays that aren’t safe.  often, that means that you are criticizing the institutions who’s help you need getting produced.  and often, that means that you are engaging with audiences in ways that aren’t easy for them.  every time i start a new play, it feels like the first time.  it’s terrifying.  it’s daunting.  it feels impossible.  i think that is a tremendous undertaking.

 

Which other playwrights have inspired you?

so many. naomi iizuka.  jose rivera.  eduardo machado.  lynn nottage.  david henry hwang.  arthur kopit.  chay yew.  maria irene fornes.  luis alfaro.  lucy thurber.  my contemporaries:  rey pamatmat.  carla ching.  janine nabers.  marcus gardley.  qui nguyen.  cori thomas.  morgan gould.  branden jacobs-jenkins.  bekah brunstetter.  sharr white.  ken lin.  laura eason.  the best of us, you haven’t seen.  the theater is afraid of what they have to say.

 

What is your favorite play written by another playwright?

angels in america remains, to me, the greatest play of all time.  i love american hwangap by lloyd suh.  a brief histor of helen of troy by mark schultz broke my heart.  edith can shoot things and hit them by rey pamatmat is beautiful.  transfers by lucy thurber is revelatory.  serial black face by janine nabers is terrifying and necessary.  we need these voices and those plays to have bigger lives.

 

Where does your interest in real-life stories come from?

the world is a very dark place right now, and unless we’re all ready to start engaging with each other and figuring out what we can do to be better, honestly, we’re fucked.

 

Which of your plays would you most like to see produced?

other than this one?  i have a delightful rom com with a punch called “Los Feliz” that i’d love to see.

 

What was your catalyst for writing how to make An American Son?

i was thinking of my father and how awesome he is.  and what he’s done in this country.  and how immigrants like him, have to do so much, in the face of insurmountable odds, to survive in this country.  and white americans do everything that can to keep people like him down.  he’s not as angry as i am, but im furious.  i dont know how he isn’t more furious.  i wrote this play, because in many ways, its a love letter to him.

 

What are you hoping to learn from how to make An American Son appearing in BAPF 2019?

how it works in front of an audience.  will they listen?  what will they hear?

 

What do you want audiences to take away from your work?

honestly, i have a lot of thoughts, but if i have to tell you what they are, the play isn’t working.  so thats for me to know.  but i can say, every audience member comes to this play with their own experience, baggage, and history, so id like to meet them where they are, and simply have a conversation about whatever it is the play unlocks within them.

 

Which other #BAPF2019 play are you most excited to see? And why?

i grew up in the bay area and have been a professional writer for over a decade and this is the first time I’ve been “invited home.”  so im really just excited to meet all the local playwrights and engage more intimately with the community of artists i grew up watching.

 

Which of your plays would you most like to revisit?

i have a play called “icarus burns”  – I’ve been working on it for many years – its large cast – it got invited to the oneill a few years ago, but i had to drop out for a tv job – that play still haunts me – its so big and lit people keep telling me they love it but they can’t produce it because im latino and not famous (true story) – chay yew once told me it could be my “angels in america” – we’ll see.

 

What’s next?

television has given me a lot more love than the theater, so i continue to be busy there – a show i just wrote on called “Sweetbitter” on Starz, with many fabulous playwrights (lucy thurber, sharr white, ken lin to name a few) will air its second season starting july 14.  and then a show i just wrapped on about witches, called “Motherland” will air on Freeform in 2020.  other than that, sean daniels named me an artistic associate at arizona theatre company, when he took over as artistic director this year.  we have many projects brewing there, none which i can officially name, but that’ll be my home for the foreseeable future, and youll be seeing more of my work there.

 

What themes or ideas do you like to engage with?

identity.  in every way.  it haunts me.

 

What’s a favorite memory of your time in theatre?

many years ago i did a reading of a play in red bank new jersey.  afterwords, the artistic director asked me if i would talk to this woman who wanted to say hi.  she was clearly someone who didn’t go to the theater a lot.  she was a latina woman, older than me, but younger than my mom, that reminded me A TON of my mom.  the play was about a mother and son.  she told me that she was struggling because her son had just started nyu as a freshman, and had told her recently that he was trans.  she didnt understand, but she loved him.  even though my play wasnt about being trans, one of the central themes, was a latina mom coming to grips with her son being gay.  she told me she’d never seen herself on stage before and she was grateful.  she wanted to bring her child to the play.  that moment has meant more to me than anything else I’ve ever experienced in the theater.  for years, I’ve felt like my parents haven’t been visible and so a lot of my work is about reminding them how valuable they are.  it meant  a lot to me that this woman could finally feel seen because of something I’ve written.