So, I’ve been accepted into the Theatre Bay Area ATLAS Program for Playwrights. As defined by me, the ATLAS program is a series of workshops provided by Theatre Bay Area which helps theatre artists take their art to the “next level” which defined is simply what you want to make of it as long as it’s forward. Which is kind of the operative word, forward. In 2015, I committed to taking writing plays seriously so I applied to grad school. Without much formal education prior to applying, I got in! 3 years later, I graduated. During that time, I’ve had a couple of more plays produced… mostly shorts with the exception of ESPERANZA MEANS HOPE.
2014 was a pretty good year for me, but 2015 was definitely a dry spell and that’s when I really struggled to find out what is the career path for a playwright. Elementary School messed with my head because the future seemed pretty straight forward: finish 5th grade; go to middle school; don’t get beat up in high school (often); find a college… then find a major… and find another major after you loathe what you thought was your life calling which ended up just being a busy signal; then get a job in the “real world” Life would call you lucky if you were to find someone to love; get married; pop out childrens; die.
Being “mid-life” has taught me to appreciate how organic the part between all-nighters and death really should be. Right now, it feels like I’ve graduated to the to realization of how important I AM; how important my values are; how much in love I am with my friends; and how important being a playwright means to me.
So, in a fortuitous bounce, I wound up in the ATLAS Program to help me in this journey. I’m not completely going in blind though. I kinda know what feels right for me in terms of what plays I want to write and how I want to present them. It’s now a question of how to do that. This is just a step. A really exciting one.