1. What inspired you to write The Inventors?

The process of writing this play started all the way back at the beginning of the year, when I read a couple of Native American creation stories. But ultimately, I found I drew on the Deism story to write it. In this play I wanted to explore why God might have stepped back and stopped creating. So I created two “Gods” who don’t really know the answers to the questions themselves, but are trying to figure it out. I really enjoyed writing a play in which God struggles with big universal questions just as much as we do, and writing that maybe there is no bigger meaning to God’s creation of the universe and He just did it one day for fun. The relationship between the human race and its gods was also something I worked with in this play.

2. What was your biggest obstacle writing the One Act?

Well my first draft of The Inventors was about seventeen pages longer than the version that is going to be performed. I needed to make some significant cuts to the play after it was chosen for the festival. One of the most difficult cuts for me to make was removing one of the characters, Demon, from the play. Originality was also a big worry for me. When you’re writing something that’s based on a story structure that’s thousands of years old, you’re bound to worry that people have gotten bored of it by now. And, of course, I constantly worried that my writing was terrible, that my play was too boring or too pretentious, and that everyone would hate it; but those are normal feelings in any creative endeavor and I just had to suck it up. I told myself that even if the play did end up being terrible I would learn from the experience, and it never hurts to try.

3. What scene are you most excited to see being performed?

I’ve sat in on a couple of rehearsals, so that might be influencing which scenes I’m the most excited for. Everyone working on the play is absolutely spectacular. I’ve seen some of the preliminary blocking for the first scene and it’s really, really good. I got goose bumps. The entire process of the characters seeing the world they live in and seeing each other for the first time is really amazing to watch, so I’m looking forward to seeing the final product of that.

1. What inspired you to write The Adoration?

My mom went to Catholic school up until college and she has some pretty interesting stories about her time there. She was the first one to introduce me to the term “Father What-a-Waste.” I started thinking about what it might be like to be a blossoming preteen in an all-girls religious school with zero outlet for youthful desires. Where would all that girly energy go? I added a gorgeous teacher to the equation and got my answer.

2. What were your biggest obstacles while writing the play?

It’s one thing to die laughing at your own jokes and another thing entirely to make other people enjoy the humor of your work. I came to a playwriting workshop at Berkeley Rep with a couple copies of the half-written script and my heart in my mouth.

3. What are you most excited to see being performed?

I’m really excited to see the last scene at the dance performed. There’s so much drama between the girls and it’s obviously the culmination of all that happens in the play