What is the first thing ever that you remember writing?
Nevertheless, our fan base though small was passionate.
Shout out to Mom and dad.
Credit: Beowulf Sheehan
Basically, in our minds, we were the all-girl version of New Edition.
And I humbly take credit for my contribution to two of our biggest hits.
“You’re My Sister” and the sultry R&B breakup ballad “Never Again.”
What is the last book or play that made you cry?
I recently read Toni Morrison’sA Mercy.
So much of this book moved me to tears.
The specificity of time.
The wild psychology of a young nation on the verge.
And Morrison brilliantly manages to examine what love might mean through it all.
Mfoniso Udofia is a playwright everyone should know.
Her play Adia and Clora Snatch Joy is a love letter to the ancestors.
It is a beautiful queer love story.
Which book is at the top of your current To-Read list?
Start withTrouble in Mind.
Where do you write?
What play first got you into drama writing?
Like so many Black theater-makers I would have to say George C. Wolf’sThe Colored Museum.
I took so many cues from his boldness in my early writing.
What is a snack you couldn’t write without?
Raw pecans (pronouncedpee-cans.
I don’t know if I would change my plays too much.
My work has evolved as I have.
And it’s wonderful to have an accounting for what’s come before.
My first two plays are a delicious hot mess.
As they should be.
What is your favorite part ofWhere We Stand?
That there is no clear “beginning” toWhere We Stand.
Once the audience has entered the space they’ve been cast as townspeople and we have already begun.
It isn’t rare that people weep through this exercise.
Just to hold the sublime with strangers!
To practice this soul connection.
To me, it speaks to why live theater is such a unique experience.
Our intimate and immediate connection to each other.
What was the hardest plot point or character to write in this play?
For someone who can swim inside of metaphor having Tamilla was a godsend.
But, she pried what was literal out of me so that those metaphors could shine.
Write a movie poster tag line for your play.
One town’s destiny.
One man’s fate.
