The Millennial Plays
Because that’s the way it goes. The men with the money get to make the rules.
From All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, 2020, UC Irvine (Pictured: Channy Lewis, Arizsia Staton, Tolu Ekisola, Félix Colón, Olivia Wilder)
The M.O.
Eli Simon, one of the acting faculty members at UC Irvine, asked if I’d be interested in writing material for the First Year Acting Project. These plays provide a vehicle for a first-year acting project beyond working on scenes. The brief, for me, was to write parts of approximately equal weight for each actor, giving each part a clear arc, and providing material that is naturalistic, realistic — since some of the goals of the first year courses are listening actively, responding genuinely, all that.
More than that, I wrote plays that incorporated issues, questions and problems these twenty-somethings were facing (and continue to face).
These three plays were written with these young actors in mind, and — FYI — have gender-flexible names, so that future casting could be more flexible than the gender mix of the students in the initial workshop.
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything - UC Irvine, 2020 (Pictured: Evan Lugo and Gio Munguia)
HOLD Steady
It's the weekend of a high school ten-year reunion, and a group of friends gathers. But it's hard to feel like there's much to celebrate when they're saddled with debt, concerned about their current choices, worried about their future. Seeing their friends reminds them who they thought they'd be, and how far they have to go to get there.
Cast of 8 (Flexible casting)
All We ever wanted was everything
In a house in Inglewood, Boots and her housemates – Gael, Kinse, Mo, Cruz – are fulfilling their most radical goals: growing their own food, practicing more sustainable living, carving out a life for themselves, for their future. They’ve just taken on a new housemate, Wren, even though their former housemate Finley is desperate to come back into the fold. But their whole enterprise is endangered when their property manager, Vic brings bad news about a new owner of their house, and forces beyond their control threaten both where and how they’ll live.
Cast of 8 (Flexible casting)
The Last Time We Saw Madison
It's the morning after the statewide lock-down, and no one has heard from Madison. A group of friends try to figure out new ways to move forward, to stay focused, to be positive -- even as the mystery deepens, and answers are nowhere to be found.
Cast of 6 (Flexible casting)