Congrats to the GTA New Works Festival Winners!

The GTA New Works Festival is over for this year but we are still thinking about the beautiful, original work we saw! On Saturday night of the festival, GTA Shorts featured seven short plays written and directed by students and two awards were presented. The Playwright’s Choice Award was presented to Jeilianne Vazquez for her play Mi Familia, and the Audience Choice Award was presented to Halli Rider for her play Truth or Dare. Both winners received a one-year membership to Working Title Playwrights, a new play incubator and service organization providing playwrights with development opportunities, workshops, and networking events. We sat down with Jeilianne and Halli to discuss their plays.

 

Tell us about your play, Mi Familia.

The play is about a Puerto Rican family who are having dinner. Abuelo is back from Puerto Rico while his daughter is separated from her husband, and we see how that affects the two older kids and their relationships with each other.

What inspired the script? Were you drawing from your real life?

They are based on my family, extended family, my latino friends family–basically every family I’ve ever known. I wrote it my freshman year and submitted it to a play festival honoring Latinx playwrights in Atlanta. Unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen, but when it was time to submit for the New Works Festival, I decided to look at it again and give it a second chance. I made some edits and here we are!

At the time you wrote the script, did you already have a writing method, or was this project a step towards creating that method?

This wasn’t my first script for the GTA (I had a play in last year’s festival) but I did have a different approach. This year, I just wanted to write what I know. My process is evolving and I’m discovering what works for me.

What was it like being in the audience of your own play?

It was great! I think if I hadn’t seen any rehearsals I would have been very nervous. But, I was able to go to two of the last rehearsals and I was in awe of the work that had been done. The actors Michelle Stover, Marcello Valencia, Madelyn Moreno, and Juan Suarez were absolutely incredible and were guided by the great Otis McDaniel (director). I was fully confident in them and they exceeded my expectations.

Congratulations on winning the Playwright’s Choice Award. What was going through your head when you won?

I was just in shock! I was extremely happy and grateful. I was just so proud of my cast and director. All the hard work that was put in and they shined! I was just so happy. Latino stories were being shared and honored. I couldn’t ask for anything better.

What’s next for you? Are there any scripts that you are working on?

Right now, I’m working on a full-length play for next year’s New Works Festival. I have some other short scripts I’d like to polish and possibly expand. I haven’t decided if I want Mi Familia to be full-length. We will see!

 

Tell us about your play, Truth or Dare.

Truth or Dare is about two newly found anxious and odd roommates who find themselves out of food and an internet connection. After ordering pizza, they decide to play a friendly game of truth or dare to pass the time. 

What inspired the script? Were you drawing from your real life?

I definitely pulled from my life in small aspects. I was rooming with one of my best friends when Covid first hit, and we both are very anxious people by nature. That is kind of what sparked the idea, and then it kind of snowballed from that.

Something that I would like to point out is that Hollis and Charlie are gender-neutral in the script. I did this keeping high school theatre programs in mind. When I was in high school, we would often have to gender-bend characters because we didn’t have enough guys. I wrote the characters as gender-neutral to allow anyone to be able to play them!

At the time you wrote the script, did you already have a writing method, or was this project a step towards creating that method?

When I first started writing Truth or Dare, I was in my first playwriting class. I had never really written anything before (aside from small creative writing projects) so the idea of playwriting was really new to me. Needless to say, I didn’t have any method for writing. In the class, we had to complete a one-act play as our final, which is where I got most of the material for Truth or Dare. It actually comes from my one-act entitled Hey, Sorry to Bother You!, where the characters play truth or dare in the last ten minutes of the play. My process is still currently evolving, as I am still very new to writing, but I am slowly finding what motivates me and what doesn’t!

What was it like being in the audience of your own play?

At first, I was really nervous because it was the first time I was going to see it all the way through with props and on the Ed Cabell stage. So, it was a little scary at first, but as soon as the actors started, they had such an easygoing energy about them (which is exactly what I felt when I was writing the characters), I was able to enjoy it. A lot of that ease came from the director, Dellan Short. He directed the heck out of it. During the rehearsal process, I tried to make it to rehearsals whenever I could, but I never felt worried that the show wouldn’t be good. I never had to worry about whether or not something in the writing would get lost because Dellan pays such close attention to detail, and makes sure choices from the actors are clean and well read from an audience’s point of view. However, while he pays attention to details, he also allows the actors to find their own version of the character. He’s great at making sure he gives the actors freedom to play while making sure it works for the character.

Congratulations on winning the Audience Choice Award. What was going through your head when you won?

It was a very overwhelming, yet exciting feeling. I’m not sure what to call it. I was honestly just super proud of the people I got to work with (Dellan Short, Molly Van Buren, Olivia Leslie, and Corbin Adriano), cause they all worked so hard, and they made a show that I wrote come to life in the best way possible.

What’s next for you? Are there any scripts that you are working on?

I actually just finished my first full-length play this past semester. It’s called A Spoonful of Chaos, and it takes place in a tiny ice cream shop in Tennessee. It was super challenging to write in one semester, so it is currently in the revision stage. However, I’m going to be submitting it for the New Works Festival next year, and if it gets chosen then you can learn more about it!