WHAT I SAID WAS

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A.C.T.’s The Matchmaker Airing Now

Cast of A.C.T.’s The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder and directed by Dawn Monique Williams.

Proud to be a part of this reading for A.C.T.’s OUT LOUD series! It was a thrill to collaborate with veteran actors that I’ve greatly admired and an incredibly talented graduating class of A.C.T. MFAs who everyone needs to hire stat! Bonus that I got to reunite with OSF alums Dawn Monique Williams (who I previously worked with on The Merry Wives of Windsor), Luis Garcia, and Catherine Castellanos.

About the production:

This charming farce by Thornton Wilder—which inspired the popular musical “Hello, Dolly!”—is an uproarious exploration of the necessity of generosity, the limits of wealth, and the pursuit of the good life. Tickets are “Pay-What-You-Wish” starting at just $5. The reading streams on demand for one week (Apr 26–May 2) on Broadway On Demand, accessible via the link through A.C.T.’s website. It can be streamed via the web on any mobile device or computer, or can be streamcast to any smart TV.

Learn more at bit.ly/ACTOutLoud.

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FINAL BOARDING CALL at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival

Looking forward to reuniting with Des to work on Stefani Kuo’s timely Final Boarding Call as part of Playwrights Foundations’ Bay Area Playwrights Festival this month!

From the BAPF website:

Final Boarding Call tells the human stories of the current Hong Kong protests revolving around seven interconnected characters whose backgrounds and perspectives run the spectrum. A protesting brother and flight attendant sister struggling to stay safe while fighting for what they believe in; a Mainland Chinese mother seeking forgiveness from her Hong Kong reporter daughter for previous wrongs and judgements of her Indian husband; and an American expat CEO and Hong Kong lover living in the shadows. We see a window into China’s grip on global capitalism, but most importantly, we see how the politics on the news every day affects the citizens of Hong Kong and their day to day lives.

Learn more here: https://playwrightsfoundation.org/2020-bay-area-playwrights-festival/stefani-kuo/

Hope you can join us on July 19 or 25!

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BRING YOUR LIGHT Performance

BRING YOUR LIGHT: Faith and Mental Health in COVID-19

What an honor to lend my voice as part of the First Lady Chirlane McCray’s important roundtable discussion on faith and mental health during COVID-19 today! It is crucial that we take care of each other now more than ever. Let’s lift each other up and spread love!

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Love in Tough Times

I don’t think I’m fully processing all the loss that’s happening around us. Every day brings more bad news and I worry a lot about what’s to come. To what extent will we feel the repercussions even when we flatten the curve or find a vaccine?

In times like these I turn to gratitude to quiet my monkey brain.
I am grateful that my loved ones and I are healthy and safe.
I’m grateful to have shelter and enough food to eat.
I’m grateful for my assortment of pajamas that I do not get out of unless I have to.
I’m grateful that online conferencing is allowing me to connect with friends and family more frequently than even before the pandemic!

I’m grateful for the arts. When we’re quarantined at home, what are we turning to for respite, escape, education, entertainment, and hope? THE ARTS! Music, movies, TV and streaming shows, audio plays and podcasts, and yes even those TikTok videos. The arts help us dream bigger, start conversations, engage with the world and people around us. 

My friend MH challenged me to write a quarantine love song recently. I haven’t written a song in almost a decade, but hey — not like I had anything else to do. Being the sarcastic Gen-X/Millenial that I am, I immediately wanted to parody VERSACE ON THE FLOOR,  BUT the more mature, slightly less sarcastic Gen-X/Millenial that I am striving to be wanted to write something for my friends and fam whom I cannot wait to hug when quarantine is over.

So y’all out there: I’m grateful for you.