L.A. theatergoers are in for a treat as the work of three USC alumnae will debut at the Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival, which will take place September 9-11 and September 16-18.
The alumnae, Penelope Lowder, Pia Shah and Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, are part of a historic all-women cohort of 10 writers. In addition to this year’s group being the first to feature exclusively women, this is also the first time all playwrights will see their work staged at the Kirk Douglas Theatre for the festival.
The cohort was also led by a USC School of Dramatic Arts professor, Luis Alfaro.
“Having all women is a way of honoring and also acknowledging that we have traditionally ignored women in the American theater in an extraordinary way,” said Alfaro, who is also the associate artistic director at Center Theatre Group. “We really came together as a community – and in community, anything is possible.”
Lowder, Shah, and Reichle-Aguilera caught up with Annenberg Media ahead of the festival to share more about their work and this historic cohort of writers.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Annenberg Media: What’s the elevator pitch for your play?
Penelope Lowder: “Barbara George” is about a 70-year-old realtor of the same name in the Crenshaw neighborhood who is having a nightmare because she feels that she’s being erased by developers, gentrification and the city. And she’s trying to figure out how she can remain visible.
Pia Shah: “TEAR!” is about a woman who’s on the verge of becoming a mother for the first time and is then confronted by a crisis in her marriage. She’s grappling with the new person she’s becoming by dint of her new baby, by dint of her husband. She’s transitioning into a new version of herself, which at first, she’s really struggling with, but ultimately she comes to see it as a gift. The elevator pitch is that it’s about betrayal. It’s about addiction to technology and being scared of becoming a mother and being ambivalent about whether or not to have children.
Tisha Reichle-Aguilera: “Blind Thrust Fault” is the story of four high school teachers who are dealing with their own struggles and how they have to set them aside in order to provide support for students in need.
AM: I know you drew from your own life experiences in the process of writing this play. Can you tell me a little bit about your inspiration and your creative process?
PL: My inspiration for the play came out of a conversation that I had with a friend who lives in Inglewood. She was saying how the neighborhood around her, you know, culturally, is disappearing. And we were both noticing that…It was kind of sad to see that, and with that disappearance, she felt like she was becoming a stranger, or being made a stranger, in her own neighborhood. And so we both started crying about it and I thought, “oh, my God, it’s so sad.” So, I started to think about this play and that sense of disappearing and other themes then came to me. And I like to journal. I love journaling. So I did a lot of journaling…I wanted to look how progress is affecting her livelihood and her visibility as an African-American. So it was very interesting, I just started breaking it down and dissecting. Then, I started with her goals, her wants, and most importantly, I have to go back and I ask myself, why am I writing this play? What is compelling me to write this play? Why now? What is it that I want to say? So that’s how I start. That’s my process. And then everything just starts to evolve from there.
PS: I actually drew a lot from my subconscious and my dreams. During the pandemic, it was such a strange, claustrophobic kind of time…and we all met every two weeks just on Zoom. So the other writers in my cohort were actually a huge part of my process because one of the things I figured out was that I write by talking. So when I was telling them about my experience of childbirth, they would laugh hysterically and say, “You need to put that in your play.” And I would realize that it was actually interesting and funny in the moment while I was talking to them. And so a lot of times I would just transcribe our conversations later…I realized this is actually really funny and this is how I write, because I’m also an actor. I love to improvise, and so that’s something that’s been really integral to my process.
TRA: I was a high school teacher for almost 20 years, and the last 17 of those were at Santa Monica High School, where I had the kind of camaraderie that the teachers in this play have, and I still have it with my friends there. But since I’ve left the classroom to go back to graduate school, and because of the pandemic, my friends have faced a lot of new challenges. I feel like teachers across the country aren’t always treated with the respect they deserve, so I wrote this play to honor them, and the work that they do.
AM: What was it like to be a part of this cohort, especially since it is the first time the writers in the workshop are all women?
PL: I don’t want to cry. Wow. It’s amazing. You know, as women, gosh, if we only understood the power of our voices. No wonder men try to keep us down and subjugate us. So much power in that room. It was probably one of the most wonderful experiences as a writer that I’ve had…I cannot tell you the emotion that was in that room. It was so intense, but so needed. As a writer, I’ve never been in a room where I’ve been allowed to be emotional. I mean, crying and some people were angry and I thought, gosh, this really fuels and informs the writing – being so vulnerable. And that’s what I learned from this group. It’s okay to be vulnerable. I hadn’t hadn’t experienced that kind of vulnerability before. It was just wild being in the room with women writers and the fact that it was okay to feel that way…Because it’s all about the human experience that we’re writing about, right? So if we don’t feel it, how can we put it down on paper? That’s what I learned from this room. You have to feel it. I’m just so grateful.
PS: I’m kind of pinching myself because it feels like a dream. All the women in this cohort have just been so amazing. Everyone is hyping each other up right now during rehearsals and sending each other supportive emails. There’s like a flurry of congratulations going on all the time and that was really amazing because I’ve never been in a room with all female writers before…and we never felt like we were in competition with each other. We always helped and supported each other to find our voices. There were times when people cried. There were times when people shared really vulnerable moments. They were going through it during the pandemic and it all became part of our process. And knowing that we were all going to have a reading at the end of it made it a very joyful, if scary, experience…I think having all the women in the room in a really safe place in a lot of ways.
TRA: It’s been an honor to be in community with these 9 amazingly talented women, under the guidance of Luis Alfaro…This experience was very different in the sense that we met every other week on Zoom, and still managed to form a community. We still bonded over this process. Luis is real big on process. And so the other playwrights not only helped me find my own style of writing, but also influenced the way that I teach creative writing, with this emphasis on process and being more nurturing…Being in community with other women writers has always been part of my creative process and my creative experience. And I value it so much. Often, people will think writing is this solitary act. Sure, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. I think the most important thing any writer can do is find a community of writers who can nurture your words and nurture your soul through that process.
AM: What are you most excited about for the live performance debut of your show?
PL: It’s at the Kirk Douglas Theatre! A year or so ago, I wanted a play at the Kirk Douglas. And my play, “West Adams,” was an LA Times Critics Choice play, and it was done at the Skylight Theatre, which is a great theater. But I thought, gosh, you know, I would love to be at the Kirk Douglas. And then COVID came and I thought, “Well, that’s over.” But when I got that call from Luis, I was shocked…I think the most exciting thing is that it’s at the Kirk Douglas and this group is all women. That’s what’s so brilliant. And people are actually going to hear our voices…And thank you to Luis Alfaro – he made our presence as playwrights and as women important. We’re not buried. We’re actually on top. People are seeing us and they even have our pictures outside of the theater. It’s wild. I’m so excited. And it’s nice, finally, to be recognized. That’s the nice thing – that we’re recognized, and we’re not shoved in the background, you know?
PS: I’m really excited for people to get a peek into what childbirth can actually be like. I hope it’s funny to them. I hope it’s a little disgusting and a little horrifying so that they understand what even the most wanted pregnancy entails, especially right now with everything that’s going on with women’s rights and abortion rights in our country. I think it’s really important to understand that there are a lot of very serious health risks and complications that can happen to even the most conscientious woman who’s gone to every appointment and tried to do everything right. And yes, of course, I’m a little nervous, too.
TRA: I’m feeling lots of feelings. The thing about writing fiction short stories is you don’t necessarily see people’s reaction when they’re reading your work, right? People might make comments, and it might fall flat, but it’s not, like, right then and there…Now I’m in this totally new element. And despite all the support and encouragement, from not only the writers’ workshop itself, but even from teacher friends who I told about this. As soon as I told them that I’m doing this, they were like, “We’re going to be there.” And I’m like, “Okay, wait, stop, no.” Yes, I want them there, because it’s for them, I did this for them. But what if I did it wrong? But what if my jokes don’t land? Because there’s some serious, really serious moments in this play, but I also try to balance that with lightness and humor and the things that we find amusing about our day to day existence as teachers. But what if it doesn’t land right? Right? What if they don’t interpret it the way that I intended it?...So I think that’s my biggest fear. But oh my god, what a thrill. It’s just like a whole different part of the creative writing process that I haven’t had before as a novelist and short story writer. I’m like, whoa, how fortunate am I that this opportunity presented itself, so I’m filled with gratitude and filled with humility. And as Luis often reminds us, it’s still a process. It’s a work in progress. And after this, it may change and it may morph into something else. And, and that’s okay. So that kind of lightens the pressure a little bit for this reading and this performance. I’m excited and nervous.
Tickets are currently on sale for the L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival and they are available at CenterTheatreGroup.org or 213- 628-2772. Tickets for a reading are $10 and a Festival Pass is $30.