My Story

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Although my primary passion is writing for the theatre, I’ve also developed a deep love for screenwriting—particularly stories that spotlight Deaf characters. Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Sign Light International Deaf Film Festival in Los Angeles. Watching extraordinary films by Deaf filmmakers and participating in discussions during Q&As about the unique challenges they face breaking into the hearing-dominated industry was profoundly moving. As someone who has been married to my wonderful Deaf husband for 33 years and has honed my craft as a writer, I’ve realized that I bring a unique perspective. It’s a perspective I hope will contribute meaningfully to the Deaf film world.

 

To that end, I’ve written several ten-minute films designed specifically for Deaf actors performed entirely in American Sign Language (ASL) without spoken dialogue. Some directors have already expressed interest in producing and directing these works, and I’m thrilled about the possibilities they hold.

 

My journey as a playwright began in the fourth grade when my parents gifted me a light blue typewriter. I wasn’t sure why they gave it to me, but I took it to my room and ended up writing an eight-page play about a couple, Jack and Judy, getting married and divorced. (Coincidentally, my parents’ names were Jack and Judy, and divorce was a frequent topic in our home.) They found my work “amazing,” and somehow it ended up in the hands of my teacher. Before I knew it, the school had me and another student performing my play in classrooms. For better or worse, my audience was comprised of peers with the emotional maturity of fourth graders.

 

I grew up acting and trained in the Meisner technique with William Esper for two years, which changed my life. Following that, I spent six years helping Joanne Baron run her Meisner studio, starting with setting up her studio in NYC and then moving it to LA all the while sitting in on all her classes. Those years of immersion in Meisner’s principles deeply influenced my writing. One day, a friend asked if I had a short play he could perform with an actress to showcase their talent. I gave him a silly play I’d written called Super Romantic! The next day, the theatre company called to ask me to join their Playwrights Unit. Me? A playwright? It hadn’t even occurred to me.

 

That play went on to become a curtain-raiser for an Arthur Miller play—like being the opening act for Elvis. On opening night, as I hid backstage, I heard the audience erupt into laughter—again and again. It hit me: I had made all these people laugh. In that moment, I was hooked on playwriting.

 

Since then, I’ve had many plays produced and received incredible love for my work. My play Vagabond was optioned by The Farm (We Grow Theatre). My play Falling Awake was nominated for Most Outstanding New Play by the Midtown International Theatre Festival, where several of my works were produced. Another play, Ticket to Eternity, premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival.

 

I earned my BFA and MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where I studied under Gordon Farrell, the brilliant playwright of The Lifespan of a Fact and author of The Playwrights Vision. I also studied screenwriting extensively with the incredibly brilliant Jacob Krueger at Write Your Screenplay.

 

When I was six, my family moved to India for a year. I fell in love with the vibrant colors, street festivals, dancing, and theatrical costumes. We traveled up the East Coast of India, spending nights alternately in mud huts or guesthouses. My father, an artist, photographed Indian temples adorned with sculptures of figures making love in every imaginable position. (God bless my mother for her creativity in answering my endless seven-year-old questions.) When it was time to leave India, I begged my family to let me stay. They claimed being seven was “too young to live in a country alone,” so back to America we went. My life shifted from color to black and white—until theatre returned the magic to my world.

 

I have dedicated my life to the craft of creating magic through stories, and I hope to bring a little of that magic into yours.