RESUME 

                                                                                    Why do you create? 

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                         People have been asking me this question for as long as I can remember, and, to be quite honest, I                           wasn’t always sure of an answer. Telling stories has always been a part of me, steady and                                               unchanging. As I got older, my interests and alignments shifted, but one thing never changed: I was                           always a creative. From the tender age of four, I would toddle around my living room, clasping wax                             crayons between my toddler-sized fists. Each crayon had a specific name, age, and backstory. They                             fought. They went on adventures. They fell in love.

                         That was the first time I can remember writing and performing. I was creating theatre, if only for                                   myself. 

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                        My passion for creating has not faded one bit since I played with my crayons as a toddler.                                            Throughout my high school career, I have had multiple plays produced with different companies,                                and I have acted in a multitude of productions. The ability to breathe life into words is something                                that I do not take lightly. I often try to mix advocacy into my pieces, and I thoroughly research                                      societal issues before building a character.

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                        I started writing plays when I was in my sophomore year of high school. I attend a                                                          performing arts high school that offers a robust playwriting program, and entering the course felt                                like a no-brainer for me. The first time I sat down to write a play, I felt a little at sea. It was a new                                 medium to me, and I wasn’t quite sure where to start. However, after a few obligatory awful ten-                                 minutes, I started to find my rhythm. I started writing more and more plays, and eventually, this led                             to me winning a local competition and getting one of my plays produced for the first time. I have                               been involved in theatre since I was very young, but sitting in that proscenium hearing my words in                             someone else’s mouth was by far my most vivid experience. Characters that had existed only in my                             head for so long were suddenly living, breathing people. I’ve had more plays produced since then,                             but that night was transformative for me. From then on, I decided I would write plays for the rest of                             my life– and that’s just what I did. I’ve built up my repertoire over time, and I’ve written plays ranging                         from ten-minutes to full-lengths. I firmly believe that none of this would have happened if I hadn’t                               taken the leap and signed up for a new medium of writing.

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                        I am also an avid actor, and I have been acting since I was very young. Acting has not been a linear                            journey for me; there have been many instances where I didn't think I could make it. I can recall the                            many long, arduous nights when I pored over a script, trying to figure out what exactly my                                            character's true objective was. I'll never forget the summer of 2022 when I performed and devised a                          theatre piece with an independent theatre company spurred by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.                                  Both writing and performing as my character challenged me more than theatre has ever challenged                          me. I was forced to examine my beliefs and push beyond the text to truly do justice to both the                                  character and the show that we devised. However, I continued my journey, and I have been acting to                          this day. I have been lucky enough to play many challenging roles, from farces to full-length                                        contemporary dramas.  I have undergone both classical and contemporary acting training, and I                                  have experienced immense growth in the four years spent at my performing arts high school. I hope                          to continue acting and make a career out of it alongside writing as I continue to grow and develop                            my craft.

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                         I create because words are air to me, and telling stories is breathing. I create because the things I                               internalize spill out onto the page, giving me a voice I didn’t know I had. I create because, without                             the ability to tell a story, my world is devoid of color, cold and lifeless and empty. I can’t say exactly                             why or when I started acting and writing, but I know this: telling stories is a part of who I am, and it                             will never go away.