They said it would be hard to pursue a career in theater after college, but I didn't realize it would be so hard and so horrible that I'd completely lose interest in it. All through college and even towards graduation I wanted to have my own theater company and be its Artistic Director. However, after being disheartened by the theater in LA, its low turnouts, I hit my limit and stopped writing plays. In the risk of sounding completely pompous, I think I kick-ass and have done pretty well in producing my own work. I even have my own production company where we produce plays. It's just now, there's no inspiration for me to write these plays and these stories.

I started questioning things after I spent money I didn't have, cried over rehearsals, sweat through trying to get people to show up--and barely made profit. Again, it hasn't all been bad, but even high quality theater in LA can be terrible and disheartening. 

The other day as I was going through my things, organizing my life. I was able to look through all my media files and saw a lot of footage from plays I did in the last seven years. One of them being, "Real Love," which was written for the 2013 New Works Festival at LMU. It was about two brothers, Sean and Cody, who were fighting over their mother's engagement ring while trying to define their definition of "real love." Cody was the more stable, successful brother, while Sean struggled with self-confidence, and social skills. Sean was romantically linked to three different girlfriends, all of which were sex dolls. We also get an angle on the sex dolls as they come to life and try to figure out what love means while living in a world where they're just used for physical pleasure, but have no feelings. ​

It was such a fun idea that when I wrote it, it sort of just took off. It was my first comedy, dark comedy, but I think it really covered a lot and the execution of it all really came together. The audience enjoyed the show and I think the actors were so perfect for the roles the played; they all shined on stage. As a playwright/director/Filipina, it's hard for me to never worry and just enjoy a performance. I enjoyed this performance, hearing them say my lines, follow my directions, it really made my heart soar. They were telling my story for me and it made me so proud and thankful for them. 

I guess this was the reminder I needed. It made me miss theater and I realized that I wanted more people to see these stories. I want to be able to show everyone that theater can be fun and it can be fun in LA. I'm not saying that I'm going to rally for theater, but I think I'm going to slowly share my memories and these stories. They were once able to not only make an impact on the audience who watched these shows, but also on the actors that were brave enough to take on their roles and be in my plays. 

My wish is that someday, when I am more successful and financially stable, I'd be able to write more shows and invest more time in theater. Theater was always home and I know that my work today wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for my roots. With all this said I'm going to be writing and posting my One Page Plays again, this time not every day, but at least once a week! 

Until next time,