Given I was a child actress who did television commercials, it’s not surprising I have always been interested in performing. Throughout high school, college, and law school I performed in many plays and musicals and even directed a few. I also love music and enjoy playing piano and guitar and singing. My friends and family have also always criticized me for having an annoying ability to remember precisely what everyone says, to be able to repeat conversations verbatim, and with the same emotion initially experienced. I have harnessed these skills and interests to write a play and a musical.
Smartphones and the internet have driven a desire for instant gratification and obliterated any boundaries between work and play. People are always deemed available. Consequently, career-driven twenty and thirty-year-olds now find they have no time to hang out and meet people organically. Instead, they turn to the science of algorithms and dating apps to find that perfect partner. Viewing science and emotion as polar opposites, I found this trend to be absurd and, along with three talented women, Lisa Yves, Lisa Ann Grant, and Eva Grant Rawiszer wrote a musical romantic comedy - Virtually Ours - finding the hilarity in this absurdity.
Virtually Ours
PHOTO GALLERY
Showcase at the NYC Sparks Theatre Festival for Emerging Artists
Like Avenue Q, this light romantic comedy is meant to be entertaining while conveying a serious deeper message. It explores how people make irrational life-changing decisions based on random events and how technology has affected the self-images, public personas, and relationships of young adults. Think Twelfth Night meets Tinder.
In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Viola asks:
"Conceal me what I am, and be my aid for such disguise
as haply shall become the form of my intent."
At that time, cottons, silks, and woven finery were used to conceal a person’s true gender. Today, pixels and algorithms are used to conceal a person’s true self and, in some cases, complete lack of existence. To this end, this play also debates whether a humanoid or virtual avatar may be a preferable partner to an imperfect and unpredictable human being.