Q+A with the 2023-24 Pipeline New Works Fellows
Cadence is thrilled to announce the 2023/24 Pipeline New Works Fellows for Playwriting and Screenwriting. These artists will embark on the creation of new work, under the mentorship of industry professionals, with the goal of having a fully developed piece by the end of the program.
2023 Playwrights
Djola Banner
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
One driving force of my work as a playwright/performer is dramatizing biographical and autobiographical drama. Another is giving voice to individuals historically absent from the stage. These two aspects of my creative practice have fueled my work for the past thirty years.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I hope to develop a cohort of like-minded writers during this fellowship experience. I REALLY miss writing groups that convene a couple times a month to exchange ideas and encourage each other's work.
Juliana Caycedo
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
Almost all of the writing I have done that I enjoy reading was made possible by whatever crowded coffee shop I could find a spot in and whatever music was wrecking my ears through my headphones as I wrote it. The other pieces I feel good about were made at the Basement theater in Richmond, Virginia surrounded by good friends who were also writing, none of us able to work continuously for more than 10 or 15 minutes without stopping to say something stupid to each other.
My writing started during the pandemic out of necessity. I was all clogged up from not being able to perform on stage and was encouraged by my good friend and artistic director of the Basement Deejay Gray to sign up for a writing workshop he started through the theater. It was led by writer, and soon-to-be friend of mine, Dante Piro on Zoom. I wrote something I felt pretty good about but I felt even better about having the revelation that writing might be what I have been looking for all along, as far as *expressing* myself.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I am inspired by the way other people experience life. The easiest way for me to access that is by consuming other peoples art, or listening to people talk about their lives and those of others. I write as a way to process what I see and hear and to expel intrusive thoughts. I also write because it satisfies me. Besides that I can only hope to convey a feeling strong enough to make someone else feel stimulated.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I am immeasurably excited about being chosen for this opportunity to get to know and learn from other writers' work and am looking forward to embarking on the collectively vulnerable experience of spilling our guts out. As someone with an unwavering love for the uniqueness of theater, having been accepted into the playwriting fellowship is more than I could have ever hoped for. A finished play would simply be the cherry on top of an ice cream dream.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
Words fail to express the love I have for my husband, siblings, and my best friends. I am at my best when eating something delicious with any combination of them. Outside of the theater I love my dog Lenny, pop music, movies, and lounging.
Eva DeVirgilis
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
I originally started writing because I desperately wanted to get on stage and perform. For me, the audition gods were not always kind and benevolent beings, so I learned very early in my career that I’d have to create my own work. I wrote jokes and did stand-up comedy at open mics and ‘bringer’ shows in NYC. That led to a sketch comedy show called Fire in the Hole that I co-wrote and performed with my writing partner, Kelly Mealia Small.
Many of our sketches were about the double standards placed on women, lampooning things like patriarchal religious oppression and sexist names men called us on the street. We were two young women trying to make sense of the world, so we wrote about what we knew and about what pissed us off. We wrote through our frustrations until we “got to the silly.” Little did I know, it was all preparation for a TEDxRVAwomen talk I’d write seven years later. While working my side-hustle as a makeup artist, I’d noticed a disturbing pattern: within the first three seconds of sitting in my makeup chair, nearly every woman would apologize to me for her appearance. I did it too. My TEDx talk unpacked different aspects of that societally-ingrained apology reflex, and it changed my life.
That 10-minute performance connected me with thousands of women all over the world who reached out to tell me they also apologized – for their bodies, for their perceived flaws, or for merely taking up space. After that explosively unexpected, supportive, global response from women, I began to feel – in my marrow – that there was a demand for a new type of purpose-driven, female-forward entertainment. What makes me return to the medium of playwriting is simply the opportunity for connection. To me, there’s nothing better than sitting in a theatre and having a completely immersive experience; one that takes me on a journey, transports me to another time and place, shows me another perspective, rips me from the monotony of conventional reason and sheds light through a new lens of living.
I want to laugh hard. I want to cry. I want enough ambiguity to explore my own conclusions. I love sitting in the dark with strangers and having a collective experience that uplifts me, melts my inner-cynic for a few hours and reminds me how precious this life is. In those moments, we realize we're all on the same team and we begin to root for one another. That’s the type of experience I long for and the kind of writing I’m interested in.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I write for and about women and girls; cis-gender, transgender, female-identifying. I strive to create unapologetic spaces where we can safely celebrate, laugh loudly, boast, reflect, connect, forgive and feel worthy. Spaces where we don’t feel obligated to take care of men’s feelings.
The audience is my favorite scene partner. I love creating interactive experiences for audiences to fully immerse themselves in. Whether it’s leading them to yell “No!” When I ask them to be happy with the pay they’re receiving, or pulling someone up on stage for an interview, or inviting the audience write supportive messages to one another, to conducting the audience to do “the wave” (of feminism), I love weaving unscripted, spontaneous moments – with scripted structure.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
To have a mentor in this field is rare. To have a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright with a current hit on Broadway guiding and supporting me is a miracle. I can’t wait to maximize every opportunity that I have to work with David Lindsay-Abaire and the other Fellows. I’m giddy at the prospect of having a new deadline to produce material, and hopefully I’ll have a working draft by the end of 2023.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
My joy is traveling. I love to get lost in far off places, find new friends and kindred souls to connect with. I love cooking and entertaining with my husband. I also get endless amounts of joy from helping other people write and perform their own stories.
Sharing our story is the most powerful thing we can do.
Andrew Gall
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
In the 5th grade, I did an adaptation of Howard Pyle’s book The Adventures of Robin Hood. I’ve been writing ever since, mostly closet writing. I’ve been working in theatre for thirty-some years so the intertwining of the pursuit of writing and theatre-making was probably inevitable.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I can’t not write. I don’t know if I have a philosophical approach to writing, or anything. I have to know what the beginning and end feel like before I can really start drafting. I rarely write things in order. I tend to write things three or four pages at a time. I don’t force things if they’re not coming. I always write plays/screenplays about things that I would want to see or about things I am interested in, thematically speaking. With plays, I have written for specific actors and theatre companies, which is ideal for me as I like that close collaboration, I find that inspiring.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
“Looking forward” is understating my level of enthusiasm for this fellowship. What am I looking to take away? Well, that’s the adventure! I don’t quite know at the moment, but I am wide open. I am like wet cement.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
My girlfriend/partner, Amanda, and the life we have built together here in Richmond. Seeing my kids (now practically grown) being happy in their own lives. I have a number of close friends, some that go all the way back to childhood, some that I have made since I moved here. My dad and my brother. The dogs. All the dogs. I have two now, but dogs have been a near constant source of joy in my life. I have a lot to be grateful for.
Olivia Luzquinos
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
Dialogue just makes sense to my brain. I tried being a novelist, and I even got 40,000 words in once, but I don’t have the patience for it. When I have ideas I hear characters talking in my brain and that lends itself to playwriting.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I write to try to understand the world. What makes writing exhilarating for me is the pursuit of trying to figure out what I want to say. I want to see stories about complex women and authentic queer relationships and I don’t think you can wait for someone else to write the stories you want to see, so I’m writing them myself.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
My dogs bring me so much joy. Their fluffy faces always make me smile. And Taylor Swift. She was my number one artist on my Spotify wrapped if that tells you anything about me. I am also an avid crochet and Joann Fabric store brings me lots and lots of joy.
M Mary Sullivan
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
Ms. Reinholdt gave extra credit in third grade for completing writing prompts. She had a box of them in the back of her class. "You're on a new planet. What's it like? What do you look like? How do you spend your days?" Things like that. I loved every bit of it. Got an A++++++++++++++++++ for English that year. She encouraged me to read the stories aloud to the class. When I learned potty humor was a sure-fire way to get a laugh, I fell in love with performing them. I think the stories draw me to the medium. Some things are meant to be poems, some short stories, some that have to be planted on a stage. Lately, the stories have been asking to be onstage. Just following their lead. They get feisty if you put them in the wrong spot.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I enjoy it. Simplest answer. Okay, love it. Don't tell anyone. It's saved my life. I would not have survived without being able to empty my thoughts somewhere. It slows things down to a manageable speed and allows me to connect to people and I hope also for people to connect to each other. Inspiration? I'll answer that personally rather than as it relates to writing. Working in the mental health field, I see inspiration all the time. I get to touch it all the time. I listen to people who have walked through some horrendous things in their lives and yet somehow managed to continue walking. By all accounts, some folks shouldn't ever laugh again, it feels like, but they do. Somehow they do. And often very loudly. They inspire me to want to seek truth and speak truth and also not to take myself too damn seriously.
My writing philosophy is similar to my work philosophy. Get help! Ask for it. Follow the guidance of those who've been there. We've all got different parts of ourselves. Young parts, old parts, rebellious teenage parts. I feel like a lot of time it's about writing for these parts of myself, hoping it lands with those parts in others. As lonely a pursuit as writing seems, the end result is a feeling of not being alone. The same is true for those reading or watching that writing. You are not alone. Truly. :)
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I dropped out of a playwriting program when I was 19. I dropped out of a lot of things around that age. I hope to rekindle that dream here in goddamn middle age. What I most look forward to is finally seeing what I can do. I'm nervous and scared but this is also an incredibly exciting feeling.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
Making up fairy tales at bedtime with my daughter with more puns than should be legally allowed in stories. Getting 12 am texts from my two sons saying, “Love ya, dad.” Black raspberry truffle ice cream at Brusters. Floating the James with a fishing rod in my hand. Getting 12:15 am text saying, “No. We’re fine. Just wanted to tell you I love ya.” The possibility of change.
Liv Wilson
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
I really and truly began writing in January of 2020 (perfect timing, right?). I was in an Advanced Playwriting program at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center (don’t know how I ended up there). For a class, I wrote a farcical fairytale based on the story of the Little Red Riding Hood, set in the 1960s during the Red and Lavender Scares, complete with incompetent secret agents, deceitful sidekicks, and communist revenge.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
To me, playwriting is the most frustrating anomaly I’ve ever crossed paths with. We sit in our little rooms, at our little desks, in front of our little screens and we go click clack click clack, trying to pin down play – play, an action inherently unencumbered and unscripted. Yet, here we are click-clacking away, attempting to record an ephemeral action that may or may not ever see the light of day and if it does, will inevitably fade away into the past.
I write to make sense of the world, myself, and the relationship between the two. I spend a lot of time in my head, thinking, overthinking and eventually that makes its way to the page in the hopes that someone else might want to think on it too. Writing, to me, is a bid for connection. We reach out in hope and we enter the arena in vulnerability.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I am so eager to have structure and mentorship again! Writing can be very lonely and guideless. I look forward to camaraderie and guidance. I hope I can come away from this experience with greater knowledge about the writing process and my own.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
I love being in connection with others– whether that’s cooking a meal, going on a hike, or chatting over a cup of tea– so much of the joy in my life comes from the wonderful people surrounding me.
2023 Screenwriters
Rusty Baldwin
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
I began writing my first screenplays when I was around thirteen years old. They were bad Tarantino knockoffs or something with zombies. Always very genre heavy with lots of random acts of violence. There are many reasons for this early influence, but mainly the first screenplay I ever got my hands on was a three tacked facsimile of Pulp Fiction with a red construction paper cover. My parents sold comics and toys on the weekends at conventions and swap meets and one of their associates sold old movie posters and printed scripts. It’s the first time I saw the correct formatting of a screenplay, how a writer described action, what a scene heading was, and how to alternate between character names above the dialogue. It was fascinating to see through reverse engineering (having seen the film first before reading the script) how a director took their vision from the page to the screen.
Soon after that I got my first job working as a Page at the local public library. There were always books around the house growing up, but it wasn’t until I started adventuring out into the world of literature that I discovered there were people who thought and felt like I did. I was always a sad kid, not that there wasn’t joy in my life, but my wiring tends to lead me down the dark path.
Through novels, I found there was a beauty in that sadness. All those big questions I had in my head at an early age, while I didn’t find answers to them in literature, I found that it was okay to ask the questions, that nobody really knew the answers either, but just thinking about the human experience could create beautiful art. So challenging literature was always something that has been very important in my life. I have a list of influences I continue to steal from including Denis Johnson, Cormac McCarthy, Daniel Woodrell, Coetzee, Delillo. I could go on. What I didn’t know was you could find this same kind of weight in cinema. You watch something like Tarkovsky’s The Mirror and a rabbit hole opens that you jump right through to Bergman and on and on. One of my daily gratitudes is the fact I will never run out of books to read and movies to watch and that through these art forms I discover painters and musicians and poets and architects, scientists, philosophers, and fashion designers to study. There is always something new to learn and inspire you.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I want to learn more about the business side of writing and what it takes to be a working writer. I hope to meet some smart, interesting people that enjoy talking about writing and films. I look forward to sharing my new work with fellow writers and taking their advice to improve my scripts.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
I enjoy working out and eating at good restaurants with my beautiful girlfriend. I love traveling and staying at nice hotels. I love running on the beach before the sun comes up then walking out into the waves with the first light of the day breaking on the horizon. There’s something almost biblical about swimming alone in the ocean. A primal fear arises that is as close to a spiritual experience as I can find.
Adrian Belman
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium?
I have been writing stories since childhood. I thoroughly enjoy world-building and character development. I bought screenwriting books approximately eleven years ago. They largely sat on my bookshelves undisturbed, while I wrote chapters of various novels and dreamed of them debuting on the New York Times bestsellers list. The Covid-19 pandemic hit, and the world seemed to come to a gruesome halt. After pondering a range of existential questions, while guzzling frozen yogurt with Beethoven’s 5th symphony on repeat, I decided to marshal my creative energy to pursue a career in screenwriting. The opportunity for experimentation, while presenting world-views that impact people in unpredictable ways, draws me to screenwriting.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
I write to convey information in comedic and culturally nuanced ways. I am inspired by the beauty of the human experience and the resilience of the human spirit. My writing philosophy is “research, then write.” I write for the people who want to experience other cultural perspectives through television shows and films, to make sense of their own worlds.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
The Pipeline Fellowship at Cadence is a wonderful opportunity to learn from talented peers and award-winning mentors. I am most looking forward to developing collaborative creative relationships with the selected fellows and mentors, to bring brilliant screenplays to production in the areas of television and film.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
My family, friends, the performing arts, reading, solving puzzles, creating art, traveling, and perfecting my comedy set for my non-existent Netflix special, bring me joy.
Marcus Dowd
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium (either playwriting or screenwriting)?
The pandemic was the reason I started screenwriting. I couldn't do live theatrical productions so I needed to find a way to stay connected to creativity alone in my house. I got involved in the early development of Kdents TV and it opened me up to film and the different components of creating digital art and I was drawn to the screenwriting aspect.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
Maybe it's because I was and still am an actor, but I find writing most inspiring when I can write dialogue for characters. Creating characters is one of my favorite parts of the performance, and that is reflective of my character-based approach to writing. I also usually have a vision for the ending that I am writing towards.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I cannot wait to meet new people. The mentors I've worked with through Cadence have all been nothing less than amazing and I look forward to getting the opportunity to work with even more of them.
Outside of writing, what brings you joy?
Outside of writing I still love being on stage singing, acting, and dancing. Spending time with family and friends, and I look forward to my four years in college just around the corner.
Kathryn Thompson
When did you begin writing and what draws you to the medium (either playwriting or screenwriting)?
I began screenwriting in 2020 by taking a class at the Visual Arts Center. I had honestly never thought about screenwriting and only took the class because the memoir class was full. It was a very different style of writing, I had primarily been doing poetry, fiction, blogging, etc. I also do grant writing and copywriting for work. The instructor kept telling me that my drafts had too much emotion, which really threw me for a loop lol. Once I understood what to write I really enjoyed this new style of writing I had found. In 2021, I produced my first short film and it was selected in three film festivals. I don't know if I can describe what it feels like to see your writing on a big screen, but I love it! I hope to create visual stories about my culture and experiences as a Black woman and this draws me to the medium.
Why do you write? What inspires you? Do you have a "writing philosophy" or way that you approach the work? Who do you write for?
Writing is weaved into who I am as a person. I have written since childhood. I don't have a particular approach to my writing and should probably be more disciplined in setting aside time to write every day. I do try to regularly attend classes offered at local arts organizations for writers and am interested in publishing some of my work. I am currently writing for Black culture. My current project is focused on destigmatizing traditional Black spirituality with a focus on Haiti. As I have literally gone in search of myself in trying to connect to my ancestral and cultural heritage, this has become so important to me. I felt I had no connections to traditions of Africa and I'm sure many in the African Diaspora feel the same way I do. Our stories are also a very minimal part of film and television. I want to be one of the ones who tells those stories through the lens of lived experience.
What is something you hope to take away from this fellowship experience? What are you most looking forward to?
I am excited about this whole experience! I entered a world where I have no connections to other professionals when I chose to learn a new medium. I am so excited to work with mentors and other professionals who have vast experience in screenwriting and filmmaking. I am most looking forward to learning more about what it takes to successfully get my work produced for audiences and improving my technical knowledge of screenwriting.
Please join us welcoming this year’s newest cohorts and stay tuned for how the progress of these pieces unfold.
