Scriptwriting

As a writer, I'm drawn to the truth in unbelievable places. As Americans, as humans, our history is stranger than fiction. I take seeds from people, places, things around me or far away, and I grow them in strange soil. I'm drawn to magical realism, to lyrical people, and dark things.

I have quite a few works in development, both independently and in collaboration with some marvelously talented collaborators. My screen and stage writing both tend to focus on slightly bent fragments of history - those stranger-than-fiction facts that need just a bit of creative writing to expose readers to their harder truths. I'm particularly drawn to magical realism, inspired by Fuentes and Marquez at a young age.

Nowhere does silence speak louder than on the silver screen. I'm attracted to words, to people who use them strangely, who syncopate their meanings. When I write, I focus on those moments that leave even these characters speechless. 

Much of my screenwriting is based on actual history, the kind that hurts just as much now as it did then. The places in our history we haven't healed. Ask about my pilot, rarer monsters, or my first biopic, Bishop. I'm always working on a few things, so feel free to read more below!

In college I fell in love with playwrights like Sam Shepard and Sarah Ruhl. The specific ways they bend reality without bending humanity captivated me. This species of intimacy can only be found in live performance. 

Produced stage works include Skaida, Skaidis..., a one-person travelogue of the tiny distances between us, and contributions to the Word and the Beat, as well as numerous performance poetry competitions and sessions. New stage works are always in process!

Awards for written work include a Best Screenplay Award from the BridgeFest Toronto International Film Festival for Bishop, and the Helen Ward Memorial Prize for Skaida, Skaidis...