Ella Talerico, Studio’s Artistic Producing Fellow, interviewed Phanésia Pharel, playwright of Dead Girls Quinceañera, which will be featured in the inaugural New Pages, New Stages Festival.
ELLA: How did you fall in love with playwriting?
PHANÉSIA: I’ve fallen in and out of love with playwriting many times. I once went to a conference where Marsha Norman was the keynote speaker, right after I had directed her play ’night, Mother. I’m not really a director, but I loved directing that play. She said there are three things you need to do if you want to be a playwright: watch theater, make theater, and read a lot of plays. So I did.
I grew up a big reader—books were everything. But once I started reading plays, I loved them so much I stopped reading books. I had a full-on love affair with plays.
ELLA: What do you think is the difference between a play and a book, and why does that excite you?
PHANÉSIA: Dialogue. I love dialogue. Things happen faster in plays; books move more slowly. One of the first plays I read was The Flick by Annie Baker, and it felt like you were just sitting in on a conversation. You can get that feeling in books sometimes too, and those were always the books I loved most.
ELLA: So why are you a playwright? Why theater?
PHANÉSIA: Theater is singular because it’s something we experience together. I say this when I teach: plays are a human truth told through time. We’re watching that truth unfold together.
We’re living in the greatest age of disconnection in human history. Technology connects us superficially, but true connection comes from being in the same space. A play brings people together and reminds us of our humanity.
ELLA: What would be different about the world if everyone experienced your plays?
PHANÉSIA: I hope people would feel less xenophobic. I hope they’d understand the power of young women. And I hope they’d recognize that the future—especially the future of America—is Latina. It is Black and it is here.
ELLA: What inspired you to write Dead Girls Quinceañera?
PHANÉSIA: I wrote it for my best friend, Bella. It’s her play. She saved my life in high school. When parents are busy and overwhelmed, a teenage girl’s best friend can save her life. I’ve never experienced a relationship like that since, and I was fascinated by it.
I was also interested in this phenom that every Latina I've ever met has in some way, shape or form iterated to me that she does not feel “Latina enough”. I'm from Miami. So, I understand that you could look like me, you could look like my director Melia, and you could look like Sofia Vergara. That's the range, right? My grandmother is dark like me. Her mother was white, a white Dominican lady. And my grandmother ended up being this dark-skinned Dominican lady. And I am a dark-skinned Haitian Dominican girl, a Haitian and Hispanic heritage girl. And so that is the range that Latinas occupy.
I was also thinking about competition between young girls—but sometimes what inspires you doesn’t end up being the play you write. What is in the play is that all the girls are Latina, but they look different. Sama is Cuban, Este is Central American, Phoebe is darker-skinned, Maria is Black. You think there's one type of Latina, but I'm showing you four different girls of different shades.
ELLA: Where is the play now? What questions are you still asking?
PHANÉSIA: It’s ready to be on its feet. There are small tweaks toward the end that Melia and I are still exploring, making sure everything is earned. Whenever you think a play doesn’t need more work, there’s something you haven’t seen yet. That’s the gift of theater—you always get another chance to look again.
ELLA: Anything else you’d like to share?
PHANÉSIA: I’m so excited to come to D.C. It’s my favorite city in America. People say if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere—but I think if you’ve made it, you’re in D.C. The culture, the food, the museums—it’s the heartbeat of America.