This is the first-ever OC Spirit Award, and hopefully the beginning of many to come. This award is given to an artist who has captured a part of Orange County in their art and in their story. After consensus from the curtain, we chose Matthews M. Hayashi’s play Sentences, which played at Chance Theatre in May. I wrote in my review – Quote: “An OC time capsule with a heart is playing now at the Chance Theater.” And what I meant by that is. While Sentences is a coming-of-age story about friendship, growing up, and betrayal, you can find that in many places if you grew up in Orange County, around the 90s/2000s, like Hayashi did in Fullerton.

The language and the dress were distinctly Orange County. Quote: “I found myself impressed with how much it sounded like how I remember people used to talk back in middle school and high school days.” For this truth and authenticity in this local homegrown work, we present Matthew M. Hayahi with the 2025 OC Spirit Award. – Patrick Chavis