Written by Patrick Chavis

This is a play reading at the Wayward Artist in Santa Ana on May 20, 2023, covering two local Latina playwrights, Elvia Susana Rubalcava, and Baylee Shlichtman.

“These two plays speak to the different ways that we as humans take our pasts and try to move forward into the future. Both plays touch on how wounds can be passed down from father to daughter, but with such beautiful, opposing tones. I hope that audiences can feel how we are gathering the fire through powerful stories about these women written by two fantastic playwrights.” – Melanie Queponds, director of the readings. Taken from the website.

The Plays:

Three Conversations with my Dead Dad by Elvia Susana Rubalcava
Vero finally unpacks the boxes from her dad’s house, only to find old books, pictures, and memories aren’t the only things spilling out of them. Taken from the website.

Wilt by Baylee Shlichtman

Baylee Shlichtman – from an Internet conversation on the play Wilt and the wayward reads event.

I’m mostly just excited to be working with all these cool/talented people. Content warning: Cannibalism, Language, sexual situations, and violence.

We were shooting for something like the reading of Brown Bodies on a Blue Earth at the previous Wayward Reads (as in a little elevated but still very much a reading).

 

I think, ultimately, this is a play about how love can be twisted into entitlement and the lengths a person will go to get what they want in the most extreme sense. There’s a lot of fairytale iconography and lots of recognizable archetypes that get played with and subverted throughout. And, of course, it’s about food.

 

As far as expectations, well, it has a very Alice in Wonderland/Disney vibe to it. There’s a lot of fun, whimsical imagery, but something lurks just beneath the surface.