Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Leilani Larson
Hi Melissa Leilani, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Kahuku, on the North Shore of O’ahu. I spent most of my childhood in Hau’ula, Hawai’i, and then we moved to Utah just before my thirteenth birthday. I’m a mixed-race person; my mom is from the Philippines and my dad is white. He was born in Southern Utah and grew up in Nevada. My parents gave me a Hawaiian middle name (Leilani means “flower from heaven”). Because of that, and my complexion, people are often confused about my ethnicity. It’s led to some awkward situations, but it’s also helped me point me toward some of the topics I write about.
I went to high school in Orem, and then did my undergraduate work at BYU. I think it was in third grade that I decided I would be a writer. I was always reading. I’m addicted to good stories. I went to college intent on being a novelist. One day during my sophomore year I saw a flyer advertising a playwriting contest. The prize was $500 and a staged reading. I had no idea what a staged reading was, but I knew what $500 was. So I went home and wrote a play. It took me about two weeks. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I had a great time. I submitted my play and waited for my check to come in the mail. I thought— This will be the easiest money I’ve ever made. I was shocked when I received a letter notifying me that I had not won. How many people are there in the world writing plays?? Turns out a lot of people are out there writing plays. I didn’t understand what was wrong with my play, so I registered for a beginning playwriting class the following semester. On the first day, I promptly chickened out and dropped the class. I did this several times until fall of my senior year. It sounds cliché to say that my life changed, but that’s what happened. That class was one of the hardest writing classes I’ve ever taken. I was so used to telling stories in prose and had to figure out how to tell them in dialogue and action. I struggled to learn the rules. I did eventually figure it out, and I haven’t really looked back. I studied theatre in grad school, earning my MFA from The Iowa Playwrights Workshop. I would still like to write a novel some day, but I’ve written twenty-two-ish plays in the meantime. Oh, and that first play—I revised it and entered the contest again a few years later. It won, and that play became my first fully produced play.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Remember what I said about all those other playwrights? In the years since I started down this road, it feels like that number has increased enormously. I know so many playwrights, and there are so many more that I don’t know. And we all want the same thing: to see our work produced. So we all submit and submit and submit. We self promote (I had to learn to share my work on social media) and we schmooze and we submit some more. And maybe, sometimes, you get lucky.
Most people can’t write plays for a living. You have to be incredibly successful to be a playwright for your full-time job. Most of us have a day job and make theatre on the side. There’s nothing wrong with that, not at all. It’s a necessity. But it can be hard to be surrounded by people who treat your passion as a hobby because, well, based on your schedule, it looks like a hobby. It’s also exhausting, because there are days that feel like you’re working two full-time jobs simultaneously.
There is a lot of rejection in this field. Theatre—all of art, really—is so subjective. A play might be perfectly written, but there are so many factors that influence whether or not a theatre company will produce it. One of my favorites among my plays has only ever been produced twice. I think it’s one of my best, if not the best, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Will a theatre think the staging is too complicated? Are they worried the material won’t interest their audiences? Would they prefer to do a comedy rather than a drama? All I can do is keep writing and hope that the right play gets read by the right person at the right time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a playwright, and occasionally a screenwriter. I script stories that are performed on stage and film. I specialize in telling women’s stories: thorny relationships between mothers and daughters, awkward romances, enduring friendships, invisible histories. I have so many dear friends who are incredible actors, and there never seem to be enough meaty femme-presenting roles for them to play. So my goal is to write the plays that will provide those roles.
Representation matters. I’ve been writing plays for almost twenty-five years, and I have struggled to own my Asian-ness and biracial-ness and give myself permission to write about them. If I want to see people who look like me on stage, I need to write those plays and tell those stories. My current work in progress is about a Filipino immigrant who, while working toward US citizenship, is forced to leave her daughter behind for a number of years and that separation strains their relationship. It’s a very American story, and I think it has the potential to be powerful.
I have a knack for heightened language (one of my most frequently produced plays is Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE). I work really hard to make my characters relatable, no matter the time period. A friend told me once that she loved coming to my shows because she expected her heart would be broken, but she knew she was going to love every minute of it. One of the most satisfying feelings ever is feeling the vibe of the audience and knowing they get it. They get it! You can’t buy that feeling.
Lately, though, after years of writing and learning and revising, I’ve let myself realize that I am funny. That I can be funny. Comedy is so, so difficult. For the longest time I just figured I shouldn’t even try, and I didn’t. Despite that, I would write comedic moments without thinking and be pleasantly surprised to hear audiences laugh. Now I write comedies on purpose! It’s like a whole new world.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I do love Jane Austen, that’s a given (PERSUASION is my go-to). I’ve adapted two of her novels for the stage and plan to do all six. I’ve read Betty Smith’s A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN roughly once a year since I was fifteen. I adore Hilary Mantel’s WOLF HALL; I wish could have written it. My favorite podcast is Selected Shorts: actors read short stories aloud in a concert format. Other favorite podcasts: Criminal, More Perfect, Dolly Parton’s America, and Stuff the British Stole. They cover a variety of topics, but the storytelling is excellent across them all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.melissaleilanilarson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mel_leilani/
- Twitter: https://x.com/mel_leilani
Image Credits
Headshot by Stephen Speckman
The Post Office, Plan-B Theatre Co.; photo by Rick Pollock
Pride and Prejudice, Texas Shakespeare; photo by James Logue
Mestiza or Mixed, Plan-B Theatre Co.; photo by Sharah Meservy
Gin Mummy, Utah Valley University; photo by Suzy O Photography
Pilot Program, Plan-B Theatre Co.; photo by Rick Pollock
