Tori and Mabelle talk with Inda about her journey from sketch comedy in Chicago to Dramatic Writing at USC and beyond! Inda shares about motherhood, the moment at an audition when she realized she needed to make a life change, and how she found her voice as a playwright.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fGcRxIX2A19ks2d3tj8Ge?si=c4668665719f4583
Writing Prompt (courtesy of Inda Craig-Galván)
Half Life Monologue. Inda credits Luis Alfaro with introducing her to this exercise. This exercise can be used at all stages of play development. Inda finds this useful when she is already writing the play and she doesn’t know what will happen next, what the character wants, or how the character will react next. Whatever age your character is in the play, you write a monologue for them at half of their current age (e.g. if they are 30, the monologue will be from their 15-year-old self). You will find some nugget once you start writing the Half Life Monologue that will inform where they are now in the play that you are crafting–what their hopes and goals were; what their trauma was; and/or what their personal inciting incident was. This exercise has been super helpful to her in terms of what is going to happen.
Connect with Inda:
Website: https://www.indacraig-galvan.com
Twitter: @IndaCraigGalvan
IG: @indawritesthings
NPX: https://newplayexchange.org/users/6169/inda-craig-galván
Inda’s bio:
Inda Craig-Galván writes stuff – mostly plays and TV. Her work often explores intra-racial conflicts and politics within the African-American community. Grounded in reality with a touch of magical realism that fucks with time & memories.
Inda’s currently developing new works of theatre on commission with The Old Globe and Round House Theatre.
Produced plays include a hit dog will holler (Skylight Theatre & Playwrights’ Arena co-production, Los Angeles), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles) I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena, Los Angeles). Inda is the recipient of the Kesselring Prize, Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award, Blue Ink Playwriting Prize, Jane Chambers Student Award for Feminist Playwriting, and Stage Raw Best Playwright Award. Inda’s plays have been included on the Kilroys List (twice) and Steppenwolf Theatre’s The Mix.
Inda has developed & presented work at Bay Area Playwrights Festival, NNPN Showcase, Ashland New Play Festival, Orlando Shakes, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Black Swan Lab, The Old Globe Powers New Voices Festival, Kitchen Dog Theatre New Works Festival, Black & Latino Playwrights Conference, WomenWorks, Humanitas, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Skylight Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Trustus Theatre Playwrights Festival, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Intiman, and others.
Aside from theatre, Inda is a TV writer on the upcoming series: Will Trent (ABC). She previously wrote on the JJ Abrams series Demimonde (HBO), the upcoming Happy Face (Paramount+), How to Get Away with Murder (ABC), and The Rookie (ABC). She is in development with Universal TV Studios to write and executive produce Cotton Club Princess, adapted from the novel by Karla Diggs. a hit dog will holler, Inda’s 4-episode fiction podcast adapted from her play, was produced by Radiotopia.fm and is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
MFA in Theatre: Dramatic Writing, University of Southern California.
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Check out Inda’s play, “The Great Jheri Curl Debate,” at East West Players until October 9th: https://eastwestplayers.org/jhericurl/
Inda’s play, “Black Superhero Magic Mama,” plays at Ophelia’s Jump in Upland, CA, until October 16. Buy tix here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=ophj
Listen to Inda’s play, “a hit dog will holler” on Radiotopia: https://radiotopiapresents.fm/a-hit-dog-will-holler
Mabelle’s reimaging of “The Secret Garden” runs at Olympia Family Theater Sept 30-Oct 16: https://olyft.org