In Haiti, at night, entire villages gather around fires and candlelight to listen to folklore whispered by a single storyteller. My family carried that tradition with them to the states, where my six older siblings and I grew up listening to magical and fantastical stories, many based on religious and voodoo figures. I never knew what was real or supernatural, or if the supernatural was just as real as I. In these stories, characters were constantly running from their family and their land in search for a new identity. But in a world where spirits, deities, and God guide life, these characters were bound to their destinies.

These oral and mythical traditions are what brought me to where I am today. The other worldliness, the power of language, the poetry and rhythm inspired me to write all of my plays, and had perhaps it’s strongest impact on Little Children Dream of God. But I spent the first twenty-some years of my life running from this play, and from a life in the theatre altogether.

I didn’t do theatre in high school. It wasn’t a thing that a kid from Overtown Miami did. So instead my artistic outlet became…

Originally posted on Roundabout Theatre Company Blog

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