Morris micklewhite12/31/2023 If you’re part of a historically underrepresented or disenfranchised group, there’s more pressure on your stories to be perfect. What would you say are the biggest challenges in the work you do? If we love a fictional world, can we make our world more like that world? When I write, it’s almost like “See! What if we did things like that!” I’m a begrudging optimist. We’re having a conversation with the world we’re in. But when we do that, it helps us step back a little bit and get a different view of our reality. I want to create these other worlds to break free of the confines of my social reality. That’s definitely still present in my writing. Part of what drew me to storytelling was escapism: I may live in this one town, in this house, with these rules, but while I’m reading this book, I can escape. Growing up, I was that kid who would get a stack of books from the public library and get through them in two weeks. I think the two things are super connected. Do you see your writing as an escape from society or a way of commenting on it? You talk a lot about imagination and crafting new worlds. It’s a reminder that you can know a lot about yourself really early on. We have a brilliant young trans actor in our cast, and I love getting to hear her experience. We’re not saying that Morris is queer or trans – Morris is a child who loves this swishy magical orange fabric! But there might be young people in our audience connecting with queerness. It’s not about this larger social narrative of what it means to wear a dress, he just says, “I like it! It pleases my five senses!” He loves how the dress sounds, how it feels, what it reminds him of. I love that it’s a very sensory experience. It’s about being yourself, whatever that means for you! For Morris, it’s his dress. It’s a simple story in terms of what happens, but what it speaks to is much deeper. I read the story and I was like, immediately yes! I know Peter Brosius, the Artistic Director, and I’m honoured to be part of his final season. I feel very lucky that the Children’s Theatre Company reached out to me. Why do you want to tell this particular story? Now we have costumes and designers and, soon, audiences! I’m really pumped – I can’t wait to see how it all comes together. I get to have the solo creative process, and then the collaborative aspect after. Part of what I love about being a playwright is you get to be part of both the introverted and the extroverted side. This is the first time I’ve been commissioned by a theatre to do a larger production, so it’s very exciting. How are you feeling in the run-up to Morris Micklewhite And The Tangerine Dress? When we meet, they delve into what’s running through their mind: anticipation, pressure, and, above all, optimism. Taveras has been working on the script for over a year, and it’s now a matter of weeks away from the play’s premiere at the Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, on 10 October. They’re now telling Morris’ story, adapting the children’s book Morris Micklewhite And The Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Melanfant for the stage.ĬO-DESIGNED BY WILLIAM BOLES AND SOTIRIOS LIVADITIS & COSTUME SKETCHES BY CAROLYN ROSE SULLIVAN They’re a playwright, poet, photographer and all-round storyteller whose centres Afro/Indigenous diasporas and trans lives at every turn. Using imagination to break binaries is at the heart of playwright juliany taveras’ work. He embarks on an intergalactic quest to find out more, with only a few trusty sidekicks and his vivid imagination for company. When some of his classmates tell him that boys can’t wear dresses, Morris is confused, but no less determined – he wants to wear his dress, no matter what people say. Morris Micklewhite loves to wear a tangerine-coloured dress because “it reminds him of tigers, the sun and his mother’s hair”. The New York-born storyteller hopes their new play, Morris Micklewhite And The Tangerine Dress, will help children find the courage to accept themselvesīY KATIE CHAMBERS, CO-DESIGNED BY WILLIAM BOLES AND SOTIRIOS LIVADITIS & COSTUME SKETCHES BY CAROLYN ROSE SULLIVAN
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