Blood Sky was my first “grown up” play and encompasses every emotion I felt as a young adult, trying to navigate a world that did not feel very kind at the time. The play is about a woman named Joley and three stages of her life. It is also about a past from which she yearns to escape. Her pain palpably echoed through every line I wrote and subsequently heard in rehearsals. I worked closely with Justine Lambert and the Looking Glass Theatre in New York for its premiere run. It was a wonderful, exciting time, rehearsing at Looking Glass Theatre’s dim space in the basement of a church on West 57th Street. I would sit and listen to Joley’s words that were taken from my personal journals documenting equally painful moments. Joley’s life and mine were very different, but our emotions were indistinguishable. I won’t diminish or dismiss the words of a twenty-three year old’s pain and rejection. At times that young playwright feels very far from me, and at time, very close. Here is an image used in one of Blood Sky’s earliest public readings at Looking Glass. Dennis Dalelio is the photographer, and a gifted artist and educator. I had the pleasure of being a guest on his podcast, The Stolen Hour. When Dennis asked me about an image to use for this podcast, he suggested one from our creative collaborations. I came across this image of Joley leaving her past. I hadn’t seen this picture in many years and had almost forgotten about it. I’m glad I found it.
