Photo by Jim Norrena What most excites you about this production?
I always enjoy when multiple voices contribute to a single project, so it's great to see how Alina's and my perspective have been woven into Morgan's overarching story. It's also just great to be back with the Wily West team and to have my work directed by Wes for the first time!
What is the greatest challenge you face with this show?
I think nearly every audience member enters the theater with their own opinion on marriage equality, so one of the greatest challenges as a writer is to present a new perspective that doesn't already feel like it's been presented a hundred times over.
What kind of research are you doing to prepare?
My part of the script's all done, so I'm just sitting back and letting everyone else prepare!
What have been some of your favorite previous productions you have been involved with?
Wily West's San Francisco Stories included one of the first short plays that I had ever had staged. Working with local writers and actors to tell stories that are relevant to the people of our community was an introduction that I'll always remember.
Since this play is about the right to marry what are some of your personal feelings regarding marriage that you would be willing to share?
As a gay man in a long term relationship, the question of marriage equality is one that has very immediate personal implications. I feel really privileged to live in a time period when so many people are fighting so hard to make history. I feel that marriage is a profound intertwining of lives that grows from a fundamental human need for companionship, and there is no basis for excluding individuals from it based on their sexual orientation.
What do you hope audiences will take from this production?
Well, as with any production, my first hope is that they will be entertained. It's a warm, heartfelt show that has humor and joy as well as drama, and I hope the audience enjoys it.
In addition to this, I hope that audiences will get a sense of the real scope of what the fight for marriage equality means. I think it's easy to agree that the right to marry is important, but it can be difficult to see all of the repercussions of denying that right.
I always enjoy when multiple voices contribute to a single project, so it's great to see how Alina's and my perspective have been woven into Morgan's overarching story. It's also just great to be back with the Wily West team and to have my work directed by Wes for the first time!
What is the greatest challenge you face with this show?
I think nearly every audience member enters the theater with their own opinion on marriage equality, so one of the greatest challenges as a writer is to present a new perspective that doesn't already feel like it's been presented a hundred times over.
What kind of research are you doing to prepare?
My part of the script's all done, so I'm just sitting back and letting everyone else prepare!
What have been some of your favorite previous productions you have been involved with?
Wily West's San Francisco Stories included one of the first short plays that I had ever had staged. Working with local writers and actors to tell stories that are relevant to the people of our community was an introduction that I'll always remember.
Since this play is about the right to marry what are some of your personal feelings regarding marriage that you would be willing to share?
As a gay man in a long term relationship, the question of marriage equality is one that has very immediate personal implications. I feel really privileged to live in a time period when so many people are fighting so hard to make history. I feel that marriage is a profound intertwining of lives that grows from a fundamental human need for companionship, and there is no basis for excluding individuals from it based on their sexual orientation.
What do you hope audiences will take from this production?
Well, as with any production, my first hope is that they will be entertained. It's a warm, heartfelt show that has humor and joy as well as drama, and I hope the audience enjoys it.
In addition to this, I hope that audiences will get a sense of the real scope of what the fight for marriage equality means. I think it's easy to agree that the right to marry is important, but it can be difficult to see all of the repercussions of denying that right.
KIRK SHIMANO first teamed up with Wily West Productions when his "Billy's Got Issues" was part of "San Francisco Stories" in the 2010 season. His “Love in the Time of Zombies” was produced by San Francisco Theater Pub in October of 2012. He is a PlayGround Writers Pool member, where his “Miss Finknagle Succumbs to Chaos” was featured in the 16th annual “Best Of PlayGround” series and was adapted into a short film this year. He has worked with the San Francisco Olympians, PianoFight, and the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. By day he works as a lighting technical director at Industrial Light and Magic, fiddling with digital knobs to occasionally make things brighter and occasionally make things darker. For more information, please visitwww.kirkshimano.com
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