Q&A with Michi Barall, Drawing Lessons Playwright

CTC: Where did you grow up? 
MB: Toronto, Canada 

CTC: Where do you currently live?
MB: The Bronx, New York

CTC: Where did/do you attend school? 
MB: I’m still in school because I teach at Purchase College. But before that I went to school in Toronto and then to Stanford (undergrad), NYU (grad acting), Hunter College (MA), and Columbia (MA, PhD). 

CTC: What is your favorite graphic novel?  
MB: I love the Telgemeier books because they are funny, sharply observed, and the graphic images communicate with so much immediacy. But perhaps my favorite graphic novel is American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang because of the structure (three interwoven storylines including a fantastical/mythological element) and the way in which Yang speaks to the complexity of Asian American identity. 
 
CTC: What is your favorite creative outlet? 
MB: Writing plays!

CTC: Did you have a mentor who influenced your journey as an artist?
MB: I would say that more than anyone else Ralph Peña, who runs Ma-Yi Theatre in New York and is an actor/writer/director/producer, has mentored my journey as a theatre maker. Ralph has been an amazing example of what it means to dedicate yourself to a community and to a field, and his support and encouragement has given me the confidence to keep writing interdisciplinary work for the theatre. Peter Brosius is also the world’s best close reader and advocate for both the artist and audience!  

CTC: Is there a drawing or painting that you have seen (or created) that has had a profound effect on you?
MB: I love the paintings of Julie Mehretu, an Ethiopian-American visual artist. Her work is monumental in scale and incredibly complex.  When I think about how each artist speaks through their own line, I think about Mehretu. Her work is all about layering, but each line is vital and has an emotional impact.  

CTC: How has your family shaped you as an artist, and as a human? 
MB: Both my parents were immigrants to Canada (from different countries) and my brother has a developmental disability, so everyone in my family spoke English in their very own way.  I became incredibly attuned to language both in the ways that it connects to power and individual expression. Both acting and writing are a form of deep listening and of a kind of solidarity, what the writer Trinh Minh-ha calls “speaking nearby.” I think part of what drew me to Kate as a character is her silence – its rhythms and patterns. I was surprised by the dynamic range of her silence, which is in many ways the foundation of this play.  

CTC: What elements of your own culture do you bring to your artistry? 
MB: I grew up the child of immigrants and am myself an immigrant to the US. I think a lot about migration-the forces that push or pull people, particularly to the US. I’ve always been especially interested in cultural flows and cosmopolitan identities. Most of my work explores cultural “contact zones” as spaces of both contestation and incredible creativity.   

CTC: How does it feel to be part of a World Premiere?
MB: I’m thrilled that this play will have its world premiere in Minneapolis at CTC. I think it’s so important for young audiences in particular to feel located in both time and place so I’m especially excited to share this play about growing up in Minneapolis with a local audience. I remember reading Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye, which is set in Toronto, as a teen, and feeling a kind of shock of recognition. Reading that book helped me put myself on a map.

CTC: What do you hope audiences will experience during this performance?
MB: I don’t want to overpromise, but I do hope that the experience will feel a little like being inside the pages of a graphic memoir. I also hope that the production will help audiences understand that being an artist is about a way of observing and seeing the world-and that everyone has a line or style of their own that they can develop with enough faith and persistence.