Voices of BTM XXIV: Kyla Schultz
Tell us a little bit about your play.
When you’re in the mountains looking over the trees, sometimes, you feel limitless. That’s how Abby always felt, anyway. It’s her first time bringing someone to her father’s mountain and she thinks that they might be her North Star, the one to guide her home and keep her grounded. North Star is about two close friends longing to be something more.
What made you want to tell this story?
In the media, finding yourself in characters is not often easy. Especially, if you are outside of the majority. As a child you desperately long to find yourself in the people you see around you. However, for children within the queer community, this is next to impossible. When I had some of my students at the Summer School for the Performing Arts come up to me last summer and express some of these concerns, I felt an obligation to let them know they were seen and loved as they are. As a member of the community myself, I know what it is like to grow up in their shoes and did not want them to feel they did not have a place. So, North Star was written. I wanted a play that was real and truthful. Where the characters were not depicted as bad or good but could be seen as they would be in reality. It’s important to not glamorize or villainize, but simply allow the truth to shine. That is exactly what I hope to do.
What interests you about the ten-minute format?
When I think about the ten-minute play format I always picture small snippets of life. The stories remind me of the problems that live behind the scenes of the everyday mundane. They depict core memories we all have which live on in our brains and shape us. Sometimes my ten-minutes work themselves into my full-lengths and I get to tell more of the characters’ story. However, other times, it’s nice to only hear a part of their lives. Our imaginations can fill in the rest of the blanks.
What’s next for you as a playwright (or producer, actor, student, teacher, etc.)?
Currently, I am in my first year of nursing school at Endicott College. While I spend most of my days studying and working to pass my classes, in my free time I spend it within the theater. From acting in the mainstage productions, to the clubs, I find that I never have to leave my passions behind. Even as new ones, like nursing, enter the scene. Additionally, I enjoy spending my free moments writing plays that I hope to share with my students and possibly produce at The Summer School for the Performing Arts this summer 2022. I am excited to see where life takes me and can not wait for the journey that is on the horizon.
Join us for Boston Theater Marathon XXIV, Sunday, May 1 from 12-10 p.m.! Learn more and purchase tickets