Meet Marlow Wyatt

We were lucky to catch up with Marlow Wyatt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marlow, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I credit my parents and my extended family for being examples of resilience in their everyday lives. I had no choice; it rubbed off on me and prepared me for my path as a storyteller. I also believe that being born female and being Black in America is the gift of resilience. It is a gift I cherish as I have had to adapt to the difficulties and challenges of simply being me in spaces that want to erase the very essence of who I am.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a storyteller; a playwright. I write American plays and screenplays that celebrate underserved cultures and highlight the social and political evolution of the disenfranchised. I write the world as it is and as I would like it to be. I understand the value of controlling one’s narrative. American historians have been deceptive in many regards when it comes to narratives about Indigenous people and people of color in the United States. Documenting false narratives as facts. Though I never aspired to be a playwright as a child I knew that the stories being told to me about me from teachers and movies and books and plays were not true reflections of what I experienced. My childhood was beautiful and flawed and rich and passionate and loving. Quite the opposite of what I was conditioned to feel about myself and Black people in America; a country I love so but doesn’t seem to love me back. Maybe subconsciously I felt if the world really saw who we were, it would have no choice but to love us, embrace us, honor us, respect us. Maybe that seed was always inside me to tell the truth about us and manifested into playwriting. I will never know really but will go with that for now because it seems to be the only logical explanation for doing what I do. Growing up in a working class family, the idea of making a living as a playwright or actor or anything artistic was never a topic of discussion. But my father supported my decision to attend Howard University College of Fine Arts to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He never questioned it, nor did my mother. I am beyond grateful for that. Allowing me to figure out my path as an artist without question is a huge reason for my success as a playwright. Believing in someone even when they don’t believe in themselves sometimes creates a space in the mind where one can only thrive. I can now answer without question when people at dinner parties ask me what I do for a living. The answer is always, “I am a playwright” period.
I write plays that unify us and celebrate authentic voices of America. The first play I’ve every written, SHE, was produced in 2024 and named one of the 12 Best World Premiere Plays and Best Production of the season in Los Angeles by Stage Scene LA. It also won the LA New Play Prize in 2023. My play Robbin, from the Hood-a protest play of American capitalism premieres October 11, 2024 at Road Theatre Company and was the first Pipeline Play of Support Black Theatre and a Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist. My works have been produced and/or read all over the United States and in Ireland. I am grateful to do what I do for a living. I am proud to have my work experienced by people of all walks of life. I am proud to contribute to the culture of America.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three qualities that are most impactful to me on my journey are authenticity for one. Be YOU. There is no one in this world who has my voice. My experience is unique and therefore valuable. The second is DO NOT waste one moment of your life trying to fit in or watering yourself down to appease others. There have been times when I have shrunk myself so small I was invisible to everyone; even my self. I didn’t know who I was. And if you don’t know who you are people will tell you who you are and that is very dangerous. The people who see you, the truth of who you are, are your tribe. Rock with them. Everyone else can catch up or stay behind. They are not supposed to be with you at this time. Keep moving. The third is to simply STOP and BE STILL. Someone once told me, “Marlow, we are human BEings, not human DOings.” Be still. Take time for you to DO absolutely NOTHING without guilt or FOMO (fear of missing out). It is difficult for me at times as I can be hyper-independent and feel guilty if I do not achieve something in my day. But doing nothing has been invaluable achievement to me as an artist. I am not anxious for anything. I am simply Being and I’m starting to love the art of doing nothing.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The number one challenge for me as a playwright has been the lack of funding for artists. It’s challenging because who decides the value of what I create? How do you pay me so that I can eat and live and simply survive from writing plays? The prison of survival is rooted in capitalism and I am working toward getting the American government to value not only the art but the artists. Not just famous people or celebrities but artists like me who no one knows but who’s work has inspired them or impacted them in some way or other. What I do is invaluable so I get it, but since I am part of this capitalistic system I often have to figure out ways to generate money from my work when I am not getting produced. Monetizing art is odd to me. I am torn. I do not feel that my work necessarily belongs to me. It came through me but it does not belong to me or anyone else for that matter. My plays are to be shared and experienced. I could write a thousand plays in my lifetime but if no human ever experiences my work, it’s as if I never written a single word. Support artists and storytellers. Most don’t do it for the money but it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be paid. I am not nor have I ever been interested in glorifying the “starving artist” trope. It’s played out and tired. There are days when I am in a slump and just want to create a billboard stating, ” the world can not exist with art, therefore it cannot exist without the artists. Feed the artists. Benefactors accepted.” (smiley face, but seriously though)

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Kaene Palalani, Liz Mancia, Xavi Moreno, Rashim Cannad, Support Black Theatre, Moving Arts Theatre Company, Common Crow Theatre Company, Third Rail Repertory Company,

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