Meet Kaela Mei-shing Garvin

We recently connected with Kaela Mei-shing Garvin and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaela Mei-Shing, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

I often think that my own blockages come from fear that what I’m creating won’t align with the grand visions I have for the work — it’s a form of self pressure. A teacher I had, Liz Duffy Adams, had a writing exercise where she encouraged us to write badly on purpose — to create the worst version of the scene or play that we could. I continue to use this tactic when I get stuck. Using this mode of writing forces me to confront what I fear will not work in the piece I’m creating and to write towards that. I usually find something of use: either the scene I create ends up being somehow workable, or I can then titrate my future writing away from the conscious “bad” decisions I made. It frees me up to confront my fears and make work anyway.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I create plays that challenge the status quo, plays that are hopefully both incisive and stupid. As a playwright, I write work that interrogates prevailing power structures through humor, pop culture, and history; work that dreams up liberation at the intersections of size, queerness, neurodivergence, gender fluidity, and mixed race / Asian America. I write about complicity in oppression and agency for the oppressed. I want to laugh toward a more liberated future. I love camp!!! I write because I am compelled to; because I have questions and critiques about systems I’m complicit in; because it is how I manufacture hope through alternate realities. I’m currently teaching playwriting and other theater subjects at Salem State University in Massachusetts and working on my plays.

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

I’ve found self motivation, curiosity, and rigor to be important throughout my journey. With writing and submitting my plays, self motivation has been a skill I’ve cultivated to invest and dedicate time to my work even without institutional or personal support. Curiosity is vital to remaining open to new ways of thinking, new ideas for writing, and new theatrical conventions I can create or use in my work. Rigor and discipline are imperative to keep going — to paraphrase David Henry Huang, success as a playwright is dependent on talent, luck, and perseverance, and the first two you can’t do anything about. I develop these skills by setting time aside to work on my writing and professional career; by encountering new work as often as possible through reading and viewing plays as well as interfacing with other forms of artistic media; by making sure I’m thorough in my research, writing, and thinking.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I think taking breaks and prioritizing pleasure is important! When I feel overwhelmed, I love to encounter art in mediums outside theater: I’ll take myself to the library, a museum, or a movie to see something else that might bring me enjoyment and potentially inspiration.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kaelameishinggarvin.com
• Instagram: @kaemeishing

Image Credits

Leilani Carr Photography