Five Minutes with David Gutierrez

Award-winning playwright, David Zaragoza Gutierrez (Retraction, Wandering Blvd., Red Roses All Over Me) returns to New York with another compelling drama. AWAKE and BREATHING.

This INVITATION-ONLY industry reading marks the popular scribe’s return to New York theatre. With three shows at Cameo Studios, 307 West 43rd Street (Wednesday, June 5 @ 4:00 p.m. Studio B; Thursday, June 6 @ 1:00 p.m. – Cameo A; Saturday, June 8 @ 6 p.m. – Cameo B). The detail-oriented playwright is hoping for constructive feedback and enough encouragement to take this powerhouse play to the next level.

It concerns senior starter Stephanie Giacomo — on the day of the NCAA Women’s College Basketball National Championship game — reflecting on her past relationship with her ex-boyfriend Michael, her friendship with her teammate, Tanya, and the triumphs and tragedies in her life. Bouncing from past to present and back the past again (like a basketbacll) Awake and Breathing scores points for depicting love, heartbreak, hope, acceptance … and finding your way “home.”

The Staged Reading Presentation is directed by NJ Agwuna (assoc/asst. dir.) Broadway/Nat’l — MOULIN ROUGE; Helen Hayes Theatre — CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage) and featuring Cecilia Trippiedi and J. Antonio Rodriguez, both from the Hadestown National Tour; and Daria Redus from the Spongebob National Tour.

We got the ball — or more likely — a few minutes with the playwright — to ask some questions.

What made you become a playwright?
I’ve always been interested in writing stories in general. When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I did write a couple of plays. But they were written on notebook paper and only about two or three pages long! But I’ve always been interested in writing stories, novels, plays, screenplays, and tv scripts. 

What was your creative process like on this? 

This one was a little bit different from my other writing projects. “Awake and Breathing” is based on an unfinished novel I tried to write when I was around 20 or 21 years old, which was back in 2002 or 2003. I wrote a detailed outline, wrote several pages, typed and handwritten, but never finished. But I actually came across some of those notes and pages in a box when I was going through my storage space a few months ago. Over the past twenty years, I had come back to the idea now and again and a few years ago I wrote and rewrote a screenplay treatment that was a few pages long. Then in late 2022, I decided to take that idea and instead of turning it into a screenplay, I decided to turn it into a stage play. I spent a few weeks writing what I call a S.T.O.S.–Summary Treatment Outline Scriptment—that ended up being about 15 to 20 pages long and about 5,000 to 6,000 words. After that, I started writing the first drafts of “Awake and Breathing.” Cate Cammarata is the dramaturg that helped me develop the story and script over the past year and a half. 

Your plays delve into interesting subjects almost like an “expose.” Is that your mission? To uncover truth like this? 

That may have been partly an intention of my previous play “Retraction”, but with “Awake and Breathing”, my intent was to explore the themes of love, acceptance, hope, and finding your way “home”–home being a place where you are happy. 

What have you learned about the play and your work once the actors began interpreting it?

Having put “Awake and Breathing” through several readings over the past 12 months, in person and by Zoom, one thing that continues to fascinate me, in a great way, is how so many different actors take away very different meanings and experiences from your work. It’s really amazing. 

What’s next?

Hopefully we get a good response from the invited audience at this industry reading. As for specifically what’s next, I’ll have to consult with Cate Cammarata. Stay tuned!