As part of our fall Digital Internship Program, we will be soon producing Asking for A Friend, a new play by Anaya Green. The play follows Leah, a young Black woman, embarking on the journey of exploring her culture and identity. As you’re whisked away into Leah’s world of discovery, you’re reminded of the all too real moments in your life where you’ve looked at yourself in the mirror and said: “How did I become the person I am today?” As Leah navigates her relationship with her first Black friend, Tierra, she begins the journey of discovering who she is and who she wants to be. Do you want to come too? I’m Asking for a Friend.
Recently, we were fortunate enough to interview Green, who gave us some compelling insights into her influences and writing process. Green credits her inspiration for the mood of Asking for a Friend to 90s sitcoms. “I think there was a period in the 90s where you just had a lot of really sweet wholesome shows that starred Black girls. I’m thinking Moesha, Sister, Sister, that kind of energy. And I was like, ‘I want a play that captures that just friends being friends, it’s fun, but it’s centering Black women.’” The energy Green is looking for decidedly shines through in Asking for a Friend. There are countless moments of glee, lightheartedness, and laughter between Leah and Tierra: from touching moments styling their hair to a road trip together.
Interestingly, Green noted that this was the first dialogue play she had written. She explained that prior to this project, she had written more poetic plays, but that she wanted Friend to be deeply rooted in realism. Though she indicates that her own personal taste is for plays with more heightened language, for this particular story she wanted to capture the way that she and her friends speak, including the “ums” and “likes” that can cause language to appear less heightened on paper.
In discussing her playwriting process, Green shared with us a bit about her senior year playwriting class at UT Austin. Her entire last semester was spent working on Friend with Professor Patrick Shaw and her peers. The most helpful components of this course—and her writing process—were swapping scripts and performing in-depth critiques with fellow classmates. Additionally, she appreciated having a community of other playwrights to support, challenge, and inspire her.
When asked what type of audience her play targets, Green provided a salient and moving answer: that it would be wonderful to her if young teenagers saw the play and connected with it. She voiced that she didn’t care if older adults with “amazing taste in literature” liked the play because her goal was for young Black women to feel seen. She also notes that she has a hard time finding similar work:
“High school [Green] would have loved a play that she could relate to that wasn’t just complete and utter sadness; playing into stereotypes about Black experiences that are just so sad. There’s no joy. No levity.”
This work provides young Black women an opportunity to feel seen and connect to a theatrical piece—an all-too-rare occasion in the American theatre space.
We certainly hope audience members find the beautiful joy and levity Green refers to by getting tickets to come see Asking for a Friend live on Thursday, December 10th at 6:00 PM PST and streaming Saturday, December 12th, and Sunday, December 13th. Admission is now available on our show page.