What a year!
"Even Shadows Have Shadows"-Eyedea
Holy shit, I don’t even know where to start.
January 2024
2024 started with this Substack. Creating Aaron Higareda’s Playwriting Experiment was something I wanted to do for a longtime. This medium, versus social media, comes more natural to me, and I don’t know, it just feels more private and personal if that makes sense. So if you’ve been reading these posts over the past year thank you. For 2025, I’m going to try to build more community on here rather than just these kind of blog-y/diary things. I’m hoping to do maybe more zoom type things, perhaps feedback on script submissions for paid subscribers, or some type of group writing session/”classes”. Oh! and finally getting around to that podcast I said I was going to do.
February 2024
This shit came and went. I was occupied with KCACTF, Post MFA depression, as well as starting my first year scrambling how to be an adjunct professor.
March 2024
March was even more of a blur.
April 2024
I freaken got married to my beautiful, artistic, and crazy ass partner after 13 years of being together!
We got married and then ran away to Catalina Island for the day with out the kids!
May 2024
I was invited to attend South Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Festival as a guest. I initially tried to apply to be a P.A, but the hours wouldn’t work out, and graciously Artistic Coordinator Rob Salas put me on the guest list. This has also been something I’ve wanted to attend for a long time since first hearing about it back in 2017ish. Next goal is to hopefully have one of my plays read on this stage in the near future, and be in front of the mike answering questions for playwright panel.
June and July 2024
I don’t really remember these months either. I think I was in full blown panic trying to find full time employment. Also, my wife (still haven’t gotten used to saying this) started working on a conservation mural project with the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, so I was also full time dad mode during the summer.
August 2024
Since November of 2023, I was working for the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse as a deck hand. I had no idea what I was doing, my hands were only good for picking up a pen and typing. At the time, I could barley unscrew a light bulb. (Like for real that shit still scares me because of the electricity and shit.) Anyway, first I started as a spot operator and burned the hell out of my arm trying to follow a jumping ballerina for The Nutcracker. Then they had me putting up platforms and helping out with strike, load in, and restoring lights. (I learned real quickly I don’t like going up in that damn shaky lift)
After 7 years of theatre education, I had no idea how to coil a wire/cord properly, nor how to focus lights. I was thinking the whole time, damn I should have taken more advantage of the theatre facilities at UCR. I learned so much on the job, and it really gave me a deeper appreciation of the what the folks back stage do, and also just like a more comprehensive understanding of what goes into creating and producing theatre.
In August, there are typically no shows, so it’s maintenance month in the theatre, and they started training me to learn the rail and fly system.
Man, I never worked this hard in my life. This shit was physically demanding, and I’m still struggling to understand the mechanics of it all and how the counter balance system works. Not to mention the psychological pressure of not killing someone. If something goes wrong or falls, I’ve heard countless stories of people dying.
One of the most nerve racking things I’ve done, and proud that I did, was climb 64 feet up a ladder to the grid. (Just writing that previous sentence makes my palms sweaty) When I was up there I was holding on for dear life. I kept hearing Eddie Murphy’s voice “Shrek, I’m looking down.” But we did what we had to do up there, I didn’t drop no tools, and made it safely back down.
September 2024
I think because I used tools and muscles I’ve never used before, specifically a Swager or Crimper for rigging, I may have developed a blood clot. That shit scared the hell out of me when it happened, and I don’t know if I’ve been the same ever since.
October 2024
My birthday month! I had my staged reading of my play “You don’t even speak Spanish!” with Playwrights Arena and that whole experience was fun and exciting. But October, was also one of the most difficult months of the year for my family and I.
November 2024
I finally got a full time job and I thought I was leaving the theatre for good. I started training to become a Bus Operator (driver) for L.A. Metro. I had no idea what to expect, and part of me was feeling pretty salty. I don’t know if it was my ego, but I was tripping out because I was just thinking the whole time, I went to get an MFA in Playwriting just to become a bus driver?
But what I came to learn, was that I kinda enjoyed it. Like it was actually really rewarding: financially, theatrically, and emotionally. Contrary to popular belief bus drivers can actually make bank with all the over time available, an easy 80-100k. For me, interacting with the public meant I get to interact with all kinds of characters and their circumstances, perfect for my nosey-evesdropping playwriting brain. I also really enjoyed driving around different parts of L.A. and discovering and rediscovering little pockets of culture and communities I would have never been exposed to otherwise.
My training to earn a Class B license started on November 11th. I was in a classroom at Metro’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles with a whole bunch of other working class strangers. We all needed money and a second chance. Ex-football players, ex-convicts, and folks who needed a job or needed a better job came together and stressed out trying to study for the written test to get our permits. One guy in particular, shared that he lost his son three years ago and ended up on the streets, and how this job was his way of building back up his life again.
The class was intense and moved at an incredible pace. We not only had to learn about all the rules and regulations of Metro, but also the different components of the bus, and how to operate/drive the vehicle safely at all times. Then, one by one, folks started to disappear from the class and training program. One guy, because he didn’t have the right name on his Birth Certificate, another guy who’s second language was English, struggled with the written test. Two women, after they showed us the aftermath of bus collisions with other vehicles and pedestrians, never came back the following day. Then, out of no where, the guy who was trying to rebuild his life, and who was doing the best in the class, never showed up again. It was a lot for everybody. But this training was one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my life. I successfully earned my Class B license, but with just one week left to go in the training program I got offered another job.
December 2024
I started working for Center Theatre Group as a Membership Engagement Supervisor. It’s been relentless ever since. My last day at Metro was Friday December 13th, and my first day at CTG was Monday, December 16th. That same day was CTG’s holiday party at a fancy ass restaurant in downtown L.A. and I realized I am not in Kansas anymore. My third day on the job, there was an All-company meeting, where Kristina freaken Wong was the judge for the holiday sweater competition. The work culture/environment of CTG is completely different that that of Metro, but ultimately my decision to work for CTG rather than Metro came down to the flexibility this career was going to give me and my family. At Metro, I would’ve made a lot of money with overtime, a lot of money, but I knew that working that much would’ve driven my family away from me eventually over time, and that was something I couldn’t compromise.
Thank you again for participating in this crazy ass experiment this year. Just five more years and ten more months left to see if my hypothesis comes true!
Wishing you all the best, and here are some numbers:
48 Free subscribers
19 Paid subscribers
5 Co-researchers
72 total subscribers
Revenue generated $1,500
Playwriting wins:
KCACTF Region 8 National Playwriting Finalist
Playground-LA Writers Pool participant
Playwrights Arena staged reading of “You don’t even speak Spanish!”
Announcement of CSUSB’s production of “You don’t even speak Spanish!”
Playwriting L’s (Inspired by Diana Burbano’s substack)
Berkley Rep’s Ground Floor
“You don’t even speak Spanish!”
Boston Court’s New Play Reading Series
“Cry Now, Laugh Later”
Shakespeare and Performing Arts Regional Company Science at Play
“Scorched Oleanders”
Geffen Playhouse’s Writers Room
“The Knightmare/When you go down”
Lo Jolla Playhouse: Latinx New Play Festival
“You don’t even speak Spanish!”
Jewish Play Project
“South Hope St.”
Broadway Musical Theatre Workshop
“I’m Bossy” Parody
Eight Ball Theatre
“Wipes”
DCA Los Angeles Festival of New Works: Environmental Justice
“The Biohazardous Waste Land”
Playground Solo Fest
The “Biohazardous Waste Land”
Congratulations Aaron on your wedding/marriage, your new job, and on trying new things like teaching and going for bus driving! I commend all you did and do, and can't wait to see what this year brings you!
That is a lot packed into one year. Congratulations.