Holly Richmond (she/they)is an emerging playwright/ theater artist based out of Connecticut. She is a graduate from the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in Theatre Studies concentrating in Playwriting, and Minors in English and Puppetry. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Playwriting program at Eugene O’Neill’s National Theatre Institute, as well as a Darmasiswa Indonesian Exchange Scholar where they studied Wayang Kuilit shadow puppetry at ISI Surakarta in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Holly’s past works have been performed locally by the Montville High School Drama Club, and featured as a part of the Virtual Theatre Collaborative’s developmental series, the UCONN Drama Department’s 24-Hour Play Festival, and the Eugene O’Neill’s Young Playwrights Festival. In the Fall of 2022, they participated in a week-long developmental residency at the O’Neill for their play, Chamber.
Artistic Statement/ Mission/ Manifesto
Theater is the craft of love and experience.
Without love and passion and joy and heartache, there is no theater.
To put it more simply, theater is life.
Without life, we cannot imagine living.
Like life, Theater should be accessible and affordable.
All people, regardless of race/ sex/ gender/ class/ status/ upbringing/ income/ etc. should have access to theater.
“But!” I hear you cry “But what if by making theater affordable, it becomes cheap?”
Good! It should be cheap!
Just like how all people should be able to see theater, all people should be able to make theater.
Theater is not some high-class event for the elite to be seen at.
Theater should be made from cardboard and duct tape and some Source 4s you stole out of a Broadway dumpster.
Theater should always have the chance to be made well outside of theatre.
Theater should be performed in the streets, in warehouses, in attics.
Theater should be anywhere it normally isn’t.
Theater should be fun!
Theater should challenge preconceived notions/ biases/ societal wrongs.
The previous two statements should not be separated.
Just because a show isn’t serious doesn’t mean its messages shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Theater should punch up, not punch down.
Theater should live by the Modern Golden Rule, a rule my father taught me, and his father taught him, a rule I will teach to everyone, regardless of if I decide to have children or not.
The Modern Golden Rule: D.B.A.D.
D.B.A.D.? What’s that?
Don’t Be A Dick.
If everyone lived by this rule, we would live in a happier world.
Why D.B.A.D. for theater?
Like life, all collaboration should be done with mutual respect
And, once again, if theater is life, then of course always, always, ALWAYS D.B.A.D.