By Calvin Brown
Playwrights Project will virtually produce its 36th annual Plays by Young Writers Festival March 11-26, 2021. Of the over 240 plays submitted by students from across California, five were chosen as winners with four receiving full productions. Of those four only one, Jordan Marie Finley, is returning after winning for her play “Feliz Cumpleaños” in 2019.
Finley, whose work centers on themes of identity, family, and love, won in this year’s contest for her play, “The Love Project”. In the play a case of mistaken identity during a schoolwide Senior project pins Ronnie, our male protagonist, in a situation where he must pretend to be female online for his classmate, Henry. Henry’s project, “What a Guy Wants?”, invites female students to pose questions to him anonymously. It is here that Ronnie, confused for ‘Roni’, begins to get close to the school’s resident golden-boy.
The play profoundly explores the depths of its characters. Ronnie begins to examine who he really is. Henry is at first presented as perfect, but as the audience slowly learns his history, they discover this is not the case. It is only in a safe space online, under the anonymity of Henry’s assignment, that we see these two characters as their honest selves.
Thematically the play is in heavy conversation with Shakespeare. From Ronnie’s internet alias of, “JulietDeservedBetter”, to the quoting of several lines verbatim, “Romeo and Juliet” is never far from the minds of the students. The staple of High School English class works well as a backdrop for the entire piece, and entices several interesting comparisons, notably the star crossed nature of our two leads. Another piece the playwright appears to be in conversation with is Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. “The Love Project” features twin siblings, and a delightful exploration of mistaken gender and identity.
Finley’s previous winning play, “Feliz Cumpleaños” carries similar themes. The importance of family and love remain paramount in the story of a teenager and her brother working to make a life after their parents are deported. In both of Finley’s winning Playwrights Project scripts, the protagonists downplay parts of their identity for fear of how they will be viewed by the public.
Like the characters in her plays, Jordan is careening towards adulthood. She is currently completing a BFA in Acting alongside a degree in Writing and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has recently written a play inspired by the George Floyd protests called, “Why We March”, that she hopes to put into live production when the opportunity arises.
“The Love Project” can be seen during Playwrights Project’s virtual Plays by Young Writers Festival, March 11-13, 2021 at 6:00pm. For more information, please contact Playwrights Project at (858) 384-2970 or [email protected]. Tickets can be purchased at www.playwrightsproject.org.
