This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Franky D. Gonzalez: Hey everyone, I'm Frankie D. Gonzalez, the winner of last year's Risk Theater Modern Tragedy competition, and also the playwright behind the episode you're about to experience. You're listening to Gather by the Ghost Light.

[0:26] Jonathan Cook: All right, welcome back to Gather by the Ghostlight. Original stories for Radio Theater. I'm Jonathan Cook, your host, producer, and sometimes voice actor on this thing. And this is the first episode of the new year. I hope you've all been having a marvelous 2023 so far. And today we are kicking it off with a fun little comedy written by Texas-based playwright Frankie D. Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez was the winner of the 2022 Risk Theater Modern Tragedy Competition, among other awards. And I just want to say, after speaking with him, you know, regardless of all the success he's had, he is a very down-to-earth and very humble writer and just an absolute wonderful human being. And you can listen to my interview with him after his short play that you are about to hear.

This one is called The Ticket. You're about to meet Mary and Tracy. They are currently working the night shift at a call center. And on this night, they decided to put their money together to play the lottery in hopes of splitting the big jackpot if they win. Now, before we begin, I do want to warn you that this episode does contain adult language and content, so please be mindful that there are children around you. Now, gather around the ghost light. Sit back and enjoy. This is The Ticket, written by Frankie D. Gonzalez. And be sure to stick around after the story to hear an interview with this writer.

[1:52] Tracy: That's right. We'll have that tech out there tomorrow. I guarantee. Yes. First thing in the morning. Don't worry. If you have the box set to automatically record, it will still record your show. Again, I am so sorry for the inconvenience. Is there anything else they can help you with? Great. And if you receive a survey. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for calling. Yes. You have a great night. Bye-bye.

[2:25] Mary: Oh my god, these fucking idiots. They're all fucking idiots, Mary. If they weren't fucking idiots, we'd be out on our fucking asses.

[2:34] Tracy: No, Tracy. This was a special kind of idiot. Hey, anyone else getting any calls?

[2:39] Gazarra: Nobody's talking to you, Gazara.

[2:41] Tracy: I just wanted to know.

[2:42] Mary: You don't know nothing. Leave him alone.

[2:44] Gazarra: I was leaving him alone. He was the one who decided to bother the ever living shit out of me.

[2:49] Tracy: Sorry, sorry. So what happened on the call, Mary?

[2:52] Mary: Oh, they draw the lotto yet.

[2:54] Gazarra: They draw a 1012.

[2:55] Mary: It's a 10 oh nine. Thank you, Gazara. Hey, Gazara, you got the tickets?

[2:59] Gazarra: Oh, yep. One sec.

[3:01] Tracy: Wait, wait, you let Gazara in on the pool?

[3:04] Mary: Get more tickets that way.

[3:06] Tracy: But Gazara? Seriously?

[3:09] Gazarra: Hey. What's it matter? Not like we're gonna win.

[3:12] Tracy: That's not the point. Why the fuck did you bring him in?

[3:15] Mary: He offered to go to the store to buy the tickets.

[3:18] Tracy: That was your job.

[3:19] Mary: And I didn't want to do it.

[3:21] Tracy: Why didn't you want to do it?

[3:23] Mary: Because we bought 50 tickets each, Mary. I'm not ready to get that many tickets. So I said, well, shit. And I subcontracted. Now we get more tickets.

[3:33] Tracy: But you didn't even fucking talk it over with me.

[3:35] Mary: Oh, Jesus Christ, Mary.

[3:37] Tracy: Don't fucking Jesus Christ marry me, Tracy. I increased our chances.

[3:42] Mary: It's a one in two hundred and ninety-two million shot. How the hell does Gazara buying a few dozen tickets help?

[3:48] Gazarra: It helps. Uh hey, um I I made copies of all the tickets so we could look over the results together. Find out if we won faster, you know.

[3:57] Tracy: And how are we splitting the money?

[4:00] Gazarra: Well, we put in an equal amount and bought 50 tickets each. We split it three ways.

[4:04] Tracy: I never agreed to subcontract to Gazara.

[4:07] Mary: We win, I get 50%, and Tracy, you split your 50% with him.

[4:12] Tracy: And how the fuck is that fair? You get 50%, but only put up a third of the cost.

[4:17] Gazarra: Shouldn't have felt lazy and subcontracted out.

[4:20] Tracy: Actually, we gotta split it four ways.

[4:22] Mary: What?

[4:22] Gazarra: Oh yeah, my wife wanted to get in on this and put her own money up to buy 50 tickets. So now we got 200 tickets.

[4:28] Tracy: Ha! No. No, no, no, no, no. No. No. Bullshit. Bullshit. You see that, Tracy? He's fucking wormed his way into getting 50 per fucking cent of our lotto winnings.

[4:40] Gazarra: It's not like that. She saw that I spent the money and asked me why, and you know, but like I can't lie to my wife.

[4:47] Tracy: No, I know that's bullshit, Gazara. You think you're gonna fool me with the faithful husband routine? I'm not some customer, Gazara. You're not gonna pull that shit on me.

[4:55] Gazarra: That's shady shit, you're fooling.

[4:59] Tracy: My wife and I increased our chances.

[5:01] Mary: It's minuscule. So what's it matter? We're not supposed to win anyway, right? I go into this shit for 50% of a jackpot, only to see that 50 become 25 because someone was too lazy and another person got greedy.

[5:15] Gazarra: Oh, that's a lot of numbers. Okay, here we go. The numbers are six, thirteen, twenty-three, twenty-seven, sixty-nine, and five.

[5:26] Tracy: Nice sixty-nine.

[5:27] Gazarra: Fucking pig. All right, look through your copies. See if we got them.

[5:32] Mary: Oh, so what happened with the customer, Mary?

[5:35] Tracy: Yeah, this guy's cable was down, right? And he was worried that his DVR wasn't gonna record that one show uh where the the people dress up like animals and sing and you don't know who it is.

[5:46] Mary: Oh yeah, I seen that show. What's it called?

[5:49] Tracy: Mystery singer or some shit. But anyway, the problem was easy to fix. Just hold the power button down on your cable box for 30 seconds. Does a reboot and it'd be working again? We worked for a whole freaking hour trying to press a button, and he couldn't do it. Finally, I had to schedule a tech to go out and do it for him tomorrow. Frickin' stupid, right?

[6:11] Gazarra: Yeah. But wait. There's a show with people in animal costumes?

[6:16] Mary: Well, and other things, but it's usually animals.

[6:19] Gazarra: Is it good?

[6:20] Mary: I don't know. It kind of freaks me out.

[6:21] Gazarra: Why is that?

[6:22] Mary: Like, why do they gotta be dressed like animals? Why can't they hide them behind screens or doors that only show their shadow or something?

[6:29] Tracy: Something wrong with them being dressed like an animal?

[6:32] Mary: Not the singers, but you know, I heard. Now, this is just what I heard. But I heard that people get off on those animal costumes.

[6:42] Tracy: What?

[6:42] Mary: Yeah, they call them fuzzies or something.

[6:45] Gazarra: Yeah, they're furries.

[6:46] Mary: Furries. Yeah, that's it. Furries. They get together in hotel rooms or some shit and hump on each other till they get off.

[6:53] Tracy: That's not real.

[6:54] Gazarra: What are you talking about?

[6:56] Mary: Nah, seriously. And they got a name for that. Like like like yapping or something.

[7:00] Gazarra: It's called yiffing.

[7:01] Mary: Right, whatever, yiffing. And like, I gotta wonder. Who the hell came up with the idea of getting people to dress like the cat version of a Las Vegas showgirl to sing to audiences? Who thinks of that unless it's some kind of fetish thing?

[7:16] Tracy: Yeah, maybe it could just be an idea for a show and not some kinky shit. Like, man, Mary, your mind is in the gutter.

[7:22] Gazarra: You know what, Gazara? You seem to know a whole lot about that furry stuff. Something you wanna tell the class.

[7:27] Mary: And what are you trying to say?

[7:29] Gazarra: You've been gifing around with some kind of costume fox wearing a boa.

[7:32] Mary: That's out of line, Mary.

[7:33] Gazarra: Not you're out of line, you two-bit Parvert talking about furries in 69.

[7:38] Tracy: Yeah, you're the one looking at singing shows and seeing feta shit. Now is there something you want to unpack?

[7:42] Mary: Oh Jesus!

[7:44] Tracy: Oh Jesus!

[7:46] Mary: Holy holy shit, Mary!

[7:50] Tracy: What?

[7:51] Mary: Did we? Six, thirteen, twenty-three, twenty-seven, sixty-nine, and five.

[7:58] Tracy: Oh my god, it's real. Oh my god, it's real. Mary!

[8:05] Gazarra: No way! Gazarra, get that Ziploc bag out!

[8:08] Gazarra: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it right here. And we got the multiplier.

[8:12] Tracy: Oh shit! We're rich! We're rich! Fuck it! We'll do 25% each. I don't give a damn. That's enough money to survive the rest of my life.

[8:22] Mary: Oh my god! Gazarra, you got the ticket?

[8:26] Gazarra: Uh, I do. I uh I I know I do it's come on, you know. It's it's got it's gotta be in here.

[8:34] Mary: Gazarra? Come on, Maria. What do you mean? It's gotta be in there.

[8:38] Gazarra: No, no, no, no. No, I'm I'm I'm overlooking it. Like, I'm sure of Gazara.

[8:43] Tracy: Gazarra, don't what are you Tracy?

[8:48] Mary: No, stop choking him! Where is my money, Gazara? Where the fuck is that ticket, Gazara?

[8:58] Gazarra: I am I'm sorry.

[9:03] Tracy: Sorry, don't mean shit to me. Where is my ticket, Gazara? Where is my ticket?

[9:11] Gazarra: It fucking falls. I I won! I won! Yeah!

[9:14] Mary: The hell? Oh my god.

[9:18] Gazarra: What? I must have left it in the photo copier when I was making the packets.

[9:22] Mary: Then that means—

[9:22] Gazarra: No, no, no, no, no, no. Auto ticket.

[9:27] Tracy: Oh shit. They will not take my 50%.

[9:30] Gazarra: You said you'd take 25%.

[9:32] Tracy: That was before you fuck shit up, you fucking yiffy furry fuck. That's my fucking ticket!

[9:37] Mary: Tracy, what are you doing?

[9:41] Gazarra: Wow.

[9:41] Tracy: Oh damn.

[9:43] Jonathan Cook: That was The Ticket written by Frankie D. Gonzalez. It was performed by Pepper Wren as Mary, Arelis Rivera as Tracy, and Mickey Lay as Gazarra. With me now is the writer of the story you just heard. He's a playwright and TV writer of Colombian descent. His plays have been produced all around the world, and most recently, he was the top prize winner of the Risk Theater Modern Tragedy Competition. And he was also a staff writer on the fourth season of the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why. Ladies and gentlemen, Franky D. Gonzalez, how are you, my friend?

[10:18] Franky D. Gonzalez: I'm doing all right, Jonathan. How about yourself?

[10:20] Jonathan Cook: I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good. Now you have an amazing resume, so many accomplishments. For people out there who aren't familiar with you and your work, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey into the writing world?

[10:35] Franky D. Gonzalez: Yeah, no, it's uh it's it's uh it's a long one. It's it's been a lifelong commitment to writing. I have been wanted to be a writer since I was at least four or five years old. Um it's it's a sad origin story, but it's it to me, it's just like I wouldn't have had it any other way. My uh dad was not the most pleasant of drinkers. And he and my mother started getting into it one time, and so I immediately knew go hide in the closet. And my mother had left a uh my uncle rather had left his walkmen at my mom's apartment and she stored it in the closet. I found it to drown it out, I just put it on and and it was uh the notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die. I heard it and I knew for the rest of my life I wanted to be a writer.

Um I wanted to I just fell in love with words, and um, since then I just had been pursuing writing. I discovered theater at the age of 16. My mother, uh yet again, she forced me into uh theater class. And the teacher, uh, my high school teacher, Alison Trapp, she uh saw that I liked to read. She asked me if I'd ever read like real plays before. She handed me three plays after I told her, no, not really. Maybe Shakespeare in English class. She gave me Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, uh, Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello and uh Federico Garcia Lorca's uh Blood Wedding. And I read them in a night. That was it. I wanted to be a playwright from then on. And so from the age of 16 until now, I've just been devoted to uh to writing scripts.

So that's that's kind of where I came from. Um I came into TV uh a little on the later end. Um I was nice to someone on a bus in Omaha. Uh and she asked if I'd ever written for TV before after asking to read my play after I was nice to her. And uh I said no. She said, All right, well, think about it. And next thing I knew, I was on the uh I was a staff writer on 13 Reasons Why. So I was uh uh serendipitous moment there with coming into TV writing.

[12:33] Franky D. Gonzalez: Yeah, that's all about being in the right place at the right time, uh really, honestly. It it's such a this this this world is so strange.

[12:41] Franky D. Gonzalez: The entertainment business is one of those where there really is no one true way into this thing. It's just you hope for the best. That that's it. And you just hope that you're able to meet the moment when it comes. We have so few opportunities. Um and so I've always taken the approach of, hey, if there's a chance to go somewhere, if it's Milwaukee, all right, let's see what happens in Milwaukee. And you know, my TV career got started because I just happened to have a chance meeting on a bus with someone in Omaha, you know, Omaha, Nebraska, like of all places. You'd have thought it's New York, LA, but no, Omaha. So yeah, just always always meet the moment if the opportunity presents itself if you can take uh uh the opportunity.

[13:21] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, that's very, very good advice. Uh all right, so let's talk about your play that everyone just heard. It's called The Ticket, and it's about these office workers who join in, they put in their money for a lottery pull, and it's it's freaking hilarious. And the pacing is is perfect. You have this uh a new little twist on every other page, and it just keeps maintains the conflict between the characters and it's just entertaining every minute. Uh could you give us uh a little bit about your process of writing this and how you came up with this idea?

[13:55] Franky D. Gonzalez: Yeah. Um in terms of my writing process, I actually write in in giant bursts. Uh I'll go sometimes months without writing a single word. And then in like a 48-hour fever uh dream kind of state, I'll write uh most of a play uh or several pages. This this one happened in a like a 40 minute span. Um I used to work at a call center. Uh I used to, I'm actually a veteran of 10 years uh at the call centers, inbound, outbound calls. I've done fundraisers, I've sold phones. I was the most hated man in America for a while. If your phone service ever went out, you called me, hoping to God that I can help you, but I would try to sell you something. Those are the kind of people that uh I worked with. And one day, all of us, very distrustful salespeople decided, hey, let's start a lottery pool.

It's gonna be fine. Let's do this. And um, the guy who we assigned to go get the lotto tickets decided to cut his wife in, and she pitched into the pool. And that immediately set everyone off because everyone thought he's trying to get a bigger piece of the pie, trying to bring his wife in. Did he really bring his wife in? And so this kind of emerged out of it. And if you've ever worked the call centers, you will find that weird things happen. Um, and weird conversations happen as a result of it. And the furries thing that was in the in the play is very much conversations that I've had with my coworkers, where it's just like, no, I think it's I think it's called gifing. Why? Do you know something about that community?

What was what's going on here that you know the word yiffing? What is yiffing? Uh explain it to me. And we were also very confrontational. You know, it's uh I know he's really passe right now, but David Mamet kind of captured it with Glenn Gary Glenn Ross, these kinds of people that are just like very cutthroat, they're in your face, they're they just that's the kind of world that that I got to be a part of for a good decade of my life. And um, I just had to write about them because this this conflict was so absurd. The the just attacking between these these two older women uh when when it actually happened, these two older women attacking just this guy that he could probably just sit on them or something, and he was just like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, guys.

I didn't mean I didn't think it was that bad of a deal. And and and the whole the the rest of the the team on the on the floor just like oh my god, they're just getting into another argument again. Uh so yeah, that that's really where it came from in terms of the plays. It came from an actual circumstance. We didn't win, of course, but we were imagining as if we we won and and Gazara, you know, he actually he cut his wife into the deal. So this was actually based on a real life experience.

[16:47] Franky D. Gonzalez: You probably exaggerated a little bit of the details, but uh for the most part, this really happened, or you witnessed this anyway.

[16:53] Franky D. Gonzalez: Yeah, I I wit I witnessed the arguments. The winning the lotto did not happen, but the argument about um, did you just make yourself get a bigger piece of the pie? That is the part that happened. The furry thing did not happen, but that was a conversation that I did have at another time with another um with another rep on the on the floor, um, where I just happened because playwrights look up weird things whenever they're writing, and so I happened to know a little bit about furries, and um someone was talking about this mass singer thing. And it has anyone seen that show? It's like, yeah, don't you think we know those weird people that go to the those conventions dressed up as animals? Like, is this some kind of weird fit? And and it just became that, and so I just I had to insert that into the into the ticket as well. It's yeah.

[17:37] Jonathan Cook: Awesome. So you say this is based on real life coworkers, your friends, or whatever. Um have have they read this script to kind of see how you portrayed them?

[17:47] Franky D. Gonzalez: They did. They did read the script. Um, I actually gave it to them. Um and it was really funny. I wrote this um kind of when I was coming to the end of my my call center career, and I I became a full-time writer. Um I gave this, and I was like, guys, I just had to write this based off of the just the stuff you were throwing at each other. And they read it and they were like, oh my god, I love it. Mary and Tracy were like, oh, I'm so flat and this is wonderful. This is beautiful. Gazara, meanwhile, was just like, could you change my name? So gaz Gazara was not actual is not actually Gazar. Mary and Tracy, they're real. Uh that's their that's their names, their first names. Gazara, he wanted something different.

And and I always thought that um by giving him the last name, it kind of created an isolation point. They referred to each other by their first names, they refer to him as his la in his last name. It's a little bit more formal than than using the first name where it's uh more like uh a friendship kind of thing. So I decided, okay, yeah, I can let's change up your last name instead of using this, that and and so I changed it to Gazara from his original name, which I'll I'll I'll withhold out of respect for him. Because he it really it really, I think it really he he was very much humiliated, and I I think he he didn't know he was doing wrong. I don't I don't think he had any ill intent, but you never know what salespeople. We're all we're kind of snakes in the grass. So who can say?

[19:10] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, has this play been performed on stage anywhere yet?

[19:14] Franky D. Gonzalez: No, um actually Gather by the Ghost Light is the first uh ever like kind of iteration of this play, period. I thought that this was gonna be one of those things. It's at the bottom of my NPX. I thought no one would ever take it because it's so foul. It is so just these are not no one's a really good person in it. And um, and that that the original Mary and Tracy's life their portrayals was interesting to me. But um, but yeah, it I thought it was never gonna go anywhere. So when I when I received the the message that um Gather by the Ghost Light wanted to do this, like uh I was I was excited because um I finally get to see this little piece come to life. I think every playwright wants to see their piece come to life in some form or iteration.

And um, what makes radio or or audio podcasting such a beautiful thing is that um this exists and it persists. Theater is such an ephemeral art form. Uh once a production's done, it's done. But with radio, with with the audio drama, you get to keep uh you get to keep it forever. Um and there's there's always that echo of the memory of the of the time in which it was created. So I was very excited to receive the message saying, Hey, do you do you want to do this one? When I got it from you, and I was just very um I was very touched, and I was I was really, really happy to to see this one come to life and see my friends get finally their their their characters um get a chance to to to breathe.

[20:39] Jonathan Cook: Well, that that's cool. Well, thanks for letting me host the premiere. So everyone out there, you heard it, you heard it here first.

[20:44] Franky D. Gonzalez: All right.

[20:45] Jonathan Cook: Uh and I I hope your co-workers end up listening to this. And I I'm sure that my I I've never heard what your coworkers sound like, but I I hope that they kind of captured what uh what what what you witnessed anyway.

[20:56] Franky D. Gonzalez: Oh, for sure, for sure, for sure. It was it's it's it is uh fantastic. It it is, and they're I'm sure they'll love it one way or the other. They they are just like, oh, look at us, we made it on stage. Uh even it's an audio piece. Look at us. We look, those are my words. He used my words, Tracy like a hat. Uh I'm sure they'll they'll like it. Um if they still draw breath. It's been a while. But uh yeah.

[21:23] Jonathan Cook: Uh so while you're here, I want to talk about uh one of your other plays. Uh you recently won top prize in the Risk Theater Modern Tragedy Competition. It was your full-length play. It's called That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven or The Dawn Behind the Black Hole. And Risk Theater, their guidelines, you know, what they're looking for are plays that have characters who take a substantial risk, and ultimately that risk results in, you know, a tragedy. And I read this play of yours uh earlier this week, and um you know, you got these four Latino boxers, they each have their own background, their own stories, their own risk that they take. And the way that you melt these four storylines together, it was just it's great work, and you can definitely see the chance and the risk that each character took.

And I think you captured the essence of what Risk Theater is looking for when they're looking for plays. And I could totally see why you won the top prize with this, with this play that you wrote. Um, so uh tell everyone about this play and your process of of writing it and um you know what what's the future for? Do you have any productions or anything coming up with it?

[22:37] Franky D. Gonzalez: Right. Oh, so uh here I get to put on my drama hat. Um I'm also known as a as a dramatic writer. I know The Ticket is is very much in the mode of comedy, um, but drama is is more what I'm I'm known for as a writer, um, either in TV or or in in playwriting. Um, that must be the entrance to have an uh is really it's one of those things where I took the biggest pieces of my life that I have the biggest problems with or that I struggle the most with, and I turned them into these characters. And one of the things that I meditated on when I first wanted to write this play was what is the thing that matters most to me? Um, with one character, he's trying to escape his brother's shadow. His brother was this giant accomplished uh boxer who um he's always compared to.

And as a Latino writer, one of the biggest things that always happens to us, especially being a Colombian writer, is we're always compared to our best. Um and they've been nothing but kind to me. They've been nothing but um generous with their mentorship. So I don't I don't say this in a way that I'm trying to like be mean or anything like that. But every one of my players is always gonna be compared to Jose Rivera. Every one of my plays is always gonna be compared to like a Luis Alfaro or or an Hilo Cruz. And um, being Colombian, it's gonna be magic realism all day. And there's a resentment that comes with that. That's just like I'm my own person. Let me, let me, let me prove myself. And so that's kind of where this character of Manuel came from with Armando, this constant need to be great and this, this, this unrealized uh ambition, um, the constant relentless uh push toward being greater and greater, even though he's achieved great things, um, being fueled by the fact that his father never acknowledged him.

That's me and my dad. My father never acknowledged me as as as just I mean, um almost as a human being, really. He he never um he never really looked at anything I did and and saw anything worth being proud of. And I I created this, this guy that just wanted to show and reach the top at any cost, at any uh whatever it took, he will reach, he would reach the thing and constantly be set back. Because an artist's life, no matter what, no matter how uh how far you go, you get the polluter, you get the Nobel, it's built on the foundation of rejection. It's built on the found foundation of failure. And that's really where this character of Armando came from. And then um the next one, Edgar, uh, an immigrant, um, who he's trying to stay in this country uh and get the EB1 visa um after his mother passed away, getting him into the country.

[25:20] Franky D. Gonzalez: He's undocumented. And um he my mother's not undocumented. My mother has not passed away, and I'm not undocumented either. But one of the things that I related to the most with his character is my mother gave up everything so that I could get a chance to be an artist. She gave up. She was working four jobs by herself in New York. Um, she was raising two kids by herself, and she did everything she could to make sure that we could be writers. And everything that I do as I pursue being an artist, as I go as relentlessly as I do, um, is with the intention of making my mother proud and telling her, hey, you sacrifice your youth, you sacrifice your happiness, you sacrificed your energy, you sacrifice all these things.

You gave up your life so that I could have a semblance of a life as an artist to live the life I want to live. And um I want you to be proud of me. I want to show you that I I I didn't take it for granted. And even though there's there's moments where I don't want to do this thing, the rejection is too much. It's it's so it's so terrible. I can't fail as an artist because then what did my mom give it all up for? And then um finally the last boxer, Juan. Um he's a he's a dad. He's he's a husband. I am a husband, I am a father. And one of the worst days of my life by far. My son was just an infant. He was maybe four or five months old, and I just lost everything on a production. I did a self-production and I lost it all.

And um he needed formula, and uh oh, I'm gonna cry. Um we only had fourteen dollars left in my account. Uh and formulas at the time was forty, forty-five. And that's the first time my wife asked me, is this theater stuff really worth it? Like, really is it worth it? Is that this this is humiliating? Your son can't eat, and we're counting pennies from a jar that I had, hoping to God, praying that we're gonna make it to forty-five plus whatever the heck uh other tax review or whatever might come. I don't think there's any taxes on formula, but we made enough. And she went and um I went to my son. I she while she went to the store angry that she's having to pay with a card and with pennies. Um and I told him, I'm sorry, I I failed you.

Um and Juan is this failure of a boxer who never really made it, and he's given up. Um, but he's decided to do something extremely drastic in order to show his family I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my promises to you somehow, somehow. And I told my son, I'm gonna keep my promise to you somehow, some. I don't know how. Um, but it was from that moment that I was able to produce the play that eventually launched out my career from that really desperate moment of only fourteen dollars. And we basically went without food for like a few days while we were waiting for my check to come in so that we could get his formula. But these four big things in my life, the need for my father, my Latino identity, my need to validate my mother, and then the pull that Juan has where it's like maybe I should equip me in an artist because my son shouldn't suffer just for my vanity for my ego.

My wife shouldn't suffer for me thinking that I can maybe get a big prize one day. I put them all, turned them into boxers, and I saw, okay, so what is the most important thing in my life? And I played it out. And that's what became that must be the entrance to heaven, is I played out these four scenarios. It's like, what happens if the need to be approved by my father meets my need to be a good husband and a wife? You know, what happens when the need for being for being my own man, for being uh for coming out of the shadows of the great writers of of my heritage and my culture meet the need to show my mom that that she uh that I'm fighting for her, that I'm doing this for her, and that that her sacrifice was not in vain.

And I I played it out that way with the entire play. And um, in writing it, it was it was a difficult process. It took about a year and a half to write. It was um commissioned by um Urbanite Theater in Sarasota, and um it is gonna be produced there um this year. Uh, it's gonna be going up in uh June, I believe June ninth until July ninth. And uh we're gonna be going into rehearsals in May. Um, but uh along with winning the Risk Theater Prize, it's it's done very well for itself. And uh it's really it's resonated with people. Uh but where it came from, honestly, was the it's me in four parts essentially, and me trying to figure out what is the most important thing in my life, what is the thing that that I I can't quite get past as as an individual.

And I don't want to spoil the play for anyone that wants to read it, but um, you see the decision I come to, it's it's it's kind of difficult um to to put these four things there. Um, but I'm also a lifelong passionate boxing fan. Like I'm an in I'm a boxing fanatic. So there is nothing that is more dramatic, humanly speaking to me than two men who they need something desperately and they're willing to bite their way um to get to that place. And so um that's really where that must be the entrance uh to heaven came from. Um I'm very excited for it to go up at uh Urbanite Theater in Sarasota. I hope it has uh a life beyond that as well. It's gonna be directed by Kathleen uh Capte Sumier, um, whom I admire very much, wonderful director, and the cast has not been announced yet.

So I I don't think I'll step on their toes, but it is Urbanite Theater in Sarasota this June. Excellent. And I know the meat of the story is your characters and the the drama in their lives. Uh but I do want to talk to you about the um the stage, the set description that you've written. Yeah. Now a lot of the scenes kind of take place in a boxing ring, but then in some moments it suddenly transitions to where it says a character is surrounded by clouds or a black hole forms behind them or on stage. And I think even in one scene, the character is suddenly on a mountain summit. Uh now, as I was reading this, you know, I was thinking, I guess it's not the only way, but the most convenient way to sort of pull off what you were asking for in the script would be some sort of projections, maybe.

Obviously, there's a tons of ways to stage it. Um, but when you were writing, what did you have in mind uh for theaters that that might stage this? Like if they came to you for your opinion on how to how to do it, what would you tell them? Right. Um, I like writing impossible plays. That's that's uh that's a kind of um a kind of interesting thing. And I love to see how people interpret how to create that, you know. Um speaking physically, a black hole can't be seen. You cannot perceive it unless you're witnessing it actually bringing in a star or matter of or light of some sort. So you can't perceive a black hole. So I'm I'm always very interested to see what would you do if uh if uh if a black hole was something you had to portray on stage.

But um projections is like the easiest, and that's the thing that I thought of as well. Projection technology has become so advanced, like it's it's absolutely bonkers what they're able to do with projections these days, whether it's um 3D projection or even projection on the actual like on creating like a sort of scrim that you can uh put things uh on. It's it's one of those things that I don't know any of the lingo. So sorry, tech people who might be listening in, my bad. Um, but I I I am fascinated to see what what they do, or even if they put anything on there, you know, and you kind of have to imagine um the summit, or you have to imagine these things. Because one of the things that I I think I I somewhat capture is is that you don't necessarily need to be um on, you don't need necessarily need to see a mountain in order to be on a mountain.

Um, and you can realize with with really clever lighting um and with really great sound design, um, you can realize the essence of a mountain without ever needing to actually put a stage picture on there. Um, you can be in the clouds and you can realize, where am I? Um, and you with some golds or something like that, gold, golden light or something, you can capture those those feelings. Um, so I I I I'm always fascinated. I myself do not have the eye of a designer or uh the vision of a director, which is why I am a playwright. Um and so bringing it to life would would be for me the most difficult challenge because I just don't have that that capacity. But I was told um by uh uh some really great, great mentors um at the OHI Playwrights Conference, just write it, we'll figure it out.

Just write it, write the thing, let us let us live in your vision. And so I I I always took I took that to heart and I've just since then written um what I what I what I can see in my mind. And the thing is like I um just amazed, you know, whether um, I mean, with your audio design, of course, uh on this, like it's it's amazing what what you were able to do with this podcast. Um it's stuff that I could never think of. So um it's just uh when when a playwright creates something that seems impossible, I think what a playwright is really doing at that point is they're um taking a leap of faith. Um and they're this is the sign of of trust that they give to to the team that wants to come together and produce this thing.

And um that to me is is um a beautiful thing. And so uh to me, the the stage directions is more hey, you tell me how you want to pr uh uh produce this or create it. I'm I'm willing to I'm willing to play or do you do we need to change it? Let's let's figure out a way. Um that's the beautiful thing about the collaborative nature of theater. When I'm dead, that's when that's when they can figure out how do we get the rights to change the script? Uh so but until then uh if I'm alive reach out to me let's talk let's let's figure this out yeah and I really like that mindset you know theater is collaborative because I kind of I know there's some playwrights that just don't like it they're like you know I wrote it like this this is how I want it and then but me I'm I'm kind of like you if a director wants to kind of collaborate and figure stuff out together you know I kind of love that or even if they take it on their own and they just do their own interpretation of it I've seen some very unique interpretations of my own plays that I didn't think of when I was writing but the way they did it I was like oh that's that's interesting I like that so it's uh it's definitely I love the collaborative process of theater yeah um in and why you're here there's another topic I want to touch on and that would be um script formatting now I know both of us being playwrights all the playwrights out there we submit to submission calls and theaters and oftentimes we see this needs to be written in standard play format which we both know if you google that you'll see three different examples of what standard playwrighting format is uh now after reading a couple of your scripts like for example your play the that must be the entrance to heaven you kind of wrote that in a very poetic kind of way the margins are different than standard playwright um and I think personally I kind of like it because it adds to your voice and uh but then on the other hand you know the ticket that was written in a more traditional standard playwrighting format uh so when you go into writing a script do you just kind of go with what you're feeling that day or do you have a preferred um, you know, formatting that you do for your writing?

[36:50] Franky D. Gonzalez: I I actually love that question. Um for for formatting, the thing is is like when I want to capture something I I I go to formatting to help try to capture that feeling. With what that must be the entrance I have in the the rhythm and the cadence of it. I wanted to capture the feeling of a boxing match and everything that they're saying, the movement, the the breath and everything where where they would place it, and even some of the punctuation, which is um not grammatically correct, but what I feel uh in terms of like their breadth or the flow that I want them to go in. I place the comma where I want it to be or the period. And so for me, um, I use format as a kind of way to help the actors capture the characters with comedies.

Um, because I'm I'm I'm much more comfortable doing that with dramas with comedies. Comedies are even more rhythmic, I think, than dramas because it's all about landing the joke. It's all about uh getting that punchline. And if you mess with the format, um some comic actors I found could really take that a certain kind of way, or they start trying to make something out of it that might not be there. And so um I try not to guide them in terms of like how they should be delivering breath or uh doing a wonky formatting that they're not really uh they might not vibe with or that they're going to immediately look at it and be like, I don't know what to do with this thing.

[38:13] Franky D. Gonzalez: Um, so I keep it more traditional because at that point I have to trust the comic actor and their instrument. With drama, I know how I want to hear it. I know how I want it to be done. Comedy is so much about the actual actor themselves, the director helping the actor along that process. And so I don't want to try to tell them how to deliver a joke. That's the worst thing you can tell a comic is how to deliver a joke. That's not my job. With drama, I'm a little bit more like, okay, here's how I'm seeing it. And even then, in the collaborative process, if an actor's not feeling that rhythm, let's change it. Let's figure it out. With comedy, I'm less confident. I'll be upfront and honest when I say that. So I keep it standard so that I don't muddy up the comedy that the actor or the director brings to the piece.

[39:05] Franky D. Gonzalez: So for writers out there, the ones who need a little push and momentum, or maybe the ones that haven't really aspiring writers haven't really started writing yet. What advice would you have for them to get them going or to, you know, keep pushing them forward? The rejection is going to always be there, right? It's gonna happen no matter what. I gotta know yesterday. You know, um, I would encourage that if you do want to go on a writing journey, um, write the thing that you absolutely have to write. That there is there that you cannot go on without writing that thing that you wake up thinking of that plays act two, scene three, um, and you're wondering about a certain line. Um, say the thing that you desperately need to say um that you want to leave behind.

[40:01] Franky D. Gonzalez: The biggest thing for me that changed everything from my playwriting as just a writer in general, was I found my audience because I found out what I wanted to say and what I desperately needed to say the moment my son was born. The moment he was born, I realized I don't have stories from my father. Um, I don't know anything about him. I really don't know much except for the bad memories. And whenever I tell people funny little anecdotes from my life or mistakes that I've made, they say, Oh yeah, your father did something like that when he was around that age too. And that wounds me in a way, because if I'd have known, could I have avoided the mistakes that I would take back? Could I have, could I have changed the outcome of my life that I don't repeat what he did? And so when he was born, my little one, everything became about writing to him. I desperately need to tell these stories to him.

[40:53] Franky D. Gonzalez: I desperately need to tell him about, you know, and in that much being the entrance to heaven. I need to tell him, look, I regret the things that went down that you had to suffer through while I pursued art. Or yeah, um, your grandmother means that much to me, or your mommy is the most beautiful woman in the world to me. That that kind of stuff. Or even with the ticket, this is what you dad, these are the people your dad was around. Um, everything became about writing to him. And everything became this desperate, like I want to get as many stories out so that when our dialogue ends, because it will end, biologically speaking, it's gonna end and he can still talk with me after. And when I changed my outlook to trying to get produced to, I just want to talk to my son, all of a sudden my writing career took off.

[41:48] Franky D. Gonzalez: Find your audience, find the thing that you need to say that you need to leave behind that others need to look at. Even if it's hyper personal, even if it's something that you think nobody cares about this story, it happened to me. Who cares about? No, I promise you, if it makes you cry, it's gonna make someone else cry. If it makes you laugh, it's gonna make someone else laugh. And when you go toward that, when you go toward that ideal, when you go toward um that honesty, and I'm not talking about just purely political stuff. I'm not talking about trying to make the play the important serious play. If you just tell an honest story, if you tell a story that you need to tell, I promise you someone's gonna love it. I promise you someone's gonna produce it. I promise you someone's gonna get passionate about it, someone will want to rep you, someone will want to uh bring you the semifinalist, finalist, win the whole thing, whatever it may be.

[42:41] Franky D. Gonzalez: That only started happening to me after my son was born and after I changed my direction from the age of 16 until 27, I had nothing but rejections, hundreds and hundreds of rejections because I tried writing to get produced, to get on stage, to get someone to like me. I tried making Arthur Miller light. I tried making Sam Shepard copies that weren't working out. But the moment I started writing to my son, the moment I found the thing that I desperately needed to say, um, because I don't want my son to end up like me wondering if I'd have known this from my father, would I have repeated his mistake? And there's a chance my son won't even want it or care about it, or even look at these plays and think anything about it.

I just want him to have the option, the option that I didn't get to have. Um just on that, that made my career. Um, I am not a writer, if I am not a father. Um, that's when you find your why, that changes everything. Find your why. And you and I promise you the words will flow out. The and and and everything will follow from there.

[43:43] Jonathan Cook: And you know what? As a father myself, I feel that so hard. Everything you just said about, you know, leaving stories behind, you know, for your kids to kind of read. You know, it's uh that's good stuff. Uh so other than Urbanite Theater producing your play, this that must be the entrance to heaven in June. Uh, what else do you have coming up? And where can people see one of your plays in a theater near them?

[44:14] Franky D. Gonzalez: So uh I do have another uh play with the Bishop Arts Theater Center over here in um in Dallas, Texas. It's gonna be going up in the autumn. Uh it doesn't have a title yet, and it's an adaptation of um of a Shakespeare play. Uh I'll keep it under wraps because we're we're keeping it a surprise with the season announcement, but it will be an adaptation of a Shakespeare piece. And um, it'll be happening if I'm remembering correctly, it's gonna be in October, um, barring you know, theater stuff happening that might push it back to some other time. But that that will be coming up soon. Um, I'll also be presenting um that must be the entrance to heaven over in Minneapolis uh with the Playwright Center, and um we're gonna be hosting a reading of it there. So if anyone's in the Twin Cities at that time, I believe it is going to be open to the public. That's gonna be in April, uh right before we start rehearsals down in um in Florida.

[45:07] Franky D. Gonzalez: I also have developed a a new solo show um called Heart Stop that I'm trying to take around to different places to see if there's any kind of interest. Heart Stop is a um deeply personal solo show. It's it's the second in a trilogy of shows that I'm creating specifically for my son that seems to be relating what people but um this one is about my my battle and struggle with uh obesity and how I'm going to attempt to unburden myself of weight in front of the audience every single performance and going through my life as someone that's uh that's been bigger all his life. Uh I was the fat kid even even from a young young age so um uh that that's going to be a solo performance um and I'm hoping to to take it around it it went to berkeley repertory uh already was developed at the ground floor and we're seeing if there's any other places um it's currently uh in competition with a few uh submission opportunities outside of that um we're still waiting uh of course hey produce me uh you can see the ticket uh gathered by the ghost light I mean come on uh you can you can you can hear it there and um outside of that though that's that's what I have on the on the theater and there's a few things happening on the um on the like film tv and that uh of course they got me on those weird n d's and they are allowed to take my first child if I say anything about them other than I'm working on a project like everyone does in la um but uh yeah that's that's currently what what uh what my what my season looks like um at the moment so minneapolis uh for a reading sarasota and then um dallas over here in the autumn and uh I also am working on a on a adaptation of a eugene o'neal play uh called uh marco millions that I've co-written with my friend um and and great collaborator jeff lew jeffrey loo he's uh director dramaturg um and we're we're looking to see what we can do with this adaptation now that it's crossed into the public domain as of this year uh marco millions uh by by o'Neal.

[45:44] Jonathan Cook: Awesome and where can people find you? What is your website? And are you active on any social media pages?

[47:20] Franky D. Gonzalez: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm I'm active on instagram. Um, you can usually find me by by typing out my name, Frankie D. Gonzalez, F R A N K Y. Uh, and Gonzalez with the Z. You can also find it on like uh my username is Fathead Productions, so P H A T T H E D D Productions, No Spaces on Twitter. I'm Fathead P H A T T H E D D. Yeah, there we go. Uh, I know how to spell my own handles. Um, I'm also active on NPX where most of my plays are up um currently, and you can you can read them there. Feel free. Uh you can reach me um with the contact button on NPX on New Play Exchange. And yeah, I'm I'm pretty available all the time. And I'm on Facebook too for those few of us that are still using it um for for communication method. Uh, but yeah, I'm um I'm there, Twitter, Instagram. I'm I'm I'm not going to TikTok. I I just no, I I can't I can't do it. Gen Z, y'all, y'all got it. Uh it's all you. I'm I'm a millennial.

[48:24] Jonathan Cook: All right, Frankie. Well, thank you for sharing your play with us and and you know, hosting the premiere here. Keep creating, keep writing. Uh, good luck to everything you're doing, and I hope I can have you back on in the future.

[48:37] Franky D. Gonzalez: Absolutely no. Thank you so much for for the opportunity and the honor of of doing this play. It means a lot. Um, and everyone, please, please, please, please listen to the podcast. Uh, like it, make comments on it, leave reviews, good reviews. If it's a bad review, don't leave it. Um, and and give it all the stars. Get it, get get get it up there because there's so few theater resources out there, and what and what you're doing here, Jonathan is something that um helps not only uh promote a playwright, but it also it raises the confidence level and it gives us an opportunity to interact with theater in ways that we just are not able to. Um, so thank you for what you do.

[49:15] Jonathan Cook: Thank you so much. Thank you all for listening. And if you are associated with a theater and you would like to produce the play you heard today on your stage, send an email to gather by the ghostlight at gmail.com or contact the playwright directly at the social media pages he mentioned. If you would like to have some Gather by the Ghost Light merchandise, t-shirts are available at the merchandise link in the show notes. And the year one and year two books are both available on Amazon. This program is supported in part by the Greater Augusta Arts Council through a grant from its partner agency, the National Endowment for the Arts. Intro and Altra Music, as always, is provided by artist JK47.

And if you enjoy this podcast, maybe you're a longtime listener, or maybe this is the first episode you've ever heard. Let us know. Please leave us a rating or a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. And also be sure to follow Gather by the Ghost Light on social media to stay up to date on new episodes. I'm Jonathan Cook, and as always, stay safe, and I'll see you next time we gather by the ghost light.