A conversation with my longtime friend and playwright of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Alexis Scheer. Alexis is one of the most intelligent people I know. She is as kind and caring and compassionate as she is articulate and witty. Her knowledge of herself and her experiences is refreshing and straight-up inspiring. I've wanted to sit down and put microphones in front of our mouths for a long time, but with her play currently running at WP Theatre off-Broadway - now seemed like the perfect time to go deep and break down what this experience has been like. This is Alexis' New York debut as a playwright and it is the very beginning of what I am certain will be a long and incredibly exciting career in this industry. Our conversation starts off with a quick recap of the history of this play and spirals into a dialogue about representation, spirituality, creative fulfillment, trust, relationships, and lands with a recent revelation about the "struggling artist" mentality. I have no doubt that you'll find a plethora of wisdom-nuggets that you'll carry with you. Alexis has a way of speaking about abstract topics in a way that's digestible and easy to grip on to. She inspires me to move through the world with more grace and trust that what I have to say is worth hearing.
Alexis was named Rising Theatre Star by Improper Bostonian in the Boston’s Best Issue and is currently featured on the Kilroys’ List and Remezcla’s 8 Exciting Latinx Playwrights. Plays include Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (world premiere Off-Broadway WP Theater/Second Stage; developed at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Off the Grid Theatre, and McCarter Theatre Center; Kilroys’ List, featured finalist at HowlRound’s LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work, Relentless Award semi-finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist, 50PP’s Best Unproduced Latinx Plays, 50PP’s Best Latinx Plays for College); Laughs in Spanish (developed at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and San Diego REP), Christina (developed at Cleveland Playhouse; Roe Green Award Winner) and Chosen (BCA She Said Festival, Sanguine Theatre’s Playwrights’ Week). She is a proud Miami native and New World School of the Arts alum, and holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory and MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. She also moonlights as the Producing Artistic Director of award-winning fringe company, Off the Grid Theatre.
The Come Up is a podcast that holds space for honest conversations about the reality of being a growing artist in the entertainment industry today. The myth of "making it" tells us that our happiness and fulfillment is dependent on a specific outcome when the truth is that there is no moment of arrival - the journey is never ending. This podcast will serve as an archive of individual perspectives and a source of inspiration for anyone navigating their own creative path. It's an opportunity to reflect on where we've been, where we're at, and where we're going.