Yeji and Noe at the Mermaid Parade
by Audrey Kolker

SYNOPSIS

It’s June of 1998, and two recent college graduates are climbing a telephone pole in order to get a better view of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Audrey Kolker is a playwright and director from Brooklyn, New York. Her play Treadmill Play was a finalist for the 2025 SheNYC Arts Summer Theater Festival. BA: Yale University.

A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?

How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?

This play started as an assignment for a class taught by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. There was this postcard I had of a photo taken by Genevieve Hafner of two girls on a traffic signal box, and I was obsessed. How did they get up there? What were they looking at? I was worrying about post-grad and wanted to write about young women like myself: anxious, with silly degrees. And I’d just seen Stop Making Sense re-released in theaters, so David Byrne was on my mind. When I found out he was King Neptune that year, everything clicked.

What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?

1. 1. Collect.
   2. Laugh.
   3. Poke.
   4. Sweat.
   5. Interrupt.

What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?

Annie Baker. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Elif Batuman. Anne Carson. My parents.

What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?

I log upwards of ten hours a week on the mobile phone game Capybara Go! It’s one of those freemium apps, but I don’t put any money into it. Maybe that makes me even more of a sucker.

What are some of your favorite plays?

Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?

I’m moving to London. Will you be there? Do you know anyone there? Let me know: [email protected].