Otolaryngology
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Natalie P.
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SYNOPSIS
A Deaf woman and her hearing partner debate the prospect of a cochlear implant surgery in a doctor’s office waiting room. Performed in American Sign Language with spoken translations by the characters’ “Voices,” Otolaryngology asks us to examine how we communicate and the distinction between hearing and listening.
PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO
Natalie P. Wright is a playwright from Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with her Bachelors of Arts in May 2025. She was a 2024 Tennessee Playwrights Studio Fellow. Her plays Enter Macbeth. and Who’s Gonna Bury Me? were self-directed and produced with Iceberg Theatre Company at Vanderbilt 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?
I’m one of those forever theatre kids who started acting at six years old. (I was an orphan in Annie, and I wore a pillowcase as a dress. It was adorable.) Sometime in my tweens, I realized I wanted to act more stories than I had access to, so I started telling my own stories. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that I should be writing these stories down. I wrote my first play my freshman year of college, but my true “see the light” moment came in my freshman year. A short play I had written was chosen for my college’s short play festival. Sitting in the theater with the director and actors, hearing my words spoken for one of the first times, I knew I wanted to do this forever.
How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
Otolaryngology was originally inspired by a conversation with my dad. It was a brief and casual one that I’m sure he’s forgotten by now. In it, we talked about what we as humans are willing to do for other people, how the world seems to be moving in a dangerous direction in which people are not willing to sacrifice their own convenience for others’ comfort or safety. I wanted to examine this concept within the context of a specific personal interaction, and the characters of Willow and Ford were born. It’s also so crucial to note that I was fundamentally inspired by the theatre company Deaf West, who have been revolutionary in their dedication to centering Deaf stories on the stage.
What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?
Conversational, Sarcastic, Dedicated, Playful, Distinctive.
What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?
First and foremost, Krista Knight, who has been a mentor for me in playwriting and screenwriting for the past three years, has had an incredible influence on my storytelling, particularly opening my eyes to just how experimental and rule-breaking theatre can be. I also take many cues from the work of Lynn Nottage and her grounded, understated yet powerful style of world-building and dialogue. Sweat was a particularly formative play for me in my understanding of how to build a play.
What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?
I’m a Nashville girly, born and raised. Something about my politics and my lack of an accent just does not scream “Southern” to people.
What are some of your favorite plays?
As I said above, Sweat by Lynn Nottage. Fat Ham by James Ijames. The Hunt by David Farr. If you’ll allow a couple musicals: Maybe Happy Ending is living rent free in my head, and Falsettos is my all-time fave.
Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?
I’m currently working on a few new plays and a TV pilot. My favorite work-in-progress right now is a real passion project of a play called Imperatrix, which follows the true(ish) story of one of Rome’s worst emperors, Elagabalus. The play follows “Ela” through five different marriages, one grand love story of the ages, one of the first documented mentions of gender-affirming surgery, a party to literally DIE for, and a grandma-sponsored assassination plot. It’s a ton of fun.
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