Happy Havens Church of Higher Enlightenment
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Paris
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SYNOPSIS
When Sister Harmony and Brother Tranquility both fail to drink the suicide cult koolaide, awkwardness ensues.
PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO
Writer-Producer Paris is an Australian immigrant who spent her childhood and adolescence in Asia, her early twenties in Canada, and has since found a permanent home in Los Angeles. Paris works by day in film and TV development, and has had the opportunity to produce commercials for Carhartt, Ball Aluminum cup featuring Jason Momoa, and Oatlaws featuring Joel Kinnaman. She also produced on the unscripted series On The Roam for Max, starring Momoa, which was nominated for a Critics choice award. A 2020 Nickelodeon Writers Fellowship Semi-Finalist, Paris wrote a Christmas TV movie for Reel One which premiered on Peacock December 2023. Paris is an active member of entertainment mentorship programs, a comedy enthusiast, and is passionate about animal rights and dog rescue, and not drinking the required koolaide.
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?
From a very young age I wrote plays, forced my siblings and neighbors to star in them, and then performed them for my parents and their (mostly drunk) expat friends. Plays were something I could do on my own with a low-cost/low footprint. It was a way for me to bring stories and characters to life, and as someone who moved around a lot, it was a way to force people to hang out with me. I was a very bossy child.
How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
I was in a small play collective in Highland Park, California, where each week 4 friends and I (all writers) would agree on a theme and an area for staging the play in my friend Amalia’s cool, weird, big backyard. This play was born from that genesis.
What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?
Committed to the bit, Pal.
What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?
Life can be hard, the world can be sad. Comedy makes things lighter and is a great tool to connect with people and discuss pressing and difficult issues, or poke fun at things that are weird and scary. I am obsessed with older SNL female legends like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, May Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Molly Shannon, Kristin Wig. I just want to write stuff that would make them think I’m cool. If they every talked to me I’d probably just evaporate.
What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?
Deathly phobic of needles to the point that I cry almost every time at some point beforehand and need lots of pep talks, and faint 9/10 times when I get them. Even the tiny vaccine ones. But I weirdly don’t mind tattoos.
What are some of your favorite plays?
Così and The Golden Age by Louis Nowra. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Absurdist humor is my jam.
Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?
Writing away! Watch my cheesy rom-com 12 Dares of Christmas on Peacock!
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