SYNOPSIS

Two long-haul truckers are forced to reckon with unspoken grief in their friendship when it appears insects begin throwing themselves purposefully against their truck’s windshield.

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Alex Moon (Pronouns: they/he) is a genderqueer theatre artist and translator who’s worked with organizations such as The American Repertory Theatre; Ensemble Studio Theatre; Speakeasy Stage Co; Boston University; Emerson College; Theatre Collaborative, and more. Recently, their play, G-Town, was a finalist for the 2021 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ari + Dee was produced by Broke People Play Festival and The Chain Theatre, and their short play HANOI JANE PISS TARGET was selected as part of the 46th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival. Their recent translations of The Homeric Hymns to Dionysus will be featured in the forthcoming spring issue of Persephone: The Harvard Undergraduate Classics Journal. They are a member of New York University’s class of 2022, double majoring in Dramatic Writing Classics, as well as training with the Yale School of Drama, Frantic Assembly, and One Year Lease’s Apprentice Program in Papingo, Greece.

A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

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

I’ve always written little skits or stories and forced my family to act in them (very playwright-y of me). Things took off when I was a teenager with the help of my mentor and friend, Corinne Mason, who introduced me to Greek Drama, the absurdists, Sarah Ruhl, Sarah Kane — so many of the writers I still lose my mind over today. I was also a super bad listener in school but I found that if you’re writing in a notebook during calculus people assume you’re paying attention. I’m better now! I promise. I’m paying attention.

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

I come from old, woodsy towns in Massachusetts, and being a busy bee I did a lot of driving at night growing up. There’s something in the feeling of being alone behind the wheel late at night that starts to feel very liminal; very unsettling. Someone once described that moment as “the call of the void.” Spooky. Combine that with my queer fascination about hetero-male friendships and how they express emotion/vulnerability, and you have a play that is equal parts funny, weird, and worrisome.

3. What are 5 words that describe who you are as a playwright?

Crunchy, loud, nourishing, mythical, messy!

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

This list gets longer any time people ask! The ever-present answers for me are Sarah Ruhl, Jen Silverman, Clare Barron, The Greeks, Soyinka, Frantic Assembly. Lately I’ve been particularly excited by Julia Izumi, Sam Max, and my amazing friend, collaborator, and Bugs director Kelsey Sullivan.

Then there are also the non-playwright answers. I love art. I love history. I love nature. Lately, music and animal behavior have been a big influence. Apocalypses. Gender. Drag. Garbage in the streets of New York.

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

I played lacrosse for three years and only ever scored one goal (count em, one!) but I did get my wrist slashed by some kid from Duxbury, Massachusetts and it hurt so bad I threw up in my helmet but he got a penalty so ha.

6. What are some of your favorite plays?

Again! So hard to choose! Anything that shifts the responsibility of action to the audience utterly amazes me. Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury, Life Sucks by Aaron Posner, a lot of Taylor Mac’s work. I also will always shout from the rooftop how much I love Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s Do You Feel Anger? It’s not a play, but I’ve never been so moved and excited by a film as I was by Everything Everywhere All at Once and the whole world needs to go see it.

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

Yes! On the playwriting side of things, I’m coming to a place with my behemoth of a play ΑΠΑΘΕΙΑ (“a-pah-thee-ya”) where I’ll be ready to share soon. Anyone who knows me knows it’s consumed most of my waking hours the past four years, so I can’t wait to unleash it on the rest of you as well 🙂

I’m also proud to say that as a translator, my new versions of The Homeric Hymns to Dionysus was published in the Spring 2022 edition of Persephone: The Harvard Undergraduate Classics Journal. I’m hoping this is the beginning of more translations of Greek and Latin for me, so if anyone has any burning questions about Sophoclean grammar hmu.