Fa i t h 18 | BOROMAG.COM | AUGUST 2015 NIGHTLIFE & ENTERTAINMENT Fringe BORO: When did you start writing this piece? DINA LAURA: I began writing in January of 2011. Originally it was a one-act, but I soon discovered there was a bigger story to tell. So I expanded it to a full-length play in 2012, and have been developing it through various informal readings ever since. The Fringe Festival marks the official debut of my play, and I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to premiere my show at a festival that is dedicated to promoting indie theater. BORO: How much of your own life is in this play? DL: All of it, some of it … Ha. It's so hard to say where real life ends and imagination begins. The play is certainly my real life in the sense that faith is something I wonder about on a daily basis. I think most of us do. But the story was initially inspired by two coworkers who were talking about faith and water cleanses in the same sentence. It literally felt like a light bulb went off in my head. I knew there was a story to be told. And from there, it just went to places I never expected—from superheroes and psychics to yellow sparrows and hoarders. I would be sitting at the keyboard and sometimes it felt like I had no control over what I was typing. Wacky ideas would just end up on the page, and I had to stop myself from hitting the delete button and give myself a chance to live with what at the Each August, small theatrical venues scattered across lower Manhattan transform to become the stages of the New York International Fringe Festival, featuring an array of plays and performances—all selected by jury. This year, one of Astoria’s very own artists— playwright and actress Dina Laura— will be premiering her play, “Elephants and Other Worldly Dilemmas,” which is described as a comedy about faith and how it impacts the decisions we make. BORO sat down with the playwright and star of the show to find out just what it took to bring this creative idea to the New York stage.
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