The word Opehqueh in Nahualt tongue means “they began.” This is the name that some incredible ladies (Marisol Best and Crystal Mercado) chose for their project that I am SO excited to be a part of. The short version is that we are an ensemble group creating a piece about the effects of technology. This started in March of this year with a group from San Diego Junior Theatre. They had about 13 pages of a script from that process. What our part looks like is a lot of improv, writing, discussing and eventually, a reading. It has been SO fun being a part of this process. Saturdays rehearsal was spent sitting on bean bag chairs, improving a scene between our main characters, and eventually writing what inspired us from that rehearsal. I think the freeing part of this, for me as a writer, is that I don’t have to come up with or create a finished product all by myself. Really, it’s put ideas down, let others run with it. It’s been very exciting to be a part of the process in a group setting, where we talk about what works, what doesn’t, does it fit, does it make sense, and having more heads than one is a great place to be. Stay tuned: we have a deadline of a performance date for a staged reading of this piece on August 11th!