Michi Barall does it all: playwright, actor, and academic. Though she’s been living in NYC for over 30 years, she’s still very much in touch with her Canadian roots. Barall’s new play, Drawing Lessons, is set to premiere at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis next month. I got to ask Michi some questions about her inspiration for her play, graphic novels, and her Canadian heritage.

1.Could you please introduce yourself to my readers and talk a bit about your role with Drawing Lessons?

I am a New York City based actor, writer and academic (I teach theatre at Purchase College).  I’ve been working on Drawing Lessons as a playwright since 2019, in collaboration with my friend Jack Tamburri (the director), who seems not to mind listening to me think out loud and always gives incredibly thoughtful feedback; our incredible producers (and staff!); and many wonderful actors who have been part of the developmental process.  Because I started in the theatre as an actor and I love actors, many of the roles in the play were written with specific actors in mind. For example, I wrote the role of Matt for Matt Park, who grew up in Minneapolis and, much to my delight, is part of the CTC production: the role is my way of both leaning into and elaborating on what he brings to the table.  Sometimes you’re matched with actors who are so wonderful, they show you an aspect of the character you hadn’t imagined: they begin to reshape the characters.  Stage  veteran Jim Lichtscheidel has been part of the developmental process at CTC and continues to fill in the contours of the character of Paul in ways that have been surprising and delightful.  Because we are in production, a huge part of the collaboration now is with the design team, especially our illustrator Blue Delliquanti, who has put our protagonist’s aesthetic line and sensibility on the page/stage.  Each designer brings their own sensitivity, whimsy and depth to the play. 

2. What was your inspiration behind Drawing Lessons?

The play has two sources of inspiration. Jack Tamburri and I collaborated on a project together with Ma Yi in 2017.  We had so much fun, we wanted to continue working together in some way: Jack proposed a new play that would incorporate live drawing on stage.  At about the same time, my daughter (and many of her friends) had become obsessed with middle grade graphic memoirs.  I was struck by both the popularity and narrative power of these graphic novels and wondered what an exploration of the form onstage might lend to performance.  Middle grade memoirs are often coming of age stories (as well as stories about the  (re)construction of memory) and so I decided to write a play, featuring live drawing, centering an Asian American adolescent girl, coming of age as a comic artist in Minneapolis in the 1990s (a kind of “portrait of the artist as an adolescent girl” if you will).  

3. Have visual art and graphic novels been interests of yours for a long time?

I have very little visual field, something I learned while writing this play.  I have aphantasia, which means if you tell me to see an apple in my mind’s eye, I don’t see an apple;  I have a concept of an apple.   Visual art has always been a little abstract to me (this may or may not have to do with aphantasia!), and prior to the play, I was not a reader of comic art (aside from comic strips in the Sunday paper).  My daughter loves graphic novels and her investment in the form introduced me to the complexity and richness of visual storytelling forms.  And then I learned so much through research for the play that I can honestly say that I now read graphic novels for the sheer pleasure of reading them.  

4. What’s your favourite part about writing theatre for young audiences?

Children keep you honest. Knowing that you’re writing for children also keeps you oriented towards your specific audience – you write knowing that you need to earn their trust and that once you do, they will be full partners in co-creating the experience.  I also love working with young actors, because they keep you up to date (so hard these days!!) and they also defamiliarize you from your own contexts. Perhaps this is just all a way of saying that children keep you on your toes

5. Your bio mentions that you’ve been living in New York for quite some time. Is there something in particular you miss about life in Canada?

I have a huge stake in what it means to be American, having lived in the US since 1989 (!).  And yet, I feel very connected to being Canadian. I return at least three times a year to see my mother and brother, but part of it is also an identity, one that feels a little more nascent.  Margaret Atwood talks about Canadians being in search of an identity (particularly in relationship or juxtaposition to US identity) and that feels true to me.  For myself, I still feel a little like a character in search of an author (nation).

I want to thank Michi for taking the time out of her schedule to answer my questions. You can catch Drawing Lessons at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis from October 8 – November 10. For more information, visit: https://childrenstheatre.org/whats-on/drawing-lessons/

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