On Developing Notes from a Pandemic Pothole: A Personal Reflection on the Co-creation of New Work in Storytelling

Abstract:This article is a personal reflection on developing a character monologue about the impact of COVID-19 on a White, female, restaurant worker in Georgia. I drew on journalistic accounts centering women’s experience during the pandemic; situated my creative process within the writing of Anne Bogart, Liz Lerman, Jo Carson, Kristin M. Langellier, and Eric E. Peterson, and shaped the monologue co-creatively with over a dozen conversation partners. The piece details the woman’s awakening to America’s racial reckoning through her relationship with an African American co-worker, so feedback from several listeners of color was particularly invaluable. The essay touches on the intricacies of staging work for Zoom, and fielding audience responses—an integral part of the new-works festival that spawned the piece—as I continue to develop it.