As Itzel Lara comes to the end of a residency with our International Department, we caught up with her to find out a little bit more about her work…
Name: Itzel Lara
Age: 32
How long have you been a writer?
I started studying playwriting and screenwriting formally twelve years ago and I’m still learning…
How did you become involved with the Royal Court?
My work with the Royal Court began in 2011 when I was accepted to participate in workshops that exist in some countries, including Mexico. I wrote a piece entitled Aún No Recuerdo Su Rostro.
I continued working on plays for year and a half in which time I had a staged reading, directed by Royal Court International Associate Caroline Steinbeis, at the Hellenic Theatre in Mexico City,
In 2012 I applied for and was accepted on to an artistic residency here to work on a new play that I’m writing.
What’s your new play about?
Right now I’m writing stories about people with a perceived physical “deformity”; dwarves, Siamese-twins… the so-called “freaks”… the lonely.
Describe your writing style.
I like to tell stories about seemingly “insignificant” people – the people who, despite spite of years and years living alongside others, are hardly missed when they die.
What are your aspirations as a writer?
My only aspiration is to have the fortune of tools to tell what interests me at a given moment… to improve my technique and to keep my heart open.
Tell us an interesting or lesser-known fact about yourself…
I like white butterflies and bitter chocolate. I firmly believe that the sea comforts the lungs and I am certain that if you could choose the architecture of your heart, mine would be a theater.