Monday, October 6, 2014

Spotlight On...Cheryl L. Davis

Name: Cheryl L. Davis

Hometown: Mt. Vernon, NY  
   
Education: Princeton University (A.B.), and Columbia University Schools of Law and Journalism

Favorite Credits: The Color of Justice for Theatreworks/USA (my family loves that show).

Why theater?: There’s nothing like an audience of people sitting collectively engaged in an experience.

Tell us about Maid’s Door?: Maid’s Door is the first 10-minutes of a now full length play inspired by the life of my grandmother.

What inspired you to write Maid’s Door?: While I was a member of the Women’s Project Playwright’s Lab, we were asked to write a 10-minute play inspired by a place we’d lived in.  I decided to write a play set in my current apartment, and Maid’s Door was prompted by a conversation I had with my grandmother when I was moving in.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Theater that transfixes. That captures you and holds you in its own world.  I’m a huge admirer of Lynn Nottage and Tom Stoppard.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Viola Davis.

What show have you recommended to your friends?:  Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Here we are, back to Viola Davis. I’d call it “Look Again” (there’s so much more than at first meets the eye).

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Marshmallow Peeps. They’re awesome.

What’s the most played song on your iPod?: Right now, “Happy” by Pharrell (she typed, hanging her head in shame; maybe that should be under guilty pleasure?).

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: In addition to being a lawyer?  Is writing for TV an option?  No? Then an English/History professor.

What’s up next?: A musical I’m writing on commission for the Berkeley Playhouse.