'They know how dangerous it is when artists start cooking.' Playwright Gabriel Diego Hernández on the power of theatre

So could you tell me a little bit about your life as a playwright and as a theater artist?

Yeah, sure.

You know, so I came to it relatively late.

I mean, I always did my school plays as an actor when I was a child.

And then, but in college, I sort of stepped away from it.

I think I felt like I couldn't hang.

I was also focused on hip hop, you know, recording and performing.

So I was like creatively occupied, but there also was a fear piece around the theater world.

But then I was still working with students.

I worked at this summer stock theater camp for 13 straight years called Extravaganza.

I was a musical director with some middle school age kids.

And did community theater.

And I was always making stuff, even though it wasn't my career.

I was teaching.

I was in the classroom.

I was a high school history teacher.

And then at a certain point, I transitioned out of schools and into my own work as a performing artist.

And never would have dreamed that I could make a play.

I was just very happy to be an actor for hire.

And then just this random idea occurred to me.

And I had this very lucky situation at a theater in the Bronx called Pregones.

You know, they incubate a lot of new works, you know, and kind of have an open door policy for members of their ensemble to like pitch them, you know, ideas.

And, you know, so kind of on a whim, I emailed Jorge Merced, who had been a mentor of mine already.

He's the associate artistic director with Pregones.

You know, so I sent him, you know, this kind of half-baked idea.