Ivy Day: An Introduction + Reading List
Exploring the ideas and influences behind my new play, premiering tonight!
Tonight is the night! Tonight is the opening (and closing) night of my new play, Ivy Day, a play inspired by own experiences navigating the American college application process.
Ivy Day has been in development for almost a year now. It started off as a desperate attempt to stave off post-graduation terror, as job applications piled up but job offers remained dismally low (read: zero). I needed a task, something to focus my energy on. I decided on writing a play, and gave myself the following parameters: the play must be cheap and easy to stage. That meant one location, set in the modern-day, not long, and preferably with a smaller cast. Short and sweet.
Well, short and sour, really. Ivy Day also emerged from my frustrations with the American educational system, a system I believe forces historically underrepresented groups to fight amongst one another for a small number of spots at elite institutions. Such an environment breeds the race, class, and gender-based anxieties that permeate the play, turning students from these underrepresented backgrounds against one another while legacies and the ultra-rich skate by without a thought.
Ivy Day is also, however, a play about relationships. About the high school friendships that vanish the second you graduate; about the situationships that totally mean nothing but actually mean absolutely everything; about the life-long relationships that fray once buried secrets and prejudices bubble to the surface. And Ivy League or no Ivy League, I think all of us can relate to that.
So come see Ivy Day: tickets are still on sale, and the amazing work of this incredible cast and crew truly deserves to be seen.
And before (or after) you see the show, scroll down to check out a list of the articles, movies, and songs that inspired me throughout the process!
What to Read:
‘To Serve is to Rule: Why We Miss the WASPS” by Doug Henwood (https://harpers.org/archive/2019/11/to-serve-is-to-rule-wasps-doug-henwood/)
The History Boys by Alan Bennet
Take Ivy by Teruyoshi Hayashida, Shosuke Ishizu, Toshiyuki Kurosu, and Hajime (Paul) Hasegawa
What to Watch:
The Holdovers, dir. Alexander Payne (2023)
Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong (2018 - 2023)
The Talented Mr. Ripley, dir. Anthony Minghella (1999)
The Wolf of Wall Street, dir. Martin Scorsese (2013)
The Social Network, dir. David Fincher (2010)
Challengers, dir Luca Guadagnino (2024)
What to Listen to:
See you at the show!
Arianna xx
