One of Point Loma’s own is now seeing her latest theatrical work produced onstage for audiences in the Seattle area. Playwright Sonya Schneider’s latest work, “Wake,” is currently in preparations for its world premiere.
“It’s totally amazing,” Schneider said. “I started this process about a year ago. I began writing the first draft of the play and it has evolved so dramatically since then.”
Presented by Onward Ho! Productions and directed by Laurel Pilar Garcia, “Wake” includes a cast of seven ensemble actors.
According to a short description of the play on its official blog, www.wakeplay.blogspot.com: “Thirteen years ago, the Harlow family suffered a tragedy that cast a shadow over all their lives. When two outsiders join a special family gathering, relationships are changed, assumptions are challenged and a world where the truth has been too painful to accept is forever altered.”
Schneider said her inspiration for writing the play came from close to home.
“Its roots are definitely in my family history,” she said.
Schneider said the process of writing the piece took about a year to complete, during which time she said she went through at least four full drafts before completion.
“The more I imagined it and first conceived it, the more it took on a life of its own,” Schneider said.
A 1996 Point Loma High School (PLHS) graduate, Schneider said she was lucky enough to be enrolled at the school during the same time that noted English, visual performing arts teacher and musical theater program director Larry Zeiger was still teaching there.
“I was fortunate enough to be in Point Loma before his retirement and we put on a great show,” Schneider said. “I had a very small part. That was one of my first forays into live theater.”
Zeiger, for whom the school’s performing arts center is now named, retired last June after 33 years of service to the school. His musical theater and cinema arts program’s unique curriculum, one in which he had his students write, choreograph, design and produce their own musical each year, was recognized by both local and national media outlets for its groundbreaking and successful nature.
Zeiger was also awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences during the 33rd annual Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards in June.
In addition to her experiences with Zeiger, Schneider said she continues to utilize all she learned from her seminar English teacher, Cynthia Hedges.
“She was hugely influential in just helping me focus on writing,” Schneider said.
Outside her years at PLHS, Schneider said she gained a lot of knowledge and inspiration from the plays she saw at La Jolla Playhouse, where she said she saw many of her first plays.
After graduating from Point Loma High, Schneider said she earned an English degree and studied playwriting at Stanford University. Schneider said she worked at the Manhattan Theatre Company before relocating to Seattle.
“I’ve worked in theater now for five years, in the administrative side, and I’ve seen new plays happen and change,” said Schneider. “But I had no idea what that meant for my own work. Writing a play is just one piece of the puzzle that’s a collaboration between the actors, the designers and the production of the play.”
Schneider said she hopes to return to San Diego.
“Well, I hope one of my plays comes to San Diego, so I have a reason to return [to] see all my friends and family and go to the beach,” Schneider said.
Performances run through Sunday, April 13 at Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave. East on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Tickets are $10 to $15. For information, visit www.brownpapertickets.com.