JOSE SEBASTIAN ALBERDI
Playwright of rachel, nevada
jose sebastian alberdi is a Brooklyn-based playwright originally from sunny San Diego. Writing developed with: the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (National Playwrights Conference), MacDowell (Fellowship), Page 73 (Fellowship, Writers’ Group), Clubbed Thumb (Winterworks, Early Career Writers’ Group), Ensemble Studio Theatre (Youngblood), Colt Coeur (Company Member, Residency), The Orchard Project (Greenhouse Lab, Episodic Lab, Homegrown x Sony TV Lab), Fresh Ground Pepper (BRB Eco-Week), South Coast Repertory (Pacific Playwrights Festival, Elizabeth George Commission, NewSCRipts), Denver Center for the Performing Arts (New Play Summit), the Huntington Theatre Company (Dream Boston), Exquisite Corpse Company (Writer’s Lab), Lambda Literary (Writer’s Retreat) and more. MFA: NYU.
Up next: bogfriends (NPC ’23) at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 2027.
Why are you excited to bring this piece to the O'Neill and what are you hoping to accomplish here?
I'm excited to bring rachel, nevada to the O'Neill because the National Playwrights Conference was such a transformative experience for bogfriends in 2023. I can literally draw a straight line between how certain scenes and moments in bogfriends exist in its current, about-to-be-produced draft to the 2023 Conference and the notes I received from the O'Neill staff. Of course, I'm hoping that my time at the O'Neill with rachel, nevada will prove similarly fruitful—and that by the end of my time on campus, I'll be closer to a final pre-production draft.
What inspired you to create this piece?
I've been writing rachel, nevada since 2021, so its origin story feels a little murky now. If I remember correctly, it all started from a mix of stumbling on a Wikipedia page for the real Rachel, Nevada around the same time I read "Behold, The Millennial Nuns," an article by Eve Fairbanks. Having been raised Catholic, but also having fully left the church, I find that in fictional stories I'm always drawn to the believer, the priest, the cleric. In real life, I'm a terrible skeptic who wants to believe so badly—and I think rachel, nevada is a bit of an argument with myself, through these four characters, about why or how someone could believe so truly in something.
Why are you drawn to plays/musicals as a medium for storytelling and/or for telling this particular story?
I've just always loved theater. I think it probably stems from the same place that makes me love amusement parks and dark rides. I love entering a story. Actually having the story physicalized in front of me. I love the tangible nature of a hyperrealistic set. Of actors existing on it. I think rachel is a little scary, and I think one day when we're in the dark with these characters, under an artificial sky, on an artificial plot of Nevadan desert, we'll feel really close to them. Closer than you'd maybe get to them through any other story medium.
What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
I'll pass along two pieces of advice that my mentor, good friend, and frequent dramaturg Charles Haugland gave me when I was working at the Huntington Theatre:
1) Work on your next play.
&
2) It's a long game.
Charles gave me Advice #1 when I was hyper-fixating on the very first play I ever wrote, worrying about it getting into festivals, receiving readings, being produced, etc. (Fun fact: It was flatout rejected from the O'Neill that year—not even named an NPC Semifinalist!) I think that advice has served me well. If you're ever feeling like you're hitting a wall with a play, it's okay to take some time away from it and work on your next one. That draft will always be there for you—either when you're ready to go back to it, or when people are looking for other plays of yours they might not know yet.
Advice #2 is guidance I'm sure everyone gives their mentee, but I really do believe that a huge component of making it as a writer is just keeping at it. Keep watching plays. Keep reading plays. Keep writing plays. Keep submitting. Keep believing in yourself. It's a difficult field that rewards persistence, humility, and passion for the craft. But I love it even when I'm discouraged, and you should try to, too.
sebastian's reading recommendations to accompany your experience with rachel, nevada:
Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim