An “Interview” with Karissa Murrell Myers

How about another “interview” featuring one our 2025 Festival playwrights? Unlike traditional playwright interviews, we asked our writers to reply to our questions with either a single word, an image, an obvious lie, or a rhyming couplet (or whatever they wanted if they weren’t in the mood). If you’re looking for tickets to the festival, you can find them here.

Any now, our “interview” with playwright Karissa Murrell Myers whose play The Red Fortune Cookie will receive a staged reading on May 9, directed by Andy Lowe

1. What is your hometown?

(Boise, Idaho)

2. What is a song that represents your play?
“Homegrown Tomatoes” by John Denver.

3. What is a piece of art that represents your play?

5. Give a teaser for your play.
Reese is a simple man who just wants the surprise wedding he’s planning for his girlfriend to go off without a hitch this weekend. But when a hot air balloon full of blood crashes in his backyard the same day his apparently-not-dead aunt and bad-tempered little sister show up looking for a stolen family heirloom, mayhem ensues. This kick-in-the-teeth farce explores true love, family ties, and suburban ennui.

6. Give us an out-of-context spoiler for your play.
Three women in wedding dresses have a full-blown knockout fight.
(see above)

7. What was the seed of your play?
A hot air balloon crashed in front of my aunt’s house and there was no one in it.

8. What artists (theatre or non-theatre) inspire you or your play?
Selina Fillinger and her play POTUS – we need more modern farces, dammit!

Winner of the 2023 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award and an O’Neill NPC Finalist, Karissa Murrell Myers’s work has been developed/produced at Goodman Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Strawdog, Renaissance Theaterworks, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, The Road Theatre Company, among others. She recently participated in the 2024-2025 PlayGround Residency Program. Member of The Dramatist Guild. kmurrellmyers.com

About her play The Red Fortune Cookie: Reese wants the surprise wedding he’s planning for his pregnant girlfriend to be perfect, but when a hot air balloon full of blood crashes in their backyard, mayhem ensues. This kick-in-the-teeth Asian-American farce explores true love, family ties, and suburban ennui. More…