Rudy San Miguel
This week, To Be Human visits a store in New Orleans, Louisiana, where Rudy San Miguel told us about his decision to follow his dream of becoming a writer and imagined how a scene from his life would unfold on stage.
Store #55386
New Orleans, Louisiana
Rudy San Miguel attended graduate school at New York University with the goal of becoming a television writer. Three years later, he graduated as a playwright.
“I actually met Edward Albee, and became a playwright because of him,” Rudy said. “I love how real and immediate it is. When I was a kid I was always fascinated with plays and the way that the actors would be on a stage without a net. There’s no one there to protect them. Shouting ‘line’ would ruin the whole play. The performance you see will never be done again, that way. It’s exciting, and I love that about it.”
He moved back to New Orleans because he couldn’t afford to be a writer in New York. Currently, Rudy works as a manager for a food truck – and sometimes at a local bar alongside his partner, Eric – and spends as much of his free time as possible writing.
“I came down here to survive and not die on the streets penniless,” he said, laughing. But in New Orleans, he was able to stage a production of his first play, a thriller called “Human Resources” about a scorned woman who ends up in a job interview with her ex’s new lover.
“I have another master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations, so I was able to use both degrees on my play, kind of,” he said. “Opening night I was a mess. I was also a producer, so I was in attendance at every show. It was directed by someone who I respect immensely – he’s actually my ex, but he’s such a great director that I asked him to do it, and he did a beautiful job. I was so terrified, but thankfully it was all friends. It was everyone I knew, and they felt very comfortable talking to each other about what was happening like it was a movie or a soap opera. And I was across on the other side of the stage watching. It put me at ease to have so many friends in the audience.”
When he wrote the play in grad school, his thesis advisor asked him what it was about.
“I said ‘Love,’” Rudy said. “And he said, ‘Yeah. That’s right. You can keep writing it.’ I think it’s important in any medium if you’re going to put words to paper, there are so many words out there, especially with social media. And there is so much garbage out there that, I feel it’s incredibly necessary to say something that matters and is important. Even if it’s just to you.”
—Jennifer Warnick
“I came down here to survive and not die on the streets penniless,” he said, laughing. But in New Orleans, he was able to stage a production of his first play, a thriller called “Human Resources” about a scorned woman who ends up in a job interview with her ex’s new lover.
