Leah Halper has worked as a journalist, activist, house-cleaner, translator, interpreter, file clerk, mediator, and freelance writer. She’s picked coffee in Nicaragua, studied disarmament at the UN, jogged in Romania, and interviewed cannery workers in Gilroy. Her literary non-fiction has been published in the Northwest Review, Trivia, Bad Subjects, and elsewhere. She teaches history and
mediation at Gavilan College in Gilroy. She’s a member of writers pool for SF PlayGround at the Berkeley ... view more »
What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?
Because I had just started writing plays, it felt like enormous validating from the universe that my plays were worthy!
What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?
I am still a playwright, now a produced playwright, and I've written a number of intense historical plays, both full-length and short. I've also experimented with musicals, comedies, absurdity, and one children's play, for good measure, all to interesting and fruitful effect. To learn more about my works, go to: http://www.garlic.com/~lhalper/index.html
Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?
Keep trying new things.
Neglected, alive, isolated.