Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city's creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year's Best of Phoenix issue, we're profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 97. Beth May.
Beth May made a splash with her play Earthlings, which she wrote, co-directed, and debuted in April with Binary Theatre Company. New Times theater critic Julie Peterson called it "in a somehow life-affirming and darkly humorous way, the stuff of one's worst nightmares." The work found a group of people anticipating the end of the world while holed up in a church in the Bronx.
That dark subject matter's nothing new for May, who's slated to graduate from ASU's film school in December. The first play she ever wrote? It was called The Bridge. "It was a short comedic drama about an encounter between two suicidal people who both coincidentally chose the same method of demise," she says.
See also: ASU Tempe's Binary Theatre Looks for Answers with Earthlings
The Tempe-based creative, who's focusing on screenwriting, says that beyond graduation she hopes to earn a living "doing the writer/actor thing." We'll be keeping an eye out -- and so should you.
I came to Phoenix with a low heat tolerance and deep-seated artistic insecurities (I got over the heat).
I make art because I live once during the day and twice when I'm writing about feelings, thoughts, ideas. It feels immortalizing.
I'm most productive when I'm listening to groovy music.
My inspiration wall is full of a Hoarders-esque array of movie posters.
I've learned most from people who make me laugh.
Good work should always be just as frustrating as it is rewarding.
The Phoenix creative scene could use more people. Everyone has a story to tell.
See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:
