Can you “return” love? What about your heart? Dallas Woodburn’s wonderful piece, “Receiptless,” explores what happens when heartbreak comes alive. We can’t wait to read her work at A New Horizon, our  April 11 show at Cafe Stritch .

The year we launched Play On Words, Dallas was a Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. She has published work in Zyzzyva, The Nashville Review, and The Los Angeles Times, among many others, and her plays have been produced in Los Angeles, South Lake Tahoe, and New York City. Her debut short story collection Woman, Running Late, in a Dress won the 2018 Cypress & Pine Short Fiction Award and was recently published by Yellow Flag Press. Dallas is the founder of Write On! Books, an organization that empowers youth through reading and writing endeavors. Awards include the WordWave Playwriting Contest, the international Glass Woman Prize, and a second place American Fiction Prize. She blogs weekly at daybydaymasterpiece.com. 

We are delighted to perform her piece, “Receiptless,” next Wednesday, April 11, 7 pm at San Jose’s Cafe Stritch.

What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?

I love the idea of collaborating with other artists and bringing new life to the written word onstage!

Which writers or performers inspire you?

I was incredibly moved when I watched the performance by Laurel Brittan of Arcadia Conrad’s piece “308 on 308” on your blog. Gave me goosebumps!

Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.

I was fortunate enough to attend a reading by Maya Angelou and her profound grace and wisdom swept through the large auditorium – everyone was stilled, hushed. Her presence was magnetic and intimate and beautiful.

I also loved a performance I attended in London of the play Woman in Black, which illustrated the amazing power of words to hold us spellbound in our imaginations. The entire play is presented as a story that is being told to the audience, with a very minimalist set design, and yet your brain fills in all the details and you feel wholly transported into the story.

We hope you can join us next week to see Dallas’ work performed. Come early and snag a copy of her new book, Woman, Running Late, in a Dress.