We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Malique Guinn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Malique , thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
In the last several months, God has shown me that a fresh perspective is everything. I’ve redefined what success is to me. Success to me looks like trying again, regardless of whatever the result may be. I apply to a fellowship and didn’t get in. That’s okay and part of the game. Now when I make the decision to refine my materials and apply again, that’s success because I maintained faith and didn’t drown in discouragement. Also, I’ve decided that impact extends beyond accolades. I just became a published playwright last year with a ten minute play called “Imposter’s Eve”. A peer read the play and told me how moved he was by the story. That’s success. We as humans will always remember how something made us feel. If I’m able to make folks feel something with my writing, my job is done.
Malique , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi! I’m Malique and I craft stories that bridge the gap between faith, STEM, and poetics to underline the human condition. I also intend to get into both physical and voice acting if it’s the Lord’s will. Now let me take y’all back to the Genesis.
I loved writing from a very young age. It was random to be honest. One day in first grade during my free time, I just decided to project my imagination on to the page. Then, it became routine and I’d share it with my teacher. My reward would be a golden sticker and that was my Emmy. Eventually, other kids would start writing as well and turning them in to the teacher. I vividly remember a line or 5 kids with papers in their hand ready to share. In retrospect, I hope the teacher wasn’t annoyed at me for starting that new scribe movement. She already has enough work to sift through, but oh well.
Fast forward to college, that love was still there but it took a backseat to reality. I initially came in as an accounting major at UCSB. Quite frankly, I knew I wasn’t going to make that GPA requirement, especially after taking the final. Let me vulnerable for a minute. I cried when I got back to the apartment.
However, I felt free to pursue my first love truly and wholeheartedly. It was divine timing too. My playwriting professor/playwriting auntie, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, had just started teaching at the school for winter quarter. I caught the bug of playwriting almost instantly. I already enjoyed screenwriting but I loved the tangibility that theatre offered. I was still very much a goo goo gah gah at writing for the stage but Frances’ mentorship was full of grace, patience, and gentle correction and encouragement.
For our last assignment of the class, we got to write about whatever. I decided to write about what I knew and loved best. Thus, a hip hop play about Mathletes was born: “Gang Sines”. I developed it over the next year with a brilliant director named Rebecca Wear and it became my first publicly shared play through the New Works Lab. Then, it would go on to earn my first writing accolade my senior year of college, the Kennedy Center Hip Hop Theatre Creator Award. I was at Chick Fil A when I read the email and it almost slipped my radar. I called my Dad with tears of joy. He congratulated me and said “Get used to this. There’ll be more”. Nothing felt better than having my family’s support. I was blessed and grateful to receive my award in DC the next month. My mom, dad, and brother were in attendance and it was a special moment I’ll never forget.
Now, let me tell you why God has jokes. During office hours, Frances asked me about what’s next and if I had considered grad school. I was like nahhhh. I like the idea of disappearing and living on the east coast for a year or two. I completely shrugged off the idea. I mean, after spending four years in school, the last thing on my mind is more school!
Fast forward to 2020, I get accepted to Carnegie Mellon University for the Dramatic Writing MFA program. The first year definitely tested my discipline, as it was all remote. I was tired of Zoom by the 5th week if I’m being real. However, I did appreciate being in community with other talented writers in my cohort. One of which is Paloma Sierra, whose choreopoem class I took and I’m forever grateful for her teachings. As a result, I stepped out of my comfort zone to try this new mode of storytelling. “Bounty On Our Heads”, a choreopoem inspired by my experience with alopecia, was birthed. Writing that piece was a huge step in embracing honesty and truth in my work as it pertains to my personal experiences. It helped me to start swinging back on shame and insecurity. It was liberating .
Finally in late 2021, I got to move to Pittsburgh and experience a real year of grad school. I wish someone would’ve told me the sun goes into hiding after October and doesn’t come back until April, but it’s all good! I’m Cali to the core and that winter built my character! Anywho, there I was, living on the east coast for a year (well really 9 months) as I had hoped for. God kept me through it all.
For my MFA thesis, I decided to challenge myself further. I was in a season of re-embracing a childlike nature. I was baptized in the summer and using training wheels in my new journey with Christ. Thus, “Vice Wheels” was born. It is an immersive formula 1 racing video game stage play about 3 people striving to break generational curses and live in freedom from their vices. My own struggle with porn addiction inspired me to write this, plus the unconditional love and encouragement from my wife made me feel even more safe to be transparent and vulnerable. It was a fun piece to craft and I was blessed to have a supportive team during its development . Shoutout to Anna Toutain (dramaturg) and Jasmine Roth (director). In 2023, it won the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize and Honorable Mention for the Lorraine Hansberry Writing Award. Overall, my time at CMU was short, but fruitful. I can confidently say I didn’t leave a stone unturned. I hung with folks from other disciplines to learn about their craft and those were major highlights for me. I’m in a collaborative medium and I always love to know how people do what they do. I’m thankful to Rob Handel and Melissa Martin for helping me fine tune my writing voice.
As for now, well again, God is poetic. I’m currently developing a new piece at Road Theatre in North Hollywood with the Under Construction Playwrights’ Group. I have the pleasure of starting and developing a play with several other talented artists. Now, peep that the program is called “Under Construction”. That’s very much the season that God has me in. It’s a season of development, restoration, and recalibration. Plus, I started therapy a month ago. The thing is, I’m a human before I’m an artist and I have a responsibility to restructure my family bloodline. Patterns will break with me. I also believe that strengthening the muscle of empathy, understanding, patience, and compassion will inform my writing in a strong way. I’m very glad to be in this marathon now.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The collaboration easily. I admit that in my early creative days, specifically in undergrad, I was stubborn and overprotective of my baby. But I mean, I was a baby myself at the craft and didn’t know what I was doing. Over time, I’ve learned that there is freedom in not knowing. No pressure in admitting you don’t know. So yes, working with others and listening to others to create something beautiful, that audiences can experience and cling onto, is rewarding for me.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My hope is that people will read/view my work and it stirs something on the inside of them. I hope it gives them confidence to embrace imperfection and bury any shame or guilt. I want people to know that they aren’t alone and we all deserve grace in this human experience. We’re striving to be our best selves and we don’t need to maneuver around egg shells to maintain the optics of perfection. It’s not feasible nor sustainable in the long run.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Goodforyoulique.com
- Instagram: Goodforyoulique
Image Credits
Imani Martin-Guinn
Iana Dobreva
Emily Mohn-Slate