We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nancy Rumagit. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nancy below.

Nancy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

A Love Letter to My Beloved, in 6 Seconds started from a poem I wrote in 2021 when I was in the Netherlands. It came from a very personal space of being lost and not knowing how to go about moving forward, and a few months later I just sort of had an idea about the characters of Life, Time, Death and Love having dinner and how chaotic it would be; but all of that stemmed from that one poem. I was hesitant to pitch the play and put it up for a lot of reasons. This was my first play that I would put up and my first time directing, as well. And though I had been fortunate enough to have been able to learn from and watch the mechanisms of directing from some very talented directors I’ve worked with, I was still doubting that I’d be able to translate that knowledge to my approach with my actors. With a lot of luck, we fortunately put together a group of very hardworking people to work on the play together, and I also had Suzie Nguyen helping me as my co-director, so it ended up being a very smooth teamwork process. Love Letter itself came from my own personal experiences, through lots of metaphors and jokes in its writing, but everybody who came into the project brought their own perspective into it, and I think that’s what made the play as it was. Everybody put a lot of love into it — our lead, Vlad Bazga, actually accidentally nicked his finger during one of our rehearsals and I remember him saying, “I put my blood into this play.” It was a beautiful experience of watching people settle into that role of storytellers and lifting each other up throughout the process.

Nancy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I had been writing since I was quite young. I didn’t start getting into writing plays and screenplays until I was in the theater conservatory and studying acting, but it’s become the media I feel most comfortable telling stories with. The two art forms definitely have similar approaches, but I’ve found writing to be a more vulnerable process surprisingly. When I’m on a stage or in front of a camera, I’m being someone else and I’m telling someone else’s stories. With the experience I had with Love Letter, it was quite daunting to see people speak the words I’ve written and tap into the specific feelings I put in the words — especially within the context of how personal the play is to me. I don’t know which one I prefer, to be honest. I think in the end I just like telling stories, no matter what role I find myself in.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Seeing people come together to achieve this one thing and seeing the amount of passion people put into a specific project. That teamwork aspect of it is what always gets me. Because there were of course hard times where it felt like we were constantly putting out fires, but all the actors just gradually came together, especially towards the night of the play. Everyone had known each other so well at that point and was being kind and helping each other out, whether that’s with a line or a cue someone had missed or behind the scenes reminding everyone to take care of themselves outside of the project. It felt very wholesome — because when the environment for art-making is safe and everyone feels looked after, it’s easier to achieve what we want to achieve with the project.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had several difficulties finishing Love Letter itself, and I admit that sometimes I tend to self-sabotage for whatever reason. Some days are harder than other days, and that’s okay. I know for myself I just need to do my best. If one day all I can do is reread the parts of the play that I had written and only add one line, then that was my best. I do sometimes think it’s still hard to balance that and figure out when I am just making excuses, but at least that’s one line added to the play. Baby steps are still steps, or whatever they say. It’s just important to keep moving. Even if at times it feels like you’re moving out of sorts, at least you’re moving.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: nantjj

Image Credits
Craita Manaila