“In The Heights” playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes ’99 on writing, theater and language

Courtesy of Quiara Alegría Hudes Theater — according to award-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes ’99 — is an ephemeral experience. It is “a now-or-never genre, a one-time ceremony,” and for years, Hudes has dedicated herself to this artform. Hudes is a critically-acclaimed playwright, essayist and screenplay writer currently based in New York City. She is best known for writing the book of the Tony winning musical “In The Heights ” and the script of “Water By the Spoonful,” for which she received a Pulitzer Prize. “ In the Heights ” tells the story of the residents of Washington Heights, New York — and the stories of celebration and mourning within this largely Dominican-American neighborhood. For Hudes, the writing process begins with “something tiny,” rather than a specific intention or goal. “A small idea will lure me into daydreams. A character. A setting. A topic. Like a grain of sand in an oyster shell… And I just let my mind roam in that space for a very long time,” wrote Hudes in an email to the News. “This is the part of writing that happens while showering, doing dishes, waiting for the subway.” Throughout her career as a writer, Hudes has not limited herself to a single form. She has published essays in publications such as The New York Times and The Cut and has written screenplays, most recently for the 2021 animated film “Vivo.” According to Hudes, this versatility has allowed her to develop “distinct but complementary practices.” However, she is conscious of the fact that with each form, audiences will interact with her writing in different ways. For Hudes, drama is a study of human behavior. Each medium caters to the way people engage with language. “Books are about experience, an internal life. How do people experience things?” Hudes said. “For live theater, you need the audience to hear the words — there is a technical requirement to articulate. For a reader, you imagine quiet corners of their mind and can drop your voice to a whisper.” In 2022, she published her first memoir, “My Broken Language.” The […]

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