Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Tarahata Hagedornis an American playwright, writer, poet, and multimedia performance artist...
NationalityFilipino
ProfessionWriter
want punk scene
The punk scene in NY was so gritty and nihilistic & I was like ooh I want to do that
children drama years
We didn't have television until I was about eight years old, so it was either the movies or radio. A lot of radio drama. That was our television, you know. We had to use our imagination. So it was really those two things, and the comics, that I immersed myself in as a child.
thinking feelings enough
I think for a lot of so-called post-colonial peoples, there's a feeling of not being quite legitimate, of not being pure enough.
writing thinking dialogue
I love writing dialogue, and I think a lot of my writing is visual and very cinematic.
country dog people
There are certain regions in the country where the indigenous people eat dogs.
men white-man challenges
Writers and scholars have emerged in recent times (some familiar, some new) to continue to challenge the notion of a literature that encompasses the world - and reaffirms our existence in it. It is a multicultural vision that embraces and includes our shrinking universe; it is a multicultural vision that the white man fears and a vision that the rest of us can celebrate.
hero simple people
Life is not simple, and people can't be boxed into being either heroes or villains.
simple survival secret
Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.
believe sampling sound
I don't believe in sampling some Tibetan music just to make it sound groovy, but you do your homework, you understand what you're doing with it.
mean choices fine
Don't say Fili, sister. Say Pili. In Tagalog, pili means to choose. Pino means fine. Pilipino equals 'fine choice.
thinking play people
But I think there's a genuine joy, too, a sense that no matter what, even if my stomach's growling, I'm going to dance. That's what I want to leave people with at the end of the play. After all this, people still know how to live.
alliance america asian close community lived north political terms thirty
And I've lived now in North America close to thirty years. In terms of my politics, I feel a political alliance too, with the Asian community here.
came filipino scotch side singapore spain via
I'm part Spanish. My paternal grandfather came from Spain via Singapore to Manila. On my mother's side it's more mixture, with a Filipino mother and a father who was Scotch Irish-French; you know, white American hybrid. And I also have on my father's side a great-great-grandmother who was Chinese. So, I'm a hybrid.
writing influential film
Music is very influential to my writing, as are theater and film.