Finding Our Voices & Ourselves on a Big Stage

It’s October 2017. Lights shine on me and nine other storytellers, sitting in folding chairs on Two River Theater’s stage. One by one, each performer walks up to the mic and shares their story as part of our annual fundraising event. All are people I know quite well—adult and teen writers at Project Write Now—but as they speak I see a new side of them. Each becomes more confident, more courageous. How can I follow them with my little story? 

I am the last to go. I take a deep breath as I approach the mic. My words fall out of me on the exhale. I sense the audience being moved by my words—a narrative poem about the impact writing has made on my life—and that inspires me to keep going. My voice grows stronger and more confident. The stranger inside me blossoms and quickly turns into a friend. We have all transformed into something else—turned into our truest selves. The audience rises with their applause.

Now it’s August 2026. I sit in Two River Theater’s audience as my 7th and 8th grade students from Red Bank Middle School nervously line up to walk on stage for a storytelling showcase that is part of the ¡Festejo!: Celebrating Latine Stories on Stage event. I know exactly what each of them is feeling. “You’re going to be great,” I tell them, but I know they won’t believe me until they experience it for themselves, just like I did nine years ago.

As each student approaches the mic and begins to share their story, I see their anxiety drip away. I hear the “mmhhmm”s and snaps as their words resonate with the audience. I watch as each student transforms from writer to performer, smiles lighting up their faces as they find confidence in their words.

I was 28 years old when I found my voice on a big stage. I’m thrilled we’re able to give young people opportunities like this far sooner. Thanks to our incredible partnership with Two River Theater, we’ve been inviting our young writers into these empowering spaces so they can hold their heads high knowing that their words have power, that their stories matter. 

¡Festejo! offers two opportunities to showcase our young writers’ voices. This is our second year of Stories From the Heart featuring Red Bank Middle School stories. For the past five years, we’ve also been part of the Voices of Hope program, which provides the opportunity for our young adult writers to craft original pieces in response to the ¡Festejo! plays. Each writer then shares their piece right before the staged reading of their assigned play. To share their words on stage alongside professional playwrights and actors gives young writers the powerful experience of having their own voices, their own stories valued.

Daniela Rojas-Trejo, a rising sophomore at Red Bank Regional High School, who shared her piece before the staged reading of Sunday’s play Tether said: “Sharing my piece on stage was a very rewarding experience. It gave me a chance to put my thoughts on paper and step away from all the things happening around me. I would do it over and over if I could simply because of the support and pause it gave me.”

Valeria Lopez, who shared a piece before Friday’s play Standing Still, said she was moved by “the people who thank you for sharing your story, whether they are relating to similar struggles, trying to find their voice, or eager to learn about others. It’s filled with nothing but love and support all around.”

This year, there was a play written and performed in Spanish, Recuerdos de Una Bodega Princess: La Fiesta De Los Reyes Magos 1998. Our writer Maria L. Mejia-Tizatl, who has performed in ¡Festejo! in previous years, shared that writing and reading her piece in Spanish in front of her family and an audience who understood her passion “was something truly special. It was beautiful seeing my family light up in joy being able to understand and grasp my passion for writing and poetry. It was empowering and moving to know that spaces are being made no matter the language in which we chose to express ourselves.”

To write is powerful. But to be able to see the impact of your words in real time changes you in a way nothing else can. These moments shift the way you see yourself and what you’re capable of. It strips away all your self doubt and shows you who you really are.