“In that one electric moment, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the sensation that I had known this woman my whole life, that I had held her within every sinew of me until this very moment where she had finally escaped the grasps of my mind and had forced herself into fruition.”
— Brad Weatherford, The First Time
Playwriting
Brad discovered his love for playwriting during his time at Booker T. Washington HSPVA where he studied under the incredible mentorship of Guinea Bennett-Price and Elly Lindsay. With this foundation, he began to write scenes and 1 minute plays, focusing on specificity, nuance, and style until he was ready to finally begin writing full length pieces.
Brad has written a total of 5 plays spanning from ten minutes in length to full two-act storylines. His work has received acclaim in the DFW area and beyond, and he has had plays and monologues produced at well known regional theatres such as Stage West.
In 2016, Brad was the winner of the Kennedy Center’s VSA Playwright Discovery Competition for his play “Time Stops”. He was flown up to D.C. to workshop the play and be a direct part of the rehearsal process, sharing his experiences and vision with the cast. An excerpt of the play was performed inside the Kennedy Center for the public as a part of their New Works festival.
Brad’s most successful work, Time Stops, is a one act play that explores the struggles of being an actor with a speech impediment. The piece began as a monologue that Brad wrote to illustrate his experiences with a stutter in the performing arts, was then expanded on with two male characters, and finally was rewritten with two female leads to create the version that exists today. The play has received several awards and has been produced in festivals at the Kennedy Center in D.C., Stage West, and Booker T. Washington HSPVA.
“Time Stops”
“Time stops.
That’s what I tell people. They ask me, "what does it feel like to stutter?", and I reply, "time just stops." I know exactly what to say and how I want to say it. I can practically feel every syllable being formed in my mouth. I open my mouth to talk and... nothing. It’s blocked, like a brick wall was slammed in between your brain and your vocal chords. You try again, hoping this time will be different. It’s not. Then it hits you. The word is not going to come out. So you search for some sort of alternate word, a synonym that won’t completely change the meaning of what you want to say. Your mind is a haze, a jumble of thoughts and ideas mixed with a feeling of sheer terror that you can’t piece together. You start to feel the sweat on your hands and on the back of your neck. Then you notice the people around you. They just stare at you, waiting. You hear whispers. "What’s she doing?" "Is she ok?"
Your hands curl up into fists. Your body is tense, unable to function until you’ve relieved this built up tension. Your ears start to burn as all the blood rushes up to your face. You want to run away but you can’t, there is nowhere to go. It’s almost like the fight or flight instinct. Do you stay or do you leave? You decide to stay. Then, you become hyperconscious of your heart beating furiously inside your tight-knit chest.
How long has the pause been? Seconds? You become conscious of yourself in space, feeling like you’re wasting time. Your face contorts as you struggle. You blink furiously, your face almost twitching. You push with all of your might and then...
That’s it. It’s out. With a strange look, the person you are talking to moves on. But you don’t. No one will ever know about the perfectly worded sentence that you had so carefully planned in your head beforehand. What ended up coming out was a faulty substitute, like you rubbed a lamp to summon a genie but only end up with one wish instead of three. You want to bury your head in your hands and cry, but you stop yourself. You don’t want to let yourself drown in your own tears. You can’t submerge and suddenly be underwater, like a shell lost at sea. You have to take charge of yourself. Get ready for the next sentence.”
Gallery
Time Stops - Actors: Caroline Garnett, Ari Robinson, Frances Garnett and Alexa Lucky
Across the Barrier - Actors: Liam Wise, Sydney DiSabato, and Emily Stuhler
Poetry/Creative Writing
Besides playwriting, Brad is also an aspiring poet and short story writer. He has always been drawn to language and diction, and he loves to spend his time exploring how to illustrate all human emotion through pen and paper.
Brad is currently compiling a collection of his poetry that he hopes to release in the next year. Once the collection is finished, he plans to submit his work to publishing companies across the country.
Make sure to check back here to catch more of Brad’s work coming soon!
Want to learn more?
Interested in reading more of Brad’s work? You can contact Brad directly for access to his full length plays, short plays, poetry, and creative writing work.