I tracked down Cal Poly feminist director and playwright Taylor Steinbeck for an interview. Her recent accomplishments include editing and contributing to Sprinkle, a Cal Poly feminist and queer studies journal; contributing a piece to Byzantium, Cal Poly’s in-house english journal; and directing Cal Poly’s OWN, an intersectional reimagining of the Vagina Monologues. Needless to say, we at Her Campus Cal Poly were anxious to get an interview.
Hi Taylor, it’s great to finally sit down together. I’ve heard a lot about you.
Yeah, same! Your male feminist article was really well done. You can call me a fan, for sure.
I’ll start with the biggest news: you directed Cal Poly’s OWN. It was a huge success—how do you feel?
I feel overwhelmed! Overwhelmed in the best possible way. We definitely didn’t anticipate such an amazing turnout–ASI had to bring in more chairs, so we ended up with 588 seats and more audience members standing in the back! I really wanted to squeeze as many people into Chumash as we could because we were telling stories that desperately needed to be heard by our campus and I wanted anyone who wanted to hear them to be able to. It was just a wonderful experience all around, and the audience’s reactions really exceeded my expectations. I keep hearing from people that they felt like they learned so much from OWN, which is all I could ask for. I’m so proud that we were able to start a discussion about womanhood and intersecting identities at Cal Poly.
(Photo courtesy of Iliana Arroyos at Mustang News)
I bet, I would be ecstatic. Let’s hear about those journal contributions!
I’m being published in two Cal Poly journals and I’m so over the moon about them. The first is the English department’s annual literary journal, Byzantium, which I’ve hoped to have my work included in since I was a freshman. I wrote a four-page, little ditty of a short story called “Photosynthesis” and it won second place in fiction. And then I have a research paper about my favorite novel, The Bell Jar, being published in Sprinkle, which is an undergraduate journal for feminist and queer studies. I wrote that essay in my final English class, Madness in Literature, so it’s sorta like my swan song as an English major.
Very impressive. I’m noticing a theme here: you’re an intersectional feminist. What strikes you as crucial about this movement, and what distinguishes it from “ordinary” feminism?
Well, mainstream feminism has the problem of focusing too much on the privileged lot, so like, white, well-off women, and in doing so, it alienates the multitude of women that are even more oppressed not just because of their female identities, but by their intersecting identities, like being a woman of color, or having a disability or being trans. Like for example, everyone always mentions the fact that “women” make 78 cents to the white man’s dollar, but that number neglects to point out that it’s white women making that much. Black women make 68 cents to the man’s dollar. Womanhood comes in so many different forms, so to only allow one group of women to be the voice of all women is just naive and unproductive. If your feminism isn’t intersectional then you simply aren’t looking out for all your fellow women.
Very much agreed. So, you’re a playwright and a feminist. How have you found that feminism lends itself to theatrical portrayal?
Feminism and theatre really work together hand-in-hand. I think that the best theatre is fueled by social commentary and what better way to instill action in passive minds than through the power of narrative? For my senior project I wrote my first full-length play and it’s absolutely intended to be a piece of feminist theatre. Sex/Life is a five-act play about one woman’s sex life and in each act she is a different age with a different sexual partner. The story without the social message is already a good fit for the stage given that the dialogue is paramount and there’s a lot of fourth-wall breaking, but the fact that it’s meant to advocate feminism grants the play a deeper, more urgent purpose that wouldn’t translate as palpably outside of theatre.
Wow, I really hope I get the chance to see it performed, that sounds incredible.
You’re graduating soon. Do you have any plans?
I would really love to go to grad school for playwriting or theatre studies. The academic environment is one that is so comfortable and fulfilling to me, so I’d be thrilled to return to it as soon as possible. Until then though, I’ll be at home applying to schools and reading/seeing as many plays as possible. I’m also going to New York City this summer with my boyfriend, José, which I’m out of my mind excited for. New York is easily the theatre capital of the world, so it’s pretty much like my version of Disneyland–no place is more magical to me. I spent all my savings on Hamilton tickets, which, of course, are so worth it since not only will it be with the original cast, but the musical has totally made its mark on theatre history and I’ve kept up with it since its beginnings. To say that I can’t wait for it is a total understatement.
What an adventure! Color me jealous. I have to ask, what about theater inspires you the most?
What I love about theatre is just how tangible it is. It’s so alive. There’s no room for separation between the art and its consumers because the spectators literally exist within the space of the art. And I think that’s why theatre, more than any other artistic medium in my opinion, has the power to make a change. Literature forces its readers to live through a different perspective, but theatre goes the extra mile and plants its viewers within the world of the story so there’s a kind of empathy that comes from having the characters be of flesh and blood, and right in front of you, that isn’t mimicked in other art forms.
Wow. You’ve given us a lot to think about. Thanks for taking the time for this chat, Taylor.
Yeah, of course! Thanks for reaching out, pal.
Everyone keep an eye out for Taylor’s newest contributions to the world of Theater & Literature; she’s sure to be a big name soon enough.