A SYNOPSIS

Swim Before You Drown is a dramatic comedy about recent college graduate, Harper, coping with the magnitude of life after college. Her and her best friend, Sam, can’t stand living in their small, “beige” hometown in the Midwest and both dream of escaping, even if that means losing each other. With everything in her life changing and on the brink of losing the one person she loves, Harper must deal with how to accept who she is in a world that fails to respect her and a Korean family that judges her even more.

A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT

If you ever met me you’d know I’m highly sarcastic and will joke my way out of anything too personal. When people started asking me why I wrote this play, my answer would be “I thought it was a comedy!” My mom was the first person to call me out on this half-assed answer. So now I’m going to listen to her, because she’s always right, and answer from the heart. While the characters are fictitious, their stories are grounded in truth. There’s no guidebook for how your life is supposed to go and to me that’s the hardest part. The feelings of being stuck, temporary, and simultaneously isolated is something that registers with a myriad of people. My hope by sharing this story is that someone out there will see it and realize they’re not transitioning alone, though at the time that’s what it feels like. If I could go back and talk to the person I was when I wrote this, I’d let her know that it’s not just a cliche, it gets better.

-Ciara Kay