The Script
The first version of How to Take Care of Your Flower was written in July 2023 by Celeste Black towards the start of her Junior year at James Madison University. During this time she went through various rewrites and received numerous feedback from multiple of her peers at the university.
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The play was then proposed as a workshop for December 2023 and was performed with a cast of 14 + a reader. There were two performances, each followed by a talkback with the playwright. During this time, the piece received praise and was asked whether it'd be proposed for James Madison University's Studio Theatre Stratford 2024 Fall Experimental Season.
After some thoughtful pondering and discussion, Celeste Black decided to propose the piece for the Studio Theatre. Her play was voted highly and was selected by her fellow students at the university.
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Once the piece had been selected, Celeste had gotten to work with edits for the new version of the script that would be performed in the fall. She spent the summer of 2024 rewriting and taking into account the feedback that had been previously given during each talkback. After 3 months, the second version of the script was finished and ready to be worked with for the Fall. It is noted that the script was more added onto than taken away from considering most of the notes given were about seeing more from certain characters.
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During the actual production process, Celeste decided to take on the role of dramaturgy and led the team through the intentions behind the script so it could add the physical innovations that were not previously done in the workshop, including the signature giant lily onstage.
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Following the 2024 production, Celeste has taken the feedback once again that was given on closing night during the talkback and allowed it to push her forward to getting the script published in the future. At the moment it is unclear whether there will be more edits made to the script, but it is presumed that the script will be published within the next few years after Celeste graduates from James Madison University.
The Playwright
Celeste Black is from Manassas Park, Virginia, and has grown up there most of her life. She's always been a lover of the arts but didn't decide to divulge into theatre until she was an 8th grader and auditioned for her first musical (The Wizard of Oz). Since then, she has been acting in shows throughout her life and even decided to pursue theatre as a career.
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She began attending James Madison University in August 2021. Celeste has always enjoyed writing and has often debated pursuing writing, but it wasn't until she attended the university that she decided to begin her journey through playwriting. After seeing various student-written works in the Forbes Studio Theatre, she decided she would tackle writing her own play.
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When it came to brainstorming on a play to write, Celeste decided she wanted to begin from the inside out as a playwright. That being said, she pulled from personal events in her own life and her story to be able to write How to Take Care of Your Flower. Celeste herself stated that she did not feel she could begin to write other people's stories or fictional ones without telling her own first.
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Through her writing process, she sought to combine the non-fictional aspects of her life with fictional elements. She settled on developing the idea of a giant lily to represent the mental health of the main character "Lily." She had chosen this particular flower because she believed it to be a flower she often overlooked and didn't consider the depth when it came to how many there actually were of the particular flower.
Not only was the giant lily a fictional element, but as well as the character of "Felicity", previously named "Therapist" in the first version of the script. Celeste stated that this character was intended to be Lily's own personal therapist in her brain, but not quite the one you'd expect. Her target was to bring the elements of her own mindset when she suffered from depression. Celeste felt like this manifestation of an undoubtful and positive mindset was one that represented who she "used to be" before she was depressed. In some cases, Celeste refers to this character as a lifeline and is intended to be comforting when one can no longer comfort themselves.
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Despite pulling from her own personal experiences to write this play, Celeste states that it was refreshing to be able to share her story with others. She offers it's a story that isn't heard often about and needs to be told to bring awareness to the subjects at hand but also to encourage healing to those who need it.