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How ‘Invasive Species’ Built Big Downtown Buzz for Writer-Star Maia Novi’s Off Broadway Debut
Jeremy O. Harris produces the edgy show, which turned heads with savvy promotion and A-list connections.
The New York-based Argentinian’s autobiographical debut play turns her disorienting real-life experience in a Yale psychiatric hospital into a frank, highly theatricalized roller-coaster ride that careens across reflections on mental health, family and a creative drive sparked by watching American movies. In the wake of a mental health crisis brought on by pre-graduation pressures and career concerns, the incident — “like a slap in the face, shocking but very invigorating” — propelled her to convert her candid diary entries from that time into a play. “From the start Maia definitely knew the energy and the hyper-ness that she wanted the play to have,” says director Michael Breslin, who helped give the diary entries a theatrical shape.
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