jef flores – Tara Tries To Write

Tara’s Thoughts On: The Sandbox Co.’s Next to Normal

February 19, 2025 No Comments

Me when The Sandbox Co. first announced that they were staging Next to Normal.

Since discovering the musical in 2012 (Thanks, Aaron Tveit!) and falling in love with the material, I’ve dreamt of seeing the musical live — so of course I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. (I’m even watching a second time, duh.)

Next to Normal is a rock musical that explores the effects of repressed grief and a crumbling mental state on an individual as well as the people around them. Created by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, the story revolves around Diana Goodman, a wife and mother struggling with bipolar disorder and depression. With the help of her hopeful husband Dan, she cycles through several rounds of treatment that mess with her system in various ways. Fed up with it all, Diana decides to ditch her meds, and the consequences of that decision sends her and whole family into a spiral.

Apart from the outstanding lyricism and score, I really appreciated the way Next to Normal conveyed the interconnected stories of Diana, Dan, their daughter Natalie (and her suitor Henry), and their son, Gabe. The messages the show sent across were so necessary, the most notable for me being that grief need not be repressed. It had to be properly acknowledged. Felt. Embraced.

Events, The Writing Community

#RomanceClass x Ayala Museum: A GIF + Video Post

February 14, 2017 No Comments

First things first: Please DO NOT expect much coherence from this post. I know, I know. I’m a writer… I should at least manage to string together some decent words, yes? But Too Many Feelings and Too Few Hours of Sleep can do things to the brain, so… anyway.

February 11 was another day of firsts for #romanceclass. Let me enumerate them:

First time holding an event at the Ayala Museum
First time having six actors live read scenes from our books
First time having a How to Write a Romance Novel lecture read by the live readers
First time having a three-way live reading
First time having Vanya Castor as a live reader

Did I miss anything?

I probably did.

So yeah, anyway… we did a lot of other stuff before the live reading. That included book and merch selling, eating FREE cookies (thanks, Abbie! :D), browsing new books at the Book Cafe (thanks Caryn! :D), finding book blind dates, and playing games. To be honest, I only had two hours of sleep prior to the event, but the energy in the room (where it happened) kept me going.

Events, The Writing Community

See you at the Ayala Museum!

February 5, 2017 No Comments

bitter x sweet books by tara frejas — Limited copies of Paper Planes Back Home, The “Forget You” Brew, Scandalized, and Settle the Score / Hustle Play will be available at the #romanceclass event at the Ayala Museum next Saturday, February 11.

We have less than a week to go before #romanceclass’ event at the Ayala Museum, and this is me inviting you all again to come join the fun! Here’s a list of what to expect: