KSU Alum, Terry Guest, discusses his journey to becoming an award winning playwright, actor, producer and director– and the struggles he faced along the way.
A young actor moves across the country from his home state with nothing but $800, a head full of ideas and wild ambitions. He struggles with loneliness, doubt and a freezing Chicago winter. After writing his first play on a whim, it’s picked up and produced. He goes on to become an award winning playwright, actor, director and producer.
No, this isn’t an inspirational movie plot. It’s the real-life story of Kennesaw State Alum Terry Guest, who has gone on to win two Jeff Awards, the NNPN Best New American Play Award and be featured on NPR. His plays include “The Magnolia Ballet,” “Marie Antionette and the Magical Negros,” “At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” and “Andy Warhol Presents: The Cocaine Play and A Ghost in Satin.”
His newest play, “Milo Imagines the World,” is a heartwarming, down to earth story of two children with an incarcerated parent. Guest, in an interview with the KSU Sentinel, said that his favorite part of the play was the brother-sister relationship. “It’s complex and it’s funny and you just really grow to love these two characters so much by the end.”
Guest hopes viewers of the play leave with a sense of empathy for people who have incarcerated family members, saying, “I hope that through this show people will leave with more of an understanding and more empathy for the humanity of people who are incarcerated and their families.”
“Milo Imagines the World” is set to perform at the Children’s Theatre Company from February 4th to March 9th in Minneapolis.
Before writing award winning plays, Guest was a theatre student at Kennesaw State University. Though he had dreams beyond acting, he spent his time in college “boxed in” to one goal.
“At Kennesaw, I was just an actor and that is how I saw myself. Even though I had a lot of curiosities and interests, I think I boxed myself into this one kind of thing and so the people around me boxed me in,” Guest said.
During his time at college, Guest had trouble finding community, and himself. He left college to work in the Atlanta theatre scene, but wanted more experiences outside of acting.
“I’m from Georgia, my family lives in Georgia, and I just wanted something totally different. I am black, obviously, and I am queer, hopefully obviously. So I’ve just found it hard living in Georgia sometimes.”
He took a risk, and moved across the U.S. to Chicago, saying, “I just wanted to see what it would feel like to live in a booming metropolis blue city. I moved up there and honey, It was cold. It was miserable.”
The beginning for him, Guest explains, was lonely and uncomfortable.
“I don’t have any friends anymore. All my friends are in Georgia. I distinctly remember looking at pictures on my phone and it’s snowing outside and all of my friends back home were in shorts and just like at the pool.”
It was then that Guest decided to pursue goals outside of acting.
“I was just like ‘I’m miserable. I might as well see what else I can do. Why not?’ So I started writing on a whim. And I wrote the play ‘At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen’ Which was my first play. Long, long, long story short I got it produced here at the story theatre in Chicago and things kind of spun out from there.”
He continued, “And then I got more confidence to say- ‘You know what? I wanna try this thing. I’m gonna just try once and maybe I’ll be terrible at it and that’s okay. But you know, why not?’”
Since then, Guest has continued writing, acting, directing and producing. Just like his resume, his inspirations are grand and diverse.
“My grandmother and my family in general, American history, Whitney Houston and Beyonce,” he said, highlighting his greatest creative inspirations. He also takes inspiration in classic Hollywood, the 90’s art house scene, and horror movies.
“I write a lot about ghosts, monsters and things like that. Queer culture, for sure. And then, you know, musical theatre.” Guest is also inspired by “people like Tony Kushner, Tennessee Williams and Brecht.”
“Nobody knows you better than you,” said Guest when asked about what he would say to students who are at a crossroads in their life. “Just do the crazy thing that everyone is saying is a bad idea.”
“Especially when you’re young there are so many people– professors, parents, who feel like they know what’s best for you. I do think most of the time they have good intent but sometimes you just have to [disregard them],” He said.
Looking past college, Guest feels that life only gets better.
“The community and really finding what I wanna be all happened after college,” He continues, “You only know yourself more.”
For more information on his newest play, “Milo Imagines the World,” you can find it here– https://childrenstheatre.org/whats-on/milo/
You can find more on Terry Guest on Instagram, @terryexplainsitall
