Meet Matilda Corley Schulman

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matilda Corley Schulman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matilda, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
This career sorta found me…

I should explain. Since I was four I have ridden horses, and that’s genuinely where I thought my life would take me. It even led me to being recruited to Oklahoma State University’s NCAA D1 Equestrian Team. And sadly, I did not have the best go of it (and that’s putting it lightly and extremely gently). During my time at OSU, I needed to find a place I didn’t feel so alone, so isolated, and I ended up running away to both the English and Theatre departments. Eventually, I transferred to UC Berkeley and the only writing class still taking applications was the playwriting class with Philip Kan Gotanda — and it truly changed my life.

I don’t think he understood how deeply I had lost my voice, and how desperately I needed to find it again. And writing, and consequently acting, allowed me to do just that.

That’s most definitely what keeps me pursuing art now — knowing their are people like eighteen year old me who needed to see stories who told her it was going to be okay and that she would eventually find herself again, and her voice.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
At the heart of all the stories I tell, I think truly I am writing for the younger version of myself in the audience that needed to see stories where young women were allowed to be fully fleshed human beings — meaning they got to be everything in the story. Have every emotion. Be loud, be angry, be in love, be big, take up space — and just figure out who they wanted to be and how they wanted their lives to go…

There’s no one box they have to fit into, no matter what anyone tells them.

I know if I had seen more stories like that then when I was younger, maybe I would have found my voice again sooner….because for a time in my life I literally lost my voice. I became so quiet, and small and lost myself for a bit. I know what it’s like to feel truly alone, to not believe anyone could possibly be experiencing what you are. Again, I try to write for someone out there that in seeing one of my stories, may just feel a little bit more understood.

I think at this point I am most proud of my play, “bloody noses” which is now a pilot as well — a story I never thought I’d share. It follows (both the pilot and the play) the unraveling of a NCAA D1 soccer team as they deal with the fallout of facing the assault of one of their own, by one of their own (an athletic trainer). And at its core, deals and explores the uncertainty of girlhood in the backdrop of being a female student athlete in the American University System.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and the amazing thing is to this day, I feel like I am always discovering some new corner I haven’t seen yet. So, that’s what I would want to show my friend — something I haven’t yet seen myself. I would want to go explore with them, go discover……probably a cafe or bookstore.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family, my mom, dad, and sister are my biggest champions and heroes. But beyond that, everyone I have met along my creative journey that has given me a place to use my voice to its full volume. Those I met at OSU, Berkeley, and within the USC dramatic writing department and cinema school who have been with me every step of the way. Also David Warshofsky and Kate Burton. Everyone at Elvenstar Farms — my home away from home. And Philip Kan Gotanda who had no idea he would change my life in the best way possible the day I walked into his classroom…

Website: https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/writer-bd52db523-131629

Instagram: @matildacorleyschulman

Image Credits
Eliza Kuperscmid USC School of Dramatic Arts