Help, But Better by Inda Craig-Galván

Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival presents Help, But Better by Inda Craig-Galván.

You know how everybody started baking sourdough bread and growing houseplants during the pandemic? They also went hard on online therapy because we were in the middle of a fucking pandemic. Help, But Better is the story of an online therapist who is overworked and needs some help of her own to deal with personal losses amid the nonstop bureaucracy of corporate-run therapy.

Inda Craig-Galván is a Los Angeles-based playwright and television writer, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores conflicts and politics within the African-American community, grounded in reality, and with a touch of magical realism. Upcoming: A Jumping-Off Point (Round House Theatre, April 2024), Welcome to Matteson! (Orlando Shakes, Fall 2024). Other plays: The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players), Black Super Hero Magic Mama(Geffen Playhouse), a hit dog will holler (Playwrights’ Arena/Skylight Theatre), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena). Awards: Kesselring Prize, Jeffry Melnick New Play Award, Blue Ink Prize, Jane Chambers Award, Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award for plays focused on social justice and/or civil rights. Commissions: The Old Globe, Round House Theatre. TV: Co-Executive Producer of ABC’s Will Trent. Previous: The Rookie, How to Get Away with Murder, Demimonde, Happy Face. Inda is an Adjunct Professor at University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts, where she received her MFA in Dramatic Writing.

Los Angeles audiences will have the opportunity to experience six brand new plays—thanks to Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival which will take place January 26 to 28, 2024 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Since its inception in 2005, Center Theatre Group has supported a cohort of playwrights to help them author new plays with the L.A. Writers’ Workshop on topics as varied as Los Angeles itself.

The six plays and their playwrights are Alien Girls by Amy Berryman; Pigeonhole by Jasmine Sharma; Help, But Better by Inda Craig-Galván; Brother Gary by Ramiz Monsef; malcreados by christopher oscar peña; and Teresa by Issac Gómez.

These performances are made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission. The L.A. Writers’ Workshop and new play development at Center Theatre Group are generously supported by an anonymous donor. Learn more about the L.A. Writers’ Workshop.