When Shairi Engle left the Air Force in 2005, where she’d served as an air traffic controller, she boxed everything she owned and didn’t look back. It was only in writing about her experiences, both in the military and with personal trauma, that she allowed herself to figuratively unpack.

Engle is the 2019 recipient of the Arts in the Armed Forces Bridge Award for playwriting. Presented by AITAF spokesperson Adam Driver and described by judge Tony Kushner as “Tough, disturbing, enraging, consistently surprising, smart, very funny and ultimately moving and revelatory,” her winning full-length stage play, “Tampons, Dead Dogs and Other Disposable Things,” is slated to be staged at the La Jolla Playhouse’s 400-seat Forum Theater on Oct. 25 in a free reading.

Tampons and What?

“It’s a wilderness story,” Engle said. “Tampons, Dead Dogs and Other Disposable Things” is about a woman who takes to the mountains of Alaska, balancing therapy, nature and yes, packing out.

Solidly in the modern era of military literature and also on the heels of the voices and stories gained from the #MeToo movement, it’s tempting to ascribe Engle’s success as specific to this particular time in history. But the characters she writes and the vulnerability with which she approaches trauma are bigger than a moment. “Tampons, Dead Dogs and Other Disposable Things” shows us Engle’s interpretation of what it means to survive.

It’s a raw, powerful study of handling the aftermath of trauma, but it’s also charmingly funny:

JEN: You didn’t bring any toilet paper?
JOE: I stand up to pee.
JEN: So, you don’t shit.
JOE: Not every day!
JEN: For 3 days.
JOE: Well yeah, I mean, no. I mean to say, yeah, I can go three days without shitting.
JEN: We’re on day 6 of a 3-day backpacking trip.
JOE: Sometimes I go longer than 3 days.
JEN: No.

A staged reading — meaning a venue doesn’t build an elaborate set, the characters generally are not costumed and stage directions are read out loud — is perfect for her play.

“The play is marvelously stageworthy, but it’s also literature, written to be read — that understanding of playwriting is rarer than it should be, and encountering a playwright who gets it is an occasion to rejoice,” said Kushner.

5 Don’t-Miss Super Short Plays at WOW Fest

In addition to Engle’s full-length play, she’s debuting a short play as part of this weekend’s Without Walls (WOW) Festival, the La Jolla Playhouse’s site-specific, stage-free festival of performances. “Littering/Lettering” is a 10-minute play that’s part of the Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company’s project “Written in Stone,” held at Stone Brewing in Liberty Station Thursday through Sunday.

Backyard Renaissance, the La Jolla Playhouse’s current theater in residence, is a four-year-old program championing “gutsy,” inventive and intensive work. The WOW Festival, held by the playhouse every other year, is well-matched for Backyard Renaissance’s outside-the-box thinking.

“The 10-minute play fest is a very popular part of WOW Festival,” said Jessica John Gercke, Backyard Renaissance’s executive director. Gercke pointed out that each viewing has a maximum of just eight spots and tickets are already moving quickly.

The La Jolla Playhouse reached out to writers to pair with the company. Engle is the only San Diego writer in the nationwide collection of five acclaimed playwrights. In addition, Gercke pointed out that the majority of the acting roles — all but two — are for women.

“There’s a lot changing in theater today,” said Gercke. “We want stories that are more inclusive. When we say diversity, we really mean inclusivity.” While this change shapes the types of stories that are told and the types of voices that tell them, it also has a hand in the way — and the where — the stories are told.

While neither the playhouse nor the company provided the writers with strict guidance (just: 10 minutes, site-specific and “write what you want,” said Engle), each playwright included a prominent use of place and audience implication.

The cast of Shairi Engle’s WOW Festival short play, “Littering/Lettering” / Photo courtesy of Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company

Engle’s play, “Littering/Lettering,” involves a post-break-up couple sitting together at the same brewery tables shared by the tiny audience. The women hide baggies of old letters — more of Engle’s thematic unpacking! — behind unsuspecting viewers and acknowledge the “Point Loma Pause” as airplanes take off above them, while dosing out their backstory in snippets of letters and memories.

Another short play, the bafflingly meta “A Play About Eye Contact Over Three Decades” is the most implicating and technically inventive of the crop. Actors stare at audience members, asking them questions, adjusting to their answers without missing a beat. (For the uncomfortable, it’s over quickly!)

Backyard Renaissance’s “Written in Stone” team for this year’s WOW Festival / Photo courtesy of Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company

In each of the five plays, audiences are positioned so that actors have to work around or acknowledge the viewers. It’s a shattering of the fourth wall, a device of both stage and screen, and a fundamental reality of the Without Walls festival. Viewers are somewhere between involved, invested and in the way. This is dizzying and challenging, which is par for the course with WOW Festival’s stage-free productions.

Writing a short play is actually “so much writing,” said Engle, though it’s clear that this work ethic also applies to her full-length work and even her own personal story. “It’s this iceberg thing. These characters, I know them so well. I did a lot of writing to try to find this moment in time.”

More San Diego Arts and Culture News and Happenings

Visual Art

The annual four-day Medium Festival of Photography begins on Thursday across the region, and includes the annual portfolio review, lectures, studio tours and more. The festival’s juried exhibition “Size Matters” opens Saturday at Sparks Gallery.
The next San Diego Museum of Art Culture & Cocktails event is Thursday, focusing on the female artists who contributed to the Abstract Expressionist movement. There’ll be cocktails, food and artsy face paint?
“Constructed Mythologies” by Luis González Palma opens at SDSU Downtown Gallery on Thursday, coinciding with the free Downtown at Sundown
In 1897, Lomaland, a commune for theosophy, culture, art and craftsmanship popped up in Point Loma. “The Path of the Mystic,” a new exhibition at the San Diego History Center opens on Friday and includes Lomaland artifacts, art and more (even the massive front doors). (San Diego Entertainer)
Teros Gallery celebrates its fourth anniversary on Friday.
More on the San Diego Workforce Partnership installation of work-related art mentioned last week: You can contact the organization directly to set up a viewing.
On Saturday, Best Practice opens a new exhibition using found art, reclaimed wood, plants and more. “Rosas y Nopales” features new work by San Diego-based artist Armando de la Torre.

Armando de la Torre’s installation at Best Practice gallery / Photo courtesy of Best Practice

Music

Béla Fleck and his “super group” of pals hits Balboa Theater on Wednesday. (U-T)
Is this lineup confusing or is it custom-made for the multitudes contained within our dark yet tender souls? Yes. Birdie Bardot, Le Chateau and Blood Ponies play the Casbah on Thursday.
Reservations for the Nov. 9 free San Diego Symphony concert at the Padres ballpark are now open, and limited to six per person. The symphony will play a dynamic hour-long program, conducted by the new director, Rafael Payare. (U-T)
San Diego’s goth scene is hot, with both local and national acclaim. Friday’s Club Hemlock promises an extra-goth October soiree with costumes, live bands, cocktails by Ilegal Mezcal and lots of mournful noise.

Film and Literature

Get ready for an appearance by Laurence Fishburne as he receives the Gregory Peck achievement award as part of the San Diego Film Festival on Friday. (U-T)
On Friday, “Poetry and Art” takes place at San Diego Art Institute, featuring original poetry readings followed by a round of open mic poetry karaoke.
Incoming UCSD Department of Literature faculty Jac Jemc published a new book, “False Bingo,” a collection of short stories out this week. Lucky us, the Chicago-based Jemc will move to San Diego later this year. (Publisher’s Weekly)
The U-T has more details on the closure of Carlsbad’s Lhooq books.

Theater and Dance

Forbes covered Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous The Musical” at the Old Globe. The world premiere musical runs through Oct. 27.
Love Affair — an LGBTQ dance party and drag performance — takes place at Space Bar on Thursday.

Tech, Science and Culture Miscellany

“Likewise Fiction,” a new literary podcast from San Diegan Mike Sakasegawa, launched this week, presenting short fiction from diverse and underrepresented voices in literature. Episode one features “Whale Fall,” a beautiful short story by Alvin Park, and is accompanied by an illustration by Mel Paisley.

Closing Soon

John Brinton Hogan’s exhibition, “Brightest Beacons, Blindest Eyes,” closes at Mesa College Gallery on Thursday.
“Girlfriend” at Diversionary Theatre closes Sunday.
The “delicately stitched” play Intimate Apparel at New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad runs through Sunday. (Times of San Diego)
Rizzhel Javier’s exhibition, “Landsick” at the New Americans Museum closes on Sunday.

Food, Etc.

“Tijuana’s self-described freaks and weirdos are having a moment,” and the city is an “unlikely hub” for Japanese anime. (U-T)
Here’s an optimistic look at Madison on Park’s new cocktail menu. (San Diego Magazine)
The U-T looked into the impact that vaping-related illnesses are having on local cannabis retailers and companies.
There is tequila news out of Cutwater Spirits. (Eater)

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I loved stepping outside of the hyper-current way we view lists with this essay on literary listmaking by women throughout the centuries. (Electric Literature)

Culture Report: Emerging Local Playwright Unpacks the Disposable Things