Trich (A World Premiere)

TRICH is a play born from a time of profound grief. In 2013, I lost my grandfather to cancer, a loss that felt devastating. In my sorrow, I sought peace in hours of television—HGTV, Food Network, Bravo—anything to distract me from the sadness and depression I was experiencing.

During this time, I saw a show on TLC featuring a young girl struggling with trichotillomania, a hair-pulling disorder. I was struck by how the show sensationalized her life. Here was someone grappling with a condition that affected every aspect of her being, yet it was presented as entertainment for viewers like me. This experience planted the seeds for what would become TRICH.

The play poses critical questions: Why is our identity so intertwined with hair? Why do we emphasize beauty based on our hair? TRICH aims to challenge these ideas.

In Spring 2015, I collaborated with director Mario Mendoza for the first production of TRICH at the University of Iowa’s New Play Festival. Mario embraced the play in all its complexity and recognized the emotional core that made it so special to me. Initially, I wrote from a place of anger at the way the young girl was portrayed, but I was also processing my own grief and trauma. My grandfather’s illness and passing compelled me to examine my relationship with my body, mind, and health, using hair as an entry point for exploration.

In 2022, Mario once again brought TRICH to the stage at South Mountain Community College, just two years after a global pandemic had forced us into isolation. This period prompted us to reflect on health, physical connection, and the significance of our relationships. We were collectively reconsidering our past, present, and future.

Over nearly a decade, TRICH evolved from a story about a girl with a disorder into a narrative about recovery. It became a theatrical exploration of our physical bodies and a redefinition of beauty through self-discovery. I have received incredible feedback from both students and audience members, many of whom connected deeply with the play’s themes. Much of this success is thanks to Mario’s talent for uncovering the humanity within the work.

I wrote this play to navigate my devastating loss. Revisiting the play again in 2022 reminded me of the healing that can emerge over time.TRICH investigates the importance of mental health and well-being, highlighting what it means to recover. I emerged from the grief and loneliness, and I want anyone currently facing a significant loss to know: you are not alone.

I am excited and honored for TRICH to have its world premiere at South Mountain Community College. I trust that the students and community of SMCC, under Mario's fearless direction, will care for this story with great passion. I hope you enjoy the show!

Sarah Cho is a Los Angeles-based comedy writer and playwright. Most recently, her play STAINS was developed as part of Moving Arts’ MADLab New Play Development and selected for Great Plains Theatre Conference. She is a recipient of the Iowa Arts Fellowship, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center’s Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, and was named Associate Artist for Ashland New Plays Festival. After graduating from Iowa Playwrights Workshop, she went on to study improv comedy at iO West and Second City, as well as improvisational theater with Aretha Sills at Sills/Spolin Theater Works. She has performed at Green Gravel Comedy Festival, Laugh Riot Grrrl Festival, written sketch comedy with house sketch teams at the Pack Theater, and currently writes for the late-night comedy style podcast "The Dump". Her work has also been featured on ComedyCake, WhoHaHa, Funny or Die. When Sarah is not writing plays or making comedies, she is the co-host of the “very interesting” playwriting podcast Beckett’s Babies with fellow poet/playwright Sam Collier. Sarah earned her BA in Film and Theater at UC Santa Barbara, where she aced in eating tons of burritos, and holds her MFA from Iowa Playwrights Workshop, where she also aced in drinking pie shakes.