Drama Queens, a five-star arts journal focusing on female artists

Maera Daniel Hagage Interview by Jen Bush

Maera Daniel Hagage is a NYC based actress, writer, director and producer who held some very interesting positions outside of the realm of the arts.  Ms. Hagage was born in Texas and raised in Israel.  She has lived all over the globe and is multi-lingual.  Her very cosmopolitan background came in handy while working as a customer success manager for Fortune 500 companies and working ground security for El Al airlines.  Together with fellow artist Eliya Rodeh, they founded Dirty Laundry Theatre.  The mission of this theatre company is to share cross cultural human stories.  Ms. Hagage graciously took some time out of her busy artistic life to tell us about the exciting projects she’s been working on.

Light Heart Heavy is a very personal piece of theatre for Ms. Hagage.  It was a vulnerable experience putting her life up on the stage.  “I would call the show semi-autobiographical; while the show is heavily based on our own lives, it has already started to grow and develop its own flavors. Is it hard to dig into a wound and share it with the audience? Absolutely. It’s a very shaking and scary experience, putting yourself out there, with not only your own words, but also your body, right there on stage. I think that acting yourself is one of the hardest things to do; there’s no hiding behind the book-cover or the picture you created, there you are, exposed, partly reliving you r own story, partly creating something new.”

Ms. Hagage wanted to tell her story.  The format became crystalized when she collaborated with her artistic colleague Eliya Rodeh.  “I’ve been toying with creative expression of my experience for a long time. At first it was a music album I started to write and left it half-baked somewhere. When Eliya approached me with this idea, it was clear to me that the old material I wrote will need to be a part of this.  So, I went back to the lyrics I wrote back in 2018, and let the story create itself from there.” 

Ms. Hagage feels it’s too early in the development of this project for it to be a cathartic experience.  “Is it a cathartic experience?  Not yet =) The concept presentation we had back in January was a very intense experience and an important step in this project development, but we have a long way to go. I see it taking different shapes before it will reach completion and for me, a potentially cathartic place.”

Ms. Hagage was involved in a very exciting project that took place on 2/17/23.  Through Our Eyes: A Collection of Multi-Cultural Points of view, is an evening of new works in poetry, theatre, and music. It is produced by Virago Ensemble, an inclusive multinational group of performers and theatre creators, striving to celebrate and honor diverse cultural backgrounds, by sharing diverse narratives and empowering less-heard points of view.”

Ms. Hagage and Ms. Rodeh will be very busy bringing the exciting works of poetry, theatre and music from Through Our Eyes: A Collection of Multi-Cultural Points of view from extracts to complete productions.  “The works presented in this evening are snippets from shows in development. We’re planning on keeping developing the shows to full staged productions.”

The pieces are all tied together in that they are humanistic and personal tales.  “All of the pieces in this evening are original works in development, with strong points of view. They’re inspired by the lives of the creators, whether it’s their experiences during COVID, their upbringing, or anecdotes from their current life. This evening will be one of the first times that this material is presented in front of an audience. We’re very excited about that!” 

It’s a “small world after all” with this cast of international artists.  “Our cast is built of multinational performers. We grew up outside the US, and are singing in our native languages, which is how we encountered Disney for the first time. Each of us chose our own material, based on our personal preferences and what we feel most connected to.”

Working with different languages also comes with the need to be cognizant of the culture as well as the words when translation is necessary.  Fortunately Ms. Hagage did not have to do any heavy lifting with translation.  “We didn’t do any translations for this evening. The Disney movies were professionally translated and dubbed into more than 40 languages. So we just went back to the versions we knew as kids. In our research for this evening we learned that what Disney actually did was not only translation of the movies, but Localization. That means that they adapted the translations and messages to local audiences. It’s a very interesting process to learn about the differences and similarities between the translations and what they mean about the differences and similarities between different cultures. We’ll include some of the most interesting anecdotes in our event in April.”

It can be fun to experience Disney as a child and then as an adult.  The meaning might change but the magic will always be there where Disney is concerned.  “Going back to these materials as adults is still magical, which is a part of the Disney charm. But there are definitely some “adult moments” that went over our heads when we watched it as kids. There are also more layers to the meaning now, since our point of view has changed. We’re having a lot of fun exploring all of that! :)”