Playwright takes a jab at a theatrical production

MARION — For a year and a half, first-time playwright Kate Herily stepped into the ring of theatrical production — writing, editing and workshopping her play, “Jab.”

Herily started working on “Jab” in January 2024 during an advanced playwriting course at Texas State University as an undergraduate student, drawing inspiration from getting into kickboxing herself.

“Through my first couple sessions and workouts there, I had the thought of, ‘Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a play that involves kickboxing before,’” she said. “That could be something really interesting to play around with and something really theatrical and new.”

She joined the Marion Art Center’s Playwrights Incubator program in August 2024 to continue writing and editing her script.

“In August, I got the email that I had been accepted and I was like, ‘Oh, this is really cool,’” she said.

The program culminated with the first production of “Jab,” performed during ArtWeek on Friday, May 16.

“Jab” is about a woman, Marissa, who is stuck in an abusive marriage and has “lost so much of herself and her strength and her power,” Herily said.

After joining an all-female kickboxing gym, Marissa rebuilds her confidence and power and realizes her life could be better if she leaves her husband.

“It took the process of learning how to kick box and facing her fears but more facing herself in the reality of her situation in life the last couple years where she does feel like she’s strong enough now to make the decision to leave,” Herily said.

The story of Marissa and the abusive marriage was one she previously thought up but never wrote.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll marry the two of them. That’s the perfect thing,’” Herily said. “And then “Jab” just unfolded from there.”

Herily said the ArtWeek production was her first ever production for any of her plays.

“It was really exciting, but it’s also very different because, as a writer, I envision so much of what I think it’s going to look like as I’m writing and as I’m editing,” she said.

Herily first experienced theater as an actress and came into playwriting with a directing background.

“Naturally I’m going to envision what I think it looks like on stage while I’m writing it,” she said, adding it was also interesting to see how the director interpreted the script.

Since Herily was in Texas during the casting, directing and rehearsal processes, the first time she saw her story come to life was during ArtWeek.

“It made for a nice treat to come back and see everything fully formed,” she said.

As part of the Playwrights Incubator program and the ArtWeek performance, Herily had the opportunity to speak with audience members and receive their feedback.

“To have people that I don’t know come up to me afterwards and say how much it resonated with them and how much they enjoyed it means a lot,” she said.

While Herily received positive remarks, audience members also gave her critiques and mentioned that there were some things they wished they had seen.

She said these remarks will help her move the play forward and make the production “that much stronger.”

Herily currently has two drafts of the play written: one that shifts between the gym and Marissa’s house, which was performed at the Marion Art Center, and another that takes place entirely in the gym.

“I love the idea of playing around with this one space and even having the intimate, somewhat violent moments between Marissa and her husband still happening at the gym,” she said.

She explained that the scenes between Marissa and her husband would be framed as flashbacks so the audience can “see how it’s affecting her in training and trying to push through it as she’s at the gym.”

Herily said there are some edits she wants to make to the script, but for now she’s going to take some time away from it so when she next approaches the script she’ll have “a fresh set of eyes and a fresh mind.”