Man and Woman

written by Raymond Urrutia

The piece is a microcosm of the story and motifs portrayed in the pilot I wrote, which involves two different couples on a first date, one between an interracial couple in 1977’s Brooklyn, and an LGBTQIA+ couple in Present Day Brooklyn. This specific scene takes place at the end of the pilot, where Michelle, a trans-woman, tells the story of why she was taught how to hold a blade in her mouth, which leads into details regarding the beginnings of her reassignment journey. Themes of identity, prejudice, hate and love for one’s self and others are the major ideas examined here, and represent a good sample of the pilot narrative’s major ideas.

— Raymond Urrutia

Raymond is a native New Yorker, born and bred in the streets of Alphabet City (Lower East Side), Manhattan, where he still lives today. Before being accepted into LIU Brooklyn’s TV Writers Studio MFA program, he joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served as a Field Wireman assigned to Alpha Company, 6th Communications Battalion of the 4th Marine Logistics Group, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2009. After his honorable discharge, he earned a B.A. in English, with minors in both Theatre and Film Studies, from CUNY Baruch College, and took several courses in various aspects of film and television at a number of institutions around New York City, including the New School, SVA (The School of Visual Arts) and The Barrow Group Performing Arts School.