The monthly braggadocio roundup: November 2014

These titles are misleading, as November has only just started, and so how could I possibly be giving a roundup of it...? But now I'm stuck calling things this way. I am trapped in my own lie. 

First up, Theatre KAPOW's 24-Hour Play Festival was awesome. I had so much fun. It was that rare writerly experience of knowing what you have to do, having a bunch of people actively cheering you on as you do it, and then feeling very proud of the result. 

I should have taken more pictures, but I think everyone was too busy doing the thing to document the thing. I did take one: that harrowing moment when the director and actors are reading the play for the first time. As you, the playwright, sit there and watch them read it.

They're a few pages in and no one's laughing oh god oh god. (Left to right: Jamileh Jemison, Jackie Marcoux, and Ben Bagley. Kelly Litt is sitting to Ben's left. He is not in this picture.)

They're a few pages in and no one's laughing oh god oh god. (Left to right: Jamileh Jemison, Jackie Marcoux, and Ben Bagley. Kelly Litt is sitting to Ben's left. He is not in this picture.)

Before this (actually only five hours before this), I had finished the play and written a blog post for Theatre KAPOW's website documenting (sort of) the writing process of the thing. You can read it here! An excerpt:

I started writing around 9:30pm and finished the first draft around 1:18 am. It clocked in at eleven pages. As I wrote to a friend on Facebook (because there was much Facebooking throughout this process): The only muse I've ever known is a gun pointed at my head. (Or a ticking clock. Whichever.)

True story. For the next couple hours I picked at the words, trying to artfully arrange them in a way that would make sense to people who are not me. I submitted the play at 3:13am, and was, evidently, the first of the five playwrights to turn in their play. Victory! (I think the second was like ten minutes later, but whatever, man. Primacy is mine.)

Then I slept for four hours, woke up very confused and desirous of strong coffee, and remained awake the rest of the day, working with the director, Jamileh Jemison, and the actors to make the funny funnier and the poignant poignanter. I had intended to slink off and nap at some point during the day, but I was having way too much fun sitting in on the rehearsal process and laughing at all of their jokes. 

Tech rehearsal! Left to right: Kelly Litt, Jackie Marcoux, and Ben Bagley. 

Tech rehearsal! Left to right: Kelly Litt, Jackie Marcoux, and Ben Bagley. 

This Dating Thing was the last play of the night, and I was so proud of it and everyone involved. The actors (Ben Bagley, Jackie Marcoux, and Kelly Litt) absolutely nailed it. And then it was all over. I helped with cleanup and then a bunch of us went out for dinner and drinks. And then I drove half an hour to my girlfriend's parents' house and slept the sleep of the wide awake yet sleep deprived.

Wax Idiotical Films put together a time-lapse video of the entire 24 hours. Behold!

It seems that I scratch my neck a lot.

The one thing it omits is the writing process, for which I have thoughtfully put together my own time-lapse video:

So! That was that. I'd happily do it again every weekend. Every. Single. Weekend.

In other news, I learned right before heading up to Derry that my ten-minute play The Formative Years will appear as part of the Firehouse Center for the Arts New Works Festival in Newburyport, MA, this January. And! Some days after that, I also learned that Going Viral will appear as part of Short+Sweet Sydney 2015 in January/February, which will be Going Viral's third Australian production. The other two made it to the Finals in each of their festivals, so here's hoping...!

Aaaaaaand lastly, if you're not sick of reading about me yet, I've just put the finishing touches on a themed evening of short comedy that includes many of my previously produced plays as well as some that are new to the stage. The title is tentative so I won't share it with you yet, but I've sent it out to interested parties both near and far, and we shall see what becomes of it!

Now for your random funny: Here is irrevocable proof that cats are deceitful and very likely planning the demise of all life on Earth

The monthly braggadocio roundup: September/October 2014

As I steel myself for the late-night lunacy of writing an original 10–15-minute piece for Theatre KAPOW's 24-Hour Play Festival (tonight! here's a writeup from the The Hippo! and another from NewHampshire.com!), I wanted to recap some of the stuff I've been up to the past couple months:

Summer ended, exactly as I predicted. You people never listen to me.

I completed this year's 31 Plays in 31 Days challenge at the very last minute, as is my custom. I think I hammered out seven short plays that Sunday. Maybe one or two of them turned out okay? That's not the point. THE POINT IS I WROTE THEM.

The Short+Sweet Queensland production of GOING VIRAL made it to the Finals and netted Shanay De Marco the "Best Actor in a Play" award. Congrats, Shanay! We have never met but I'm still excited for you.

Likewise, the Short+Sweet Hobart production of GOING VIRAL also made it to the Finals! The actors (grandparents Helen and Mike Edwards and their granddaughter Zoe Melville) even scored a very nice writeup in the Tasmanian Times:

The festival continues on Saturday with Program 2 which also has new Tasmanian plays and one memorable moment for a young, short and sweet Tasmanian actress.  Fourteen year old Zoe Melville has been going to one act play festivals with her Thespian Grand Parents, Mike and Helen Edwards since she could walk. Readers have no doubt seen Mike and/or Helen treading the boards in plays as recently as “The Phantom” at the Theatre Royal and “Waiting in the Wings” in 2013 at the Playhouse and as far back as 1950’s Uni Revues.

Coming from a family involved in the performing arts in Tasmania for almost 60 years theatre was bound to be in Zoe’s blood.  This weekend will be an experience she’ll never forget, sharing her first mainstream on stage appearance with her grandparents, two of Hobart theatres stalwarts.

Festival Director Ros Peck says “This is absolutely one of the highlights of this festival for me, Zoe has been an audience member for so long and to see her finally on stage and with her Grandparents gives me goosebumps, I’m so happy for her.”

They'll be taking the show on the road to the Deloraine One Act Festival tonight and tomorrow. Best of luck, guys! Break a leg? I always found that expression kind of violent. Please don't actually break your legs or any other appendage.

Looking ahead, GOING VIRAL has been shortlisted for Short+Sweet's Sydney show, which is, evidently, the largest 10-minute play festival in the world. Well! I don't know yet if a director has selected my play, but being shortlisted for this is still pretty cool.

And in news that is not GOING VIRAL, THE FORMATIVE YEARS will be making its international premiere at Playground: Fears in London. This will be my second Playground show, the first being (you guessed it!) GOING VIRAL in Playground: Deception. If you live in the UK you should go and laugh a lot at my play.

Is that enough bragging? I think so. I prepare now to reach into my sleepless brain and pull out (by force, if necessary) THEATRE.

Finally, unrelated to any of the above: Ultrafacts is my new favorite Tumblr. The grammar is not always great but the content is fascinating/shocking/funny/etc. I use it to harangue my girlfriend and coworkers with trivia they never wanted to know... but need.

Going Viral in the Short+Sweet Queensland Finals

Huh! Looks like Going Viral will be competing in the finals at Short+Sweet Queensland this September. Big congrats to the cast and crew—wish I could be there!

The monthly braggadocio roundup: August 2014 (now with pictures!)

I mean, August's only just begun, but I'm posting this in August, so...? Whatever. It's the August roundup!

So many things: My girlfriend and I flew down to Carrboro, North Carolina (there's supposed to be a comma here but I've always hated that rule so screw it) last month to attend The ArtsCenter's 10 by 10 in the Triangle, where we got to meet some of the show's cast and crew as well as four of the other playwrights. The whole writing thing is a pretty solitary art, so it was great to compare notes with others who are up to similar shenanigans.

Left to right: ME!, Corey Rieger, Bridget Erin, Elaine Smith, and Jordan Rawlins.

Left to right: ME!, Corey Rieger, Bridget Erin, Elaine Smith, and Jordan Rawlins.

While there, I saw my third production of Going Viral. I love all the different nuances each production brings. This one featured the first male "child" character (Jorge Donoso) and had a remix of David After the Dentist as the intro song. Great. And the parents (David Berberian and Page Purgar) were a riot.

Two weeks later, I got to see a production of The Formative Years for the first time. It was part of the Artists' Exchange's 9th Annual One Act Play Festival, and they nailed it. The director, Jessica Bradley, added some great musical and physical business that really sold the fastidious, finicky world of these crazy people I created. Their total commitment to the insane wold of these "parents" made the piece even funnier than I could have hoped.

Michael Shallcross and Meg Taylor-Roth. Please note the hand sanitizer on the bedstand. Heh.

Michael Shallcross and Meg Taylor-Roth. Please note the hand sanitizer on the bedstand. Heh.

Coming up, the Suffield Players will feature two of my plays (The Interview and The Formative Years) as part of their New Faces 2014 show this month. Behold! Promotional material:

New Faces Formative Years Collage.jpg

Then, this fall, Going Viral goes overseas to London for Playground: A New Writing Showcase, to Australia for Short+Sweet Queensland, and to Tasmania for Short+Sweet Hobart and the Deloraine One Act Festival. That last one will actually be the first festival I didn't have to submit to—the actors from Short+Sweet Hobart's production contacted me to ask if they could also do the show in Deloraine. It'll be two grandparents and their granddaughter, which certainly marks the first time that an actual family has performed Going Viral! Wish I could see it.

And I think that's enough bragging for now. Here's my favorite thing on the internet or anywhere.

Round two!

Only two hours until August 1st, and you know what that means...!

Summer is basically over.

BUT ALSO! It means that tomorrow is day one of my second 31 Plays in 31 Days attempt. As I did last year, I'll be posting the plays as I finish them (hopefully one each day, but let's be honest here). If you're in to that sort of thing, you can follow along at home by navigating to "31 Plays in 31 Days" through the "Writing! For you to read!" tab on the left of this website.

Or just click here. Enjoy!

Everything Theatre reviews Going Viral!

A recent review of Encompass Productions' Bare Essentials included this glowing praise for a certain social media-themed short play of mine:

One of my favourites was Going Viral, a play set in the near future. It’s a child’s 15th birthday and the parents have a surprise for her: a Facebook account. As the play unravels, we find out that the child is actually an internet sensation because of her lisp. The writing was fluid with great comedy and it was very relevant. It was beautifully carried by all actors but notably Laurie Harrington, who was a fantastic character actress as the mother and had me laughing out loud throughout.

I owe a great many thanks to the director, Michaela Neal, and the actors, Glenn Mortimer, Marcella Carelli, and Laurie Harrington. It's rumored that they recorded at least one of these performances so I'm looking forward to sharing that with you!

Long-overdue website update

For those of you who are RSS only, you may (or may not; that's also cool) be interested to learn that I've updated the website:

  • I've added a list of my upcoming productions beneath the main site's navigation, and
  • The "Plays" section now includes subsections for my one-minute, ten-minute, full-length, and plays in print. And they are all current as of today.*

* No promises about tomorrow.