DRAFT FINISHED OF NEW PLAY

January 2021

New Play The Last Red Lobster of Maine in the Works

After, I don’t know, five years (?) I finally finished a first draft of the play I promised my playwright friend, Don Nguyen that I would write for him.  It started off as a joke when we discovered, having a meal at the Red Lobster in Times Square, that there were no Lobster’s in their tank.  Going deeper into our exploration of this particular food chain we learned that Maine, the land of Lobsters, actually had a franchise or two.  Born out of this became a large play that touches on climate change, connection, loss and friendship.  

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THE LAST RED LOBSTER OF MAINE

What happens when the water is too warm for the lobsters and they all keep moving north until they have nowhere left to go?  When a nor’easter threatens the last known franchise of the Redish Lobstah, patrons, owners, and employees are stuck facing their own mortality in the hands of a talking lobster.  

I’m hoping to have a reading of this play in the upcoming year so I can begin to work on it.  For some reason all the pieces I worked on during quarantine are large ensemble plays that have a lot of big things happening on stage.  I think part of this year was about my imagination being opened to whatever I wanted to write.

WRITER'S RETREAT IN FRANCE

MARCH 2020

Chateau de Poigny Residency –  France

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When I received an email from Jacqueline Goldfinger a lifetime ago inviting me to a writer’s retreat in France I was delighted to say yes.  This retreat, which had been planned almost a year in advance was to take place March 6th - March 14th 2020.  A group of twenty American playwrights, directors, screenwriters, dramaturges, and creative beings were off to Poigny to indulge in what I now know as the simple luxury of group collaboration. 

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As the date approaches and whispers of the Covid-19 virus began individuals began to make choices to stay or go on the retreat.  The thirteen of us who ended up converging in France had no idea that this would be the last in-person collaboration as artists for over a year. 

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I’m grateful to have carried the memories of this retreat with me in the frightening early days of the Pandemic.  I’m looking forward to reuniting with these beautiful artists in November in Spain. 

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ORIGINAL PLAY NOMINATED FOR COMPETITION

March 2020

Dixieland nominated for playwrighting competition at PlayMakers

While in Paris on a writers retreat (see this post) I learned that my brand-new play, Dixieland (working title) was a finalist for The International Thomas Wolfe Playwrighting Competition at PlayMakers in Chapel Hill. 

This play was written as a response piece to Wolfe’s novel Look Homeward, Angel and I hope to continue to work on it as I have grown very fond of the piece.

Below is the list of the ten finalists.  I hope you google these playwrights and discover more about their work.  ☺ 

Missing Celia Rose by Ian August

Through Hike by David L. Caruso

Resubdivided by Mason Cordell

The Family Marcher by Alex Drinnen

Fall with Me by Jared Eberlein

Lineage by Anne Flanagan

Of the Sea by Fiona Gorry-Hines

Against the Flesh by Nick Robideau

Dixieland by Amy E. Witting

DRAFT READING OF NEW PLAY

February 4th, 2020**

Thanks to New Georges and their lovely space (my last in-person reading) some brilliant folks gathered to read a brand new zero draft of Dixieland (working title)

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** While this update should have happened in real time, posting it now (May 2021) has me missing all these talented humans, music stands, pianos, and smooshing around a table while I drink too many seltzers to help me stay open to hearing characters come alive.

ANNE PAGE HATES FUN OPENS AT AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

ANNE PAGE HATES FUN OPENED AT THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER IN FEBRUARY AFTER AN INTENSE AND FRUITFUL REWRITING PROCESS. THIS EXPERIENCE WAS ONE I WILL NEVER FORGET, AND I MARKS A HUGE GROWTH AS A WRITER. BELOW ARE SOME LINKS TO PRESS RELEASES AND A REVIEW OF THE PIECE ALONG WITH PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PRODUCTION. I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCHING HOW THE SHAKESPEARE’S NEW CONTEMPORARIES PROJECT GROWS, EVOLVES, AND BRINGS TO THE STAGE MANY MORE NEW PLAYS INSPIRED BY WILLIAM S.

AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

AMERICAN THEATRE

BROADWAY WORLD

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SUNNYSIDE IMPRESSIONS

PETER’S IMPRESSIONS, A HAIR SALON IN SUNNYSIDE QUEENS, CELEBRATED FORTY YEARS IN BUSINESS THIS PAST OCTOBER. THANKS TO A GRANT FROM QUEENS COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, SUNNYSIDE IMPRESSIONS WAS PERFORMED IN OCTOBER. THE PLAY WAS CREATED THROUGH INTERVIEWS FROM SUNNYSIDE RESIDENTS AND PERFORMED BY A TALENTED GROUP OF ACTORS. TO TOP IT OFF A DEAR FRIEND MADE THE BELOW VIDEO. THIS PROJECT CONNECTED MY LOVE OF COMMUNITY AND CREATIVITY IN A WAY THAT I HOPE I CAN CONTINUE TO DO MORE OF.