BlindSquirrel Bloggings

My Fisher Price Little People

2009-11-23T14:02:00.003-08:00

My favorite toys.

Cropped Cardigan I am Knitting

2009-11-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Knitting a sweater for Xmas for my friend Charlyn. It is a cropped cardigan (Berocco.com, pattern Alpine). I have the back and sides done and just need to knit the sleeves and neck band.

Long overdue praise for Mac Rogers' VIRAL

2009-10-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Since I am months behind in blogging, I thought I would go ahead and be the last blogger on the planet to write a glowing review of Mac Rogers' VIRAL.

Yes, the show has closed. No, you can't go and see it now, even if I make it sound really good. Yes, this makes me very lame.

BUT . . . is there really an expiration date on praise? Is there? I don't think so.
VIRAL was part of the NY Fringe Fest and then part of the Festival Extension. Being generally late about things, I saw it on closing night. If I made a top plays of the year list, this play would be the top play for this year and next year, too. No matter what anyone does next year. I liked it that much. It is like a little theatrical virus-- you see it and you want to go out and infect other people into seeing it. As if you were a little Mac-germ, biologically programmed to think he is great and run around trying to osmose this idea into other people.

The play is a tour de force, lyrical tragedy with a dark comic candy-coating. Meredith (Amy Lynn Stewart) plays a life-weary woman who reaches out over the internet to three Pacific Northwest fringe-dwellers for help with her own euthanization. She turns to Geena (Rebecca Comtois), her boyfriend Colin (Kent Meister) and her brother Jarvis (Matthew Trumbull) who share a fetish for filming suicides as erotic art and posting the films on the internet. Mac crafts a haunting ode to the loneliness of all four characters. These are people who have tried and failed to connect with any external support systems and have lost themselves to dark and destructive fantasy. Meredith seems to be the most clear-headed and sympathetic one, her inevitable path to self-destruction is a seductive poison that leaves a bittersweet taste in the audience's mouth.

Rebecca Comtois and Amy Lynn Stewart were brilliant in this. Perfectly mirrored portraits of cringing insecurity and ferocious determination. And the script is simple one of the best-craft and best-realized visions you are likely to see. Or, ahem, likely to catch in the hopeful revival since I have blogged this too late to infect you with a need to go see it.

Sneak Peak Angel Eaters Booklet Cover

2009-07-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

Original Works Publications is putted out editions of Angel Eaters, Rattlers and 8 Little Antichrists later this summer. Here is a sneak peak at the Angel Eaters cover. It is still in development, but probably won't change much.

Pimping Friends' Shows

2009-07-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have two good friends in shows this month, so I wanted to encourage everyone out there to attend.

First, you can catch Isaiah Tanenbaum (Angel Eaters' resurrection boy) in The Secret of our Souls, A Kabalistic Love Story. This is a cool-looking Fringe Fest musical. About 18th Century spiritual master, the Baal Shem Tov.

Looks really cool and I don't think I have heard Isaiah in a musical before.

And second, Candice Holdorf (clone sisters and Claudia in 8 Little Antichrists) is in NeverCracked, an evening of two one acts, presenting as part of the Midtown Festival.

I hope to catch both shows. With NeverCracked closing Aug 2nd, I may have to really hustle.

Quilt for Kay's Wedding

2009-07-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Most of my spare time lately has been taking up trying to finish this quilt for friend Kay Mitchell's (soon to be Kay Carey) wedding (on Saturday, Aug 1). I am definitely not going to finish it in time for Saturday (I should have the main part quilted, but will still have the border and binding to do). So, all she is going to get by Saturday is a link to these photos and some swatches.

Which, funnily enough, is all her sister Beth got on her wedding day about ten or twelve years ago. During college, Kay and I decided about two weeks before Beth's wedding that we would make her a king size quilt together and have it ready by the wedding, of course. Kay ended up giving her swatches on the wedding day and she didn't see the quilt for about three years. We over estimated our quilting abilities a tad. This one so far has taken about five months, so I am hoping it will get to Kay by the end of the year at least!

Loved Bird House, Flux Sunday 7/26

2009-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVED Kate Marks' BIRD HOUSE on Friday. Of course, I went to see it on the last weekend, so am recommending it too late to do any good. It closed Sunday.

The design work on the play was outstanding. It featured precious little insect and bird puppets, gorgeous projections, a quaint fairy tale cottage on one side of the stage and a gritty, drear warscape on the other side of the stage. Very evocative. Leads Cotton Wright and Christina Shipp could not have done better jobs with challenging and quirky roles. Their highly physical approach was reminicent of circus clowns and silent movie comedians, but they always remained grounded and genuine. Kylie Liya Goldstein as Myra was wonderous and astonishing. She completely changed my concept of a child actor by delivering a performance I would not have thought possible from a girl her age. Layered, vulnerable, delightfully comic, fully believable and heart-wrenchingly charming. Kate's script is a dreamscape masterpiece, with a bubbly surprise twist to every line leading up to a grim and satisfying darkening end.

Also attended a Flux Sunday (where writers, actors and directors gather to read or put together staged readings of scenes from writer's latest plays) on the 26th. We only had two plays to read, Corey Ann Haydu's WIFE TRAINING (I may have screwed up the title, sorry) and my new play, working title CURSED (but that sucks, so I am still searching for a new one) the first play in my new ANGEL EATERS: ORIGINS trilogy. We were going to have a play from Gus Schulenburg, too, but the printer ate it. :-(

I love WIFE TRAINING. I wish I had written it. It is a sci fi-ish, alternate reality, distopia play about gender politics that is just endlessly fascinating. I love plays that are world-building in nature, that take you to a completely realized new world. I can't wait to see the whole thing read-- thus far I have only seen serial installments.

My new play is basically a Western, set around 1842, exploring the origins of the Angel Eaters curse. A Cherokee medicine woman unleashes a power that dooms seven generations to unnatural evil and crushing despair. Light, cheery stuff.

Ordered a bunch of hardcopies of my verse play, LICKSPITTLES, BUTTONHOLERS AND DAMNED PERNICIOUS GO-BETWEENS. Digging this online copy place, Best Value Copy.
15 copies (front and back and drilled) were only about 35bucks - and they shipped them to my apartment. Shipping might have been an extra 10 bucks, I think-- but still, it beats the hell out of Kinkos.

Congrats to all New York Innovative Theater Nominees

2009-07-22T10:48:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to all NY IT Award Nominees. Matt Freeman has posted a list of nominees at: On Theatre and Politics - Matthew Freeman: New York Innovative Theatre Awards Nominees for 2009

The Angel Eaters trilogy received seven nominations:

Outstanding Full Length Script: Johnna Adams (for Angel Eaters)
Outstanding Actor In A Lead Role: August Schulenburg (for 8 Little Antichrists)
Outstanding Original Music: Gerard Keenan (for the trilogy)
Outstanding Costume Design: Emily Morgan DeAngelis (for the trilogy)
Outstanding Lighting Design: Jennifer Rathbone (for the trilogy)
Outstanding Sound Design: Asa Wember (for the trilogy)
Outstanding Set Design: Caleb Levengood (for the trilogy)

I am also especially happy and excited for these fellow nominees and friends:

Outstanding Full Length Script: Mac Rogers, Universal Robots
Outstanding Production of a Musical: Ragtime at APAC (director Tom Wojtunik), and The Who's Tommy (director Tom Wojtunik)
Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role: David Ian Lee, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots

Of course I think several performances and plays were overlooked, including:

James Comtois' Colorful World (Outstanding Play)
Richard B. Watson, Rattlers (Actor, Lead)
Marnie Schulenburg, Angel Eaters (Actress Lead)
David Ian Lee's Sleeper (Outstanding Play)
Ensemble, Sleeper
Jeff Lewonczyk's The Grand Uncle Quadrilogy (Outstanding Play)

Good luck to all.

Seeing Kate Marks' BIRDHOUSE on Saturday

2009-07-23T16:00:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to friend Kate's play BIRDHOUSE on Saturday! Join me if you can.

Dates & Times: July 10th – 26th, 2009

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 8pmSundays @ 3pm

and Monday, July 20th @ 7:00pm

Ticket Price: $18
Tickets at Theatermania.

Antiqbooks.com has one of my show programs on sale ($30) - WTF?

2009-07-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

I was, ahem, googling myself (oh, don't look at me like that, you do it too) and came across this bizarre for sale item on www.antiqbooks.com.

They are charging $30 (EUR 21.5) for a souvenir program from the Oberon Theater Ensemble production of my play Cockfighters (in rep with Mice & Men) from 2003. I think that is more than I earned in royalties for the production. Who would buy this and how exactly did "Europe's Premier Antiquarian Booksite" come to be selling it??

The item is offered by: Julian's Books 35 W. 64th Street, New York, NY 10001

I think I need to go browse there. Maybe they have a souvenir program from when I played the back end of Paul Bunyon's blue ox in grade school.

https://www.antiqbook.com/secureorder.phtml?nr=1177268050&l=en&searchform=

Booknumber: 112201STEINBECK, JOHN / JOHNNA ADAMS, - Of Mice & Men /
Cockfighter - Souvenir Program -. New York: The Oberon Theatre Ensemble.
Softcover. "OF MICE & MEN" BY JOHN STEINBECK WITH SCOT CARLISLE - JANE
COURTNEY - JAREL DAVIDOW - PHILIP EMEOTT - BILL FAIRBAIRN - TIMOTHY JENKINS - ED
JEWETT - RICHARD KOHN - PATRICK MELVILLE - DAVID SITLER, ETC...ETC... - DIRECTED
BY ERIC PARNESS - "COCKFIGHTERS" BY JOHNNA ADAMS WITH SCOT CARLISLE - BILL
FAIRBAIRN - RAPHAEL FETTA - EEVIN HARTSOUGH - PATRICK MELVILLE - DAVID SITLER -
DAWN SOBCZAK, ETC...ETC... - DIRECTED BY SARAH GURFIELD. ; 8vo ; 16 pages. NF.
USD 30.00 [Appr.: EURO 21.5 £UK 18.5 JP¥ 2882]
(I have a souvenir program from this that I will sell for $29 if anyone is interested.)

Back to blog, Sans Merci

2009-07-21T22:13:00.001-07:00

Okay. I suck and didn't blog for 9 months. Am trying to get things rolling again. I have some blatant self-promotion and some congratulations to post, so that is sucking me back into the blogosphere.

First item to brag about: my play Sans Merci has been published by Original Works Publishing (http://www.originalworksonline.com/) and should be available in New York at the Drama Bookstore within a month. Here's the cool cover:

Toner Mishap Loves Me!

2007-04-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Awwwwwww! Check out the post my ex-co-worker put up on the Toner Mishap blog about me! That is so sweet. I love the playbill cover. Isn't it cute?

I miss the co-workers from my last job in LA (well, most of them-- definitely the Toner Mishap crew is a big personal loss. A few of the others I don't miss. They know who they are.).

I hate the fact that I had to leave so many great people in LA behind when I moved to NY. Sniffle. Sniffle.

On the other hand I got my first check on Monday-- with the GIANORMOUS raise I got with this new job. And that helps. It really helps.

Thanks Misanthrope for the blog well-wishes. I will definitely get you into a lot of cool NY parties when I am wildly successful and famous. ;-)

Oh my goodness! Little hobbit house!!

2007-04-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

See the wee hobbit house? Love the wee hobbit house?

Saw this on boing boing, Cory Doctorow's outstanding blog, and had to immediately spread the fame far and wide for LiveJournaller Obelia Medusa. She has built (from scratch) this amazingly intricate Hobbit House for Bilbo Baggins, based on the Lord of the Rings Movie.

You can see pictures of how she built it here.
And a grand photo tour of the finished home (not to be missed!!!! The tour is conducted at hobbit eye-level!!!) here.

I love the hobbit house! I want to build one to scale and live there forever. I might put a toilet in place of the chamberpot in the bathroom, but that is the only change I would make!!

New Dramatists Question and Answer Forum, July 5th

2007-06-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post info on the New Dramatists Admission Forum, which I plan on attending July 5th. Figure it will be an interesting networking event even if I don't actually apply to New Dramatists this year (gathering recommendations is a pain).

NEW DRAMATISTS ADMISSIONS FORUM

For prospective applicants to the New Dramatists Residency Program

On Thursday, July 5th from 4-5:30 pm, New Dramatists (424 West 44th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues) will hold an Admissions information meeting for people who are considering applying. The application process will be discussed followed by a question and answer session.
Website: http://www.newdramatists.org/

Will write a post about the book launch party for Brook Stowe's New York Theater Review 2007, which I attended on Friday when I get time. Had a two-day off-site meeting and lots of work this week, which has interfered with my blogging!

New York Theater Review 2007 Book Readings and Signing, and Student Film Confessions

2007-06-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Am a week late in posting about the New York Theater Review 2007 book reading and signing that happened at the Drama Bookstore last Friday. This is an anthology of plays and commentary edited by former Orange County critic Brook Stowe.

The format of the evening had us spending an hour or so in the theater downstairs listening to excerpts from the plays and essays in the book and then going upstairs for a reception. I thought this was an inspired way to preview the book, it was like attending a theater lecture series and I came away very excited to open my copy of the review and finish the articles and plays that I got little teaser samplers of. That Brook Stowe is a marketing genius!

Adam Szymkowicz' Food for Fish was the first play excerpt and featured cast members and the director of the New York premiere from Sanctuary Playwrights Theatre. This was adorable and deftly handled. Made me bitter that I did not live here when the play was produced in NY and moved from LA before it opened there. Always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Especially loved the references to the father's casket being in the living room for more than a year and group lament over the lost New Jersey. And the guy who played Barbara was freaking hysterical, even just reading it.

We also got to see excerpts from Anne Washburn's I Have Loved Strangers featuring original cast members. I thought these actresses were wonderful and the scene was a gripping terrorist/spy identity reveal quiz that made me very interested in reading the whole play. And, boy, did that Pultizer nominating committee get it right with Quiara Alegria Hudes' Elliot: A Solider's Fugue! One of the actresses from Adam's reading did a single monologue from the play and I fell eternally in love with the script. I am going to memorize the monologue for auditions I decided, even though I am totally wrong for the role. Luckily you don't have to be cast for audition monologues, you get to pick those.

Garett Eisler (aka The Playgoer) gave a reading from his essay on the Rachel Corrie/New York Theater debacle. He managed to make the topic relevant and about larger issues even though it is no longer topical. And it was sort of cool to sit back and listen to him. It was like reading his blog, only you didn't have to go online and do the work of reading it. I think he should hire out and go to people's houses and read his daily bloggings out loud. It was cool. Like being at an 18th century lecture on the state of drama, only on modern topics and delivered by a prolific blogger. Retro and cutting edge all at the same time. He is really charming in person, too (well, you probably weren't expecting him to be an ogre or anything, but for the record- quite charming, I thought). Alan Lockwood also spoke about Beckett and his article is extremely detailed and intricate. Not sure I am smart enough to make it through that article when I sit down to read the book, but it was very impressive to hear an excerpt.

Brook and I got to chat about old Orange County days at the reception and that was fun. Also talked about all the cool things he has been up to since moving to NY. Met Anne Washburn and she was really nice. Bought multiple copies of the book to give to friends. Was disappointed that they didn't make all the contributors sit at a table and sign books, but that is apparently not the way the Drama Bookstore set things up. Also chided the staff at the Drama Bookstore about not having a monthly book group for reading plays and am flirting with idea of offering to organize one for them. But that sounds like work, so I am still thinking about it.

Did a Columbia University student film last night called All Night by Greg Kershaw. I played "WAITRESS" and had one line ("Thank you"). I don't think I am in frame for my one line. I think you just see my hand putting a check on the table and hear my line (well, Meryl Streep had to start somewhere, too!). I am glad you don't see me though because my diner waitress outfit was yuck unflattering. It was fun to do, though. Molly Pearson (co-Ad at Partial Comfort Productions) asked me to do the role after I volunteered at their fundraiser. They were nice people and I was especially entertained by the NYU student PAs who gossiped about their classmates and told a cute story (very seriously and somberly) about a classmate who "found out Danny was cheating on her on Facebook." They could not understand my mid-30s delighted laughter.

Going to the Chris Shinn workshop this weekend. Have finally stopped complaining to people that I have to take a sleeping bag and am looking forward to it now. Also drew the next prompt for my novel, Creatina, and have to work in a bottle of spray starch as an intregal prop. Hope to do that this week.

Lovely Summer Retreat with Christopher Shinn at EST Lexington Art Center

2007-07-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

Got back from the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s weekend retreat with Christopher Shinn yesterday. It was a wonderful workshop, and I wish you had all been there! I am so glad I went. I was dragging my hills because I didn’t like the sound of “bring bug spray”—but I felt so rejuvenated afterway I am glad I went. The Lexington Art Center where EST holds it is exceptionally pretty, with lots of beautiful hilly overlooks, lolling grass lawns, and picturesque turn-of-the-century buildings.

Faithful blog readers will remember that I was afraid of the turn-of-the-century buildings and where we would be housed—but it turns out that most of use were put up in the Staff House in perfectly cute little rooms with real beds. It was a bit cold, but I didn’t suffer and actually slept a lot better than I do in the city. We had our classes in the Barn Theater, which is a barn that has been converted into a 99 seat performance space. The view from the barn porch was particularly enchanting. I did my writing assignment there, looking out on the hills and a field of tall grasses.

There were only seven other attendees and four staff members. I thought the small class size was great—we all really got to know one another well and it was a good group, our personalities meshed well. We met with Chris on Friday night (after most everyone drove up together in the van). I was surprised to find Ken Urban attending! He and I attended the Pataphysics workshop with Paula Vogel together last year, and I was in the premiere of his play New Jersey Trilogy at Rude Guerilla a few years ago where I also met him. We are running into one another at workshops all over the place now, and I will definitely see him in September when he has a show opening in New York.

Our first session was from 7 to 10 (or so) on Friday night. We introduced ourselves talked about favorite and least favorite plays. Then we went around the circle and talked about why we wanted to attend the class. Then Chris talked about his process and how he writes, which was candid and fascinating. Then we wrote 4 page scenes that night and the next morning. Each person got about an hour of discussion on their scenes then on Saturday, where Chris talked about his revision process which centers on analyzing the character conflict and looking for internal conflict. Interspersed with the scene discussions there was more general writing talk. My scene was sort of crap, so that hour of the day was sort of a wash for me, but it was interesting hearing my classmates scenes. Their scenes were more narrative, mine was ‘poetic dreamscape’ or something similarly eye-rollingly obnoxious and didn’t work well under this type of analysis. I always write stupid class exercises. But I get the concept and how you do the analysis and might apply it in the future.

I thought we really got a chance to see Chris’ brilliance in this part of the class. His ability to look at four pages of dialogue and analyze the complex human dynamics underlying the action was lightening fast and startlingly insightful. I couldn’t imagine spending an hour discussing four page scenes before we did it, but several of the scenes could have been discussed for much longer. And it was nice to have a long time to explore each person’s writing. I thought several of the scenes could be turned into full length or one act plays.

Then the last day was devoted to practical questions, which was nice. We spend about 2 hours talking about business. That was all very interesting and we had such great people in the room, it was a group discussion most of the time. Talked about rights of the director, behavior of the playwright in rehearsals, common issues that come up, benefit analysis MFA vs no-MFA, etc. All very interesting and, again, more candid than I was expecting.

Then we had lunch and drove back to the city, chatting all the while in the van. Promises all around to stay in touch. I felt very energized afterward so I am glad I went.

Unflattering Picture from Chris Shinn Workshop

2007-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I am posting this, since I made some unfortunate wardrobe, hair, and lack of make-up decisions before this photo was taken. But here I am with Chris Shinn and attendees and staff at the EST Lexington Art Center a few weeks ago. Chris Shinn is standing on the left side of the picture, I am sitting in the front next to him in the colorful socks that I don't know why I wore now. For reasons of huffy female vanity, I am posting a make-up rich, flattering photo in the about me section of the blog as well. Aren't the grounds pretty?

My NY Acting Debut (in a Staged Reading)

2007-08-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Am going to be playing a role in W. Somerset Maugham's The Circle this month. The reading also features two actors who have been in two of my plays on two different coasts (Kara Knappe who was in the world premiere of The Miracle of Mary Mack's Baby in Fullerton, CA, and Bill Fairbain who was in the NY premiere of Cockfighters). The reading is directed by friend and college roommate Kay Mitchell.

Mark Ravenhill on Arts Journal and Work Monitors MySpace

2007-08-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Great article about UK playwright Mark Ravenhill on Arts Journal this week (link below).

He has a cool new premiere at Edinbourgh this year and talks about an epilectic seizure he had this year that resulted in a blank spot in his memory for the first part of this year! Wow, I can't even imagine what that must be like. Good thought energies that he makes a full recovery.

He is one of my favorite playwrights and Shopping and F*cking is an all-time favorite play. Also, one of my only flattering acting pictures is from a production of his play Handbag which I loved acting in (except for my lame, incompetent attempts at stage combat that almost left me with a concussion at one rehearsal!). If I can dig it up from my files I will post it here. I play Maurette and am holding a vial of pretend sperm. Friend Erika holds a turkey baster which her character intends to use to impregnate me with the sperm. (See, even the desciption of the picture is cool! Sort of gross, but cool.)

Link to article: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/08/im_writing_a_play_a_day_for_ed.html

*******************************************************************
At a marketing meeting last week one of the big managers said that HR had done a screening of employees' MySpace personal sites and created a list of 5 or so sites that were pornographic (!!?!) and also named the company I work for in the "employer" area. They said there is nothing they can do legally about it, but they are continuing to monitor the situation.

Of course, I have lamentably little to post in the nature of personal pornography (fully-clothed fake sperm-holding photos aside) and don't mention the name of my employer on my myspace site. But it was still a bit of a jolt.

Am interested now in searching for those 5 sites to see if it is anyone I know!

My Art for Auction at Rude Guerilla Theatre Co Fundraiser Next Month

2007-08-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

The angel art above is going up for auction in Santa Ana, CA, next month at the Rude Guerrilla Theatre Company fundraiser. I donated this drawing (99 Cent Angel Sale: pen, sharpie, metallic paint pen and felt marker on 9in by 12in paper), a hand knit green scarf and two signed plays for the silent auction. I expect the stuff will go super cheap, so this is your chance to pick up some Johnna originals at a steal.

They haven't posted the info on the time and location of the fundraiser yet. But watch their website for more details.

http://www.rudeguerrilla.org/

Fringe Fest Adventures!

2007-08-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

I have taken in two NYC Fringe Fest Shows this last week and am planning to get out and see at least three more.

The Seen Stuff

I hit the opening night for Gus Schulenburg's RIDING THE BULL on Saturday August 11, and hit the after party at a nearby bar. This show is fantastic! It was a remount of a Flux Theatre production from a couple years ago. The play is published in the 2006 edition of Brook Stowe's NY THEATER REVIEW. It is a two person comedy/drama about a rodeo clown and an outcast Texas farmer who find God in sex and gambling and lose him somewhere around Graceland. I loved the way the plot unfolded and all the neato complications and character shifts. The one you think is the good guy turns into a very bad guy and the story offers so many surprises. Kelly O'Donnell's direction is amazing in this and I loved the actors (Will Ditterline and Liz Dailey). Jason Paradine's set is a third character in the show at times and gives a stand out performance in its own right!

Nice nytheatre.com review of the play can be found here:
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/fr_rev2007.php?0=S&1=110

Then on Sunday August 19, I went to see Adam Szymkowicz' SUSAN GETS SOME PLAY. This was an adorable hour-long comedy with a little bit if original music at the end. The premise is that a moderately successful, but highly neurotic and self-defeating, NY actress holds mock-play auditions for a new boyfriend. Adam manages to take a simple plot in several outrageous and unexpected directions. I was never able to guess what would happen next. The actors get high props for delightfully over the top performances. There is even a cool audience participation portion of the evening where one of the men in the audience gets pulled onstage to audition for Susan's romantic attentions. Very entertaining!

James Comtois' blog has the best review of this one that I've seen. He knows Adam's work well enough to get the in-jokes:
http://jamespeak.blogspot.com/2007/08/jimmys-fringe-roundup.html

To See

I am planning on seeing these other shows this weekend at the indicated times. Join me if you can!

THE COMMISSION
By Steven Fechter
Directed by Sarah Gurfield (she directed my play Cockfighters at Oberon Theater a few years back)

The seduction of war. The casualties of passion. This world premiere by acclaimedwriter Steven Fechter ("The Woodsman") spins backward in time to revealthe fragments, both personal and political, left behind in the wake of a bloody civil war.
1h 35m

THE CONNELLY THEATER
Venue #1
7220 E. 4th Street
Between Ave. A & B
Subway: F/V to 2nd Ave.

I am going on: Saturday, August 25 at 2:00 pm

**********************************************

HAIL SATAN
Gideon Productions, LLC
Writer: Mac Rogers
Director: Jordana Williams

"The Omen" meets "The Office." Witness the birth of the Antichrist--andmeet the Corporate Communications Department responsible for raising her. HAIL SATAN:His Kingdom is coming and his adorable daughter is preparing the way.
2h 0m
New York New York Comedy Drama
VENUE #15:

Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street - The Bleecker Street Theatre
hailsatantheplay.com

I am going on: Fri 24 @ 7:15

*******************************************

Lights Rise on Grace
A new play by Chad Beckim
Directed by Robert O'Hara (OBIE-winner for "In the Continuum")

Grace falls for Large. Riece falls for Large. Large... falls. First love. Lost love.New love. Tough love. "Lights Rise On Grace" follows three desperate NewYorkers as they defy tradition, uncover and recover secrets.
1h 0m

This has been getting great reviews and sounds fantastic!

The Connelly Theater
220 E. 4th Street (b/w Ave. A & B)

I am going on: Sunday, 8/26 @ 2:00 pm

More Fringe! THE COMMISSION and HAIL SATAN!

2007-09-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

******************************************************

UPDATE: My secret plot to spread misinformation over the web has been thwarted once again! Zack points out in the comments to this that Susan Ferrara was the actress in THE COMMISSION with the lovely nude scene with Patrick Melville. Deep chagrin! I have corrected it below. One of these days I will open the program I am given at the start of a play before I write about it-- I promise!

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I just got back from spending a week in the woods with Flux Theatre Ensemble at their annual retreat in Nazareth, PA. Will blog about that next, but first I wanted to jot down some thoughts on the last two NYC Fringe shows I saw last weekend. I didn't get to LIGHTS RISE ON GRACE by Chad Beckim because I found out on the day I was scheduled to go that the show was extended (as was Gus Schulenburg's RIDING THE BULL-- the Village Voice Audience Favorite Award-winning play!). So, I booked a ticket for the extension and will see Chad's play (which has gotten extremely excellent reviews) on Sunday.

First off, Steven Fetcher's play THE COMMISSION. This one was directed by Sarah Gurfield, who directed my play COCKFIGHTERS in 2003 when Oberon produced it in New York. And one of my actors from the COCKFIGHTERS production (Patrick Melville, who played CD) was in this. I thought everyone did an exceptionally lovely job- acting and directing wise. Patrick in particular had a glorious scene with Susan Ferrara-- a sort of vicious, nude, adultry blackmail scene that was the best moment of the play. But, I found it overall hard to follow what was going on. The play is written in backward moving flashbacks (like Harold Pinter's play BETRAYAL) and that didn't help me place the action in any sort of context. It seemed as if the situation (the play is about the mass murders and rapes in the former Yugoslavia and how a small group of people weather the war) was incredibly rich with potential, but the actual scenes all felt long and dull. Not sure how you can make mass murder and institutionalized rape dull, especially with great actors and good directing. But somehow it didn't come together for me. But individual performances (especially that Patrick and Ferrera scene) were fantastic in this.

And, my last official Fringe Fest show was Mac Rogers' HAIL SATAN. This is a ROSEMARY'S BABYmeets THE OMEN meest THE OFFICE wild comedy. I LOVED this!! This was absolutely hysterical. I am so disappointed that it didn't get picked up for an extension because I wanted to make people go and see it. The basic premise is a new guy is hired for a four person marketing department at a large corporation and discovers (in a gut-splittingly funny scene) that all of his co-workers (who seem so nice and normal) are active satanists bent on enabling the coming of Satan to rule his kingdom on earth. New guy gets involved with a girl in the office, and suddenly finds himself attending 'devotional' meetings, and then there comes a day when they need a 'human altar' and would he mind helping a bit? I thought it was completely brilliant, charming, and adorable. The cast was fantastic!

Will blog later about the Flux Theatre Ensemble Retreat!

Six Days in the Woods at Little Pond

2007-09-11T10:13:00.001-07:00

Was going to call this post "Six Days in the Woods with Flux" but that sounds like a really horrible and private medical condition. Ahem, Flux Theatre Ensemble was kind enough to invite me and my work to their annual retreat, held in Nazareth, PA, the week before last at Little Pond. Little Pond is a lovely, rural artists' retreat run by Bill, Bridget, and Anisa George. Truly a delightful little retreat site where I got to mingle with Flux actors, directors, and writers and we worked daily on new plays and prospects for Flux's upcoming season.

I got to hear three of my plays read aloud over the course of the first three days. We table read THE SACRED GEOMETRY OF S&M PORN the first night (hell of an ice breaker) with the whole company. The group marriage scene and the pentagram kisses went over very well. Then we did a lightly staged reading of COCKFIGHTERS the following night. This seemed to be the favorite of my three plays-- it is the play most commented on later by the company. I found that I remembered the play (which was last produced in 2003) better than I thought I had and it held up better than I expected. A few of the actors really seemed to like it, and we had an outstanding cast for the reading. It is sort of strange to see a lightly staged reading of a script you have seen produced twice. And there are really some wince-worthy typos in the script I need to email the publisher about (my fault, I did the proofing).

Then on the following day we read the first draft of my latest play, ANGEL EATERS. It is hard for a first draft to stand up to back-to-back readings of more mature older siblings, which have had multiple drafts and productions. And I thought I made a hugely wrong decision about how to end this script. And there really needs to be a lot of cutting in the first half. But there are glimmers of goodness that can be built upon. I expect the second draft of the play to be quite different from this first draft, though.

I spent the rest of the retreat reading one of the male leads/would be suitors in THE THREE SISTERS (Chekov). They were out of guy actors. And working on the second play in the ANGEL EATERS trilogy, which I am now calling RATTLERS. It is going to have the feel of COCKFIGHTERS and features a characters that raises and captures rattlesnakes for a living (I have a second cousin who does this in Mangum, OK). It is a thriller/whodenit with a supernatural twist. I am about 10 pages in. Hoping to have 20 pages written by tomorrow to take into the Reverie Productions writers group.

Got to see TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA by Four O'Clock Productions; Ken Urban's latest play at The Commission, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ESKIMOS; and Chad Beckim's Fringe Extention of LIGHTS RISE ON GRACE this weekend. Will report back on those later!

Fundraiser! Fundraiser! I'm Going to a Fundraiser!

2007-09-12T07:53:00.001-07:00

On Monday night, October 22, the New York Theater Review hosts its 2nd-ever Fall fundraiser at Manhattan's Performance Space 122. I am so there!

Here is the description and link for further info:

Come on down and be part of an evening of
live music and performance by

REGGIE WATTS BETH COLLINS

and special guest stars THE RISING FALLEN

PLUS!

Original New Performance Pieces byDowntown Theater Companies

Bluebox Productions

Direct Arts

Flux Theatre Co.
&
More Still Being Added!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22!
8-11PM
at
PERFORMANCE SPACE 122
150 First Ave. at E. 9th St.
Manhattan

$25 at the door$20 advance purchase

HELP SUPPORT ONE OF DOWNTOWN NYC THEATER'S PREMIER PUBLICATIONS!

THE
NEW YORK THEATER REVIEW'S
2007 FALL FUNDRAISER!

FOR MORE INFOVISIT US ONLINE AT:
www.nytr.org

Hank III at Highline Ballroom, Nov 13

2007-09-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

"I no longer drink, but I love songs about boozing, and these are beauts. The Hank III album is called Straight to Hell, and I imagine the Nashville establishment wishes young Mr. Williams would go there, posthaste. Me, I hope he sticks around. This is the real country: hollow of eye, pale of face, and bursting with the rhythm of the damned."

-Stephen King, novelist,
screenwriter, columnist

I am so here on November 13th at 8pm:

http://highlineballroom.com/calendar.php?year=2007&month=11