Keeping busy here and there

It has been a fairly busy month in terms of play-going, if not quite so busy in terms of play writing. I have started a 10-minute script and now have almost 5 pages of it done. But it has sat gathering dust for two weeks while other projects have gone forward. Among them is becoming a contributor to Yahoo!Voices, which is allowing me to put a large-ish supply of back travel stories that didn't get bought or published back to work in an online environment. Kind of fun, really!

Time spent in the theater has continued apace, however. Just after the last entry, we caught the thoroughly delightful W-Salem Theatre Alliance production of "Avenue Q," which was fun from beginning to end. And the night after that, we were at the opening night of Kernersville Little Theatre's production of Joe DiPietro's amusing and touching "Over the River and Through the Woods," which had some of our favorite people doing nice jobs in their roles.

Perhaps the most challenging and thought-provoking show(s) of recent months were encompassed in Triad Stage's presentation of a trilogy of plays by Reynolds Price, under the collective name of "New Music." We saw parts one and two on March 1, then followed with part three on March 8th. In both cases, we were able to catch the Post-Script discussion of the shows afterwards. It was a thorough and engrossing couple of nights of theater.

On March 21, I was able to join chiefly students of UNCG to hear playwright Carson Kreitzer talk about and read from her plays. She wrote the powerful "Self-defense, or the death of some salesmen" that we had seen at UNCG not too long ago. As someone now at least part-time involved in play writing, it was pleasant and reassuring to hear her talk about so many aspects of the process which echoed my own experiences and thoughts.

Last weekend, then, we had a triple-header with an add-on, making for a heavy and enjoyable theatrical time. On Friday night, we saw Chad Edwards' students at Mt. Tabor High School give a completely presentable version of "Into the Woods," a very hard musical by anyone's standards. I've seen at least one very bad version of it, and we both were thrilled at how well and professionally these students approached the job and the music. Kudos to all involved!!

On Saturday night, we were at the UpStage Cabaret (third floor at Triad Stage) to see Jonathan Larson's "Tick, Tick, Boom," a very autobiographical musical he performed solo but was later, after his premature death, adjusted for three performers. Very nice indeed.

And finally, the touching and emotional musical "Violet" was how we spent our Sunday afternoon, with a very nice cast led by Heather Maggs at Theatre Alliance. For those who prefer light and joyous in their plays and musicals, I suggest you bypass this one given the opportunity to see it. But for me, it had substance and ended with a ray of light -- so I liked it, of course.

Also, though, on Saturday afternoon, I gave a workshop on the basics of playwriting for 10 folks at the Caldcleugh Center in Greensboro, at the request of Robin McGhie. I think we accomplished what she had hoped, which was to get some folks thinking about writing play scripts and expressing themselves, made hopefully a little easier by knowing some of the "work" that goes on around the actual process of visualizing and writing a script. People seemed to enjoy it, anyway, and I certainly did. We went well past the allotted two hours, but no one seemed to care. I hope it leads to some scripts for Caldcleugh, or for other purposes!

That's it for now -- keeping busy, still sending out scripts, and thinking ahead to what's next, whether novels or plays. Lots to do. Now if days were only more than 24 hours .....

Finally.

I'm very pleased to report that, on my writer's week away at the Outer Banks, I finally tied together the pieces in order to complete a first draft of one-act play "Patent." Now I'll wait to see what the first readers think, and then try to figure out what to do with it. But it is a great joy to no longer have to say, "NEXT month, I'll finish that script." Of course, I've done a number of things and finished them since I started that particular one, but still ....

Meanwhile, I have mostly completed an update and edit of the first 250 manuscript pages of another novel that's been a work in progress, a serial-killer tale set on the Outer Banks. Regrettably, in the 15 years since I last gave it a serious look, some of the settings in Manteo, etc. have changed or disappeared, so I'll have to do a little MORE editing to fix those alterations. But then maybe I'll get started trying to finish the little bugger.

We've only seen one play since I last blogged, "Welcome to Mitford" at Twin City Stage. It was not one of my favorite plays or productions, but I'm glad I went. More playgoing to come soon!

A little progress, anyway

We haven't been too busy in the playgoing world since the last post, though we did catch opening night of the "Twelve Angry Men" production at the Caldcleugh Multi-Cultural Center in Greensboro a week ago Friday. There were a few rough edges due to opening-night jitters, but overall, some strong acting and a good representation of the play, in our opinion. Robin McGhie directed the show and several actors we know were in it. Nice job!

It was also useful to visit the Caldcleugh for the first time as I will be giving, at Robin's request, a workshop on the basics of playwriting there on March 24th. I've met several of the staff folks there now, which is always helpful rather than walking in cold.

Speaking of giving presentations, on the novel front, I will present a talk on the history of mystery-genre stories and novels at the Walkertown Public Library on March 10th from 10:30 a.m. to noon, along with a reading and booksigning from A Simple Murder. It's free and open to to the public. That should be fun! I've certainly enjoyed researching the lecture portion by re-visiting a lot of my favorite books and authors.

I also finished writing a short script that has been submitted for consideration for a themed 10-minute-play competition at the Lee Street Theatre, Salisbury, N.C. If the script should happen to be chosen, it will be staged in early June.

Not much else to report at the moment, but I've been staying busy lately! Yay!

New script(s), books keeping me hopping.

January isn't over yet, but I find myself knee-deep in scripts and books that need to be distributed and promoted.

This is NOT a complaint!

As previously mentioned, the afternoon of January 15th was a decided high point for me. A group of actors who are also great friends to my process gathered here at our house and gave me the immense gift of a). hearing the draft of "Rehearsals" out loud for the first time and b). further offering thoughts and suggestions regarding the script. My fifth full-length script is now completed, or at least far enough along to start sending out, thanks in great part to the reading AND the comments. Combined with the changes I made based on first thoughts from Kathy and from Kelly Wallace, I think it's a much stronger and (hopefully) funnier script than at first blush.

In any case, I am starting to get copies of the script around, at the same time as I have received the first hard copies of the printed, bound version of "Conversations in a Cafe." I have plans to continue the marketing of that script using the more professional, lighter-weight and believe it or not, cheaper printed/bound versions. They look great, to me, anyway.

And in December, I moved from solely offering e-Book versions of my detective novel, A Simple Murder, to also having a paperback-hard copy version available. While I realize that books for many are becoming a thing of the past, in terms of marketing the book and contributing it to libraries for those who are still reading books, I'm finding it much easier when one has a "real" book in one's hand. I will have the opportunity to lecture about mysteries and detective authors on at least one occasion (at a library, in March), so at least a little bit of groundwork is being established on the novel side of things. And I'll be able to take books along that can be sold!

As one might expect, we've done a little play-going recently, too. We took in "The Little Dog Laughed" at Theatre Alliance. I had been able to see this show on Broadway, with Tom Everett Scott in the male lead and Julie White in the role of the agent, for which she won a (I thought a well-deserved) Tony. We thought T.A. did a fine job with the show, especially Mark Flora in the male lead role and Suzanne Vaughn as the "girlfriend," a role which she brought forward, I thought, very nicely compared to the Bwy. production. I found it well worth seeing.

We felt the same way about Paper Lantern Theatre's latest offering, "Next Fall," just last night at the UpStage Cabaret (Triad Stage, Greensboro). A touching and not-simple story which bounces around somewhat in time, it was treated quite well by a cast of six and a very-cleverly designed set that made brilliant use of a limited space. It was also the kind of play that sent us home still discussing it and not necessarily even reaching the same conclusions about some of its aspects. Which in my opinion means: good theater.

Into the new year we go

Somehow when I wasn't looking, New Year's slipped by and the first month of 2012 is nearly half-gone. Busy is, I guess, better than sitting around with nothing to do. If only I had more to show for it ....

But the exciting moment for me for early this year is just around the corner -- a group of actor friends once again convening in our den to read the latest full-length script out loud. "Rehearsals" is going to be given the treatment this coming Sunday afternoon, and I can't wait. Not only do I think it will be fun, and good to see a lot of those folks again, but I think this may be the most commercial and marketable script I've written. We'll see, of course, but after the reading and revisions, I can put the script out there and see what happens.

And, though I've said this before, I have hopes of wrapping up the one-act "Patent" before the month is out. Hope so, anyway.

We haven't seen a lot of shows recently, but that's about to change, too. More reports, and soon, from area theater.

Meanwhile, I have been working on cleaning up the layout and promoting the print copies of my first published novel, A SIMPLE MURDER. It has chewed up a fair amount of work time outside of the playwriting realm, but all for the best, I believe. Getting known as a writer isn't easy, but it won't do itself.

Should be back soon with more comments and the aftermath of the reading!

And 2011 is (nearly) a wrap!

It has been 10 plays since I last updated the blog, so it is well past time to get caught up.

First, on the writing front, I last reported nearing completion of the first draft of "Rehearsals," a full-length comedy. That first draft did get done; two of my favorite first readers gave it a once-over; suggestions led to a fairly significant re-thinking of act two; and that work was completed not long ago. We are casting a hopefully fun "den reading" of the script for mid-January, and that's going well. So I'm printing out reading copies and looking forward to seeing how my actor friends and acquaintances react to the show. Let the fun (I hope) begin!

Meanwhile, I need to get focus moved on to a shorter play (one act, most likely) that I've been fiddling with on and off for a while now. Hopefully the year will not end without a full draft of "Patent" completed. I don't have a one-act in my repertoire, and this seems like the right length for this particular story.

My wife and I meanwhile continued a lively schedule of playgoing since the last report. We started with a trip west to Abingdon, Virginia - a favored destination of Barter Theatre there -- to see the second play they've done this year by the playwriting team of Duke Ernsberger and Virginia Cate. This one was "Dracula Bites," a comedy based around one of Duke's early acting experiences in community theater -- with the crazed director, actors coming and going, stagecraft issues and so on. There were moments that I was very glad I had put the finished first draft of "Rehearsals" in Kathy's hands literally the day before we went. There are, let's say, some similarities though the specifics are measurably different. A fun, and funny, experience, especially since we got to speak with Duke in person again, some time after our "Margaret Mitchell" experience in Kernersville.

We then saw a fine production of A Doll House at Triad Stage, and over at UNCG, a powerful "Self Defense, or The Death of Some Salesmen," based on the Aileen Wuornos story. Our friend Mike Shapiro from "Conversations" and the "All About Faith" reading was in it. A young woman playing the character based on Wuornos gave a brave and strong performance along with an excellent ensemble.

We also saw Clemmons Community Theatre's "Red Velvet Cake Wars," which I didn't find as strong a script as some of that writing team's other works; and took in readings of three new plays up in Asheville at the SART New Play gathering. We particularly liked one called "The Vanishing Point," about a family in Louisiana.

A week later, we saw a production of Lanford Wilson's "The Rimers of Eldritch" at Theatre Alliance. Awesome ensemble, and both interesting and challenging to watch. Which is what made it so good.

On November 15th, after a variety of "challenges," KLT put on a 5-minute skit to help kick off the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet. They had chosen a Back to the Future theme for the overall event, so I got to write the skit and Kathy chose to direct it. I couldn't be there, but despite all the challenges, the cast of five pulled it off quite well -- and to my great pleasure (we just got a copy of the video), the laugh lines all worked and people seemed to enjoy it. Kind of fun to be part of something like that.

After some time off theater for a fun family Thanksgiving, we started the month of December with Kernersville Little Theatre's Doris Baizley adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," very ably and creatively directed by Adam Sullivan -- who also ended up stepping into a lead role late in the process. We found it very enjoyable. As we did No Rules Theatre Company's production of the inventive musical, "The Last Five Years," just last night. A very pleasing production indeed.

And with that, believe it as you may, we have probably reached the end of our theater-going for 2011. I could be forgetting something, or something else could crop up, but I think we are over and out until January. I think I'll survive.

Time in the theater

The last post has proven to be quite accurate -- the last month has been very busy, and a lot of that time has been time in a theater. No complaints here, of course!

I wound up September by catching Greensboro-based playwright Tommy Trull's "Wake-Walking" at Greensboro College, which I found quite interesting and well-done for a college production. A planned staged reading of another play of his, however, was postponed, so I'll just have to wait and see when that one comes back to (workshopping) life.

Then Kathy and I went up to Korner's Folly for another Triad-based playwright's "The Service at Rocky Bluff," written by Scott Icenhower and done by Kernersville Little Theatre. It was a laugh-out-loud, family-friendly play with music, and the cast included Brad Phillis, who we first got to know through our own production of "Conversations in a Cafe." Truly a fun night in Cupid's Park.

We followed that in October with Scott and Katie Jo Icenhower's production of "The Piety Variety Gospel Show" at the Paramount in Burlington. While there were many good parts of the show and the cast was chiefly strong, with this one I could see a few areas for editing. Unlike "Rocky Bluff," where I felt you got to know each of the characters, this one gave some characters a fair amount of time and several, not very much. I'd have like to have known more about some of them.

We caught "The Mystery of Irma Vep" at the UpStage Cabaret at Triad Stage, and laughed a lot there, too. Multiple characters in a gothic mystery-styled show, all played by two men. A hoot, for sure.

Recently, because Kathy had a prior event one night, I went to Mount Tabor High to catch an evening of one-acts directed by Chad Edwards. To my delight, Cheryl Ann Roberts was there that evening, too, so we watched a one-act very much in the "Laramie Project" mode about a high school's reaction to the events of September 11th (the school was two blocks away from Ground Zero). And then - not exactly a one-act -- a truncated version of the play "Proof" (one of my favorites of recent years). For the state high school theater conference, presentations must be one hour or less. I thought not only did the four students do a nice job with the abbreviated version, but it was nicely edited and still held up decently despite the cuts. It was a reassuring evening that there is at least still SOME art in the schools even as budgets are decimated.

Finally for this go-round, we saw the hilarious and spirited Theatre Alliance production of "Evil Dead: The Musical." Hard to describe in a few words, but a lot of fun if you've ever seen horror movies and enjoy parodies.

As for my own playing with plays, I'm pleased to be within two or three pages of wrapping up a first draft of the comedy called "Rehearsals." I've had a lot of fun with it so far, and hope to yuk it up some more while reading and editing it. Then maybe some outside readers and a group reading early in the new year? It could happen. Progress!