Early Christmas Present: 2009 The Best 10-Minute Plays (for 2 or more actors) w/ Counting Rita

Received a nice package in the mail yesterday, just in time for Christmas:  Smith and Kraus' The Best 10-Minute Plays (for 2 or more actors), edited by Lawrence Harbison, arrived yesterday.  My play, Counting Rita, is one of the scripts included.  I've had quite a few plays included in S&K's "Best of" series so far, but I never get tired of it.  There's just something nice about having an actual book in my hand with my writing inside.  I really liked being able to set it on the desk in front of my 15-year-old daughter last night and say, "Hey, one of my plays is here.  You might want to check it out."  (She's tough to impress, but she did at least seem mildly interested).

This year, they've combined a few of the books they usually put out (there used to be a book just for two-handers, and another for larger casts), so it's a pretty big volume, 429 pages.  It contains plays by playwrights you might know, like Eduadro Machado and Don Nigro, but mostly has plays by terrific writers that you've never heard of (but maybe you should).  I know a lot folks with plays in this issue (many from the Binge list), including Kathleen Warnock, Robin Rice Lichtig, John Shanahan, Jack Neary, Monica Raymond, Adam Szymkowicz, and Roanna Yamagiwa Alfaro.

My play, Counting Rita, is licensed through Brooklyn Publishers (they offer a free preview on their site).  It's a fun two-woman comedy, about betrayal and counting.  Sarah wants to figure out exactly how many lies Rita will tell before she admits to the truth.  (Just one of many plays which might put some of my obsessive tendencies on display.)   It had a terrific production in the 2008 Boston Theatre Marathon from Mill 6.  The nice thing about the script (in addition to being fun and funny) is that it's very easy to stage, and can work for both adult performers/audiences, as well as high school performers/audiences.

fun posts on agent/signing

Here are two fun (and also potentially useful) posts from a writer and her agent (slightly different takes) on how it the submission/signing process works:

First Shannon Morgan's take.

And then Chris Richman's take (her agent).


I'm still doing everything I can to get to that point. When it happens, we'll see how my own account varies from theirs (if at all).

the lessons from rejection letters

Editorial Anonymous has a fun post today on "The Subtle Art of Form Rejections." Definitely worth a laugh, but also an important reminder for all of us sending out queries not to try to read too much into every rejection.


(In case you're wondering, I haven't vanished from the face of the earth. I've had some good meetings lately, and I'm submitting and waiting on a number of different projects. Rehearsals have started in DC for Constant State of Panic, and by all accounts are going very well.)