Boston Theater Marathon May 12!

That's right, it's marathon time again!  This year's Boston Theater Marathon will take place on Sunday, May 12, from noon until 10pm, at the Boston Center for the Arts/Calderwood Pavilion Theatre..  It'll feature 50 (yep, 50!) ten-minute plays by 50 New England playwrights, produced by 50 different theatre companies.  It's my very favorite theatrical event of the year. 

I'm fortunate to be included yet again--this will mark the 10th time I've had a play in the Marathon.  New Rep will produce my short, goofy play, Curse the Darkness.  Bridget O'Leary will direct Robert P. Murphy, Lisa Tucker, Erica Spyres, and one other actor (TBA).  My play will appear in the 3-4pm slot, but take the challenge and come for the entire day.  (I will be on hand to watch all 50 plays.  You can do it, too.  Pack a snack.  Dark chocolate is my secret.)

Not only is this an amazing way to see a huge cross-section of amazing Boston theatre, it's also a fundraiser for a good cause--the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, which provided grants to members of the theatre community facing unexpected crises and dire needs (floods, fires, medical emergencies, theft, etc.).  So come have a blast and do some good at the same time.

report from Cranston

A couple weeks ago, I got to see my show Curse the Darkness at the Black Box Theatre's 6th annual one-act play festival, in Cranston, Rhode Island.  The space is a tiny little black box in a store front--it seats about 30 people.  The evening was completely sold out, which is always lovely and gives an evening the right kind of energy, whether the house holds 30 or 300.

Here's what the audience looked like:

I like this idea of taking photos of audiences.  They're sometimes the forgotten key element in the theatre.  I plan on taking more audience pictures whenever I can.

And here's my cast:

Ethan, Mia, Amelia, and John all did a terrific job with the show.  They clearly had a lot of fun with it.  They also served as stagehands throughout the evening, which worked perfectly for my show.  (You can read the entire script here to see why.)  It's exactly what I wanted.  The audience caught on after a few minutes, and laughed hard.  Rich Morra did a great job with directing my piece and the whole evening.  I was glad to share the bill with plays by friends Mark Harvey Levine (Scripted) and Nina Mansfield (Clown Therapy).

Curse the Darkness is just as fun as I'd hoped it would be (this was my first time seeing it), and I hope it will work it's way into a lot of festivals.

last chance to see Curse the Darkness in Cranston, RI

This is the last weekend to see my short play, Curse the Darkness in Cranston, Rhode Island, at the Black Box Theatre in their ten-minute play festival .  Tracy and I will be heading down to check out the show on Friday. I'll be sharing the bill, yet again, with a play by the fabulous Mark Harvey Levine, and a few other writers whom I know from the Playwright Submission Binge (Nina Mansfield and Alex Dremann).

Here's a photo from the Lakeshore Players production of Curse the Darkness in White Bear Lake, MN.

Curse the Darkness a winner in the Chameleon Theatre Circle Contest

My short play, Curse the Darkness, is one of the winners in the 12th annual Chameleon Theatre Circle Contest.  The winning plays will receive staged readings on Saturday, September 10th, at their theatre at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center (it's near Minneapolis/St. Paul).  I'll post the exact time once they have it, in case any of you are in the area.  The readings are free and should be a lot of fun.

You can read the entire script by clicking here.

 

Curse the Darkness in Lakeshore

More good news for my short plays:  my newest short comedy, Curse the Darkness, is a winner in the Lakeshore Players 10-Minute Play Contest and Festival.  This is a scene change comedy (a stealth comedy, meant specifically for festivals) that I've been meaning to write for years.   (You can read the whole script here.)  Now it'll get a chance to hit the stage, June 9-12, in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Lakeshore is a fun group, and it seems like they run a good festival.  (They pay royalties, which is an excellent quality in any theatre.)  Last year they produced my short comedy, Schedule-Meisters, and I heard plenty of good reports.  (Schedule-Meisters is now published by Brooklyn Publishers.)

I hope to get a chance to see this play on stage here in Boston someday, and especially hope we can use the actors for whom the characters are named (the Rhombus actors from last season, who had a very fun time reading the play at our meetings).