Schedule-Meisters in Minnesota

In what I think is my Minnesota premiere, my ten-minute play Schedule-Meisters is appearing in the Lakeshore Players 6th Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival. Fellow playwright and Playwright Binge member Claudia Haas is directing.  It's mostly sold out already, but I hear that some of the matinees still have a few tickets left.  So if you're in or know anyone knew White Bear Lake, Minnesota, pass the word.

Here's the summary: Schedule-Meisters promises to help ease any mother’s busy schedule, but Mary might be their most challenging customer yet.

Okay, so I can't write all the time.

Let's say I haven't even been close lately to writing all the time.  I've been going to a lot of meetings and enjoying visits from friends and family and doing some serious gardening.  And sometimes, I juggle, and not just figuratively.  My friend, and fellow novelist, Mike and I regularly practice our juggling at the playground after the kids get out from school.  About two weeks ago, we tried to put together a Juggle and Jam Day, inviting people to bring juggling gear and also their musical instruments, for an outdoor jam session.  Turnout was light but enthusiastic.  I hope next time to get even more musicians, but we were fortunate to have Suzie accompanying us on accordion, and Sy brought his unicycle (I actually got some of the old mojo back and rode for almost 50 yards.  And put a few knots in my shins.)

Here's a few images from the day:

Me with the nice new devil sticks I got for my birthday.

Mike with his spiffy clubs.

Have to admit I have never tried unicycling while pushing a baby stroller.

Isobel (from Noah's 4th grade class) is one our best diabolo students.

With Suzie playing the accordion, it felt sort of like we were in a hip French movie (she can play the soundtrack from Amelie).

Boston Theatre Marathon this Sunday

My ten-minute play, Confirmed Sighting, will be in the Boston Theatre Marathon this Sunday at the Calderwood Pavilion Theatre at the BCA.  My show is at 7pm, produced by the Fort Point Theatre Channel, directed by Christie Gibson, starring two of my friends and fabulous actresses, Kippy Goldfarb and Maureen Keiller.  The event runs from Noon until 10pm and is one of my favorite theatrical events of the year.  All the proceeds of the day benefit the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund.

(Oh, and don't miss a reading of the fabulous play, The Live Dress, by my fellow Huntington Playwriting Fellow, Martha Kaufman, on Saturday, at 1pm.  You won't be sorry.)

interview on ArtSake blog

The folks over at the Massachusetts Cultural Council put together this nice interview with me on their ArtSake blog yesterday.  I hope you'll check it out.

Emerging America Festival this weekend (and my cell phone play--i am not invisible)

The Emerging America Festival is happening in Boston this weekend--a collaborative event in Boston and Cambridge between the ART, the Huntington, and the ICA.  You might want to check it out.  They're bringing in a bunch of artists and hosting parties and talks and events all weekend long.

One fun part of the weekend, is a podcast and walking tour with short audio plays written by Huntington Playwriting fellows, including me.  I think there's supposed to be some sort of map that you can get that tells you where you call a number and listen to the play for your spot (the spots are mostly in Harvard Square, around the BCA, and also near the ICA). But you can also just visit the web site and listen to them on your computer.

To listen on your phone, dial 215-525-1043.  My play takes place at the BCA plaza.  You can dial the number, hit 1#, and then enter 72# to hear my play.

I had a great time making my play (we had to perform our own), and I can't wait to listen to everyone else's.  If you want to listen to my piece, i am not invisible, just click right here.  (It's an mp3 file.)

Constant State of Panic reading tonight at Boston Playwrights Theatre

I know I've been plugging away at this via e-mail and Facebook, and all that.  But here's one more reminder, just in case:

Constant State of Panic will be read at Boston Playwrights Theatre, tonight, Thursday, May 6, at 7pm
BPT is at 949 Commonwealth Avenue.  Bevin O'Gara will direct.  Kris Sidberry, Maureen Keiller, Tom O'Keefe, and Ed Hoopman will make the up cast.   The play is both fun and intense, a dark and sometimes comic love story that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, as we journey through a Bush-era Wonderland.    It's about paranoia, murder, conspiracies, loss, and a world where bad, lovely, and weird things happen.

Admission is free, but you can reserve a seaton their web site (I recommend this). 


So today will be a fun and very busy day for me (we rehearse all afternoon and then have the reading at 7.  I'm pretty psyched--this a play that's enormously fun to work on, and we've got a great cast and director.  With any luck, we'll have a mostly full house, too, which always makes a reading a lot more fun for everyone, and useful for me.

Off to Muse & Marketplace

 Tomorrow, I'm off to Grub Street's Muse & the Marketplace writer's conference.  It'll be two days of workshops, panels, networking, and a whole bunch of people trying to put their best feet forward.  (Hopefully not too forcefully.)  I start off with a one-on-one session with an agent from NYC to talk about the first few pages of my middle-grade novel (fingers crossed, hoping that she liked it).  After that, the pressure will be off (sort of), and I can just focus on learning as much as I can and meeting new people.

Last year I had a great time, and I love that I can just hop on the T and get to a conference with 500 other writers.  Lately, my head's been pretty deep into theatre (though I did just go on a research trip for my newest novel), so this will be a good jolt back to fiction for a few days. 

(Though I'll be right back into theatre-mode for my reading next Thursday.)  (You're going, right?)