The National Playwrights Conference is the preeminent laboratory for development of new plays. It is daunting to even think about the prospect of being one of 7 or so playwrights who will stay at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT for a month in the summer working on their baby, their play. Each […]
Category: Theatre
Apocalypse Now, The Great Gatsby, and the House of the Dead
House of the Dead In an article in the NY Times entitled My Home, the House of the Dead, by William G. Thomas III, a professor of history at the University of Nebraska, he tells of his family lore making their homestead in Virginia a hospital during the Civil War. Even more important to a […]
Amazon Gift Book Giveaway – Baghdad on the Wabash and Other Plays and Stories
The giveaway is completed, but sometimes it’s useful to have a look at past posts. Here it is: “Follow the link to Library Thing Giveaways, and enter for a chance to receive a free copy. One week only starting August 20. A collection of Short Fiction. Told as short stories and plays. “ It’s […]
Interview of Harlan Baker, Actor, Director and Playwright
I’m pleased to have Harlan Baker as the subject for this interview. Harlan is an adjunct professor in the Theatre department at the University of Southern Maine, an actor, a former member of the Maine legislature, a union activist, and democratic socialist. He studied theater at Emerson College and graduated in 1969, and has a […]
Anatomy of a Self Publishing Experiment
Last night I submitted my first truly self published book to the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing program. This morning, there it was! Miraculous. It’s self published in the sense that I either took each step along the way personally, or I engineered the step by hiring someone to do what I thought I couldn’t do. […]
When Weak Old Work Becomes Vibrant New Work
A good idea is a good idea, period. Right? Yes! When I first wrote a number of short stories and plays, the impetus for writing them was that they represented truth as I knew it. Now, I reread them and find that the development of the idea seems weak. I did a fairly decent […]
Reflections on Writing a Ten Minute Play
The Granddaddy of American Short Play Festivals As Catalyst for Action The deadline for submitting an entry for the 38th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival has come and gone. Forty finalists will be chosen by a reading panel from over 900 submissions. The forty finalist plays will be performed live in […]
High Tide on Blizzard Day
This is a YouTube video of the Blizzard that hit the East Coast on Feb 9, 2013. The footage is the high tide surf out in front of our home at Cape Newagen, Maine. http://youtu.be/7Fw7ITC1jd0 Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to my blog and you’ll never miss my periodic posts! Just enter your email […]
Dust Off Your 10 Minute Play for the “Pint-Size Competition” in the UK!
The original deadline for this competition has passed, but the basic info is still interesting! This is a competition that last year had 235 entries from around the world for the top 10 entries. There is a small entry fee. You can submit a play electronically. The plays are all performed in pubs, so […]
List of Play Selections Announced – Not My Year
The Maine Playwrights Festival selections have been announced. I entered a short play, but it did not make the list. Disappointed? Sure. But, best of luck to the playwrights who made the list. Here is the list of selectees: http://www.acorn-productions.org/pages/Playtitles.html