Tuesday, May 19, 2009

FESTIVAL

David Wiener's clever play "Feeding Time in the Human House" won for the best play at the 15 Minute Play Festival. My play was on the same night as his in the semi-finals. I sent him an e-mail to congratulate him in winning the overall Best Play at the festival.

I'm outlining and working on a new play. It's in it's earliest stages and not rushing it.

It's late spring in New York City and a beautiful blue sky May day. Tomorrow I'm meeting an old friend to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge together. She loves literature and devours books so I always look forward to our chats about great books on the market. Her last recommendation was "In the Woods".

I have to read that this summer. Enjoy your day!

Friday, May 08, 2009

GREAT JOURNEY

Wow. It's over. The play went up on May 6th for one night in the Festival. It was so much fun I cannot begin to tell you -- from the first rehearsal to seeing family and friends take their seats just before show time. The theatre is so exciting -- intimidate and immediate. I got the bug for sure.

My play didn't make it to the Finals. There was another play called "Feeding Time in the Human House" which won for the night (out of 5 plays). It was very clever about baboons in the zoo (mates) discussing human behavior while the male baboon threw poop at the audience. How could I compete with flying poop and the female monkey putting her butt up in the air?? lol. It was a great play and hats off to it.

The actors in my play 'NetFits" were Brian Hoffman and Liz Maurer. They worked so hard and were so well received by the audience. They gave it their all. The director Ken Kaissar was a pleasure to work with and so energetic and creative. I hope to work with this trio again.

Last night I saw HAIR on Broadway. My partner bought the tickets for my birthday celebration. The musical is wonderful! All those great songs like "Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In". The ending of the play (WARNING -- SPOILER) is so moving with the dead soldier laying on the American flag with the snow falling from the rafters on him. Not a dry eye in the house!

The actors invite the audience on stage at the end to sing "Let the Sunshine In". We did and it was so cool to be center stage on Broadway singing to a New York audience from the top of our lungs. Amazing birthday moment. Amazing life moment. Amazing New York moment.

Go see more theatre if you can afford to... it's magical.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

TOMORROW'S THE DAY

One day from curtain up. Rehearsal with the new actress went terrific! She's got great energy and comic timing. The cast includes two talented New York actors: Liz Maurer and Brian Hoffman. They're Equity members. The show is directed by an amazing young director named Ken Kaissar. He's fun to watch as he works his magic with the actors to experiment and try new ways of performing the play.

We're still tinkering with the final few pages. To get it just right (the pacing) and to come in at under 15 minutes in tech rehearsal tomorow morning. They actually time the rehearsal to make sure we stay under 15 minutes.

Stage jitters. So much fun!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

DRAMA IN MY COMEDY

My first play goes up this week on May 6th on Off-Off Broadway. Three days from now. Yikes. On my birthday no less. It will be a great day for a number of reasons -- lots of friends and family are coming. It's an amazing birthday gift (from my mother I believe) to have my work produced and all my loved ones there to experience it with me.

We had some drama in the comedy coming to the stage. Two days ago our lead actress became ill and had to back out of the show. Talk about a panic attack! Who could be as good as she was and know the text in only 4 days? My director was cool as a cucumber. No problem. These things happen all the time -- that's why they have understudies. Actors are amazing people -- they live for that edge of the cliff, high-wire act. Not writers. I think we like some stability... but actors go with the flow and the more pressure the better.

We have our first rehearsal with the new actress tonight. She'll be awesome I have a feeling. I'll keep you all posted.

PS -- Just saw the trailer for the new movie "Julie, Julia" starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. It was filmed in my neighborhood (Astoria, NY) last summer. And the movie looks like a great one with two terrific actresses. Meryl Streep just keeps getting better if that's possible. Love that woman! And Amy Adams is incredible (she starred with Meryl Streep in DOUBT).

Love the summer movie season!