Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Blog”
The Bay Area Reporter calls “The Law of Attraction” a “zingy comedy” and “an ideal tonic for yet another night at home during this long pandemic haul.” Here’s the full review: Through November 18The Law of Attraction, produced by the New Conservatory Theatre Company, audio on demand; pay-what-you-wish.Developed as a world premiere stage production for NCTC’s 2020-21 season, playwright Patricia …
Enjoy this poem, Divine, by Kim Addonizio. Oh hell, here’s that dark wood again.You thought you’d gotten through it –middle of your life, the ogre turned into a mousemonsters hammered downinto their caves, werewolves outrun.You’d come out of all that, into a field.There was one man standing in it.He held out his arms.Ping went your iHeartso you took off all …
I was discussing the use of time in playwriting with my friend Madeline, when I remembered the book How Plays Work by David Edgar. Edgar’s chapter on structure covers the different uses of time and how they affect a play’s theme and meaning. Real time is a favorite structure of mine. I used it in Bystanders, and I’m using it …
How I love this poem, “Theatre Impressions, by Wisława Szymborska! For me the tragedy’s most important act is the sixth:the raising of the dead from the stage’s battlegroundsthe straightening of wigs and fancy gownsremoving knives from stricken breasts,taking nooses from lifeless necks,lining up among the livingto face the audience. The bows, both solo and ensemble –the pale hand on the …
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The best writing occurs in flow states, I believe. It is as if you go away somewhere, and then …
“What has been my prettiest contribution to the culture?” asked Kurt Vonnegut in his autobiography Palm Sunday. He answered: His master’s thesis in anthropology for the University of Chicago, “which was rejected because it was so simple and looked like too much fun.” The elegant simplicity and playfulness of Vonnegut’s idea is exactly its enduring appeal. The idea is so …
In this time of death and grieving, I enjoyed this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye: For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,I felt the life sliding out of me,a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.I was seven, I lay in the carwatching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.My stomach was a …
Hurricane season 2020 is, like much of 2020, extremely destructive. Enjoy this poem by Gregory Orr: Trauma (Storm) Hunkered down, nerve-numb, in the carnal hut, the cave of self, while outside a storm rages. Huddled there, rubbing together white sticks of your own ribs, praying for sparks in that dark where tinder is heart, where tender is not.
I really appreciate this post over at The Write Practice, which takes a bold approach to writer’s block: It doesn’t exist. Writer’s Block: there’s no such thing. We say that we have this thing called “writer’s block” and it’s the reason why we’ll never achieve our dreams. As if it’s a contracted disease. But it doesn’t exist. What we are …
How does one choose a story to dramatize? Two acclaimed screenwriters give their views: “A story worth telling is one that feels new even if it’s not new. You gotta remember, there are a lot of stories out there, and what is the urgency to tell this particular story? I think it’s not going to come out of plot; it’s …