Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Quote”
This mopey winter poem, complete with collywobbles, was one of my favorites as a kid. This is just a portion of the perfect poem in which to wallow when depressed. You can read the full poem here (scroll down). Aroint thee, sweetness and light! I want to be dark and sour! Away with the bird that twitters! All that glitters …
Noted Pulitzer and Tony Award winning playwright Edward Albee knew well the issue of having aspirations loftier than one’s talent. He said, “Read the great stuff, but read the stuff that isn’t so great, too. Great stuff is very discouraging. If you read only Beckett and Chekhov, you’ll go away and only deliver telegrams for Western Union.”― Edward Albee
The “Writing Down The Bones” author Natalie Goldberg likes to keep things simple. She writes: “A writing practice is simply picking up a pen — a fast-writing pen, preferably, since the mind is faster than the hand — and doing timed writing exercises. The idea is to keep your hand moving for, say, ten minutes, and don’t cross anything out, …
I’m writing a play that deals with the themes of mercy and forgiveness. I’ve been researching ideas and quotations about forgiveness, and this one from Rita Mae Brown is particularly pertinent. “One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.”― Rita Mae Brown
How many times have you watched a show and felt sad when the villain wasn’t onstage? That’s because a good villain is not only watchable, they’re somewhat relatable. Think Aaron Burr. Stanley Kowalski. Goneril and Regan. When writing a villain, make them the hero of their own story and they’ll shine. More than anything, audiences want characters (virtuous and not) …
“When you’re asking what is the role of a poet in a society, in a culture, in a country, in a community, it is to respond in a way that only poetry can.” ~ Jane Hirshfield Which brings me to one of my favorite poets, June Jordan. Her poems have inspired me to write plays, to be active in politics. …
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 …
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 …