Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “newplay”
I’ve created a dramaturgy site for my play, “Escape from the Asylum,” with research resources. The concept behind the play is that unconventional women are still dismissed as “crazy” and “hysterical” in present day, just as they were in Victorian times. While we are no longer burned at the stake or beheaded, a woman’s pushing boundaries is an invitation to …
I’ve been slow to add blog posts lately, as I’m working to complete Act II of my new play about ethics in Big Tech. Or rather, lack of ethics. The play was originally titled Zero Tolerance, but that doesn’t really apply any more. The new working title is The Engine of our Destruction. I’m examining the ethical choices of two …
This play was scheduled to open in October, but … well, you know.So now it is an audio play with the amazing actors Maria Marquis and Kimberly Ridgeway. Available starting September 14 at centralworks.org. In the wake of a tragic and senseless act of gun violence, two women strive to connect despite their grief and guilt. Zayne is determined to …
One way the Enneagram can be useful is in identifying motivations for different characters. Each Enneagram Type has a secret fear, which isn’t true, but which drives their actions and reactions. These underlying false fears can be helpful in choosing characters’ behavior over the course of the play. One: Mistakes are unacceptable. Two: I am not lovable. Three: I am …
I’ve been using the Enneagram to type my characters for nearly a decade. It’s a fantastic way to ensure my characters are believable, and act like real people … while allowing me to identify realistic fears, backstories, and behavior patterns for them. I learned a few years back that Theresa Rebeck uses the Enneagram, too, when she mentioned it on …
My latest project is a two-person play called “Flattened.” It can be an audio play, or alternating monologues on Zoom, or even presented live onstage with one actor standing before the audience at a time. It’s designed for pandemic performance. Two characters, Libby and Alan, are being interviewed by unseen authorities, about an accidental death that took place at the …
The research for this play, the sequel to “The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective,” is involved and dense. It’s also shocking, and quite moving. The topic of women locked up as “insane” when they weren’t is part of a very long and intersectional history of women being treated terribly by the medical profession, women of color worst of all. Horrendous medical …
“Bystanders” will premiere in October 2020. Here’s the description of this two-hander: BYSTANDERS, a new drama In the wake of a tragic and senseless act of gun violence, two women strive to connect despite their grief and guilt. Zayne is determined to learn if Hannah could have foreseen the shooting, or even prevented it. Hannah is fed up with clichéd …
I’m deep in research for “Bystanders.” These paragraphs from New York Magazine state simply and clearly what we face when we face mass shootings: “There have been more mass school-shooting deaths in the past 18 years than in all of the 20th century. The long list of casualties includes a classroom full of first-graders, an event that shocked the nation …
My latest play, Bystanders, takes place in the aftermath of a horrific act of gun violence. It’s a two-hander exploring an intimate story dealing with guns in America. This is a tough topic that was not consciously on my radar. The play presented itself to me almost completely fully-formed, with a number of clear reversals inside its tight, 75-minute, real-time …