Last night was the staged reading of THE FANTASY CLUB. It was a blast. Not only did I get a ton of great feedback after the show during the talk-back (facilitated by the awesome Patricia Milton), but I learned a lot from just watching the audience react. I won’t name names, but I had a favorite audience member last night, she was on the edge of her seat practically the whole play, and at one point she tried to talk the main character out of something. AWESOME! I got a ton of laughs, and people also seemed very engaged in the serious parts of the play as well. My actors, Siobhan Doherty, Galen Murphy-Hoffman, Tony Cirimele, Kat Kneisel, and Vahishta Vafadari blew me away. I’ve never had four talented actors preform my script before, and it was an incredible experience to work with them. I have a ton of respect for my director, Tracy Held Potter. Tracy knocked it out of the part. I haven’t been involved with a lot of staged readings before and I didn’t realize how hectic they can be. As a director you have to prioritize and decide what you’re going to work no in the short hours that you have, and I thought that Tracy did a wonderful job with this. If anyone needs a director, give her a shout! You won’t be disappointed.

During the talk back I received some critiques that were right on the money. I knew there was something missing from Act III, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. And I am so very excited to know what I need to work on to get this script production ready. I might wait a couple of days (or start tonight), but re-writing is going to be so fun. This is and was a tremendously fun play to write, and through all the versions and drafts and trying to figure out how to write a play in the first place (this is my first play!), I can’t say how satisfying it was to have a group full of people laugh at your work.

So, THE FANTASY CLUB is close to production ready! Anyone out there looking for a super sexy play to produce? Anyone want to read the next version of the script? Send me an email! I’d love to hear from you!

Oh, and one final big thanks to the Playwright’s Center of San Francisco! Thanks for taking a chance on me and my script!