My ten minute play Lean in with Liz! has been selected as one of 8 plays to be performed with Greenbrier Valley Theatre’s 2017 New Voices Play Festival in Lewisburg, West Virginia! The full line-up of plays and playwrights is:

a.d.a.m. by Rob Burke

Barrage from the Garage by Dan Borengasser

Down on Sandusky Road by Jonathan Joy

Survival Strategy by Donna Hoke

Lean In With Liz! by Rachel Bublitz

The Magic of Niagara by Margie Semilof

The Nude by W.L. Newkirk

Picture Window by Dwayne Yancey

Rachael Swartz will direct my piece, and my cast will include Mary Baldwin, Stella Baldwin, and Katie Sizemore.

More details, including dates, will be available soon so if you’re near Lewisburg or just really like road trips, check back for all that groovy info.

Happy New Years!

I hope that your holidays were merry and bright. I quite enjoyed my break from work. I spent a lot of snow filled days trapped inside with my children, there were puzzles and cards and Scrabble Junior and fights and fights and fights and fights and quite a few times when I forced them to play outside and leave me the hell alone. I’ve learned that when it comes to parenting that phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” has never been more true. But I survived! And I’m ready to tackle 2017 head on, which brings me to the first of many very exciting announcements for this coming year….

I’m writing six brand-spanking-new full length plays this year.

Yep.

SIX.

Six new plays.

Because if this crazy plan doesn’t kill me, I’ll certainly come out of 2017 a stronger writer.

Stay tuned in the next few days and weeks, because, like I said, a lot of exciting things are brewing over here, and slowly but surely I’ll be telling you all about them.

P.S. I made my submission mission by submitting 205 scripts in 2016!

Wow. So last night Ripped was read in San Francisco Playhouse’s Monday night reading series. It was an incredible experience. Everyone at the Playhouse was so supportive and generous, and my director, Claire Rice, and cast, Lindsey Schmeltzer, Ron Chapman, and Thomas Gorrebeeck, were absolutely brilliant. I was also very proud of where the script was at, I got laughs and uncomfortable silences at all the spots I’d wanted them. The talkback though, was a little intense.

The funny thing is that my director, Claire, had 100% predicted this. She’d joked once about how this play could start a riot. There was no rioting in the theater, but it was one of the most heated talks after a show that I’ve ever seen. And though I was also prepped on how the audience would most likely respond to the subject matter, I was still pretty surprised. Ripped deals with rape and consent, and all the confusing complications that go with it. When I took on this subject, I knew instantly that I wanted to write a play that questioned not yelled at its audience. That pushed where the audience would or wouldn’t consider the line of consensual sex and rape. A play that would be driven by character instead of the “issue” it was tackling.

But when you don’t tell the audience what to think, they come to their own conclusions. They make assumptions based on the lives and experiences they’ve had, and those conclusions can in fact be the opposite of your intensions. I’m excited for what is coming in Ripped’s future. It feels like a play for right now, and it has the ability to spark discussion on this topic, which was my ultimate goal with the piece, but really, wow. In the play a young man pulls his ex girlfriend on top of him and won’t stop after she’s repeatedly asked him to and during the talkback there were people who raised their hands and said that this was not rape.

But it’s okay. Even though I found that surprising and confounding, because that’s actually why I wrote the play. It’s past time for us all to be talking about this. It is both urgent and important.

Turns out I can’t stay away from the Bay Area that long, I’m coming back toward the end of this month for a staged reading of my play Ripped with San Francisco Playhouse! I have felt so much urgency writing this play, and I can’t wait to hear it in front of an audience. ESPECIALLY because I’ll be completely spoiled with the other amazing artists involved; Claire Rice is directing, and we have the incredibly talented cast of Lindsay Schmeltzer, Ron Chapman, and Thomas Gorrebeeck!

Ripped deals with the complexities and nuances of the sensitive issue of rape. It is my hope that it leaves the audience questioning their own definitions of rape. Here’s the synopsis:

Lucy, a freshman in college, is torn between her excitement about the new people in her life and having to leave her old life and loves behind. As she struggles to find a balance between the new and the old, a sexual encounter leaves her confused and concerned that she may have been a victim of rape. The play moves back and forth through time and space as Lucy tries to piece together the unraveling the events and interactions between herself and the two young men she’s torn between.

Details: What: A reading of Ripped by Rachel Bublitz Where: San Francisco Playhouse – 450 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 Date: Monday, October 24th Time: 7pm Tickets: Free! RSVP here on my facebook event.

I hope you can make it out!

Back in 2012 I was with my good friend and collaborator, Tracy Held Potter when 31 Plays in 31 Days sprang into being. I had just started to write plays the year before and I had no clue what I was doing. I knew I loved it, I knew I wanted to get better at it, and so the best course of action in my mind was to write more. I decided to challenge myself that year to write 31 brand new plays during the month of August. When I told Tracy about it, I honestly expected her to try and talk me out of it. That though, she did not. Instead, she thought we should let people do it with us. I told her flat out she was crazy, I told her there was no one else nuts enough to do something like this. Boy, was I wrong.

Today kicks off the fifth year in a row of 31 Plays in 31 Days. Each year we have playwrights from around the country, and even a handful around the world, that give themselves this demanding daily deadline for the rest of the month. I’ve had a lot of plays come out of it, and though I don’t always write each year, I still am of the mind that it never hurts to challenge yourself to do a crazy big thing.

For the past few years the challenge has been run by Topher Cusumano, and each year it gets better and better. Today a whole lot of people are stretching their fingers and scratching away at ideas. If you’re feeling limber and in the mood to stretch those playwright muscles, I can’t recommend enough giving it a go. You’d be surprised at what comes out when you think you’ve reached the end of your inspiration.

Like in years past we’re also selling some pretty sweet playwright swag, if you’re feeling like you don’t own enough shirts promoting playwriting in your life, head over to our TeeSpring and put in an order, we have new styles and colors this year (and STICKERS!). All money will go back into the challenge, funding our submission process as well as the website hosting costs.

Okay! You have your orders, go out and write some plays. Happy writing and happy August!

Last week I hit the road and made my first ever drive through the state of Wyoming to reach Sheridan, where the Wyoming Theater Festival takes place each year. It was intimidating; the drive, meeting a whole boat load of new people, having to teach. The day before I was set to leave I had this whole slow hyperventilating thing going on, where I’d randomly just gasp for air every 20 or so minutes (an unfortunate nervous tick of mine), but I packed my bags, double checked I had all the directions in case of a google map incident, and tried to get as much sleep as I could. I left on Monday, and drove straight through, not able to stop for food because as it turns out there isn’t a whole lot of places to stop and grab food in between Salt Lake and Sheridan (fun life lesson!), but thankfully there were places to eat when I reached my destination. Sheridan is such a beautiful spot, and I got to see a ton of wildlife during my stay; a fox, an owl, deer, rabbits, antelope (are there even antelope in the US?), little deer, and tons of big beautiful birds of pray hunting from the sky above. I didn’t see any moose, but I hear that they have them.

As for the theater side of things, the Wyoming Theater Festival is dedicated to developing three new theater pieces a year, this year included, East Of Heart Mountain by Edward Allan Baker, a play about a real woman from Sheridan who intercepted Japanese radio broadcasts during WWII in order to inform families of the fates of their sons, Alice Formerly Of Wonderland by Mark Saltzman, a charming love story about the young woman that Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland was based on, and Cast Of Thousands book and concept by Eric Michael Gillett and Arthur Masella, a one person musical featuring songs by Craig Carnelia.

In addition to the three new plays being produced, the festival brings in a larger show, this year was Ring Of Fire; The Music Of Johnny Cash created by Richard Maltby Jr., which I sadly missed, and hosts workshops by visiting artists and readings of plays in development. I taught my very first workshop, The ABC’s of Playwriting, and had a total of THREE whole students (we all need to start somewhere, right?). I’d meticulously put together a plan, talked to two master playwriting teachers, edited my plan, and quickly threw my plan out the window as soon as the workshop started. All in all, it was a great learning experience for me, and I think the people who joined me learned a little something too, at least I hope so.

The next morning we did a reading of Ripped, which was the first time it had an audience. This was a lot less nerve wracking, as hearing words of mine in front of people isn’t new to me, but I was a little tense over this particular play (about rape) being read in front of a small town audience. No one stormed out, in fact most of our audience stayed to give me their reactions and feedback, and now I’m super pumped to head into rewrites to get the play ready for its San Francisco Playhouse reading this coming October.

Overall, I was impressed with the range of the type of material being developed, the variety of artists from around the country brought in to put the shows on, and the enthusiasm of all the locals who make the festival possible. Artistic Director DannyLee Hodnett really has put together a great festival. If you happen to find yourself near or in Sheridan next July, be sure to check it out. And if you do go, try and stay at the Hotel Sheridan which was built by the real life Buffalo Bill and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most gables, because apparently Buffalo Bill was a huge gable fan. I’m hoping to get invited back, so maybe I’ll see you there!

Last month my family and I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was both exciting and terrifying, but has the benefit of being closer to different places. One of those being Wyoming! I met the Artistic Director of the Wyoming Theater Festival, DannyLee Hodnett, at my first Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Conference up in Washington State in 2015. Now that I’m within driving distance to the festival, he’s invited me up for a few days, to see the shows, meet the theater people he’s gathered from across the country, teach a workshop (eeeee!), and have a reading of one of my plays! How can I, as a sane playwright, turn that down? Obviously, I can’t.

Watch out Wyoming, I’m headed your way.

Exciting news! My dark Christmas comedy The Elves joins the line-up for PianoFight’s ShortLived Competition, “The nation’s largest, audience-judged theater competition,” according to KQED! I’m in Round 5, which kicks off a week from Thursday, and I need you to go watch and vote so I can move on the finals. If you haven’t made it out to PianoFight’s new space, now you have the perfect excuse, because it’s guaranteed to be an awesome time. Here’s the full line-up for my round:

BOARDMAN ALLEY CATS – Glammademoiselle

THOSE WOMEN PRODUCTIONS – Craving, a monologue

RACHEL BUBLITZ – The Elves

JEFF DUNN – Castle Happy

SPENCER BAINBRIDGE – The Futurists

BENNETT FISHER – Peckish

And you’ll have four chances to check it out, it runs Thursday March 31st at 8pm, Friday April 1st at 8pm, and Saturday April 2nd at 5pm and 8pm.

So go buy your tickets: TICKETS! And tell all your friends to buy some tickets, because this is going to be a hoot!

AHHHHHHH!

Nearly two years ago Of Serpents & Sea Spray was commissioned by Custom Made Theatre and it less than a week it will be up on its feet in front of audiences, and I’m feeling all the things in all the places. It is SO strange to have toiled over the words that comprise this play on my computer for so long, in a very single-dimension type of way, to then hand off these words and have people give them costumes and props and sounds and lights and life and all of the elements that up until this point I had just imagined in my head. Little choices I made in a flick of a second became debates and complications. Meaning between lines that I never imagined were discovered. And much, much, much more. AND, soon people will come and watch the play and either love it or hate it, or something in between it. And in this waiting time I just might explode. I’m starting to think that I might not be the best company this week, but luckily I’ll be at rehearsal for most of it.

If you haven’t yet please get your tickets for Of Serpents & Sea Spray! Apart from it being a huge deal to me, it’s a huge deal to the wonderful folks working around the clock to make it happen. From my sensational director, Ariel Craft, who has helped foster this play throughout the last year, to the dedicated actors giving life to the characters I created, Andrew Calabrese, Sabrina DeMio, Laura Domingo, Maria Leigh, Maria Marquis, and Heren Patel, to our tireless creative team Sophia Craven, Nikki Eggett, Brooke Jennings, Erik LaDue, Stewart Lyle, Florence McCafferty, Kitty Torres, and Ryan Lee Short, and of course everyone else at Custom Made Theatre, especially, but not limited to Brian Katz and Leah Abrams.

Of Serpents & Sea Spray has previews this Thursday and Friday (1/7 and 1/8) and it opens on Saturday (AHHH!) 1/9 running until 1/30.

Here’s the link for tickets: www.custommade.org/serpents/

Will I see you at the theater? Hope so!!!!!!

Tickets on sale now for Playwrights Foundation’s FlashPlays, AND if you act fast you’ll get the early bird discount! FlashPlays is packed with over forty Bay Area playwrights presenting over eighty brand-spanking-new plays! You have until November 29th to get the discount, so act fast, but also act fast because last year sold out!

The festival runs for two nights, Sunday December 6th, and Monday December 7th, at 8pm. All performances will be at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco.

For tickets and more information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/flashplays-ferociously-fast-theater-tickets-19435404819.

I’ll be there Sunday, if you make it out say hello!