Yesterday we assembled a rag-tag team to film the Kickstarter video for The Fantasy Club (coming August 2nd-11th to the The Alcove Theater in San Francisco!) and it was a blast! The video will be released later this month, but to whet your appetite, here are two still photos taken yesterday:

Photo of Allison Page, playing Barb our hilarious phone sex operator and Siobhan Doherty and Rob Dario under the covers.

Another photo of Allison Page!

Both photos courtesy Robert Reeves.

There are a lot more photos, equally sexy/funny to these… And the video will be even better. Make sure to check back as we get closer and more footage is released!

And, as usual, if you’re enjoying this post on facebook, click through to see the awesome photos.

Thanks!

Woke up to great news! My Body, my ten-minute play dealing with woman’s rights was selected for Subversive Theatre Collective’s short play program sUBVERSIVE sHORTS in Buffalo, New York coming in June and July!

Here are the specific dates:

sUBVERsIVE sHORTs 2013

PERFORMANCES JUNE 13 THROUGH JULY 7 THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS @ 8PM SUNDAYS @ 6PM

“A” Night Performance Schedule: June 13, 15, 21, 23, 27, 29, July 5

“B” Night Performance Schedule: June 14, 16, 20, 22, 28, 30, July 6

Grand Finale performance of both line-ups: Sunday, July 7 starting at 4pm

And the full line-up:

A Night

GUN SHOP by Jeff Stolzer of New York, New York Directed by Carlton Franklin & Marcy Mickelson

A QUICK STOP AT FLORIST by Steven Korbar of Torrance, California Directed by Kelly Beuth*

RUBBAS by Steve Karp of New York, New York Directed by Virginia Brannon*

A WOMAN’S WORD VERSUS A MACHINE by Dwayne Yancey of Fincastle, Virginia Directed by Carlton Franklin & Marcy Mickelson

VOTE HERE by Jeff Carter of San Francisco, California Directed by Virginia Brannon*

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE? by Steven Korbar of Torrance, California Directed by Kelly Beuth*

B Night

CAKE TOP THIS by Donna Hoke of Buffalo, New York Directed by Annise Celano

MY BODY by Rachel Bublitz of Berkeley, California Directed by Gary Earl Ross

MANDINGO AT THE MARRIOTT by Olga Humphrey Directed by April Jones

MERCURY’S IN RETROGRADE, AND YOU SUCK by Rich Orloff of New York, New York Directed by Gail Golden

LOST IN THE QUAGMIRE by Chris Swanson of Westerville, Ohio Directed by Bob Van Valin*

OBLIVION by Paul Lewis of Bainbridge Island, Washington Directed by Michael Lodick*

HIT ME by William Coleman of Des Moines, Iowa Directed by Lawrence Rowswell*

The * indicates members of the Subversive Theatre Collective.

Exciting, yes?

Yay! Our first episode for the 31 Plays Podcast Series is up! You can listen here:

Or visit the 31 Plays in 31 Days Blog.

*There is language that may be offensive in this podcast.

I am very excited that my play How Terry Gross Destroyed My Life was given so much life by the talented Sunil Patel (director), Siobhan Doherty (playing Jill), Claire Rice (playing Helen), and Melissa Keith (reading stage directions).

Also big thanks to our sound geniuses, Thomas Kessinger and Taylor Gonzalez.

Enjoy!!

Oh, and if you’re on facebook, none of the links will work! Click through to my site for all the goodies.

Been a long time, hasn’t it? Oy vey.

Well, there was a holiday and then the internet vanished from my house! Very tragic, we’re hoping to get it back up today, but until then I’m forced to steal the internet of friends for short periods of time. You see my kids are crazy, and internet cafes usually don’t welcome them…

But I’m here now, and got the sweet sweet interweb juice, so let’s catch up!

Fancy announcements!

September show: BABIES, THE ULTIMATE BIRTH CONTROL

We have dates (Saturday September 7 4:00 PM, Saturday September 14 9:00 PM, Sunday September 15 1:00 PM, and Tuesday September 17 9:00 PM… In case you had forgotten.) and now we have a director! I am so happy to tell the world that the talented Elena Wright will be directing for us!

Also in fun and exciting news about the fringe show, we will have auditions! We will be searching for two females and one male! I will be announcing more info as we get closer, but it looks like we’ll be having auditions in July (probably).

Gone In 60 Seconds, The International One-Minute Play Festival

My one-minute play Dealing With Death is in the line-up for Gi60s taking place right now in the UK! Still finding out details, it’s hard when there’s so much space between two places and such little internet. But I know they’re in rehearsal, so I imagine the show is coming up! Hopefully will let you know before it’s happened, so you can jump on over to the UK and enjoy one of my plays.

The Fantasy Club Kickstarter Video!

Get ready to laugh, because we’re shooting the video to help raise money for my play The Fantasy Club coming this August! We’re hoping to kick off our kickstarter early to mid June, so stay tuned for that! We have got a lot of funny people on it, and it won’t disappoint.

Okay, so hopefully if comcast comes for a visit like they said they would, I’ll have another awesome post for you tomorrow… Not sure if I’d hold my breath.

Are you playwright enough?

August is sneaking up fast, have you signed up for The 31 Plays in 31 Days Project? Last August was out first year and we had over 400 playwrights sing up to write a play a day for the month of August… Guess what, over 100 playwrights did it! This year, we’re all set to do the crazy thing again!

Here are the basics about the project:

“What? The 31 Plays in 31 Days Project is a chance for playwrights to push themselves to write a new play every day for the month of August. The plays must be a minimum of one page. Are you up for the challenge?

Why? The 31 Plays in 31 Days Project is based on the idea that to become a better writer, you must write. You must write a lot. And you need to practice experimenting with your writing form constantly. The pressure of this goal will allow you to set aside preconceived notions of what you should be writing and how you should be doing it. You will not have time to overanalyze your work, you will just have to write, write, write and be surprised by what comes out of you. You may love your work some days and wonder what happened on others, but by the end of the month, you will have amassed 31 new plays. Instead of waiting for the breeze of inspiration to blow your way, you will see that writing is a craft that can be called on at any time.

When? August 1st at 12:00 am until August 31st at 11:59pm

Where? Anywhere and everywhere!

Who? Playwrights who are crazy enough to write 31 Plays in just 31 short days!

Finally…. How? Register here. We’ll send you instructions on how to submit your script daily. Or, you can just write a play a day on your own and not tell us about it! We encourage all participants to comment on their progress often, and their experience throughout the month. If you wish to be eligible for the 31 Plays in 31 Days Podcast Series you must select the daily submission option. We will announce on July 15th the submission procedure, sending out emails to all participating playwrights.”

Sign up today, don’t delay! We’re also still looking for guest bloggers during the month of August, read this post to find out more about what we’re looking for. AND we’re still looking for writing prompts as well, get the skinny on those here.

Lots of ways to get involved in this epic project, I hope you will join us!

Had a doozy of a nightmare last night… So… In it I have adapted The Fantasy Club into an animated movie… And the characters have all been replaced and changed… Now it’s about a scruffy but small little boy and his giant older brother. They work for a gang of angelfish that steal precious gems. Eventually the boys decide stealing is wrong but now they’re caught up in the life, and have to fight their way out… Okay, still with me? So, in the dream, I have decided to do a special screening of the film before it opens for an elite few… Tracy Held Potter, and Chris Reed (who plays Filthy Phil on Sons Of Anarchy) to name a few… Nearly everybody, including Tracy, leave well before the end of the film without saying or looking at me. When it’s all done and the lights come up, Chris and I are there alone… He leans over and says, “I liked it better before,” and leaves. And I am terrified and confused and so very sad… Why did I ever change my play? Will this always be the way? Will I always start with a good idea, and then change it until it’s total crap? Why is this an animated film? A gang of angelfish? Really?….

And then I woke up. I realized that yes, I have made some changes to The Fantasy Club but there aren’t any fish involved. It takes a few minutes, but then I go back to sleep.

The San Francisco Olympians Festival is half way through it’s indiegogo fundraiser today, and we still have a little over $5,000 to go. Sounds like a big number, doesn’t it? It’s not that big though, not really. Not if we get a little here and there from a lot of different folks, and that is where you come in!

The San Francisco Olympians Festival is different from a lot of theatre festivals around and here are a few reasons why:

1. They are a commissioned based festival, so the writers who wish to be involved send in proposals instead of full scripts. There are not of other places that say, “Hey, tell us your idea, and we’ll give you a year to write it.” Most places seeking submissions want scripts that are already ready to go. Maybe you don’t have a Greek God themed play, and in that case you’re out of luck, and no matter how talented you are, or how badly you want to be involved you can’t. You don’t have what they want, on to the next writer. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing like finding an opp that happens to perfectly match a piece that you have already written, but those are few and far between. This festival gives you a space to create something new, and gives it a home a year out. If you’re not in the business of making theatre you should know that that is very rare, and it is incredibly special.

2. This is not just a festival for writers! Yes, it’s a festival of new plays, and that takes writers, but it’s also a fine arts festival. The art director, Cody Rishell matches a fine artist with each new play being developed. For the kick off party each year, Cafe Royale displays all of the art, and there it remains for the entirety of the festival. You should go through some of last year’s plays on the San Francisco Olympians Festival website for examples, here’s one of my favorites from last year.

3. In addition to fine artists, the festival also uses actors and directors! So far 36 directors and 181 actors have worked on this festival.

4. Your donations go towards paying for our space at The Exit, stipends for all artists involved, and so much more!

I put in $25, and I hope you can throw in what you can afford as well. Seriously, every last $1 helps us get to the big scary $10,000 mark. Please contribute today, and then tell everyone you know to do the same. We can’t do it with out you!

Thank you!

As promised, here’s the video of Audrey Scare People Play:

Her play is up first, after the introduction, right at the 4:10 mark!

Enjoy!

Guess I need to start riding Audrey’s coattails, because that girl wrote a hit play! It was so good. So good. There will be a youtube video, and I will make it known once there is, so you can enjoy it all over the world.

Audrey had a blast. She read the only word on the program she could read, Audrey, and lit up like a light bulb. And that’s nothing compared to how bright she shined during her play! She grinned from ear to ear and clapped my hands together so hard they hurt. The girl had a blast! And she deserved it, not that I’m biased or anything, but her play was my favorite last night. It was hilarious! And the actors, Meg O’Conner (Scare People, and the director), Olivia Youngers (Audrey!), and Sam Bertken (stage directions) were out of this world good. They were off book, had props and costumes… You blew my mind, guys! Thank you also to Sunil Patel and all the wonderful folks at San Francisco Theater Pub. You folks made Audrey’s month!

Here’s what Audrey said to her Dad on their drive home after the show, “A lot of people said congratulations…. I wasn’t expecting that.”

To see some pictures from last night, go to my facebook page album, AUDREY SCARE PEOPLE PLAY, I’m having trouble uploading them here today.

What’s next for Audrey you wonder? Well she told me her next play will be about a Princess and a dragon, so stay tuned!

*Photo by Rob Reeves.

Coming this September to the San Francisco Fringe Festival: Babies, the Ultimate Birth Control: Terrifyingly Hilarious Plays about Parenting! 90% guaranteed to scare you away from ever procreating! All original plays from myself and my partner in crime, Tracy Held Potter!

And now we have dates! Be sure and mark your calendars and set time aside, you won’t want to miss it, it’s sure to be hilarious!

Dates for Babies, the Ultimate Birth Control: Terrifyingly Hilarious Plays about Parenting:

SATURDAY September 7 4:00 PM

SATURDAY September 14 9:00 PM

SUNDAY September 15 1:00 PM

TUESDAY September 17 9:00 PM

Stay tuned, we’ll be announcing our director, actors, and the names of the plays in the months to come!