Just finished Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. Blew… My… Mind. Why had I never read this play before? Why? Why did no one bring this to me when I loved to act (and had time to act)? Hedda Gabler has to be one of the best roles I have ever read. I am completely in love with her complicated, terrible, yet somehow endearing ways. If you have not read this play run out (yes now) and buy it. I’ll wait here….

Got it? Excellent. Read it.

How does Ibsen make Hedda so horrid and completely irresistible all at once? He’s a genius. That’s the only explanation I can think of. Attention theatres near me… Someone please produce Hedda Gabler so I can see it staged. Thank you, that is all.

There has been a slight change of plans for Playwright’s Center of San Francisco’s 24 Hour Playfest (coming up on the 15th of September). Instead of two shows, they’ve opted for one show plus an after party! There will be refreshments for sale, as well as a raffle!

I’m thinking I might just bake one of my delicious cherry pies for the raffle, so it’s an event you cannot afford to miss. Plus, you know… See all the wonderful work too. This event is going to sell out for sure now. I highly recommend buying your tickets ASAP!

BUY TICKETS HERE

That is all.

Last night I attended PCSF’s scene night. I’m better than I used to be, I used to be terrified bringing anything in to be read. And far from enthusiastic when hearing the feedback from my fellow playwrights. Each time it got better, and now I only get a few butterflies in my stomach. But it was worth all the struggle in the beginning, last night I got some pretty terrific feedback that really gave me some energy for re-writes today. My play is about a grandma, mom, and daughter… The grandma and mom kill people and the daughter doesn’t know. Grandma has arrived to start in on the daughter’s training. Anyway the important part in this instance is that there’s a severed head in the freezer and originally the mom leaves the house with the head in the freezer just waiting for the daughter to find. Last night someone pointed out how crazy that was, and it made mer realize how funny it would be if the mom continued to hide the head, and the grandma kept finding it and putting it back in the freezer throughout the play. This comedic gem would have never made it into my play without feedback!

Long story short… If you’re an artist, share your work with others. Listen to what they have to say. Use it, don’t use it, either way it will help you.

Last night I had five talented ladies in my house, and we had a reading night. It was great. I got to hear all of TERRIBLE PEOPLE out loud, and spent all morning working on it. The BOA is coming up (September 15th to be exact) and I’m working hard to get my play in tip-top shape. I found it interesting that the opening scene of my play was kinda flat (it has always been super funny) and the closing scene, the scene I’ve worked with the least really worked well. Pretty sure I’ll be bringing in the opening scene to scene night at PCSF tonight.

In other news, I have an interview (gasp!) for a paying job (double gasp!) tomorrow morning. So, be sure and send all of those eloquent and articulate vibes my way.

I have been running behind on my submissions! Oy! I’ve done a bit of catch up today, submitted three scripts and now I’m all caught up. I have a ton I need to print and mail off, hopefully getting to those before the weekend… I’d like to stay ahead of the game!

Here’s what and where I submitted today:

I emailed “Nap Time” and “How Terry Gross Destroyed My Life” to Acme Theater. They are looking for 10 minute plays for their ACME NEW WORKS WINTER FESTIVAL 2013. They don’t have a stated theme, they will accept 2 plays per playwright, no submission fee, and the deadline is September 15th.

I uploaded “My Body” to the Source Festival website. They are also looking for 10 minute plays, and they also do not have a theme. They want plays that have not been produced or published as of October 2012. You’ll need to upload a resume and the pdf of the play directly to the website listed above. The deadline is October 2nd, 2012.

It’s the 5th, and I’m up to 5 submissions this month. Only 25 left to go!

We’re less than a week and a half away from the 24 Hour Playfest! This is PCSF’s big fundraiser, if you didn’t know, Playwright’s Center of San Francisco helps and supports playwrights in the bay area. I found them close to a year ago, and I can say they’ve helped me learn a lot! I’ve had a staged reading, and coming up on a developmental reading with PCSF, and I regularly attend their bi-monthly scene nights. I’ve also met a lot of other playwrights and theatre folks through PCSF.

Please help support this organization and buy your tickets today! You can BUY TICKETS HERE. The house is small, and it would be great if we sold out both shows! So tell your friends, your family, even your co-workers. Get the word out. This is going to be a wonderful night of theatre, and you won’t want to miss it. In a lot of ways seeing the show will help you (because it’s going to be that good, and good theatre makes everything better) and PCSF and all the playwrights that they help. It’s a win, win, win situation. So, go ahead and BUY TICKETS HERE, don’t be shy!

Here is a list of all the playwrights writing for the festival:

Mordecai Ettinger

Carol Lashof

Rachel Bublitz

Vonn Scott Bair

Jerome Gentes

Laylah Muran De Assereto

Gaeteana Caldwell-Smith

Can’t wait to see you there!

Huge thank you to A7D Creative Group, especially Anna Gamboa for designing this great postcard for Repro Rights!

Tickets are on sale now! BUY TICKETS NOW!

Tickets are no on sale for Repro Rights on October 23rd at 7:30.

Here’s all the info:

ABOUT REPRO RIGHTS

Playwrights Center of San Francisco is sponsoring “REPRO RIGHTS,” a timely, entertaining, and thought-provoking evening of staged readings of original short plays and monologues on the topic of reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

Our benefiting organization is Planned Parenthood.

This event is driven by Bay Area playwrights, producers, directors, actors, volunteers, sponsors, and donors.

BUY TICKETS NOW!

WHY

The last two years have given rise to an alarming trend in challenges to women’s reproductive rights.

• In 2011 state legislatures introduced more than 1,100 anti-abortion provisions.

• Seven states either fully defunded or made moves toward defunding Planned Parenthood, which provides basic health care, contraception, breast cancer, and STD screenings to millions of low-income women each year.

• On a federal level, Republicans in Congress used abortion and Planned Parenthood funding as a bargaining chip during budget negotiations and almost shut down the government in the process.

• Mandatory ultrasound bills were introduced that tried to narrow the definition of rape to include only “forcible rape” and barred the District of Columbia from being able to use its own locally raised funds to help low-income women pay for abortions.

• In addition to witnessing dozens of ongoing state challenges, in what some have called a “war on women,” 2012 saw a House hearing on birth control that did not include a single woman.

BUY TICKETS NOW!

OTHER WAYS TO PARTICIPATE

We are seeking to recruit volunteers and sponsors to donate time and energy to raise money and draw awareness to this urgent issue.

Email 2playwrights@gmail.com to learn more about how you can help.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

• “My Body,” by Rachel Bublitz (directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton)

• “Prisoner of Love,” by Dana Sack (directed by Neil Higgins)

• “Lunch at the Cafe Ova, by Margy Kahn (directed by Michaela Goldhaber)

• “Snip Snip,” by Ignacio Zulueta (directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton)

• “A Cry in Ramah,” by Jeremy Cole (directed by Michaela Goldhaber)

• “Factory Farm: A Documentary,” by Jennifer Lynne Roberts (directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton)

• “It’s Good to Know,” by Megan Cohen (directed by Neil Higgins)

KEY PLAYERS

Producer: Tracy Held Potter

Associate Producer: Chelsey Little

Dramaturg: Christine Young

I had a sick in bed day yesterday, so today I’ve got to come out swinging! After all, I’ve got 30 plays to submit this month (not to mention check over 4,000+ plays for 31 Plays in 31 Days). Today I’ve sent three plays to a new play festival in Iowa. City Circle Acting Company is looking for 10 minute plays. They give priority to playwrights from Iowa, and plays that haven’t been produced yet. The deadline is October 1st, and they prefer simply sets and costumes. And the best part… No fee, and email submissions. Lovely when things are nice and simply, huh?

It is August 31st, and I’m more than a little emotional. I’ve gotten a lot of emails for playwrights just saying thank you. Thank you for the challenge, the encouragement, the community, and it feels amazing. We’ve generated over 4,000 new plays this month and it’s not yet midnight. Some folks have some catching up to do, we might just hit 5,000. I talked about my month on the 31 Plays in 31 Days website, if you’d like to read more about mine and Tracy Held Potter’s experience, read it here.

Tomorrow will be September 1st, the beginning of playwrightbinge. Each day for the month of September you submit a play… Good thing I have 31 new plays now! And thankfully, I’m only a participant… I’m not running that show.

We also have some exciting news coming up… Big things are happening at 31 Plays in 31 Days. We’ll be announcing them shortly so stay tuned!