I received this in an email this morning, my short “Her Special Day” is in this show! Here’s all the audition information you’ll need!

Wily West is pleased to be producing Sheherezade in benefit for the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco.Be part of the 12th annual production of this fun bennefit production of 8 new short plays!

WHAT: Auditions for Sheherezade XII: 2012 Benefiting The Playwrights’ Center of SF

§ 8-short plays, two directors, one ensemble cast (6-8 actors, multiple parts, work with both directors) § All ages 18+, ethnicities, body types encouraged!!! § Character ages range from mid-20s to 50s. § Non-AEA only

Directed by Ann Thomas and Kat Kneisel Play selections to be announced prior to auditions. The theme for this year is 2012 (plays range from Mayan apocalypse to predictions for the year in 2012).

WHEN: Saturday, February 25th 12-3pm, call-backs Sunday, February 26th 5pm-7pm

WHERE: Stage Werx 446 Valencia @15th

PERFORMANCE and other important DATES: § Opening weekend 5/11 & 5/12 (Open dress / preview on 5/10) § Runs Thu-Sat through 5/26 (8 perf) § Venue is Stage Werx § Rehearsal weekday evenings/weekend days 3/31 through 5/10 (tech week 5/5) § Table Read on or about Tuesday 3/13/2011 for benefit of production team and playwrights

STIPEND: small stipend TBD by size of cast; min $200

WHAT TO DO! Email headshot (any current picture is fine), resume and preferred 15 min appointment time (between 12:15 and 2:30) to Quinn.J.Whitaker@gmail.com. INCLUDE “Sheherezade Audition” in your subject line!!!

Come prepared to read sides and upon request 1 min contemporary monologue (comedic preferred).

FOR MORE INFO: Explore Wily West at http://wilywestproductions.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wily-West-Productions/111416145552587

Explore PCSF at www.playwrightscentersf.org and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Playwrights-Center-of-San-Francisco/15507604463 follow on Twitter @PlaywrightsSF

Alright folks, here’s your monthly update on my submission tallies. For this year, I have 37 total submissions, bringing my total up to 98. Of those submissions, I’ve been rejected 20 times, accepted 3 times, and 1 maybe. A lot of theatres only notify you if you’ve been selected, so more than likely I have quiet a few rejections. I’ll light a candle though, and hope to hear something until that no longer makes sense. I got my first mailed rejection a few days ago, from The Eugene O’Neil Theatre Conference. I had submitted “The Fantasy Club” months before it even had a third act, so I’m not surprised. I look forward to submitting again next year, I’m setting aside the play I was working out with the working title of “My Women” I reached a dead end on that road. Currently I’m working on a full length that has potential to be very funny. It has no title yet, I’m finishing up the first draft of Act I now. Curious? Shoot me an email, I love to get feedback!

Fantastic news! I found out that my short play “Her Special Day” will join the line up of Sheherezade XII:2012! Sheherezade is a benefit show for Playwright’s Center of San Francisco produced by Wily West Productions. “Her Special Day” will be directed by Kat Kneisel.

I am extremely excited, this will be the very first production of one of my plays. We have auditions this weekends and rehearsals begin in April. The show will run for three weekends in May. I will be posting dates and ticket info as soon as I have it, so stayed tuned!

Great news in the inbox today. The Playwright’s Center of San Francisco has selected “The Fantasy Club” to be in their Spring Reading Series. Some of the comments I received:

“The dialog sparkles.”

“I look forward to seeing this one as a staged reading. It is clear the playwright has reworked this piece and it is very producible. Nice work.”

“The characters are diverse and likable. Good arcs present and the protagonist’s obstacles many times lie with herself. Snappy dialogue.”

I will post the date as soon as I know it!

Yay! “The Anniversary” is in the top 40 our of 350 submissions for the Lakeshore Players’ 8th Annual Ten-Minute Playwrighting Contest! They’ll be announcing the top 20 in March, and the top 20 will receive a full production in June. It’s in Minnesota, and I think if I get in I’ll be trying my hardest to get out there for the performance. This would be the first time my work has been produced. Fingers crossed! But I am pretty excited to be in the top 40. That’s 2 places that have accepted my work.

So far this year I’ve submitted “The Fantasy Club” 15 times! I am on a role. I’m going to smash my goals to the ground.

Last week I auditioned with the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. They are a company that does staged readings of plays. I auditioned for Pirandello’s “Henry IV” and “Proof” by David Auburn. I won’t lie, I was nervous. I had already chickened out of an audition a few months ago. I haven’t acted in over four years, and the thought of getting back into it sent chills up my spine. I still don’t really understand why. I’ve never been afraid of being in front of people. It’s like I became another person after having children, someone who didn’t have the abilities the old me had. This was a terribly depressing to me. I had to know for sure if I needed to hang up my acting cloak for good, so I went to the auditions, nervous as hell.

Then a funny thing happened. I got there, I read for them, and I wasn’t nervous at all. It felt great in fact. I didn’t get a part, but that was fine, not getting cast in either play effected me less than when a company rejects a play I’ve written. Maybe I’m a writer at heart after all.

By the way, my head shot and acting resume are RIDICULOUS. I might have to post them later on just for a laugh.

I just made my first submission of 2012! I submitted to The Well, a theatre company in New York. They used my favorite method for submissions. Emailing just the script. So many theatres want so much extra information, I sometimes feel that I write more essays about the theme, characters, or the synopsis of my play than actual words in my script. I doubt that’s true, but that’s how I feel.

In 2011 I submitted “The Fantasy Club” 38 times, “The Anniversary” 18 times, “Bill and Kelly” 4 times, and “Her Special Day” twice, for a total of 62 submissions. I’m waiting to find out the result of most of my submissions, but so far I’ve had 9 rejections, and 1 acceptance. I wrote 3 ten minute plays in 2011, and one full length play. I’m pretty excited about those numbers, especially when I remember that I started writing again in August.

Looking to 2012 I have some goals (not resolutions). I want to complete another full length play and 4 more short or one act plays. I want to make it to 150 submissions, and I’d like 10 theatres or publishers to use my work. I would also like to read one play a week. I just finished “Henry IV” by Pirandello (translated by Stoppard), and I’m currently reading “Proof” by David Auburn.

Here’s looking to a more productive year!

I got my copy of The Rockford Review, the “Underneath” edition which includes my short play “Bill and Kelly” in the mail a few days ago. It’s pretty awesome, let me tell you. I enjoyed seeing my words in a magazine very, very much. If you haven’t already, go and buy a copy! You can get one here:

The Rockford Review

I was proud and excited until my husband came home. After he read my bio he said, “You didn’t list you email! All the other writers list their email or website, see?” Doh! It was disappointing to realize that if someone out there was actually interested in my play they couldn’t contact me to let me know. But whatever, now I’m on it. No bio of mine will go out without contact info.

Have you read “Bill and Kelly” in the Rockford Review? Tell me what you think!

December 17th (I know I’m getting to this late!) I went out to dinner and a show by myself. My daughter was vomiting, and so the babysitter I had scheduled bailed and my husband was stuck at home. I’m home with the kids 24 hours a day, and because I was so very excited to see “The Wild Bride,” I decided to go out stag. That is of course after calling/emailing/texting practically everyone on earth to see if they would join me. I guess December is a rough month for last minute plans. Alone I went, and I actually had a great time.

I ate out at this small restaurant on University in Berkeley called, Slow. They’re obviously big on the slow food movement. The food was wonderful, I had lamb shank and tabbouleh. And I enjoyed the atmosphere as well. It felt like a small take out shop, or fast food joint, but it had gourmet quality food, and at good prices for the bay area.

I don’t know when the last time was that I had a meal out in the world alone. I found myself not knowing where to look or what to do. Eventually I settled on looking outside. I felt like if I watched them cooking they would think that I was demanding food with my gaze. I guess it is just more social awkwardness that we’ve developed as we become farther and farther away from the process of making food. Anyway, I kicked myself about a hundred times, because I didn’t bring a book. I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and try not to make eye contact with anyone. But, in all honesty it really wasn’t so bad. When my food came, I got to eat and explore the tastes and flavors without being encumbered by conversation. I know that sounds strange, but it was nice for a change.

When I was done at Slow, I walked over to Half Priced Books on Shattuck. I still had over an hour before the show started and I thought I’d get a play to read while I waited. I must say that they have the worst theatre section I have ever encountered in my life. It’s sandwiched in between hundreds of screen plays, and music books and thrown in with dance and performance art. They had not one play. I found a book by Anna Deavere Smith called, “Letters to a Young Artist.” I’m still reading it, and I appreciate the advice so far. I would recommend it to anyone out there wanting to create art.

Finally I headed down Addison to the Berkeley Rep where I saw “The Wild Bride.” I absolutely, one hundred percent loved this show. The music, was great. The way they developed the story was great. Kneehigh is the English Theatre that brought the piece over, and I desperately want to spend time with. They pick a story they want to tell, and play and roll with it until they’ve developed it into a play. The actors all sang or played musical instruments. And they were very good. It was staged beautifully and the images produced were gripping. I had a slight problem with the ending. I think that could have possibly have been developed into something stronger. But, as I know now, ending a play is the hardest part.

So, go and eat at Slow, and go check out “The Wild Bride” it’s playing at the Berkeley Rep until January 22nd, 2012. Let me know what you think!