Festival production of “Knots” by Robert Moulthrop. Directed by Brian Spencer, featuring Rebecca Massek, Austin Bruce, and Marc DeSellem. 8 Tens @ 8; Short Play Festival, Actors Theatre, Santa Cruz, January 10 - February 9, 2020
Where is Philip K. Dick when we need him? Where’s Carl Hiaasen? Like, I suspect, many, I’m tired of saying “You can’t make this stuff up,” while laughing nervously and expecting to hear that a red button has been pushed. I’d really like my time, brains, and emotions back. Could we have the election tomorrow?
Read MoreFor the same reason I like the 10-minute play form, I like the challenge of what’s now called flash fiction (1000 words or less). This one captures the essence. And (surprise!) is pretty much all in dialogue.
Read MoreOne of the reasons I like the small canvas of a 10-Minute Play is the challenge of getting as much plot and character as possible into 10 or so pages. I’ve always loved dialogue. There’s something really thrilling to me about etching those double quote marks—when, old school writing by hand, you can really dig in with that ball point pen—then writing the words that will stream out of the mouth of a person who, at that particular moment, exists only inside my head. They speak, and, like that person sitting in the next booth in the coffee shop, or that impatient foot-tapper waiting for the light to change while either whispering or screaming into their cell phone, something about their character is revealed.
I’m happy to report that two of my 10-minute plays have recently found homes, here and abroad: The Santa Cruz County Actors Theatre 8 x 10 Festival (January 2020) will present my play Knots, in which Joseph and Michael are about to be married, but nerves and the past raise some serious (and funny) questions. This play was accepted and planned for production in Australia, in both the Sydney and Canberra Short+Sweet Fesitvals, but fate (or something) intervened, so Santa Cruz will be its first production. And Never Say Always— in which Josh and Sarah have been divorced for four years, so why does he want to meet now, in a restaurant— has been shortlisted for the Manilla Short+Sweet Festival.
Citizens of California and the United States at large are losing interest in punishment for punishment’s sake. The future of corrections is in rehabilitation, not only in policy with a few window-dressing programs but in practice.
By virtue of visionary leadership within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison is slated to spark a national rehabilitation movement.
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article235012797.html#storylink=cpy
The Virtues may feel, on first (or second or third) acquaintance, bland. Goody two-shoes. Nyah-nyah. And they are, actually, for most of us, difficult to live by, especially when there seems to be no need. Except when there is. And so, seven brief takes on the Saintly Seven.
Read MoreSo what’s left? We’ve visited the villages of Greed Hollow and Gluttony Gorge, had a picnic on Envy Green, toured the Palace of Pride, and looked around the Land O’ Lust. Our tour continues with a quick stop on the Isle of Wrath, followed by a very slow trek through the Slough of Sloth. Happy Trails!!!
Read MoreAs we wait for a few of the Virtues to, please, show themselves, we shall continue looking further at The Sin-ly Septet. It seems, as noted previously, lying is not a sin. In the same way courage and bravery don’t seem to meet the Virtues Threshold. Which, one might think, would make them easier to attain for un-saintly politicians. Mental fodder to chew over as we consider the next two transgressions in our Pantheon of Immoralities: Pride and Lust.
![The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. (1500 - 1550). Superbia [Pride] Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/2a64e540-504e-0135-e1a8-6d3ae1b911c7](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5989fbc4f14aa124337fb13c/1563947593519-GU2FIBDEZIZIQ6WU1BW0/nypl.digitalcollections.2a64e540-504e-0135-e1a8-6d3ae1b911c7.001.q.jpg)
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. (1500 - 1550). Superbia [Pride] Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/2a64e540-504e-0135-e1a8-6d3ae1b911c7
What on earth is wrong
With having the best?
I’m not at all bragging.
It’s a statement of fact.
I do not need or require
Your presence to know
Where I stand, what I am,
How I am, where you stand
In relation to me and my
Station, I earned it,
Entitled, a bit, but not
Being snobbish, just
Truthful.
Better is better.
And best is best.
What can I say?
I need flesh, I mean
Luscious flesh,
Young skin, please
Younger I said,
To touch,
To take me in
Thrust and thirst
And thrust and Thrust
Who are you who you are
Is consequential-less,
Consequence-less
You are there for me.
Orifice to satisfy
Except
That’s all? That
Was it? I mean
Maybe over there,
The other flesh
Will be the one
Yes I must have
The other flesh
To thrust and Thrust
Except
I mean
Is that
All?
When
Is
Enough?
I rarely commit poetry these days. However, something in our current zeitgeist filtered through the Erato mist, and I found myself, almost unbidden, using verse to try and come to terms with all the anti-truth that every day dribbles through our consciousness.
Read MoreNo, I am not ready to leave. Why do you always do this? You always slurp your coffee like a Russian Wolfhound at a bowl of water, like it’s the last cup of coffee on earth you’re ever going to get, and then you do what you just did, just stand up like that, like you’re doing now, put on your coat and your scarf, and stand there, looking down at me with that Day of Judgment glare.
Read MoreEvery now and then, someone with chalk and a purpose, or a marker and determination, will take over a patch of sidewalk, or the boarding around a construction site, and share their thoughts with us passers-by.
Read MoreGeorge Wayne Cameron (1959-2019)—a prisoner serving Life Without Parole in an Alabama prison near Birmingham—died over Memorial Day weekend. I’d known George since 1996 when a Good Friday prayer card at Marble Collegiate Church came into my hands.
Read MoreMy short play Doug and Ava Say ‘I Love You’ was recently performed in an international short play festival, Short + Sweet Sydney 2019.
Read MoreSo, what do you want? Me? I don’t know. English muffin. Maybe. I know my eyes are really red. Long night last night, honey. Maybe eggs. Just not fried, the way they lay on the plate and stare up at you. How about French toast? Come on, you have to eat something. Mommy’ll quiz you, then she’ll say I’m a bad Dad.
Read MoreThat photo of a black hole… Whirling toward oblivion… And now, The Mushroom That’s Eating Us Alive!
Read MoreThe following abstract will be read on behalf of John Purugganan at The Future of Justice Policy Roundtable, which will include and discuss one of John’s recent essays, “Life Without Parole: The Shocking Truth.” The Future of Justice Policy Roundtable is hosted by Square One Project, and co-hosted by Merritt College and the Justice Lab at Columbia University.
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For some time I’ve been interested in (all right, obsessed with) listening to people’s conversations as they eat in public. I know it’s perhaps unethical to pry, but it’s a public place—what are they expecting? And I’m proud to say I accomplish my objective—mining this essential raw material—very discretely. (I don’t stare, I don’t take notes—well, if I do, I pretend to be jotting down something I’m thinking about.) And it’s not as if I transcribe directly; it’s more like a prompt. Mostly. Sometimes.
I worry sometimes that if people really knew what they were saying while they’re eating, they’d probably stop talking completely. And that would be a disservice to all us writers. So please don’t mention my habit to anyone. As an enducement to your cooperative quiet, I’m sharing here the first in an irregular series of, what?monologues from those eating, based on what they’ve ordered. In this case …
God, I hate coffee shops. They always put too much mayonnaise on these things and why is rye toast so difficult? Tomato like cardboard. …Can’t anyone do anything right?
Why did you order beets? I’m your mother, I know you hate them. Why are you using that beet to make designs on your placemat? Put the beet back in the dish for god’s sake. Is this like the oatmeal this morning? And don’t give me that look. I am so tired of your looks. Use words for god’s sake. Clear the air for once. Oh, never mind.
Why are you wearing your cheerleader uniform now? Showing off for… Aren’t you supposed to be in history this afternoon or something, learning something?
I don’t get you. I’m not the one who needed this conference. Family counseling. As if talking to a stranger was going to… What is that sigh? One more and I… If you’re going to be mad at anyone, be mad at your father. Daddy-Do-No-Wrong. His idea. And of course he’s late. …This sandwich is foul. …I’ve got a 1:30 back at the office, had to pick you up from school. I take any more time away from the office, they’re going to…
Do not pick up your phone. I swear I will take it away and you won’t see a phone until you leave for college, bless the day when that miracle happens. And don’t put it in your lap and think I don’t know that you’re texting Susan, all right Stephanie, whoever. You and your so-called friends.
Listen to me, Miss Perfect. Show some respect or it’s military boarding school. Don’t test me.
Here’s your father. You smile, dammit. Remember. I’m not the one at fault here.
Hi, dear. You have time for a bite? Try the BLT.
Read MoreI hid behind a tiki hut to sketch Jane Burgoyne by Robert Moulthrop during its live performance on Sunday.
These small moments are the ones that keep us coming back for more… to re-watch the movies they’re in, and to explore movies we don’t know, or don’t yet know, in order to enlarge ourselves and our lives.
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A staged reading. Sounds so simple. But it takes 17 hours over 4 days; 1 director, 3 actors, 1 reader of stage directions, 1 stage manager; 1 play development director. Not to mention an audience of around 120 people, a crew of ushers, the sound and lighting departments, and then there’s those providing PlayWrights Punch in the concession area. And, of course, the playwright. It was a wonderful week. It was exhilarating and exhausting.
The latest version of Jane Burgoyne, developed over the summer with the help of Cynthia White (Orlando Shakes director of new play development), made for a stronger play, and provided the director and the actors with moments that connected. Hats off and big thanks to director Tony Simotes, and actors Kate Young (Jane), Michelle Brightman (Katherine), and Megan Valle (Allison). And also Alli Gersbach (Stage Manager), and Melissa Landy (Stage Directions reader).
What’s next for Jane? I’ll keep you posted.
