NEW!!
7/29/10 - The Photograph by
Mona Deutsch Miller, as well
as other short plays will be included in an evening that
mixes comedy and drama as it explores the ultimate human
emotion. Performances are Friday and Saturday (8/6 and
8/7) at 8 PM, and Sunday (8/8) at 3 PM. Tickets are $10.
StillSpeaking Theatre is located in Crist Hall on
the campus of the San Marino Congregational United
Church of Christ, 2560 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA
91108. Free parking in the lot on the premises.
7/27/10 - T.F. Cahill's
Going to Tibet
will run at the
Thistle Dew
Playwrights Theater in Sacramento (CA) October 1, 2,
3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17, 2010.
7/22/10 -
Tough Economic Times Call for "Tender" Play -
Kelly Younger's
Tender at Gloucester (MA) Stage Company
7/14/10 -
David-Matthew Barnes has been
announced as one of the featured authors at the
Decatur Book Festival (9/3-5, 2010)!
7/8/10 -
Leslie
Bramm's
Venus and Mona will be presented by Three Crows
Theatre at the NYFringe Festival (Kraine Theatre),
August 15, 18, 22, 25 and 27 -
www.fringenyc.org
7/8/10 - Tender by
Kelly Younger
is playing at Gloucester (MA) Stage Company July 8-25.
The family home, wallpapered with a lifetime of I.O.U.s,
is about to go into foreclosure and Christopher, the
Patron Saint of Travelers, is on standby. All that is
tender is not green in this humorous and heartbreaking
family drama. Directed by Eric C. Engel, Cast includes
Denise Cormier, Richard McElvain and Brendan Powers.
Tender was developed with support of New Repertory
Theatre, Watertown (MA). Artists’ post-show “Talk
Back” - Sunday, July 11.
www.gloucesterstage.com
7/7/10 -
Freeport Family Performing Arts Proudly Announces
Auditions for it's Innaugural Production of
Mary O'Leary & the Leprechauns of Ballybun Village,
Written & Directed by
Tim Ryan. Saturday July
31st, 1pm - 4pm & Sunday, August 1st, 4pm - 7pm.
Freeport High School Cafeteria, 30 Holbrook Street.
Auditions are open to everyone from everwhere, ages 7yrs
old to Adults. Entire families are encouraged to
audition and participate. People of Short Stature are
also Very Highly Encouraged to audition! ;) Those
auditioning please be prepared to tell a joke as well as
read from the script. Please also bring an Irish accent
with you. (or at least attempt one.) EVERYONE
AUDITIONING WILL BE OFFERED A SPEAKING ROLE!! SHOW
DATES will be in late Sept and early October at the
Freeport Performing Arts Center. Details to be announced
very soon!
Plot & Character Information. For more
Information Please Contact Director - Tim Ryan @ (207)
415-6251 or email
TimRyan65@RoadRunner.com
6/1/10 - JUST RELEASED! JAC's monologue compilation "interJACtions:
Volume 1 - Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature"!
5/27/10 - Martha Patterson's half-hour radio
comedy/ murder mystery "VERONIQUE" is available
to listen on your very own computer! Through June 2nd,
from Shoestring Radio Theatre in San Francisco, you can
listen starting 5/27, live, click on the link below and
then click on "Listen" and then on "Streaming." It airs
at 9:30pm West Coast time, or 12:30pm East Coast time
for night owls, with comparable difference for other
time zones. If you want to listen to the taped version
during the week (starting Friday) you will need to
either already have or download MP3 or RealAudio (which
are FREE) to listen to the show. Just click on the link:
www.shoestring.org/listen.html#radio. It's
old-time-style radio theatre, with sound effects &
everything!! The setting is New York City and the state
of Maine. "Veronique" Who murdered film producer Anton?
His lover Veronique and her friend Chloe try to find out
before they are implicated in this stylish
comedy-mystery. Written by Martha Patterson; Directed by
Steve Rubenstein
5/24/10 - Congratulations to Arthur
Jolly, whose The
Bricklayer is a monologue in
JAC's upcoming compilation. Jolly's A Gulag Mouse
is a finalist for the Woodward/Newman Drama Award!
5/18/10
- Congratulations to
David-Matthew
Barnes, who has accepted a full-time
teaching position at Southern Crescent Technical College
in Griffin (GA). Barnes will be teaching Theatre and
Creative Writing.
5/18/10 - Small Bites: A Smorgasbord of One Act Plays
in Deetjen Theatre, Montclair, NJ, September 24 & 25. Svec's
The Home Front
will soon be available thru JAC Publishing!
5/18/10 -
J.C. Svec's
The Ancient Mariner will play at The Curtain
Players, Halem Road Playhouse in Galena (OH) on July 24
& 25.
5/13/10- J.C. Svec's
work will be featured in Planet Connections Theatre/Tribe Productions'
Small Bites: A Smorgasbord of
One-Act Comedies @ The Gene Frankel Theatre, 24
Bond Street, NYC June 16-16. For information, visit
www.planetconnectionsfestivity.com or call (866)
811-4111. Svec's The Home Front
will soon be available thru JAC Publishing!
5/10/10
- Janice Lidell's
Who Will Sing for Lena? will play at the North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre
on May 14, 15 & 16. www.ncblackrep.org;
www.nbtf.org
5/8/10
- Andy Pederson's Yellow Light
part of
which is included in JAC's upcoming monologue
compilation, is playing at Chicago's Gorilla Tango
Theatre. www.gorillatango.com
4/15/10 -
Felix
Racelis' short play New
Business was among the plays selected to receive two
more weekends of production as part of ShortLived 3.0,
an audience-judged playwriting competition. It will run
again Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 pm April 16,
17, 23 & 24 at The Asylum Lab in Hollywood. For tix and
info:
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/103421
4/10/10 -
Russell Sage College's Creative Performances Department
will present
Cristina
Pippa's Cell Cycle, April 22-25
@ 45 Ferry St., Troy, NY - (518)
244-2248
4/7/10 - 4/8-25 -
Michael
Vukadinovich's Terrarium - Son of
Semele and Red Tie Productions present the world premier
directed by Efrain Schunior @ 3302 Beverely Blvd, Los
Angeles, CA 90004; Thursday – Saturday 8pm, Sundays at
6pm -www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98468
4/7/10 - A
weekend of one-act plays by monologue contributor
Janice Kennedy will be presented
at the Lex Theatre in Hollywood, April 23-25.
Directed by Jennifer Bushnell, the
presentation includes The Dark, The Final Page, and
Blink. Peter Pano and Janet Keijser are featured actors.
3/31/10 -
Orlando Shakespeare Theatre's PlayFest! The Harriett Lake Festival of
New Plays (featuring special guest Philip Seymour
Hoffman) will present ONCE A MARINE by
Kelly
Younger.
Directed by Richard Perez. A shell-shocked marine
returns home with no recollection of the life, or the
wife, he left behind. The only woman he does remember –
the one he came back for – is his first love of fifteen
years ago. His bittersweet homecoming rekindles that
love, and dredges up his most painful of memories. He
must choose a future of blissful ignorance or a past of
buried grief. But he is not the one who will decide. For
more information and tickets:
http://www.orlandoshakes.org/PlayFest.html
3/25/10
-
Scenes from
JAC monologue contributor
Martha Patterson's
The Big Hat will be read at SWAN Day (Support
Women Artists Now), directed by Roxanna Myrhum, Boston
Playwrights Theatre, March 27. Her short comedy
Cookin' with Gas has been selected for the next
One Act eco-friendly showcase 'We Mean to be Green'
being held in April 23-24, 2010 by Thespian Productions
in Ft. Myers (FL).
Shoestring Radio Theatre online, will be featuring
her half-hour comedy/murder mystery Veronique
in May, 2010, and An Artful Marriage will be
produced by The Pink Banana Theatre, directed by Ashlea
Woodley, at the Off Broadway Theatre, 342 North Water
Street, Milwaukee (WI). Show dates May 21-June 5.
3/25/10 -
JAC monologue contributor
Arthur M. Jolly's
Past Curfew will run at the Pacific Resident
Theatre April 1-18, Thurs-Sat 8pm, Sundays 7pm. 707
Venice Blvd (4 blocks West of Lincoln), 90291 - (323)
460-2508. Suggested donation $15. Recommended for mature
audiences only.
www.pacificresidenttheatre.com
3/20/10 -
David-Matthew Barnes
will be a featured author (along with Clifford Henderson
& Lisa Girolami) at Pride in Monterey (CA). He will
be reading from his novel Mesmerized at the Marina
Library on April 24th. His
stage play Temporary Heroes opens in Odessa (TX) on
April 14. Barnes
will be a panel moderator and a featured reader at the
Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans from
May 13 - May 16. For more info, visit
www.sasfest.org.
3/15/10 -
Leslie
Bramm's
MARVELOUS will be read March 28th
at 3pm at ART/NY, 520 Eighth Avenue 3rd floor, Studio B.
Reservations are not required. There is a suggested
donation of $5.
3/10/10 -
Felix
Racelis'
New Business,
a short play, will be performed at ShortLived 3.0, an
audience-judged playwriting competition taking place at
8:00 pm on April 2, 3, 9 and 10 at The
Asylum Lab, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd. For tix and info,
visit
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/103421 or email
felixracelis@yahoo.com
3/2/10 -
Robin
Rice Lichtig's
Suki Livingston Opens Like a Parachute is
playing 3/15 @ Theater for the New
City, 155 1st Ave. (between 9th & 10th St.)
Contribution: $5 -
www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
2/28/10 -
Phil Olson's
Don't Hug Me will play at the historic
Paramount Theatre, August 19-21 in St. Cloud
(MN) - (302)
259-5463
2/25/10
-
Michael
Vukadinovich's
A Giant Arc in the Skyspace of Directions (or The
Story of Miracles)
is running at LA Theatre Ensemble's Powerhouse Theatre,
3116 2nd St., Santa Monica (CA) 3/4-27, 2010.
www.powerhousetheatre.com.
His
Terrarium
is running at Red Tie Productions, 3302 Beverely Blvd.,
Los Angeles (CA) 4/8-25, 2010.
www.sonofsemele.org.
His
Trog and Clay (an Imagined History of the Electric
Chair)
is running at LA Theatre Ensemble's Powerhouse Theatre,
3116 2nd St., Santa Monica (CA) 4/22-5/15, 2010.
www.powerhousetheatre.com
2/24/10 -
STOP THE VIOLENCE: Remembering the Execution of Lena Mae
Baker
-
Saturday, March 6,
2010
● 5:00 p.m. Heritage Education Center Auditorium ● 4th
Floor, 101 Auburn Avenue, NE ● Atlanta, GA 30303-2503.
Panelists include: Dr. Josephine Bradley, Chair,
Department of African-American/Africana Women’s Studies
at Clark Atlanta University; Dr. Eugene Walker, DeKalb
County Board of Education Representative; Dr. Janice
Liddell, Professor, Department of English at Clark
Atlanta University; Kathryn Anderson Weaver, Media
Specialist with the Atlanta Public Schools; Ms. Latonya
S. Peterson: Consultant, writer and member of the
National Black Herstory Task Force, Inc; Kathryn
Anderson Weaver will perform an excerpt from
Who Will Sing
For Lena.
ALL PROGRAMS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. For
additional information call AARL at (404) 730-4001, ext.
100
2/24/10 -
LIVE @ THE
LIBE SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL - three one-hour programs of
short works. All programs are free and open to the
public. Included are: JAC monologue compilation
playwright
Arthur Jolly's Bailing Out
on
February 28
(2pm) @ West Los Angeles Regional Branch, 11360 Santa
Monica Blvd. - (310) 575-8323;
www.lapl.org
2/24/10 -
LIVE @ THE LIBE SHORT PLAY
FESTIVAL - three one-hour programs of short works. All
programs are free and open to the public. Included are:
JAC monologue compilation playwright
Gene
Lesser's
The Pitch on
March
3
(6:30pm) @ Westwood
Branch Library, 1246 Glendon Ave. - (310) 474-1739;
www.lapl.org
2/24/10 -
LIVE @ THE LIBE SHORT PLAY
FESTIVAL - three one-hour programs of short works. All
programs are free and open to the public. Included are:
JAC monologue compilation playwright Chris Hare's
Scraps,
and JAC monologue compilation playwright
Janice Kennedy's Shadows Round the Moon
on March 6 @ Donald Kaufman
Brentwood Branch Library, 11820 San Vicente Blvd., (310)
575-8273;
www.lapl.org
2/10/10 - David-Matthew
Barnes'
Pensacola is running at the Lambda
Players from February 19 thru April 3 @
21st & L Street Theatre, 1127 21st Street, Sacramento -
(916) 444-8229;
www.lambdaplayers.com
2/10/10 - Mona Deutsch
Miller's comedy Strangers on a Train
will be part of a series
of short plays read at the Westwood Public Library,
located at 1246 Glendon Avenue, Los Angeles, on March 3,
2010 at 6:30 PM. Deutsch Miller is
one of the
playwrights to be included in JAC's upcoming monologue
compilation.
2/4/10 -
Playwrights 6 is presenting
Rick Mitchell's
award-winning play,
BRECHT IN L.A.,
directed by Jonathan Levit, as a staged reading on
Tuesday, February 9th,
at 8:00 p.m., at the Underground Theatre, 1314 N.
Wilton Place, Hollywood 90028. Admission is free, and a
reception will follow the performance. For further
information, please call Playwrights 6 at (323)
860-6625. Mitchell's Acadiana Sludge
is forthcoming from JAC, as well as his monologue "The
Party" in JAC's upcoming
monologue compilation.
1/22/10 - Tim Ryan's
Who Pushed
Humpty Dumpty
will be performed at Windham (ME) High School, April 9,
10 & 11, 2010.
1/18/10 - Evan Guilford-Blake,
one of the playwrights to be included in JAC's upcoming
monologue compilation, is the top price winner in the
Bottle Tree Productions' One Act Play Competition in
Kingston, Ontario. In Guilford-Blake's
American Blues, the blues act
as a backdrop for love and despair in a beautifully
crafted tale of a mother and daughter clinging to their
dreams.
Read more!
12/22/09 - 3/10 - Janice L. Lidell's
Who Will Sing for
Lena
will be performed at Russ College in Holly Springs,
Mississippi. Additional May dates TBA.
12/16/09 -
Phil
Olson's Polyester The Musical
is running thru 12/20 @ Actors Forum Theatre, 10655
Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601 (between
Vineland & Cahuenga). POLYESTER The Musical is the
story of The Synchronistics, an over-the-hill, ABBA
wannabe group, that re-unites after 20 years to perform
at a public access TV Telethon. It’s "Mamma Mia" meets “Spinal Tap.”
Book by Phil Olson (Don't Hug Me, A Don't Hug Me
Christmas Carol, A Don't Hug Me County Fair); Music by
Wayland Pickard (e-Love, Is This Any Way to Start a
Marriage, Liberace); Lyrics by Phil Olson & Wayland
Pickard. Directed by Wayland Pickard & Doug Engalla; Choreography by Michele Bernath; Featuring:
Pamela Donnelly, Gwendolyn Druyor, Christopher
Fairbanks, Robert Moon and Jim Staahl.
General Admission: $20; Seniors/Students: $17; Groups:
$15. Reservations: (323) 822-7898 or reserve
online at
www.PolyesterTheMusical.com. For more
information on Phil, visit him online at
www.philolson.net.
11/20/09 -
Outsider's Inn
Collective will be presenting
Leslie Bramm's
BIG BALL
at PrimaVera Arts Center, 112 5th Ave.N, Seattle (WA)
December 4-13, 2009.
See the show
poster!
11/20/09 - Check out another side of
Fred Rohan Vargas
- his songwriter side! Give him a
listen to his "Movin' On"
and you're sure to become a fan!
11/12/09 -
Nicholas
Conti's
The Merry Women of Windham,
which won an award at Gettysburg College in 11/05 and is
now published through Lazy Bee Scripts-UK, was done by
the Trinity Drama Group in Dublin, Ireland in October,
2009. It was entered in the 'The
Dundrum One Act Play Festival' and came out 2nd in
the Confined Division
10/30/09 -
Favorites
is the new book by author/playwright
Garret Mathews.
It is a collection of newspaper columns about Americana,
'the likes of which are fading from print.'
10/15/09 -
Leslie Bramm's
Islands of Repair
will be presented at Hole in the Wall Theater in New
Britain (CT) January 22 thru February 20,
2010. Performances run Fridays and Saturdays with two
matinees. For more information, visit
www.hitw.org
9/30/09 - L.A. Premiere - Freedom, Texas by
Michael
Halperin
– (Q&A with playwright) starring Michael Rachlis,
Rachelle Carson, Donald Sage McKay, Jeff LeBeau, Rico E.
Anderson. A comedy about a Jewish kid from Los
Angeles in 1953 who ventures to small town Texas with
dreams of being a radio star! Oct. 17 - JCC at
Milken Play Series, 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills 91307
- Ticket Info: 818.464.3300; Oct. 18 - Westside JCC Play
Series, 5870 Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles 90036 - Ticket
Info: 323.938.2531 Ext. 225
6/28/09 - Of Interest? -
Submitted by Thomas M. Kelly:
NYTimes:
Rethinking Gender Bias in Theatre
by Patricia Cohen & Princeton Study:
Opening the Curtain on Playwright
Gender: An Integrated Economic Analysis of
Discrimination in American Theater
by Emily Glassberg Sands (PDF)
6/19/09 - William Arnold's Night of the Musical Dead
runs July 24 through August 22.
The performances are Friday and
Saturday nights at 8:00PM. There are also two Sunday
matinees at 2:00PM (August 2 and 16th). The Hole in the
Wall Theater is located at 116 Main Street in New
Britain, CT. Visit
www.hitw.org for
directions and more info.
6/3/09 - Catch
George Matry Masselam's Angela and Her Dad
as part of Playwrights' Platform's 2009 Festival of New
Plays, June 11-20
at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. 949 Commonwealth
Ave., Boston -
www.playwrightsplatform.org
5/20/09 - Nicholas Conti's
Pageant Play,
commissioned by the City of Poughkeepsie (NY), takes
place on
May 26th at 3 PM in celebration of the
Quadricentennial of the Discovery & Exploration of The
River named Henry Hudson! There'll be Revolutionary Army
Re-Enactors, Coast Guard Ships, 1 or 2 tall ships...a
West Point Band, George Washington, wearing his wooden
teeth and riding his white Stallion, singers Musicians
even politicians. Come down to the River in Poughkeepsie
it's free and Bring the Family! They are also dedicating
this plot of land with a Plaque an American
Revolutionary War Shipyard and on Livingston's Land.
3/17/09 -
Judith Pratt
New improved website and blog!
www.judithpratt.com
and
http://blot.judithpratt.info
for info on working with freelance writers!
1/14/09 -
East Lake High School Drama Team in Sammamish (WA) will
present
David Tucker's Check, Please
on January 29 & 30,
2009.
1/8/09 - Rick Mitchell's
play
The Composition of Herman Melville (abridged),
with music by Max Kinberg, will be part of the
Metropolitan Playhouse's Melvillapalooza, running January 12 thru 25
at 220 E.
4th Street in NYC. For mroe information, visit
www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/melvillapalooza.htm
12/12/08 - Robert Ahola
happily announces the second
edition of his fantasy novel,
I Dragon has been fully
released by Great Concept Books. You can order it at
Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and wherever fine books
are sold. You can also order it directly from the
publisher by clicking on
I, Dragon
10/27/08 -
Robert Ahola
happily announces the New Second
Edition of
The Return of the Hummingbird
Wizard,
recently released by Great Concept Books and available
at
www.BarnesandNoble.com,
www.Amazon.com
or wherever fine books are sold. You may also order it
directly from the
publisher.
10/27/08 - DramaWest presents a free staged
reading of a new short play,
NEW BUSINESS by Felix Racelis, Saturday,
November 1, 2008, 2pm @
Edendale Library, 2011 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
90026. Two members of a group in decline discuss
momentous new business. Brandon Harrison directs Randy
Roberts and Jace Kent. Also on the bill are short plays
by Diane Grant, Barbara Krupa, Kuang Lee, Julio Martinez
and John Lane.
10/14/08 - Bishop Amat Theatre Arts presents
I Think You Think I Love You and Other Plays, including
Kelly Younger's Forgive Me, Father, 10/25-11/2
@ the Performing Arts
Building, 14301 Fairgrove Ave., La Puente, CA
9/24/08 -
Felix Racelis' Uncommon
Threads,
which won Fire Rose Productions' First Annual Ten-Minute
Play Contest, will be performed Saturday, September 27,
7:30 door/8:00 performance @ Barnsdall Gallery Theatre,
4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Bill White directs a
cast that features Shirley Jackson and Alma Collins.
Wary of a snobbish museum staffer's motives, an African
American retiree withdraws her quilt submission until
she discovers they have more in common than just their
ethnicity. The evening also features Papa's Boy
by Kaz Matamura and short plays by other writers.
Tickets: $22. Evening features a silent auction, sake
tasting & more. Proceeds benefit Fire Rose Productions'
Youth Ensemble Outreach Programs. Info: 1.877.620.ROSE
x707,
www.ItsMySeat.com
9/15/08 -
Felix Racelis'
New Business,
is part of A STAGE ODYSSEY at FirstStage, on a bill with
short plays by Jennifer K. Hugus, Dan Davis, Tom
Misuraca, Roger Brookfield and Michael Sadler. In NEW
BUSINESS, two long-standing members of an organization
in decline discuss some serious "new business."
Performances are Thursday, Sept. 18; Thursday, Sept. 25;
Monday, Sept. 29 and Tuesday, Sept. 30, all at 8pm.
Location: 6817 Franklin Ave. (at Highland), Hollywood
(CA). Tickets: $10. Info and reservations: (323)
850-6271.
8/23/08 -
SummerStage (Delafield, WI)
presents Three Irish One-Act Play Readings including
Kelly Younger's
Forgive Me, Father
8/22/08 -
Tim Ryan's Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty
will be performed 9/24 & 25, 2008 in New Plymouth,
Taranaki, New Zealand.
7/25/08 -
The Boys of Winter,
antiwar play written by Barry Brodsky,
Dean B. Kaner, & Eric Small;
Directed by Bridget
Kathleen O’Leary. September 5-21;
performances run Fri.*-Sat. at 8 pm, Sun. at 2 pm and 8
pm. [*September 5th benefit performance for Veterans For
Peace and Iraq Veterans Against The War.] At the Boston
Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston.
Convenient to the Green Line (B train) [detailed
directions at
www.bu.edu/bpt/directions/index.html];
wheelchair accessible. Tickets: $20, $10 for
students/seniors/veterans/first responders; group rates
available. Box Office opens one hour before each show
(cash or credit cards only). For advance tickets, log
onto
www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/2692
or call 866-811-4111 (toll free). For general
information, log onto
www.boysofwinterplay.com.
7/24/08 -
The Ridgefield
Theater Barn Presents a Staged Reading of Jim Gordon's
AND THE MEEKS SHALL INHERIT.
Directed by
Lester Colodny with Kim Lowden, Tracy James, Mike
Boland, Linda Denholtz, Kevin Smith & Maureen Cummings -
Tuesday, July 29th at 7:30 P.M. Admission: Donations
Appreciated; Light refreshments served. Ridgefield
Theater Barn, 37 Halpin Lane, Ridgefield, CT. (203)
431-9850;
www.Theaterbarn.org
6/5/08 -
The Play's The Thing: It's words,
words, words for busy local playwright
by Ronald B. Hellman
Astoria Times: Thursday, June 5,
2008 2:22 PM EDT
In the beginning was the
word, and Fred Rohan Vargas has lots of them. Chatting
at my office, overlooking the LIRR Douglaston station,
it was hard to tell who was doing the interviewing. But
since it's my column, we decided it should be me,
especially since Fred, now age 59, has done so many
things that most people never get to do. "I'm just
starting the second act of my life," he proclaims. If
you go to Fred's Web site,
www.RohanVargas.com,
it says that he's a playwright, artist and composer, but
that's just scratching the surface.
Read full article
4/30/08 - JAC Publishing's
own
JulieAnn Charest is directing
Michael Healey's
"The
Drawer Boy."
The production runs
May 1 thru 17,
2008 at Beatrice Herford's Vokes Theater, on Route 20 in
Wayland, MA. Visit
www.vokeplayers.org
for information.
4/29/08 - "House of Sticks,"
a short play by JAC Playwright Felix Racelis
(and a finalist in Fire Rose Productions' Ten-Minute
Play Contest) is part of OFF THE WALL, an evening of
short plays presented by FirstStage and the Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce. In the play, a young homeless
shelter director escorts a major donor on a tour to seal
the deal on a major gift, until a homeless client throws
a wrench into her plans. Felix Racelis directs a cast
that includes Camille Ameen, Arnie Weiss and Jennifer
Hugus. Wed. & Fri., April 30, May 2, May 7 and May 9, 2008
all at 8pm. Tickets: $10. Info & Reservations: (323)
850-6271.
3/21/08 -
csweekly
Remembering Malvin Wald |
Malvin Wald (1917-2008): A Writer
First, and Above All Else
By
Erik Bauer
"The roads to becoming a creative
artist. Music. Poetry. Painting. Photography.
Drama. Film. An artist's life never ends with
his death. He lives on through his work. Think
about that, my young friend. Seriously."
- Photographer Alfred
Stieglitz, 1934 (as told to a 17-year-old Malvin
Wald)
On Thursday, March 6, Malvin Wald died in his
sleep and Creative Screenwriting lost one
of its first and most important collaborators.
I first spoke to Malvin in 1994, right after the
first issue of Creative Screenwriting had
been published. I had reached out to film
faculty across the country and Malvin called me,
enthusiastic about my new journal. He wanted to
help any way he could. I added him to
Creative Screenwriting's original editorial
board, and we created a new section in the
journal, The Screenwriting Life, to
accommodate the many amazing stories he had
about his career in screenwriting. It is that
life which I celebrate here.
Malvin Wald grew up in the working class
Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and
entered Brooklyn College at the age of 15. He
wrote a weekly humor column and graduated cum
laude in psychology and education. Later, he
would add graduate studies in drama and a law
degree.
In 1938, he followed brother, Jerry Wald, to
Hollywood. Jerry was a prolific producer (An
Affair to Remember) and the primary
inspiration for Budd Schulberg's book, What
Makes Sammy Run? Malvin wrote an original
script called Benefit of Mankind, based
on his experience as a "sometime student of
undergraduate law courses" and his two years
working in the Brooklyn Post Office. He got the
script into the hands of agent Arthur Landau,
once famous as the agent for Jean Harlow and
Marie Dressler. "But when those two great stars
died, Landau fell on bad times and was willing
to accept anybody as a client, even unknowns
like me," Malvin wrote.
Landau sold the screenplay to Warner Bros. for
actor John Garfield. Signed to a Warner Bros.
writing contract for $250/week as part of that
deal, Malvin wrote a treatment for The Shadow,
but Jack Warner told his producer, Brian Foy,
"Never will Warner Bros. do a comic book. We do
the great pictures. We will go out of business."
I guess times have changed a little.
Being on the Warner lot had other advantages for
Malvin. He met Jack and Harry Warner, and was
invited by John Huston to dine at the legendary
Warner Bros. writer's table. There he was
introduced to Humphrey Bogart, Julius and Philip
Epstein, Errol Flynn, and veteran writer, George
Bricker, who told him, "If you don't make it big
by time you are 40, you will be considered a
washed-up hack." Maybe times haven't changed so
much.
After his seven-month contract ran out, Malvin
was unemployed. He sold a story to Fox studio
head Darryl Zanuck, Ten Gentlemen from West
Point, which he had researched in the
history room of a local public library. The
screenplay for the film was written by Richard
Maibaum (From Russia With Love,
Goldfinger) and George Seaton, with an
uncredited $1,000/day polish by legendary
screenwriter Ben Hecht (Wuthering Heights).
In April 1942, while working on an assignment at
Columbia Pictures, Malvin was drafted. He
entered the Army Air Corps, serving in the First
Motion Picture Unit. He wrote more than 30
instructional films there, working with Ronald
Reagan, William Holden, and other notable
actors. Former Editor-In-Chief Den Shewman and I
took Malvin to lunch about six months ago, and
Malvin told us about his experiences working in
the unit. One of the films he wrote, Ditch
and Live, was very well regarded by the Air
Force, and his vivid recollection of the story
inspired me to begin a horror treatment on a
related concept (a B-29 bomber crashing in the
Artic). Such was the power of his enthusiasm.
After the war, Malvin was unemployed and he took
up play and short story writing. His one act
play, Talk in Darkness, was popular, with
a young Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte
appearing in it in Harlem. He credited that
success with earning him the opportunity to
write The Naked City.
In 1946 Malvin met Universal-International
Producer Mark Hellinger and sold him on the idea
of researching the NYPD homicide case files for
a new kind of police story. Malvin wrote, "My
concept was that the police department, with its
fingerprint experts, crime scene photographers,
autopsy physicians, solved murders, not Sam
Spade type private eyes working alone.
"When I returned to Hollywood a month later with
a notebook full of story ideas, Hellinger asked
me eagerly, 'Do you have a good story?' 'I don't
know,' I answered. 'There are eight million
stories in the Naked City.' Hellinger replied,
'Forget about the eight million, just give me
one good one.'"
Malvin worked for six months on the screenplay,
and when it was finished, "Hellinger called me
in and said he couldn't do it. It was too
original. I had written a script where actual
locations in New York were to be used instead of
Hollywood studio sets. Hellinger said that would
be too difficult to produce and was shelving the
project. I begged him to get a second opinion,
and he reluctantly gave the script to director
Jules Dassin, who had just finished making a
picture called Brute Force for him.
Hellinger called me a few days later to say that
Dassin loved the idea and told Hellinger that
they would make film history with it," Malvin
related.
The gritty, black-and-white
film noir did make history, inaugurating the police
procedural genre and popularizing the method of
shooting scenes on-location. Because of some
intrigues by the producer Hellinger, Malvin would
share credit on The Naked City with Albert
Maltz, and their screenplay would receive
nominations for the Writers Guild screenplay award
and the Academy Award for best story in 1949.
In 1948 Malvin teamed up with Washington columnist
Drew Pearson to write an inside story about
presidential politics called The Washington Story.
This was one of two screenplays he would write for
legendary Columbia studio head Harry Cohn. In the
course of his research, Malvin sneaked into a Harry
Truman press conference at the White House and was
present at a confrontational congressional
investigation between Alger Hiss and Richard Nixon.
The final screenplay was a hard-hitting exposé of
corruption on the highest level in Washington. Cohn
said he thought it was a great script, as good as
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but he couldn't
produce it. Why? Malvin remembers Cohn saying,
"After the war, Jack Warner and I visited Germany as
guests of the U.S. Army, and I discovered that
Hitler had used Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as anti-American propaganda, claiming that the
character of the crooked senator played by Claude
Rains was typical of all U.S. politicians." Cohn
screamed that he was ashamed of having made the film
and would never again produce anything critical of
our government.
In 1952 Malvin was hired to write and help produce a
TV series called The Tales of Hans Christian
Andersen. During the course of this production,
he gave John Neville his first movie job and
encountered Peter Ustinov and Orson Welles. Welles
told Malvin that he was interested in narrating the
tales, but first he would need $75,000 for expenses
-- actually money he needed to finish his film
version of Othello. After Malvin's attorney
confronted him on this, Welles responded, "Look at
me, Mr. Wald, I'm 37 years old, fast approaching
middle age. No longer the boy wonder. I have lost
years and years of my life fighting for the sacred
right to do things my own way and mostly fighting in
vain. The tycoons think I'm crazy for trying to
subsidize my own films. But I will never surrender.
Better to live one day as a lion than your whole
life as a sheep."
In 1959 Malvin was hired to write a screenplay based
on the life of Fidel Castro. The deal to make the
movie was struck between Castro and oil magnate
Frank B. Waters at the Shamrock Motel in Houston,
TX. Castro had approval over the writer for the
film, and laid down the following conditions: "1) No
goddamn gringo. He must speak Spanish perfectly. I
don't want to be insulted by having a person who
can't speak my language. 2) No Hollywood creep. The
writer had to have an academic background. And 3)
The writer had to have a recent success." Malvin had
five years of Spanish and had just become adjunct
faculty at the University of Southern California.
Throw in Malvin's recent success with Al Capone,
and he was hired.
Interviewing Castro in June 1959 in Havana, Malvin
asked if the Russian Revolution had been an
inspiration for him. Castro answered, "No, it was
the American Revolution. Why has Hollywood never
made an important film about the American
Revolution? Are they ashamed of it?" When he
returned to the United States, Malvin was
interviewed by the CIA and threatened by a
pro-Castro group not to publish the information he
had received in Cuba. The film was never produced.
Continuing his film writing, Malvin adapted James
Warwick's play, Blind Alley, into the film
noir The Dark Past, and co-wrote, with
Collier Young and Ida Lupino, the story for Lupino's
Outrage, before moving mostly into
television. During the '50s he wrote for anthology
series including Lux Video Theatre,
Fireside Theatre, Goodyear Television
Playhouse, The Alcoa Hour, Playhouse
90, and The George Sanders Mystery Theater.
He also wrote episodes for Cavalcade of America,
Climax,
Brave Eagle, The Silent Service,
Have Gun -- Will Travel, Shirley Temple's
Storybook, Peter Gunn, Combat!,
The Great Adventure, and Perry Mason.
Later, Malvin wrote for The Many Loves of Dobie
Gillis, Daktari, and The Life and
Times of Grizzly Adams.
Continuing his interest in documentary writing,
Malvin worked with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes
fame on a Marilyn Monroe documentary shortly after
her death in 1962, and was assigned to work with an
aging Walter Winchel on a series about his life.
He was a writer with an insatiable desire for
research, ferreting out new stories, exploring new
ideas and innovative ways to tell a story. A long
list of credits for largely forgotten TV shows and
movies isn't nearly as impressive as the long
bookshelf in his Sherman Oaks, CA home, filled with
his produced screenplays bound in leather.
From his screenplay Homicide (later retitled
The Naked City) to his work as a story editor
on Daktari, Malvin was proud of each of his
screenplays. He was a man who worked.
Reflecting on his life, Malvin wrote, "One of the
wonderful by-products of being a Hollywood writer is
that occasionally you get to meet real writers --
world-famous authors and playwrights. In my long
career I had brief encounters with Dorothy Parker,
Jack Kerouac, Upton Sinclair, James Hilton, John
Hersey, James Cain, Henry Miller, and Clifford
Odets, but the most memorable experiences were with
two Nobel Prize Winners -- William Faulkner and John
Steinbeck."
Malvin Wald was a real writer -- one of the finest
and most prolific screenwriters in Hollywood
history. But he was also my friend, mentor, and the
nicest, most giving person I have had the privilege
of meeting in Hollywood. He is gone now, but the
stories he created and the lives he shaped live on.
Erik Bauer was the founding publisher and editor
of Creative Screenwriting .
He is currently developing feature screenplays for
production and can be reached at
erik@erikbauer.com.
1/8/08 -
There are several chances to
catch Felix Racelis' Tel Aviv
Take-Off, a hilarious apocryphal romp. A Southern
matron visits her son who’s studying in Tel Aviv, and makes his
school an offer that’s hard to refuse.
But did we say she’s got an agenda?
FirstStage’s 2008 Stage Odyssey - Friday
and Saturday, January 11, 12, 18 and 19, 2008.
all at 8pm @
Hollywood
United
Methodist
Church,
6817 Franklin Ave
(at
Highland).
Directed
by Peggy Chane, with Elizabeth Farley and Bryna Weiss.
Also on the bill: plays by Michael Sadler, Herman Poppe,
Keith Neilson, Thomas J. Misuraca and Jennifer Kristin Hugus.
$10, or donate what you can.
Reservations and info:
(323) 850-6271 or
FirstStageLA@aol.com
-- or --
@
DramaWest, Saturday, January 12,
2008, Edendale Library,
2011 W. Sunset (at Alvarado),
Los Angeles,
CA
90026.
Directed by and starring Helen
Duffy, with Marcie Lynn Ross. Free.
Info:
dramawest@cox.net
10/17/07 -
DramaWest
Productions presents a free staged reading of Felix
Racelis' "Bride of
Godzilla" on Saturday,
October 20, 2007 2pm @ Edendale Library, 2011
W. Sunset Blvd. (at Alvarado),
Los Angeles. A young couple who are part of
a studio diversity writing program have one last chance to pitch
a project to an impatient producer. It's a matter of life
or debt. Directed by Jacque Lynn Colton, with Hettie Lynn Hurtes,
Brian Westerey, Cathy Chang and Tony Rayner. The afternoon
features other original works by L.A. writers. Info:
dramawest@cox.net or
felixnash@sbcglobal.net.
Six of Felix's short plays are available at
JAC Publishing & Promotions.
9/19/07 -
JAC Playwright Garret Mathews Releases
New Book -
Defending My Bunk Against All Comers, Sir
8/31/07 -
JAC Playwright Mark Lambeck's "Lucky Day,"
which won the Audience Choice Award in a one-act festival at the
Eastbound Theatre in Milford in July will be going up at The
Producer's Club (44th St. at 8th Avenue) in an equity festival
in NYC being produced by
Emerging Artists Theatre Company
from October 18 through November 4th, 2007.
8/2/07 -
JAC Playwright Robert Eiland Featured
in the Harvard Post
7/12/07 - LATV Fellowship Diversity
Program Accepts 4 CAPE Members:
JAC Playwright Lucy Wang Included:
CAPE proudly congratulates writers Leo Chu, Eric Garcia,
Young Il Kim and Lucy Wang
who have been accepted into the prestigious LATV Fellowship
Diversity Program. "Thanks to CAPE, I've been accepted
into the LATV Fellowship Diversity Program where Carole
Kirschner will be my mentor and I will be able to network with
some of today's finest TV professionals," said Lucy Wang.
Chu sits on CAPE's Board of Directors, and executive produces
and writes Spike TV's "Afro Samurai" starring Samuel L. Jackson.
With his writing partner Eric Garcia, who has penned Disney's
"Recess" and "Lloyd in Space," he is currently writing a feature
for Sony Pictures Animation. Young Il Kim was the 2006 CAPE
Foundation New Writers Award Screenwriting winner for his
feature script, "Hyung's Overture." Wang was the 2006 CAPE
Foundation New Writers Award Television winner. CAPE is
thrilled to continue to foster the development of these talented
writers, and others like them, to advance diversity in
entertainment.
|
Playwright
Opportunities
The 2010 Provincetown Theater Co. Fall Playwrights
Festival
Call for Submissions!
The Provincetown Theater
Company announces a call for submissions from New
England playwrights for its 2010 Fall Playwrights’
Festival (11/5-14). Submissions will be considered in
the following categories:
A. Ten Minute
Plays – running time no longer than 10 minutes.
B. One-Act plays – running time approximately 30
minutes.
Full-length plays will not be accepted at this time, but
will be called for prior to the next Winter Reading
Series.
This festival is open to playwrights who live full or
part time in New England. Please note:
1. Playwrights are expected to be present for at least
one post-performance talkback and are welcome to be
involved in director selection, auditions, tech
rehearsals, and performances.
2. Only non-Equity actors may be cast.
3. Plays should have no more than 5 characters.
4. Plays will be staged in a black box setting with
minimal technical assistance.
5. The Festival set will include:
-Cubes (2-3, which can represent beds, couches, table
and chairs, etc.); - a backdrop onto which light could
be projected
6. Plays may use these or not, but may not add any other
set pieces.
Props which can be hand carried by the actors may be
used.
7. Playwrights may submit only ONE play. (Since we do
not charge a reading fee and expect a large number of
submissions, please do not send one play in each
category. If you do, both plays will be disqualified. )
8. Only plays that have NOT been previously produced are
eligible. Plays that have only been given previous
readings WILL be considered.
9. The name of the playwright should not appear on the
script. Please include one cover sheet with the title of
the play, playwright’s name, and playwright’s contact
information (phone, email, address). We prefer
electronic submissions, sent to:
operations@provincetowntheater.com.
Please put “Fall Festival” in the subject line.
Alternatively, include the cover with three copies of
the play in manuscript form addressed to: Provincetown
Theater 238 Bradford Street, Provincetown, MA 02657.
Submissions are due by 9/1/10.
For more info visit
www.provincetowntheater.com.
______________
The
Valley Repertory Company (Enfield, CT)
www.valleyrep.com
is seeking scripts for its first LabWorks
Fifteen-Minute New Play Contest. Twelve
plays will be
chosen to be produced as part of LabWorks 2010, where
the audience will vote for
their favorite play. The winning playwright will receive
a prize of $200. visit
www.valleyrep.com
for more details and full submission requirements.
Deadline is
September 4, 2010.
______________
Bottle Tree Productions' One-act Play
Competition for Writers 2010
First Prize $1,000
Second Prize $250
Third Prize $100
One Act Plays of up to 70 minutes may be submitted to Bottle Tree Productions at
445 Southwood Drive, Kingston, Ontario K7M-5P8
Phone 613-542-0070 OR 384-8433 or email
info@bottletreeinc.com.
Please have your copy bound and if you wish it returned, please include a
manuscript-sized SASE or check out
www.bottletreeinc.com
for email submissions, Paypal options and further details
The entry fee for each submission is $25. Please make cheque payable to Bottle
Tree Productions.
Multiple submissions accepted
Plays can have previously been produced but not professionally
Please do not attach your name or contact name to the script but have that
information on a separate sheet of paper.
The competition runs until November 30th 2010.
Winners will be announced in January of 2011.
If you want a critical analysis of your work please enclose a cheque for $50
made payable to Bottle Tree Productions.
______________
MSCS Seeks One-Acts & Short Films
Middle City Stage Company (Middletown, CT) is seeking original one act plays and
short films for the second annual installment of its 5Arts program, 5Arts2011.
Criteria for plays and films:
1) Running time:
a. The play must be no longer than 20 to 25 minutes.
b. The film must be no longer than 10 minutes
2) The playwright/screen writer must reside in Connecticut.
3) The play must not have been produced prior to the 5Arts2011 production
(staged readings are acceptable).
4) The sets requirements must be minimal. The sets must be completely portable.
5) The film must be ready for screening by December 31st, 2010
Deadline for submissions is Friday, December 31st, 2010
For additional information please go to
www.middlecitystage.org/5arts2011.htm, e-mail
kellydimauro@middlecitystage.org or call 860-346-6051.
|
Playwright
Competitions
Great Plains Theatre Conference
(NY)
Off Broadway Short Play Festival
(NY)
Parish
Players Ten-minute Play Festival
(VT)
PlayMakers Shorts (CT)
__________
Interesting Links
The Alliance of Los Angeles
Playwrights/ALAP (click
here)
The Northwest Playwrights Alliance (click
here)
The Playwrights Center
Minneapolis, MN
(click here)
The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival
New Orleans, LA
(click here) |