2022 In Review

Wow. I fell VERY behind on documenting my playwriting this year—but I promise it isn’t because nothing has been happening! While March was probably my biggest month in terms of production quantity, I’ve had many, many high-quality production opportunities over the past… oh, god… nine months? How am I THAT negligent about writing updates?! Maybe my New Year’s Resolution should be to remember I have a website?! Oy vey…

Anyway, I thought I could do a quick year/past nine months in review post to catch up and reflect! Here are the highlights.

Last things first, I suppose! EastLine Theatre closed a very successful production of my full-length Great Gatsby adaptation, These Gilded Souls, on December 17th, 2022 after a virtually sold-out run at Westbury Arts in Westbury, NY. It was a lot of gilded glamour spread across one roaring month… and I am officially 100% burnt out on Gatsby! With that said, the performance text from the EastLine production is now up on NPX for perusal. I plan to do some revision and reupload, but that play is A LOT and I am taking a well-deserved break!

This play probably deserves its own post, but I am waiting on production photos. Watch this space! Fingers crossed it won’t be another nine months! Ha!

This year I have been lucky enough to partner with the phenomenal Rainy Day Artistic Collective on three fantastic virtual short play festivals. Working with this group is always a wonderful experience. They give playwrights the opportunity to hear and discover things about their plays so they can move on to staged productions. Two out of three of the plays they produced (An Invocation to His Muse and Iphis and Ianthe at the Courthouse) were workshopped via a Rainy Day process before moving on to full productions within the year. The final virtual presentation of the year, Narcissa, Narcissa, went up on opening night of These Gilded Souls, so I only got to catch it on the replay… however, I was most eager to see a digital interpretation of that script and was not disappointed!

Speaking of virtual theatre… I also had the opportunity to experience the REVERSE this year! A Zoom Play I wrote for the SATE 2021 Aphra Behn Festival, Two of Every Animal, was produced in-person as part of a phenomenal, thoughtful, sustainable evening of climate-themed one-acts at Colorado College called 23:59. I LOVE seeing sci-fi and speculative scripts realized on stage. Seeing these production photos made me realize how much I love writing those types of stories… and I am hopeful that my final “End of Play” in 2022 will be a return to an uncanny, futuristic world. Fingers crossed you’ll meet those characters in 2023!

I was also lucky enough to connect with another new-to-me company in 2022: New Ambassadors Theatre Company right in NYC. Like Rainy Day, they produced three of my short pieces this year as part of their annual festivals. I got to see My Beloved, My Axiom in March, Iphis and Ianthe at the Courthouse in August, and Hot Blood Sundae in October! While my short pieces get a lot of small productions, it’s very rare that I’m local enough to go and see them. Zoom made it possible to participate in the rehearsal process for each of these plays—and the LIRR made it possible to attend in person! This company does a lot of very cool, subversive work, and I’m happy to have made this connection! I’m hoping I’ll have some new work to submit for one or more of their festivals next year, too!

After a high-octane Shortlist Sunday reading back in the Spring, I was lucky enough to be offered a Fall workshop spot with The Bechdel Group to continue developing my full-length play, You Enter the Tavern. If you’re an Aly Kantor fan (lol hi mom), you might be aware that this play began as a one-hour long virtual monologue play called Adventurers Anonymous, which was written, cast, rehearsed, and performed 100% virtually. After that, further development of You Enter the Tavern went entirely online as Omicron came and went. This was the first time I EVER got to see these five characters in person, all in the same room! Plus, I had a lot of support in the audience, which always feels amazing. I am still waiting on notes from a dramaturg so I can make some tweaks. My hope is to get my draft in good enough shape to stick it up on NPX in 2023.

It was also a phenomenal year for my little two-hander that could, Occupied. This year, this piece had developmental readings and workshops with Music Theatre of Connecticut, New Normal Rep, Playhouse on Park, The Cab Calloway School of the Arts (yes, the famous tiktok school with the cool music teacher who narrowed down the school musical every day), and Dominion Stage. I got to meet and work with the phenomenal Jill Eikenberry and Jack Canfora, which was exciting and unexpected. I am happy with the state of the play. I’m not sure which piece will become my “calling card” piece in 2023, but I have had a blast refining this one for the past two years!

Here are a few more of the teams (And Jac and Amelias) I got to meet and work with this year! I love to travel, talk to other artists, and visit new theatres!

Meanwhile, the great work continues! I was part of many phenomenal workshops this year. Most recently, I developed a new speculative one-act called Tracks in Serena Norr’s awesome Magic in the Mess workshop through National Women’s Theatre Festival, which definitely earns the distinction for “class of the year.” I’ve already gone back to my notes from that workshop while working on my new one-act! I have no current plans for the piece, so it’s up on NPX for general perusal.

I was also part of the “Geek Theatre” workshop through the Dramatists Guild with Jacqueline Goldfinger - I didn’t TECHNICALLY finish a piece in that workshop (I came out of it with a full-length draft, but not a draft I want to move forward with at this time) but I did come away with a lot of pages, thoughts, and ideas for next steps! Plus, everyone in that cohort was absolutely lovely, and I want to see all of their pieces realized!

I finished another one-act this year called Any Port in a Storm, which is a wonky romantic comedy- fingers crossed we’ll see at least one production in 2023. I also worked on a new adaptation of Medea that is waiting for music. I’m already chatting with a potential collaborator, so maybe you’ll get to hear and see some of that one in the new year, too. You never know!

What’s next? I have two dates on my 2023 calendar for public developmental readings of full-length plays: a commissioned post-historical adaptation of another Greek favorite (essentially the opposite of Medea in genre, cast size, message, and style - the answer to “how does one stage a dick joke?”), and an original piece that I am slowly, slowly piecing together (a response to my dissatisfaction with Fitzgerald’s Gatsby as a story - it’s a little jazz-age meditation on those lost in the glitz and glam: women, caretakers, artists, etc. For those who saw These Gilded Souls, it’s pretty much “what happens if you DON’T ignore your ghosts?”). I have been busting my ass to try and make something special. It’s hard, quiet, focused, lonely work, and there are no photos of me weeping at my keyboard - this is the part you don’t see!

I am also going to experience something I absolutely didn’t expect: publication! The idea of publishing plays has always made me feel a little queasy, and I have not pursued any of those opportunities… but in this field, sometimes the opportunities come to YOU! I am not allowed to say too much, but I am going to get to hold one of my plays in my hands in 2023, which is going to be weird and incredible.

What am I NOT doing much? Submitting to opportunities. I have let submissions take a back seat while I focus on generating new ideas and material. I am NOT upset about this! I have developed a daily writing habit again, and things are HAPPENING! There may be fewer flashy, exciting announcements, but that means I’m doing the things I love most in the world: writing, meditating in nature, daydreaming, having great conversations, taking in podcasts, reading great plays and books, and refilling my mental coffers with good things. I needed this.

My 2023 word of the year is MAKE! Not produce, not polish, not present, but play in the mess and see what comes out of it! I hope many collaborators, new and old, will join me as I wade through the glitter and create something exciting!

Thank you for a fantastic 2022!