Late Summer Update!

I realize it has been a WHILE since I’ve written an update! Forgetting that I have a website is an annual tradition! I thought I’d update you all on everything that has gone down since I returned from Los Angeles!

Photo by Frankie Sisman - Cypress productions, "New Plays Now"

First, my new short play The Psychopomp had a few productions right out of the gate with Sierra Vista Community Theatre and Cypress Productions. I originally wrote this play for my friends at A Light in Dark Places, and it will be appearing as part of Plays for Hope 2024 in Los Angeles next month. It will also be appearing in the Seoul Players annual ten-minute play festival this Fall, meaning I’ll have officially been produced in Asia! If you happen to be in South Korea, check it out!

Photo from You Enter the Tavern with Roving Peregrine Theatre Company

Next, my full-length play You Enter the Tavern was produced by The Roving Peregrine Theatre Company in West Virginia. I am amazed by how much thought and care was put into the piece. I basically wrote this piece so that it could be produced with a bunch of folding chairs and a little bit of theatre magic, whether in an actual theatre or in a church basement. This team worked within those restraints gorgeously, and my Fantasy Dream Ballet was finally fully realized! The cast and crew also made a playlist for the production that I still listen to regularly! I am waiting very patiently to check out the video from this production because I know it’s going to be magic!

Photo from GI60 in NYC 

I also attended my very first Gi60 Festival in NYC, which was an experience! Last year I dabbled in one minute plays for the first time, just to see what the form was about. This was actually the second production for my microplay, An Endangered Species, which was also produced by Modern Classics Theatre Company here on Long Island earlier in the year. I don’t have a burning desire to write more microplays. It’s actually VERY challenging! Even so, I do have a massive appreciation for this form, and the festival was a BLAST!

The Rosies at The Cab Calloway School for the Arts in Wilmington, DE

I was also excited to work with the phenomenal young artists at the Cab Calloway school to workshop my new competition-length play for teens, The Rosies. I am always blown away by how much teenagers care—about characters, about intent, about putting it all out there, and getting it right! I wanted to write teenage girls characters they’d love to inhabit, and based on the feedback, I think I nailed it! I received further validation when The Rosies was named the winner in the One-Act category of Chameleon Theatre Circle’s 25th annual new play competition. It will receive a staging in Minnesota this Fall. I’m so stoked to see what comes next for this piece! And I have a new play for teens percolating!

The young artists at Cab Calloway also put up their second production of my play Occupied, which is receiving its world premiere at the Storefront Theatre of Indianapolis this October! Production meetings have begun, auditions are in progress, and this powerhouse, all-female cast and production team are going to kill it!

Any Port in a Storm in the Long Beach Short Play Festival

I also had two pieces go up close to home! My plays Any Port in a Storm and Tracks were presented as part of the Long Beach Short Play Festival here on Long Island, and I was able to attend the full day of performances! The actors were fantastic, and it’s always a treat to see my work come to life in my own community!

Luckily, I’ll have two more shorts going up even closer to home at the end of this month: South Shore Theatre will be producing Persephone Wasn’t Hungry That Day and Come Back Right as part of their Love & Death themed evening of one acts! Those are two of my more niche plays, so I’m excited to see what other artists do with the text!

Odd Songs for Odd Birds in rehearsal at CapitalQ Theatre Festival

This summer, StageQ in Wisconsin also presented Odd Songs for Odd Birds at the CapitalQ Theatre Festival. This queer fairytale won Best in Fest at Big Idea Theatre’s One-Act festival earlier in the year! Very cool that this strange little play had two showings in a single year!

TEARJERKER at Cherry Picking at Wild Project

Finally, just last month, my short play TEARJERKER was included in the annual Cherry Picking presentation at Wild Project in NYC! This was a unique experience - more like a party than a play festival! TEARJERKER was the first play I was able to successfully finish after a long drought (I’ve been revising rather than writing anything new, and I had the “I WILL NEVER WRITE AGAIN!” voice screaming in the back of my brain), so I’m so appreciative of the prompt, deadline, and satisfying public reading! The theatre was PACKED OUT! Plus, I met playwright friend Vince Gatton in person for the first time, which was probably the best part!

Throwback to when I was on the same talkback panel as Sally Struthers

Currently, I am hard at work preparing Murdering Medea for its next reading, followed by a public-facing workshop to be presented by EastLine Theatre in November! I am prepping the newest draft for its mainstage premiere (!!!) next summer - more details to come as we get closer! The ticking clock above my head is pushing me to get this draft in shape FAST, and I hope the final product is going to be the best version of this weird, messy story about how to be a good person in the post-roe, digital age! It has had a HUGE makeover - shout out to fabulous dramaturg Liv Fassanella for her thoughtful comments, attention to detail, and patient new play midwifery!

Thanks to the incredible legal team at the Dramatists Guild, I’ve made a few revisions to my play, The Practice Room, to ensure it can be produced with fidelity without the need to license any particular music. I think it might be ready to hit NPX very soon!

I’m also taking a writing workshop over at The Playwrights’ Center, where I am attempting something I NEVER do - flying by the seat of my pants as I construct a new play week-by-week with no real outline, just vibes! I am feeling VERY anxious about it, but everyone in the group has been SO lovely, reaching out to offer support, etc! The script is going to be REALLY weird, but I am working things out about my life and experiences as I go, so whatever happens, there will be catharsis!

With any luck, the next update will include the news that I’ve finished the first draft of a new full-length play! Fingers crossed!