"Waiting for the Skell" goes to three summer festivals!

One of my new short plays is getting a lot of play this summer.  "Waiting for the Skell" is about a lesbian cop, Terry, and her straight male partner, Pete; on a stake-out, Terry tells Pete about something that is going to affect their relationship, and she's not sure how he's going to take it.

"Waiting for the Skell" is a sequel to my play "Partners," a short comic piece in which Terry brings her work partner, Pete, home to meet her life partner, Val.  "Partners" has been produced a number of times; "Waiting for the Skell" is pretty new, and just had its first production in the Briefs Festival in St. Louis.  (It was very cool, actually -- they did "Partners" in their festival in 2012, and then used the same director and cast when they did "Skell" in 2013.)

Now the play is headed to three new festivals -- Ringwald Theatre's Gay Play Festival in Detroit, Buffalo United Artists' BUA Takes Ten in Buffalo, and LGBTQ Shorts at Georgia State University in Atlanta.  BUA is actually doing *both* Partners and Skell, which is fun.  I'm sending my best wishes to all three productions, and hope they'll send me pictures of all the Terrys and all the Petes.  I love these characters!  They make me laugh.

June 22-24

Gay Play Festival

Ringwald Theater

Detroit, MI

June 22-July 13

BUA Takes Ten

Buffalo United Artists

Buffalo, NY

July 25-28

LGBTQ Shorts

Georgia State University

Atlanta, GA

"If I Did This" goes to the Arkansas New Play Festival

From June 14-16, TheatreSquared in Fayetteville will be presenting four new full-length plays (and a number of other exciting events) in the 2013 Arkansas New Play Festival.  I'm delighted that I've been invited to take part with my play "If I Did This."  I'll actually be in the city for ten days -- working with a director and actors on my play, talking shop with my fellow playwrights and the theater-makers of Fayetteville, and exploring the city!

TheatreSquared presents

2013 Arkansas New Play Festival

at the Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios
Fayetteville, Arkansas
June 14-16, 2013

DON CHIPOTLE, by Juan Francisco Villa — Friday, June 14, 6:30pm

Two 11-year-old boys—a hero and his sidekick—set out on a quixotic quest through the streets of the Lower East Side to locate the missing Twin Towers. A raw, comic fable that draws on the Columbian-American experience in New York, this new play shines a bright light on social hypocrisies and the adventurous spirit of youth.

RAW VISION, by Les Wade — Friday, June 14, 8:30pm

An African-American brother and sister, both 30-something, live a ramshackle existence well off the grid in southern Louisiana. She is the brilliant, if deeply conflicted, caretaker of her artist brother, whose paintings have recently begun to turn up on the New Orleans art scene. When an outside interloper — who can't seem to keep his story straight — insinuates himself into their close-knit world, all three lives are changed forever. A gorgeously poetic drama, Raw Vision will remind many of the Oscar-nominated film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, in its heartfelt portrayal of a stubbornly offbeat way of life.

IF I DID THIS, by E.M. Lewis — Saturday, June 15, 6:30pm

A brainy, edge-of-your-seat thriller about a ghost writer, an acquitted murder suspect who is his subject, and the literary editor who may (or may not) be his best friend in the world. A brilliantly theatrical jigsaw puzzle, this play goes to the heart of the question, “What is truth?” — or maybe, “Whose ‘truth’ is really true?” Part film noir, part theatrical tease, If I Did This will toy with your perceptions and touch your heart.

SWIMMING WITH VAN GOGH, by Susan Felder — Saturday, June 15, 8:30pm

Set in a lighthouse just off the coast of Lake Superior, Swimming with Van Gogh tells the story of a middle-aged painter who stumbles into sudden prominence, only to come face-to-face with her own worst doubts—not to mention an old flame, a mid-career artist who knows just how to keep her off-balance. When an adoring young art student invades her lighthouse retreat, the chemistry becomes overpowering. This play takes a profound look at the possibility, and impossibility, of originality and renewal as an artist.

Special Performances:
ARKANSAS YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS SHOWCASE — Saturday, June 15, 2:00pmIn partnership with the University of Arkansas Brown Chair of Literacy, TheatreSquared is proud to present, for the fourth year, the Arkansas Young Playwrights Showcase. Students from across the state have been invited to submit scripts, and six will be selected for public readings at the Arkansas New Play Festival.

THE 24-HOUR PLAY-OFF — Sunday, June 16, 6:30pm TheatreSquared is partnering with Fayetteville-based Ceramic Cow Productions to present the Northwest Arkansas 24-Hour Play-Off, a perennial favorite for artists and audiences alike. Teams of artists will write, rehearse, and perform a new ten-minute play, all within the space of 24 hours, in competition for a grand prize sponsored by local businesses.

Click here for more information about the festival, and about TheatreSquared!

May 31 - [Untitled] at Happy Ending Bar in NYC

On Friday, May 31st, I'll be participating in the [untitled] Summer Kick-Off, alongside David Lee White and Jihae Park!  [untitled] is a reading series curated and produced by Clare Drobot that occurs on every fifth Friday at Happy Ending bar (302 Broome Street, between Forsyth and Eldridge) in New York City.  As she puts it:

[untitled] is dedicated to the start of things.  Those murky moments where a play, son, or story takes hold of you and says, "write me."  At each [untitled], Inkslingers takes over Happy Ending from 8-10pm and gives you an inside look at the creative process  Five artists will present their own work in their own voices.

I have a couple of new short plays I've been messing about with, and I think I'll be reading from one of those.  We'll see!  Still deciding.

Admission is free, but of course you are encouraged to buy a drink.  Hope to see you there!

Page 73 Reading of "Song of Extinction" in NYC

I've loved being part of Page 73's Interstate 73 Playwriting Workshop this year, and am delighted that they are sponsoring a reading of my play "Song of Extinction."  We have an incredible director (Carolyn Cantor, who just directed "The Great God Pan" at Playwrights Horizons), and some fantastic actors, including Francis Jue as Khim Phan and Reed Birney as Ellery Forrestal.  Hope to see you there, friends!  Details below.

Join us for Page 73's first Interstate 73 reading of 2013!

SONG OF EXTINCTION

Written by EM Lewis
Directed by Carolyn Cantor

Featuring Francis Jue as Khim Phan, Ephraim Birney as Max Forrestal, Reed Birney as Ellery Forrestal, Curzon Dobell as Gill Morris, Enid Graham as Lily Forrestal, and Jonathan Hova as Joshua Dorsey.

Wednesday, May 15th at 4pm

Roundabout Rehearsal Studio - 115 W. 45th Street, 12th Floor, New York City

In "Song of Extinction," Max, a musically gifted high school student, is falling off the edge of the world — and his biology teacher is the only one who’s noticed. A play about the science of life and loss, the relationships between fathers and sons, Cambodian fields, Bolivian rainforests and redemption.

Winner of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and the Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an Outstanding New Play from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

Free!
RSVP at www.page73.org/tickets

"The Edge of Ross Island" at Mary Baldwin College

From May 8-11, "The Edge of Ross Island" was part of a student-directed one-act play festival at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia.  The play is about a cop who tries to talk a jumper down from the Ross Island Bridge in Portland, Oregon, but later finds herself understanding his lostness all too well.  

I'm glad to be having so many college productions lately!

For more about the production, click here.