"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!

"If I Did This" at Flux's Food:Soul in NYC

I finished the first draft of a new play a few months ago, just in time to work on it with my fantastic director friend David Hilder and a most wonderful cast at Passage Theater in Trenton, where I attend the Playwriting Lab.  Since then, I've been tinkering with it a bit, but haven't been sure, yet, what it's really made of.  

Enter Flux Theater Ensemble!

I've been attending Flux Sundays at FTE for more than a year, now -- their Sunday afternoon theatrical "work-outs" with playwrights, directors and actors -- and enjoying the opportunity to see their fierce productions.  And I was very pleased when I received an e-mail from Matt Archambault at Flux, asking if I'd like to workshop that play I'd been bringing in pieces of over the last few months.  I leapt at the opportunity!  There's nothing like working with a great bunch of actors over a couple weeks of rehearsal to figure out how a play is working.  Actors and directors ask great questions as they're trying to figure out how to make a play work.

We had our first read-through on Monday, and will continue rehearsals next week.  The process will culminate in a potluck and staged reading of the play.  Big thanks to Matt, FTE Artistic Director Gus Schulenberg, and director Pete Boisvert for putting this whole thing together!

Flux Theater Ensemble (in partnership with Judson Memorial Church) presents Food:Soul

A Staged Reading of "If I Did This" 

Written by EM Lewis

Directed by Pete Boisvert

Featuring: Matt Archambault, John Greenleaf, Marianne Miller, Stephen Conrad Moore and Jane Lincoln Taylor

Friday, July 27th

At Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square Street South

Doors Open and Food is Served at 7:00pm

Staged Reading Starts at 8:00pm

Please RSVP if you plan to attend!  

For more information about this reading, visit the FTE Blog.  

For more information about the company and their Food:Soul play development workshops, visit the FTE Website.