New Voices for the Theater in Richmond!

This has been such a great year for theater travel!  A few days ago, I took the train down to Richmond, Virginia, where I'm going to be spending the next two weeks as playwright-in-residence for the SPARC New Voices for the Stage program.  I'll be working with eight young dramatists whose plays were chosen from submissions throughout the state.  The first week will be lots of classroom work, and working on their plays.  During the second week, they begin working with their directors and actors.  The program culminates in staged readings of all the plays, and a big celebration of these new works with family and friends.

Our team is headed up by program director Laine Satterfield (who is an absolute delight), and supported by two wonderful resident assistants, and what seems like the whole city of Richmond.  There are dinners and outings planned with many board members and other program supporters while we're here, and I felt so warmly welcomed at the kick-off party down at the Firehouse Theater.

I'm delighted to be following in my friend Babs Lindsay's footsteps.  She was last year's PIR (or playwright-in-residence).  Big shoes to fill!  And I just found out that my friend and colleague Clarence Coo was a young playwright in this very program when he was in high school -- now he is winning national awards for his work.

I have so much love for writing and the theater -- it's a joy to be able to share that.  I'm looking forward to this being a wonderful couple of weeks.

Upcoming Theater Travel!

This year is turning into one of unexpected opportunities for travel.  What a way to bring my time as a Hodder Fellow to a close!

Summer 2011:

Paris, France -- Tourism, housesitting and play research are all part of my first trip abroad.  And what a trip!  Three weeks at the "moveable feast!"  Stay tuned here for reports and pictures from the City of Light.

Oregon -- There's no place like home.

Fall 2011:

Oregon, redux -- I'll be the host playwright again this year at the Ashland New Plays Festival!  This is a fantastic event, held in the city that hosts the inimitable Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but a celebration of new work all its own.

Independence, Kansas -- I'm delighted to be joining playwright Ken Urban as the two playwrights-in-residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts.  We'll both be workshopping new plays.  I'll be working on my Antarctic adventure story in progress, "Magellanica: A New and Accurate Map of the World."