The Pseudonym

Carmela Ciuraru has a small photo-essay in the Huffington post about writers and their pseudonyms -- and the reasons behind the pseudonyms.  Her tone is a little snarky for my taste, but the mini-biographies are interesting.

Perhaps the first character we invent, as writers, is ourselves.

"EM Lewis" isn't really a nom d'plume -- it's just my initials and last name.  And I didn't decide to use it to hide my gender, or because I am a convicted felon (as one of Ciuraru's writers did).  But I do like having my own alternate self.  Somewhere between me and her and all of my characters lies the real me.

And... that's enough psychoanalysis for now.

Chayefsky's Notes on Network

It's always interesting to me to look inside another writer's process of cracking a story.  Seeing how lost they felt, at certain points, is reassuring.  Seeing how doggedly they pursued their stories is encouraging.  So I liked reading this article in the New York Times about Paddy Chayefsky's notes on "Network" that are preserved in the New York Public Library.  This movie is on my "re-watch soon!" list -- now, more than ever.

Are you mad as hell?

All My Heroes Are Women This Week

I like writing men.  Hard to say why.  Perhaps it's because their desire to take action and not talk about their feelings appeals to me, at least when I'm writing for the stage.  (Maybe not.  It's not like that describes all men, and no women.)  Perhaps it's because I prefer not to look into my own female psyche.  Or maybe it's like handedness, or sexual orientation -- we're all just built veering a certain way.

At any rate, I do veer that direction, and the character lists of my plays reflect that.  "Heads" is for three men and one woman.  "Song of Extinction" is for five men and one woman.  "Magellanica" has two women, and six men.  And I'm working on my first two-hander -- for two men.

Not equal at all.

It's not that I think I have to be egalitarian in this regard.  But there's something in me -- the part that took that writing workshop with Betty Friedan, or that counts "Alien" and "Aliens" as two of the best movies ever -- that wants to be.  Or at least thinks that any blind spots I see in myself ought to be rigorously rooted out.  I am a writer, after all.  Isn't that one of the things we're supposed to do?  Along with "never be boring," "tell a smashing good story" and "use strong verbs?"

So.  It's not that I've stopped working on "Magellanica," or that two-hander.  But I've been keeping Women Characters at the back of my mind, along with all the other things that lurk at the edges of my brain, ready to be thrust into plays when the time is right.

(An anecdote:  I don't know about other writers, but I usually write a play from inside one character, more than the others.  When I was writing "Heads," I remember thinking, with regularity and insistence, "I am Harold Wolfe."  He's the American engineer, who is being held hostage with British embassy worker Caroline Conway.  He had a particular way of thinking about things, and dealing with his situation, and Caroline's way of thinking about things and dealing with their situation bugged the hell out of him.  I was weeping and writing one of their last scenes of the play together, when I suddenly realized, "I am Caroline Conway."  It was frightening, actually.)

All that being a preface to what I'm actually blogging about today:  that I have three plays going up this month, and all of them feature women characters.  Or in the case of one, characters that can be played by women or men in any combination, as the director wishes.  I'm rather pleased about this!

Kelly Owens as Detective Constance Connolly with Jesse David Perez as Detective Mario Garza in "Strong Voice" by EM Lewis, directed by Margo Gray, in the 2011 Alcyone Festival, Chicago, IL.

STRONG VOICE
"Strong Voice" opened on Sunday in Chicago, as part of Halcyon Theater's Alcyone Festival, directed by Margo Gray.  The festival is always a showcase for work by women playwrights; this year, Halcyon commissioned five of us to write new plays that either adapted or riffed upon the work of particular women playwrights from 1870 or earlier.  My play riffs upon the work of Hrosvitha -- the "strong voice" of Gandersheim.  It's about a pair of Chicago police detectives who are investigating the case of a missing nun and a vandalized mosque in the wake of 9/11.  It explores issues of faith and violence.  And the story is spearheaded by Detective Constance Connolly, who is trying to find the lost nun, and Lucy Wallingstone, who is trying to come to terms with all that she and her fiance lost in 9/11.

Porter Kelly and Vyvy Nguyen as mother and daughter in "Drop-Off Day," written by EM Lewis and directed by Michael Shutt, in Moving Arts' "The Car Plays" at the 2011 Radar Festival in Los Angeles, CA.

DROP-OFF DAY
"Drop-Off Day" opens today in the Radar Festival, in Los Angeles, produced by Moving Arts, as part of a big, fabulous event called "The Car Plays."  And yes, it is exactly what the title suggests: plays performed inside cars!  To an audience of two people at a time!  Each play is approximately ten minutes long, and you buy a "boulevard" of five -- moving in and out of each car, guided by a car hop, as the actors perform the play over and over again.  This is the fourth year that Moving Arts has produced The Car Plays, and I've been part of them since their inception.  Paul Stein was our artistic director at that time, and came up with them as a project that would bring us all together -- writers, directors and actors -- and allow our "homeless" state not to stop us from performing.  They're great fun.  And we're all honored that we were asked to perform the show as part of the Radar Festival, alongside theater-makers from all over, and to a large audience that's gathered to participate in the TCG Festival, the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Radar, which are all happening NOW in Los Angeles.  (Which is, clearly, a theater town, wouldn't you say?)  "Drop-Off Day" is about a woman who has been helping her daughter move into the dorm at USC for her first day of college, but now is finding it hard to drive away.  It's directed by Michael Shutt, and features Porter Kelly as the mom and Vyvy Nguyen as the daughter.

A quote from the Imperial War Museum in London.  In the corridor leading to the World War I and World War II exhibits.

THE WAR MUSEUM
"The War Museum" is brand new.  Since I came to the east coast, for my playwriting fellowship, I've been looking for nice folks to make theater with.  And Flux Theater in New York City is one of the groups I've become acquainted with.  They have a mainstage show up right now called "Ajax in Iraq."  And they do something I think is rather wonderful -- asking their playwrights to write short plays that riff on the themes of their mainstage show, and then do readings of those plays each week during the run.  Even though I'm new, they asked me to play -- writing a short play for their "New World Iliads," ten to fifteen minutes long, that dealt with the war in Afghanistan as if it were seen from 2,000 years in the future, much as "Ajax in Iraq" deals with soldiers today and 2,000 years ago, simultaneously.  We had a piece of art we could work from in our writing as well.  An exciting challenge!  Especially since I was in Chicago when I got the call, getting ready to open "Strong Voice."  But I took an afternoon off, found a cafe that served good coffee, and scribbled fast.  "The War Museum" is for four players, in any gender configuration.  **2,000 years from now.  This is the moment when everything changes.  Vennah's looking for Meller.  Meller's looking for answers.  In the War Museum.**  It was read on Sunday evening, alongside plays by Mac Rogers, Isaiah Tannenbaum and Aja Houston, and directed by Jordana Williams.  Because I couldn't be there, I'm not sure which of the following actors were in it:  Carissa Cordes, Ken Glickfeld, Lynn Kenny, Rob Maitner, Debargo Sanyal, and Kathleen Wise.  But I'm sure some of them were women...

Hot off the press: "The War Museum" goes to NYC!

Since I moved to Princeton, I've been trying to get to know the theatermakers in New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia.  One group I've connected with is the fantastic Passage Theater in Trenton, NJ.  Another is Flux Theater in New York City.  

A few days ago, the folks at Flux asked if I'd like to write a new short play for their "ForePlay" Reading Series -- plays written by ensemble members and friends to riff upon and support the mainstage show that is now in production.  Even though I'm in Chicago at the moment for the opening of "Strong Voice," I said yes.  Of course I said yes!  I'm so pleased to have the chance to play!  

If you're in New York City on Sunday, June 12 -- I hope you'll pop over and see the readings.  They should be lots of fun.  I rather like my little contribution!

THE WAR MUSEUM, by EM Lewis:  2,000 years from now.  This is the moment when everything changes.  Vennah's looking for Meller.  Meller's looking for answers.  In the War Museum.

FLUX THEATER ENSEMBLE'S FOREPLAY READING SERIES: NEW WORLD ILIADS

Sunday, June 12 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Flamboyan Theatre at CSV Cultural & Educational Center

107 Suffolk Street

______________________

Join us on June 12 for ForePlay #2, New World Iliads: Afghanistan

Featuring four short plays by Aja Houston, EM Lewis, Mac Rogers, and Isaiah Tanenbaum

Directed by Jordana Williams

Featuring: Carissa Cordes, Ken Glickfeld, Lynn Kenny, Rob Maitner, Debargo Sanyal, and Kathleen Wise

______________________

FREE! 

Join us for the second evening of ForePlay, our exploratory play reading series where playwrights riff on the themes of our mainstage production,

New World Iliads will take place on three nights with each night treating a contemporary war from a mythic perspective. In the same way that Ajax in Iraq re-imagines a war from thousands of years ago, New World Iliads will imagine what our contemporary wars may look like from the same distance: the gods, the heroes and villains; what details will be erased by time and what will remain? How will the art inspired by today's conflicts inform the myths of tomorrow?

That art is provided by Carrier Pigeon: Illustrated Fiction and Fine Art.

How it works: Carrier Pigeon has provided us with artwork for twelve collaborating playwrights use as source material.

We are excited that this second ForePlay will be inspired by art from Kristy Caldwell, the illustrator of our Season 4 postcards!

"Drop-Off Day" in The Car Plays at the Radar Festival!

California to New Jersey in the click of a mouse!

So, my *other* world premiere play that's going up in June is DROP-OFF DAY, which will be part of Moving Arts' fun and fantastic returning production of The Car Plays.  Our company has been invited to stage a new set of car plays for this year's Radar Festival, an international celebration of contemporary theater.

What is a car play, you ask?  A car play is a ten-minute play, set in a car.  A real car.  Not a theater.  When you purchase your ticket, you request a certain Road or Avenue or Boulevard -- each of which has five cars in it.  During the course of an hour, ten audience members, in sets of two, will move from car to car, escorted by "car hops," until they have seen all five plays in their Street.  You might be seated in the back seat, or you might be in the front.  You might be watching an intimate front seat, post-date seduction or sit in on a car pool gone wrong or witness a carjacking from inches away.  Anything can happen in a car!

In my car, you will see Barbara (played by Porter Kelly) dropping off her daughter Soo-Min (played by Vyvy Nguyen) at USC.  It's drop-off day -- and this is the beginning of Soo-Min's first year of college.  She's moving into the dorm.  She's about to start her freshman year.  Everything is ahead of her.  But it's a little tough for both mom and daughter to say goodbye...

I used Skype to "sit in" on the first rehearsal with my actors and long time friend, colleague and director Michael Shutt last week.  What fun to hear the play out loud for the first time!  (Well, other than me saying it out loud to myself during the writing.)

I graduated from USC's Master of Professional Writing Program, then worked at the university for nine years -- so I witnessed a lot of real drop-off days.  I hope I do this one justice.

This is the fourth year that I've participated in The Car Plays.  I can't stop writing them, and luckily Moving Arts continues to produce them!  It is a truly amazing and intimate way to see a play.  Buy your ticket now.  As you might imagine -- seating is limited!

Alcyone 2011 Blog Post, Part I

Halcyon Theater Company:  When It Comes to Supporting Women Playwrights, Their Actions Speak Loud

There has been a lot of talk lately about the number of productions women playwrights receive, versus our male counterparts.  The numbers fall out at about 20% plays by women to 80% plays by men.  It's a complex problem.  Perhaps you've read something about it from the 50/50 in 2020 folks, or from the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative, or by reading Todd London and Ben Pesner's book "Outrageous Fortune."

What I'd like to talk with you about today is a theater company in Chicago that is taking action, producing five world premieres of brand new plays by women playwrights in June and July, 2011.  Halcyon Theater's Alcyone Festival is one of the boldest correctives to the dearth of productions of women's work I've heard about, and I am absolutely delighted to be one of the lucky participating playwrights.

Halcyon is run by Artistic Director Tony Adams and his wife, Associate Artistic Director Jenn Adams.  This is their fifth season of production. 

I met Tony and Jenn two years ago, when they produced my play "Heads" in Alcyone 2009.  I remember being shocked to see their call for plays; the theme that year was Women Writing about Terrorism.  And I was!  I had.  I flew out to Chicago to see the festival, and was tremendously impressed with the scope of Halcyon's vision.  They produced six plays in that year's festival, by playwrights from around the world.  Beautiful, bold plays.  By women playwrights.  It was exciting and it was exhilerating and it was PRODUCTIONS. 

(May I take a moment, here, to explain that having a reading is to having a production like riding a tricycle is to driving a Mustang convertible on the Los Angeles freeways.  I'll let you decide which experience taught me more about driving, required more of me as a driver, and took me farther, in all the best ways.)

I've kept in touch with my Halcyon friends since then, but was surprised and delighted when they contacted me, and asked if I wanted to take part in this year's Alcyone Festival.  They were doing something different -- asking five of us, with whom they had worked in previous years, to rework, adapt, sample or remix the work of a woman playwright from 1850 or before.  They couldn't afford to make it a commission -- but they would commit to producing what we wrote.

I said YES.  ABSOLUTELY!  YES!!  And so did J. Nicole Brooks, Jennifer Fawcett, Coya Paz and Caridad Svich.  Wrestling with the work of Hrosvitha, Pauline Hopkins, Charlotte Mary Sanford Barnes, Anna Cora Mowatt and Maria de Zaya y Sotomayor, respectively.  If you haven't heard of any of them... well, that's part of the point.  We are retrieving the female playwriting canon.  We are speaking with our sisters across time and space.  We are standing together to tell strong new stories for the stage.  It's a festival of our own.

I can't wait to get to Chicago and see what my fellow playwrights have come up with, and see my own play come to life on Halcyon's stage.  This has already been such a rich and rewarding challenge, just in the writing!

I'm hoping that you'll join me.  I'd like to invite you to take part in this year's Alcyone Festival.  How?

• If you're in Chicago, please come and see the festival!  Tickets are available here.
• If you produce plays, and are curious about our adventures in adaptation, ask us for a copy of our work.  I'm sure all of us playwrights would be glad to talk with you about future productions of these plays that started at the Alcyone Festival.  E-mail Tony for our contact information, or feel free to contact us directly.
• If you want to help Halcyon Theater to produce work by women playwrights, click here to make a donation.  Every cent will go to making this festival happen -- and letting women's voices be heard.  You have the power to tip the scale.  YOU can make a difference.

Thank you for reading!  And I hope to see you in Chicago!

**Next up, in Ellen's Alcyone 2011 Blog Post, Part II:  Wrestling with our Forebears -- The Art of Adaptation! followed by Part III:  STRONG VOICE -- Faith, Heroes and Boldness

Kurt Vonnegut, on storytelling...

A short lecture (with chalkboard scribblings!) about the shape of stories by Kurt Vonnegut can be found HERE.  I found it to be fantastic.  Check it out!