April 2 - "I, Human" in NYC!

I have written a robot play.

"Where in the world did that come from, Ellen?" you might ask.  And it's true that I usually play in a sandbox that looks more like Lanford Wilson Land than Isaac Asimov Country.  But I like stretching myself.  I like trying new things.  Short plays are great for attempting bold maneuvers in your writing!  They're short!  Surely we can be brave in ten or twenty pages, can't we?

I read quite a lot of science fiction while I was growing up.  I think most geeky smart kids do.  Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert.  Madeleine L'Engle's Time Trilogy.  And I remember watching reruns of "Star Trek" (the real Star Trek, the original Star Trek) with my dad on television, and staying up and terrifying myself when I was babysitting with late-night viewings of "The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits."  I remember my Speech & Debate Team pals Mark and Jeff reciting great chunks of dialogue from Douglas Adams' "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."  "War of the Worlds" and the three "Star Wars" movies and "Bladerunner" all affected how I saw the universe.  Later, I'd find my way into the worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin and Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood and George Orwell and Dan Simmons.  I liked it there.  These writers were asking big questions.

I like it when writers ask big questions.

So when Gus Schulenberg from Flux Theater Ensemble asked if I could write a short play for them that riffed upon the futuristic/sci-fi themes of their new mainstage show "Deinde," I said yes.

I've written for Flux's "ForePlay" series before.  Last year, Gus asked if I'd write something to go alongside their production of "Ajax in Iraq" by Ellen McLaughlin for their "New World Iliads."  I came up with a futuristic play called "The War Museum."  It was a great challenge, and really, really fun.  

I love the idea of this series.  Basically, in the weeks leading up to the opening of a show, they ask a bunch of writers they've worked with before or know to write new short plays that riff upon the themes of their mainstage show.  Each week, a new batch of four or five are assigned to a director, cast, and put up in an evening of readings and fun and cameraderie.  It multiplies exponentially the number of theater artists they get to work with, while speaking directly to the themes of the mainstage play and reaching out to new audiences.  Brilliant!  Lots of work for them, but really, really smart.

My play for ForePlay: Human 2.0 is called "I, Human."  As you might guess from the title, if you're familiar with the writings of Isaac Asimov, it's a bit of an homage to his influential "I, Robot" series -- which introduced the Three Laws of Robotics to the world.  It's got robots and scientists, heated discussions about ethics, and a bit of the old ultra-violence, too.  If you're in New York City on Monday night, I hope you'll come check it out.  I'd love to see you there!

Inspiration for "I, Human" by EM Lewis.

Flux Theater Ensemble's ForePlay: Human 2.0

Monday, April 2 at 8pm

The Lounge at Dixon Place

161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey)

New York, NY

For more information:  Flux's ForePlay: Human 2.0

Playwrights: David Ian Lee (TIME), EM Lewis (RESPONSIBILITY), David Stallings (BORDERS), Lauren Ferebee (MUSIC), Nat Cassidy (PARENTING)

Director: Matt Archambault

Actors: Becky Kelly, Maria Portman Kelly, Kari Swenson Riely, Chris Wight, Tatiana Gomberg, John Albano

Reveille Revisited!

Here are some pictures from Moving Arts production of The Car Plays, now running (extended!) in San Diego, at La Jolla Playhouse.  I'm proud to have my short play "Reveille" included.  "Reveille" is about a young man who has signed up for the military on the morning he is supposed to leave for Basic Training, and his father, who despite being a vet himself, doesn't want his son to go.

Reveille by EM Lewis
Directed by Sam Woodhouse
Featuring Will Tulin and Michael Zlotnik

Will Tulin as Leonard, and Michael Zlotnik as Linny.

Will Tulin and Michael Zlotnik.

Mike Zlotnik as Linny.

The Car Plays are Revving Up in San Diego!

Still trying to figure out what these "Car Plays" are that I keep mentioning, as they move from the Radar Festival in LA to the Off-Center Festival in Costa Mesa, and now to La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego?

Click here to see a lovely little television news feature about Moving Arts' wonderful site-specific theater production, featuring creator and producer Paul Stein, Michael Shutt, and a bunch of our fabulous Los Angeles and San Diego actors, working together to make this latest production happen!

Click here to see another television feature, this one from the local PBS station.  We're getting lots of love in San Diego!

Or click here to see a review in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Or click here to see a review in the North County Times.

Or click here to buy tickets to the La Jolla Playhouse production of Moving Arts' "The Car Plays!"

I'm proud that my play "Reveille" is part of the mix.

Reveille by EM Lewis
Directed by Sam Woodhouse
Featuring Will Tulin and Michael Zlotnik

Leonard's only son has signed up for the military. He leaves for boot camp this morning.

Big News! $10,000 Fellowship from the NJ Arts Council!

The big news this month is that I'm the lucky recipient of a $10,000 Fellowship in Playwriting from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.  I drove up to Summit, NJ a few weeks ago to accept the award, along with other recipients in five categories, at their Annual Artists Roundtable.  Twenty-two artists were selected from more than 300 applicants in the categories of crafts, sculpture, photography, playwriting and poetry.

Front row, from left to right: Ben Marshall (playwriting), E M Lewis (playwriting), Thea Clark (crafts), Joanne Hoersch (playwriting), Erin Endicott (crafts), Catherine Doty (poetry).  Back row, from left to right: Frank Tribble (of Mancenido Tribble, photography), Douglas Ensel (photography), Jackie Clark (poetry), Sheri Lynn Behr (photography), Riccardo Berlingeri (sculpture), Anne Dushanko Dobek (sculpture), Deb Margolin (playwriting), Mihaela Moscaliuc (poetry), Michael Waters (poetry), Won Ju Seo (crafts)

The money will help me make it through the rest of the year -- which is rapidly filling itself with a wonderful array of productions, publications and teaching gigs.  Thank you, New Jersey, for helping me to be a full-time playwright for a little longer!!

A nice article about local playwriting recipients in the Star-Ledger.

"This Isn't About Love" in Eleven Eleven

Three of my short plays are getting some attention this Valentine's Day month.  "Reveille" is in Moving Arts' The Car Plays -- which is roaring into the Without Walls Festival at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, CA.  "Partners" is in the Briefs Festival in St. Louis, MO.  And "This Isn't About Love" has been featured in Eleven Eleven -- a biannual journal of literature and art published through the MFA Writing Program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.  

"This Isn't About Love" is about a lunchtime tryst between two lovers in a hotel room; one of them wants something the other might not be ready to give.

Click here to read "This Isn't About Love."  Look at the rest of the journal while you're there!

February 24-26 -- "Partners" in the Briefs Festival in St. Louis!

From February 24-26, 2012, my short play "Partners" will be showcased in the Briefs Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, produced by That Uppity Theater Company, in partnership with Vital Voice Media.

"More than a traditional theatrical production, BRIEFS is a community event, innovatively bringing together a diverse audience from the LGBT community, straight allies, local businesses, and local artists and involving eight different directors and playwrights."

"Partners" is one of my most popular ten-minute plays. It's a comic little piece about a cop who brings her male work partner home to meet her female *partner* partner, and the fireworks that ensue. It was most recently seen in Boston, at Another Country Productions' SLAMBoston event. I'm proud to have it included in the St. Louis event.

For more information, check out this article by Vital Voice Media or this feature in West End Word or this article in Alive Magazine.

Finished a draft of a new full-length play!

I had a wonderful weekend at Passage Theater in Trenton, workshopping the new play that I have JUST finished -- a five-character murder mystery called "If I Did This."  A big thank you to Passage for organizing this wonderful event, in which eight members of our playwriting workshop were able to work with directors and actors from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia -- more than sixty theater artists in all!  Thank you, also, to my friend David Hilder for his dramaturgy and directing, and to my wonderful cast:

• Chad Hoepner, as mystery novelist Hal Walker
• Kathryn Markey, as senior editor Brett Martin
• David Crommett, as real estate agent (and acquitted murderer) Donnie Lawrence
• Brielle Silvestri, as Donnie's teenage daughter, Miriam Lawrence
• Nedra McClyde, as detective Hayden Quinn

Now...  delving into the rewrites!

Passage Theater Playwrights Lab Retreat! 

David Hilder, directing our merry little band of actors.

Characters, from left to right:  Brett, Hayden, Hal, Donnie, Miriam.

Characters at the music stands:  Brett, Hal, Donnie.

If I Did This
90 minutes
Five Characters:  2 Men / 1 Woman / 2 characters that can be played by either men or women (all any race)

Grieving mystery novelist Hal Walker has been sent by his editor, Brett Martin, to the home of Donnie Lawrence -- infamously acquitted in the murder of his wife.  But Hal didn't anticipate the presence of Donnie's teenage daughter, Miriam, nor the emotional undertow that his own wife's death creates as he attempts to ghostwrite Donnie's book "My Story."