THE RAINBOW Film to Premiere

My short play The Rainbow which is published by Applause has now been made into a short film premiering next week at a festival in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

The Rainbow was selected by the Cine del Mar 17 festival, which runs from July 10th through 14th. It will be screened as part of the Official Short Film Competition on Thursday, July 11th at 7:15 pm.

I wrote the screenplay, and the film was directed by Dennis Cahlo. The film stars Sandra Maren Schneider, Taso Mikroulis, and Ed Trucco. It has an original score by Martin Bäcker and costumes by Madison Hopkins.

Special thanks to everyone who worked on the film, including Isabel Sandoval (editor), Debby Caplunik (assistant director), Daniel Hirshon (cinematography), Rita Mansinho (color correction), Mauricio Zapata (sound mix) and Silvia Cannarozzi (finishing touches).

THE RAINBOW Next Month in Michigan

Next month, the students at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan will be putting on my play The Rainbow as part of their Studio Theater Showcase.

The showcase will be playing from Thursday, May 3rd to Saturday, May 6th. Gerard Dzuiblinski is directing the showcase, which will be in the Studio Theater (F-161) on the college's Dearborn campus on Evergreen Road.

The Rainbow is included in the anthology The Best American Short Plays: 2012-2013, published by Applause. Two monologues from the play are also collected in Best Monologues from the Best American Short Plays, Volume Three.

A couple years ago, 21st Ward Theater Company in Philadelphia produced a site-specific production of the play in Gorgas Park. The play was originally performed at the American Globe in New York in 2012 as a part of their short play festival.

Best of luck to all those involved in the HFC production. Wish I could be there to see it!

Applause! Applause!

I just received in the mail two copies of Best Monologues from the Best American Short Plays, Volume Three. This book contains two monologues from my short play The Rainbow.

And I'm in good company. The book also has two monologues by John Guare (one from Five-Story Walkup and one from Seven Card Draw) and two by Shel Silverstein (The Trio and The Devil and Billy Markham), among many others.

Not only that, but this is the second time I've been included in such a collection. My short play with a long title The True Author of the Plays Formerly Attributed to Mister William Shakespeare Revealed to the World for the First Time by Miss Delia Bacon is included in Volume One of the series.

By the way, you can watch Alex Sunderhaus performing a shortened version of that monologue last year at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe here:

The True Author... Revealed

And you can buy the two monologue collections on Amazon here:

Volume One

Volume Three

And if you're interested in The Rainbow, the full play is published in The Best American Short Plays: 2012-2013, which is available here:

The Rainbow

Hope you enjoy them!

Book Release One Week From Today!

Next Wednesday, December 3rd, Applause Books will be celebrating the release of Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays. Come out at 6:00 to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe for readings of some of the monologues, including a selection from my own play The True Author... Revealed.

Ken Kaissar directed The True Author... Revealed back in 2009 starring Katherine Harte-DeCoux. Applause subsequently anthologized it in The Best American Short Plays: 2008-2009. It is inspired by the life of the nineteenth-century scholar, author, and complete basket case Delia Bacon.

Unfortunately, Kate won't be able to perform the monologue next week, but Alex Sunderhaus, who was recently seen in my play The State of Colorado v. Tennessee Williams, will be on hand to do the honors. Rumor has it that Maja Wampuszyc, fresh from her successful run in pool (no water) will be reading a monologue as well.

Some of the other authors whose work will be presented include Liliana Almendarez, Dano Madden, and Pamela Sneed. Admission is $5, but you'll get in for free if you order a copy of the anthology here:

Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays

It should be a good time, and hopefully we'll pack the house!

The Rainbow

I just received news that my short play The Rainbow will be included in The Best American Short Plays: 2012-2013, published by Applause. The Rainbow is actually the first scene of a full-length play, I Hate You: A Love Story, which has yet to be produced, but I have been developing it for a while.

Last year, Dev Bondarin directed a wonderful production of The Rainbow as part of the Turnip Theatre Company & American Globe Theatre's 18th Annual Fifteen Minute Play Festival in New York City. We had a wonderful cast, with Christopher Kloko as Jack and Kathryn Holtkamp as Meg.

Other scenes from the full-length play have been presented elsewhere. The second scene of the piece, Reflection, was produced by Lightyear last fall as part of their evening Smitten & Bitten directed by Syeus Mottel at the Gene Frankel Theatre. That had Emily Duncan as Meg and Kyle Despiegler as Jack. The third scene was done in a slightly different version called Nothing as a part of a Benefit Challenge Series done by the Abingdon Theatre Company. This was a staged reading directed by Amanda Kate Joshi with Ryan Barker as Jack and Debby Brand as Meg.

Another scene, Home, had a staged reading in Philadelphia by Philly's Primary Stages last year right before Thanksgiving. Bernard Glincosky directed, with Megan Eckley as Meg and Jack Buckley as Jack. This year, Golden Fleece did a reading of the beginning of the second act with Doug Rossi as Jack and Sandra Maren Schneider as Meg.

Sensing a trend here? This is a show that's had a lot of development and is ready to be fully staged. Dev and I have been working on this piece since that production at the American Globe Theatre, and we hope to get the full-length play produced sometime next year. Stay tuned!