New Comedies Festival Semifinalist (Again!)

I just received word that my new play After an Earlier Incident has been named a semifinalist in the B Street Theatre's 2026 New Comedies Festival in Sacramento.

The theatre is scheduled to select four finalists by June 2nd. Chosen plays will receive readings July 12th through 19th, and at least one of those plays will be fully produced for the theatre's upcoming season.

In March, I previously announced that After an Earlier Incident had advanced to Round 2 of B Street Theatre's process. Last year, my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites made it to the semifinals, but unfortunately was not invited out for the New Comedies Festival.

The first scene of After an Earlier Incident had a workshop at Theatre of Western Springs outside of Chicago. I continued to develop the piece with Caryn Osofsky and Nick Walthers, two actors I met through the American Renaissance Theater Company (ARTC), and they performed a public reading of the full play in December at Theater for the New City.

In the play, a recently widowed woman meets a perpetually awkward man for their first date, only to discover that they both have more baggage than they are willing to admit. The play asks how two people can relate to one another when the technology we use to communicate keeps getting in the way, and how we can move forward with life even when a recent death remains ever present. It's a comedy about trying to live and love when tragedy lies just below the surface.

Perhaps this July the people of Sacramento will get a chance to hear this piece, which is very near and dear to my heart.

New Comedies Festival Semifinalist

I received word that my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites was named a semifinalist for B Street Theatre's New Comedies Festival.

Unfortunately, the play did not advance to the next round, so it will not be produced in Sacramento in the near future. Still, it's a good sign, I suppose.

The Love Songs of Brooklynites tells the story of Chuck, who has just moved in when his neighbor Abbie harasses him for mail misdirected to his apartment. As Abbie falls into his life, she introduces him to stress baking, computer coding, and the poetry of a city that's still trying to revise itself. 

The piece had a staged reading as a part of Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series. Its first act subsequently received a workshop by the Theatre of Western Springs, which more recently presented my new play After an Earlier Incident.

A full-length version of the piece had a reading by Vivid Stage in New Jersey, and it's ready for a full production. If you're interested in the piece, let me know!

Two Shows Left!

I'm out in Illinois right now for a workshop of my play After an Earlier Incident. The piece is being done at the Theatre of Western Springs, and there are two more performances on Sunday, one at 2:30 and the other at 7:30.

Edward M. Pinkowski did an excellent job directing the piece, which features Katarina Creedon as Jen and Mark MacLean as Elliot. I've also been developing the piece with American Renaissance Theater Company in New York.

After an Earlier Incident is being performed with two other one-act plays, The Voodoo Man by Carl Maronich and Yalu River by Nan Gatewood Satter. Yalu River has a particularly good cast, including Danny Parrott, who previously appeared in my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites, also at the Theatre of Western Springs.

If you're in the Chicago area, please come out to one of our final two performances!

Coming to Western Springs

I'm very excited that my play After an Earlier Incident is being workshopped May 1st through 4th at the Theatre of Western Springs outside of Chicago.

In the play, a recently widowed woman meets a perpetually awkward man for a first date. Things start off badly and quickly get worse, as both of them try to cope with recent traumas that lie just below the surface.

Edward M. Pinkowski is directing the show, which features actors Tommy Aldis and Katarina Creedon. The piece goes up with The Voodoo Man by Carl Maronich and Yalu River by Nan Gatewood Satter. Admission is free, though donations will be gladly accepted.

The Theatre of Western Springs workshopped the one-act version of my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites back in 2019. Vivid Stages later did a reading of the full play in Summit, New Jersey, but it has yet to have a full production.

If you're in the Chicago area for the first weekend of May, I hope you'll come out to see After an Earlier Incident. Performances will be at 8:00pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then at 2:30pm and 7:30pm on Sunday.

The theatre is located at 4384, Hampton Avenue in Western Springs, Illinois. Maybe I'll see you there!

Queens Short Play Festival

Last night, I went to the semifinals of the Queens Short Play Festival at the Secret Theatre in Woodside.

A couple years ago, my own play My Fellow Americans premiered at the Secret Theatre's one-act festival, and Rebecca Ana Peña won a best performer award for her portrayal of the President of the United States.

This time, I came out to cheer on fellow playwright Doug DeVita, whose play Mrs. Platte made it to the semifinals. Mrs. Platte depicts a chance encounter between a student (played by Calum Giles) and his former teacher Mrs. Platte (Rose Zisa). It also features one of my favorite actresses, Jessica Vera, with whom I developed my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites.

Other plays that made the semifinals include William Zolla's The Valentine Audit, Niki Woods's Go Fish, and David Gill's In the Garden of Hesperides. The finals are on Sunday, so if you're interested in seeing the best of the best, get your tickets now.

Coming this weekend!

As I previously announced, I will be co-hosting a streaming program about The Pickwick Papers, the first novel of Charles Dickens. You can catch my first appearance this Saturday, May 27th, at 2:00 pm Eastern time. To register, click here.

The program is presented by the Rosenbach Library and organized by Edward G. Pettit, who brings in one of four rotating co-hosts to discuss a different installment of Pickwick each month. This Saturday, we'll be discussing chapters six through eight, which originally appeared in May of 1836.

Dickens included in this section his poem "The Ivy Green" which was allegedly written by the clergyman introduced in chapter six. The poem was subsequently set to music by Dickens's brother-in-law Henry Burnett, who married the author's favorite sister, Fanny, and might have been a model for the title character in Nicholas Nickleby.

Having fictional characters compose poems is not unique to Dickens. I did the same thing in my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites, which takes its title from a poem written by one of the piece's characters. That play had a staged reading last year by Vivid Stage in Summit, New Jersey, but there are no immediate plans for a full production.

By the way, I got some lovely feedback from the staged reading of Wedding Night at Anacostia Playhouse in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. Hopefully it will get a full production somewhere soon!

Everything's Happenin' in Jersey

It's been a week. This Wednesday was the reading of my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites at Vivid Stage in Summit, New Jersey, and I'm happy to report that it went extremely well.

Laura Ekstrand directed the reading, which featured Christopher Young as Chuck and Emaline Williams as Abbie. Both of the actors were very funny in their roles. We had a talkback afterward, and I have lots of ideas for rewrites.

Unfortunately, while I was getting ready to take the train out to Summit, I found out that my good friend Herb Moskovitz had been put on a ventilator and wasn't expected to make it. I had heard that he was in the hospital, but didn't realize things were quite so bad.

Herb lived in Philadelphia, but used to come to New York all the time, where we would frequently see theatre together. I remember going to Irish Rep with him to see a production of Around the World in 80 Days, and going with him to the Off-Broadway production Irena's Vow, as well as to see numerous plays based on the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, one of Herb's favorite writers.

Initially, I met Herb through the Dickens Fellowship, so I will always associate him with Charles Dickens, but he loved quite a number of writers. In 2019, I drove down with a friend of mine from New Jersey to attend a marathon reading of Moby-Dick in Philadelphia, but Herb couldn't attend, as he was scheduled to give a talk to the P.G. Wodehouse Society. He always managed to keep busy.

Yesterday, I had plans to see another friend, Cindy Ryan, appear in a production of Mr. Burns by the Studio Players in Montclair, New Jersey. Cindy also knew Herb through the Dickens Fellowship. A number of years ago, the Friends of Dickens New York held a mock trial of John Jasper to see if he really was the murderer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Cindy's husband Jeff played the defendant, and I presided as judge. We called Herb as witness, and he appeared as the character of Durdles.

Here's a photo of the cast. The tall man in the back is Herb. (He generally towered over everybody.) I'm writing in the past tense, because I received word Friday morning that Herb had passed. I still went to the show that night. (Herb probably would have wanted it that way.) I didn't get a chance to say hello to Cindy afterward, but I did run into Jeff and their daughter Sylvia (the little girl in this photo, who is now a teenager).

Well, Herb will be dearly missed. He was a great actor, a great scenic designer, and a great man.

Brooklynites in New Jersey

For a while now, I've been working on a play called The Love Songs of Brooklynites. I developed it in a reading with Emerging Artists Theatre, and it subsequently had a workshop out at the Theatre of Western Springs.

I sent the script to Vivid Stage in New Jersey. (This is the company formerly known as Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre.) Their artistic director, Laura Ekstrand, contacted me recently saying they want to do a reading of the play at their theatre in Summit.

Vivid Stage is supplying the actors and director, and I don't know any of them, so it will be a chance for me to get a completely fresh take on the piece. I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm looking forward to it! Fortunately, the theatre is easy to get to, since it's located right near the Summit train station.

The reading will be on May 4th at 7:30pm and will be a part of Vivid's Meet the Artist Series. Later in May, they'll also be doing readings of plays by Angelle Whavers, Lia Romeo, and Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich.

If you can make it, I'd love to see you there!

Two Down, Two to Go

Thursday, the Theatre of Western Springs premiered my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites as a part of their New Plays Workshop. We had another performance last night, but if you missed it, you still have two more chances, tonight at 8:00 and Sunday at 7:30.

Performances are in the Cattell Theatre, which is the smaller of the two spaces TWS has, but the theatre can still hold about 100 people. I took a brief tour of the facilities on Thursday, and they're pretty impressive. In addition to their two theatres, TWS also has a sizable scene shop and plenty of storage for costumes.

For the New Play Workshop, however, the emphasis is not on the sets or costumes, but on the scripts and the acting. The Love Songs of Brooklynites is fortunate enough to have Danny Parrott in the role of Chuck and Melody Jefferies playing Abbie. They both have wonderful comic timing and a great chemistry on stage.

Denny Wise directed the production, which is going up with two other one-act plays. The first one, The Theory of Moral Relativity, is by Elisa Manzini and directed by Edward W. Wavak. It shows four strangers brought together for a job interview that is more than it seems. The action is intense, and the performers give the play their all.

The second play, Plenty of Fish, Felons and Fetishes, is by Janet Venzon and directed by Terry Kozlowski. It follows the misadventures of a woman who signs up for an Internet dating site. Haruka Hitchcock plays Gia, the embodiment of the dating site's artificial intelligence program, and she nearly steals the show with her half-human, half-robotic demeanor.

After the three plays, there is a talk-back with the playwrights and directors, which is why I'm attending all four performances. On Sunday, I'll also be at a workshop for local playwrights in Western Springs.

Unfortunately, that means I'll be missing the final performance of Burns Night at the Secret Theatre in Queens, but if you're in New York, maybe you can catch another brilliant cast in a very different comedy.

Another Openin' Another Show

I'm back from my conferences in the United Kingdom and have just touched down in Chicago for the opening night of my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites at the Theatre of Western Springs.

Denny Wise is directing the play, which is being performed as part of a trio of one acts that also includes Elisa Manzini's The Theory of Moral Relativity and Janet Venzon's Plenty of Fish, Felons and Fetishes.

Curtain is at 8:00 tonight, Friday, and Saturday, and then at 7:30 on Sunday. I'll also be participating in a workshop on Sunday with some local playwrights. The performances of the plays are free, so if you are in the Chicagoland area, I hope you'll come.

The Theatre of Western Springs is located at 4384 Hampton Avenue in Western Springs, Illinois. Maybe I'll see you there.

Conference Closed

Well, the International Conference on Romanticism is officially closed now, my paper on Lord Byron's play Manfred is done with, and tomorrow I'll be heading back to London to spend time with my sister.

I've been attending two conferences back to back, having just finished the Romantic Facts and Fantasies conference in Nottingham, sponsored by the British Association for Romantic Studies. I've been enjoying Manchester, though, and some of the excellent papers here.

Wednesday night, Marlene Daut gave a keynote address on "The Age of Haitian Romanticism, which introduced me to a number of Haitian playwrights, including Juste Chanlatte and Henri Chauvet. She also discussed how the French writer Alphonse de Lamartine wrote a play about the Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture and was both influenced by Haitian writers and praised by them.

Thursday morning there was a great session on Romantic music and its composers. Though it is quite late to be considered Romanticism proper, Amanda Hsieh gave an interesting talk on Franz Schreker's opera Die Gezeichneten, which is based on a play by Frank Wedekind. Next, Amy Garnai delivered a fascinating paper on the friendship between dramatist Thomas Holcroft and composer Joseph Haydn, who spent time in England. The final paper in the session, which was by Barry Cooper, looked at aspects of Romanticism in the life and music of Beethoven. He naturally talked about Fidelio, but also discussed Beethoven's oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one, but now I want to hear it!

Today I took part in an article writing workshop, which was helpful. Though the conference officially closed today, there was supposed to be an outing tomorrow to the Peak District National Park for some hiking. Unfortunately, the heavy rains recently have led to concerns about a dam in the area bursting, and rail service has been disrupted. The conference planners had to cancel the trip, so I'll probably spend some time at a museum tomorrow before returning to London.

Once back in the U.S., I'll be quickly off again, to see my play The Love Songs of Brooklynites at the Theatre of Western Springs outside of Chicago. It's been a busy summer, but in a good way!

Feel the Burns

Last night, I saw Alice Hale, Maria de Vries, and Zach McCoy in my short play Burns Night in the Long Island City One Act Play Festival.

The festival is held at the Secret Theatre in Queens. Ilanna Saltzman directed the production of Burns Night, and if you missed the show last week, you can see it on Saturday at 8:00. We will also have future performances at 5:00 on Sunday, August 4th, and then at 8:00 on the following Sunday, August 11th.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to see those performances, as I'll be out of town. Later this week, I'll be at the British Association for Romantic Studies' conference at the University of Nottingham. On the closing day of the conference, which is this coming Sunday, I'll be delivering a paper on the French premiere of Percy Shelley's play The Cenci and the impact it had on Symbolism.

The following week, I'll be at the International Conference on Romanticism at the University of Manchester. I'm giving a talk on Edmund Kean's influence on Lord Byron, particularly in relationship to his play Manfred. While I'm in Manchester, I'll also get a chance to see There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, a play about the Luddite rebellion, which is playing at the Royal Exchange Theatre there.

Initially, I had thought I would get back in time to see the final scheduled performance of Burns Night on August 11th, but as soon as I get back to the U.S., I'll be heading out to Chicago, where my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites will be playing at The Theatre of Western Springs. That play runs August 8th through 11th, and I'll be there for the talkbacks after each performance.

If Burns Night is invited back for the semifinals of the LIC One Act Play Festival, I'll be there on August 21st, and the finals for the festival are on August 24th. If I don't see you there, perhaps I'll see you in Illinois!

BURNS NIGHT Opens This Week

My short play Burns Night opens this Friday, July 12th, as part of the Long Island City One-Act Festival at the Secret Theatre.

The first show is at 7:30 pm. We're second on a bill of shorts that includes plays by Seth Freeman, Jeremy Kehoe, Brianna Singer, and others. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door.

Performances continue the following week at 5:00 on Saturday, July 20th, the next Saturday at 8:00 on July 27th, then at 5:00 on Sunday, August 4th, and finally at 8:00 on the following Sunday, August 11th.

Burns Night is a comedy that tells the story of two friends hiding out in a kitchen while a celebration of Robert Burns and all things Scottish starts to go overboard. Ilanna Saltzman is directing the play, following her directing a reading of the piece at Urban Stages.

Maria de Vries is reprising her role of Keira from the reading. Her other New York theatre credits include the Abingdon Theatre Company, Red Monkey, ATA, and Oxford Shakespeare. Most recently she appeared in Squirrel Screams and Other Dating Sounds by Lindsay Timmington. Her MFA is from UNC-Greensboro.

The role of Steph is being played by Alice Hale, who I originally met through Urban Stages as well. Alice's New York theatre credits include Golden Vanilla at New York Summerfest and A Hand Across the Bridge at the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. She's appeared on television in ID's Hometown Homicide and in the Web series Northbound, The Uncanny Upshurs, and Public History. Her BFA is from NYU Tisch, and she has studied at Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Stonestreet Screen Acting Conservatory.

It's my first time working with Alice, and only my second time working with Maria and Ilanna, But they're all great. Rounding out the cast as Steph's boyfriend Malcom is Zach McCoy, with whom I've worked on multiple occasions. He appeared in my short play The State of Colorado v. Tennessee Williams, as well as readings of The Love Songs of Brooklynites. (Keep a look out for an announcement about that play soon.)

Zach's favorite stage credits include David in Love and Human Remains (Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Playwrights Horizons - NYC), Bernard in Boeing, Boeing (Millbrook Playhouse - Pennsylvania), and Colin in The Birthday Boys (co-producer; Access Theatre - NYC). He is hysterical in Burns Night, so you don't want to miss him!

The Secret Theatre is located at 44-02 23rd Street in Long Island City in Queens. It is set back a bit from the street, so don't miss it when you walk by... and make it live up to its name! This is going to be a good show, so I hope to see you there.

And it begins...

Today, we had our first rehearsal for my short play Burns Night, which will be performed next month at the Long Island City One-Act Festival at the Secret Theatre in Queens.

Burns Night originally had a staged reading as part of the January Plays at Urban Stages. Ilanna Saltzman, who directed the reading, is directing the full production at the Secret Theatre as well. Maria de Vries will be reprising her role as Keira, while Alice Hale will be playing Steph and Zach McCoy will be playing Malcolm.

It's great to work with Ilanna and Maria again, and I'm psyched about getting to work with Zach and Alice as well. Last year, Zach was in a reading of The Love Songs of Brooklynites, and while I've never worked with Alice before, I'm a big fan of her web series Northbound.

Burns Night tells the story of two young women who have been friends for forever. They hide out in a kitchen while a celebration of Robert Burns and all things Scottish starts to go overboard. But as their lives and interests change and as romantic entanglements become more intense, can their friendship still stay what it used to be?

The play will be performed at 7:30 on Friday, July 12th, then the following week at 5:00 on Saturday, July 20th, then the next Saturday at 8:00 on July 27th, at 5:00 on Sunday, August 4th, and then at 8:00 on the following Sunday, August 11th. If we're invited back for the semifinals, they'll be on August 21st, and the finals are on August 24th.

I hope you can make it, and if you come, we promise not to feed you haggis!

Shakespeare in the 'Burg

As I previously wrote, my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites won a playwriting competition by Shakespeare in the 'Burg in Middleburg, Virginia and will be having a reading there this weekend.

The reading is tomorrow, Sunday, April 7th, at The Hill School. Actors will present staged readings of my play and the plays of two other winners while the audience enjoys brunch. The event begins at 11:00 am and costs $35. You can get tickets here.

Shakespeare in the 'Burg (as you might suspect) mainly does productions of plays by William Shakespeare. Their current production, Twelfth Night, had two performances earlier today.

They sent me the prize today in a lovely notecard. I took a picture of it, which is posted below!

Brooklyn in the 'Burg

My play The Love Songs of Brooklyn will have a staged reading next month at The Hill School in Middleburg, Virginia.

The play is one of three winners of the Shakespeare in the 'Burg One-Act Playwriting Competition. All three plays will be presented together at a gourmet brunch to raise money for the company, which is currently gearing up for a production of Twelfth Night.

Tickets are $35 each and include brunch and champagne. The event will take place at 11:00 am on the morning of Sunday, April 7th. You can order tickets through Brown Paper Tickets.

The Love Songs of Brooklynites had a staged reading last year as a part of Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series.

If you're in the Middleburg area, I hope you can make it!

Discover a Great New Play

Tomorrow (Monday) my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites will have a staged reading as a part of Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series.

Zach McCoy is playing the part of Chuck, a recent transplant to Brooklyn from Wisconsin. Zach's favorite stage credits include David in Love and Human Remains, Bernard in Boeing, Boeing, and Colin in The Birthday Boys. He also appeared in my play The State of Colorado v. Tennessee Williams. He currently does extensive voiceover work, reviews plays for The Drama League, and runs a sustainable seafood restaurant on the Upper West Side. Zach is a proud graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis, IN.

The role of Chuck's neighbor Abbie is being played by Jessica L. Vera. Her previous credits include Bullet Catchers, The True History of the Tragic Life and Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World, and A Snowfall in Berlin. She has also appeared on the Hulu series The Path and is in an independent film, Beyond the Night, which will be premiering at Woodstock Film Festival. I've also had the pleasure of working with Jessica as part of the 36th Street Writers Block, where she read the leading roles in Capital and Bones of the Sea as I was developing them.

The reading is directed by Dev Bondarin, who is the Artistic Director of Astoria Performing Arts Center where she has directed Follies, Raisin, ...Spelling Bee, Astoria Stories, Merrily We Roll Along, and In The Bones. As Associate Artistic Director of Prospect Theater Company, she directs a musical theater lab which has produced over 80 new, short musicals. Her other credits include Elevator Heart, King Lear, and A Home Across The Ocean.

Tickets for the reading (which benefits Emerging Artists Theatre) are $10. That includes admission to readings of two other short plays, The Cruelty of Children by Raymond McAnally and Hamlet Investigations, Inc. by Ellen Abrams.

The theatre is located at 15 West 28th Street on the second floor. Hope you can make it!

LOVE SONGS Next Week!

My one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites will have a staged reading next week on Monday, October 8th, at 7:00 pm.

The reading is being directed by Dev Bondarin and stars Jessica Vera and Zach McCoy. Kevin Quinn will be reading stage directions.

Some of you might have seen a reading of the same play last year at the Dramatists Guild. This version has been tightened up a bit and is slightly shorter.

We'll be presenting the piece as a benefit for Emerging Artists Theatre. Tickets are $10 each. In addition to seeing my show, the audience will also get to see The Cruelty of Children by Raymond McAnally and Hamlet Investigations, Inc. by Ellen Abrams.

The reading will be held at TADA, 15 West 28th Street (between Broadway and 5th Avenue) on the second floor. Tickets are available here:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3616610

If you can make it, I'd love to see you there!

More Praise for FOLLIES

Congratulations to the Astoria Performing Arts Center, whose production of Follies cleaned up at the New York Innovative Theatre Awards this week.

In addition to winning for Best Ensemble, the revival of the classic Stephen Sondheim/James Goldman musical also picked up awards for choreographer Sara Brians, costume designer Jennifer Jacob, and actress LaDonna Burns.

I had the pleasure of seeing the production, directed by Dev Bondarin, this past May. It was also the last production APAC produced in their former space. For next season, they'll be moving to the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, just down the street from their old place.

Incidentally, Dev will be directing a staged reading of my one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites next month, presented by Emerging Artists Theatre. Hope you can make it!

Staged Reading Next Month

My one-act play The Love Songs of Brooklynites will be having a staged reading next month as a part of Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series.

The script had a reading last year at the Dramatists Guild with Jessica Vera and Zach McCoy. I'm happy to say that both actors are slated to be reprising their roles in this reading, which will be directed by Dev Bondarin.

We will be presenting the script as a benefit for EAT, so tickets are $10 each. In addition to seeing our show, you'll also get to see The Cruelty of Children by Raymond McAnally and Hamlet Investigations, Inc. by Ellen Abrams.

The fundraiser will be held on Columbus Day, Monday, October 8th, at 7:00 pm. EAT is renting out the theatre at TADA, 15 West 28th Street (between Broadway and 5th Avenue) on the second floor. Hope you can come!