Yes, it's the age-old, not-really-that-important, but fascinating nonetheless, question of how to spell Theatre. Or Theater. And what does your spelling choice say about who you are? Hm...
Read MoreIf you're a parent in theatre, and have encountered some challenges or figured out some solutions to this ever-present balancing act of art and children, check out this important new advocacy group touching on this not-talked-about-enough subject...
Read MoreNothing says Summer in the City like some great hundreds-year-old theatre in the park! The Public Theater brings New York City the ever-timely, Julius Caesar, running at 8pm from May 23-June 18...
Read MoreCheck out this collection, 5-Minute Plays, from respected theatre editor, Lawrence Harbison and Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. It includes a whole lot of tiny plays packed into this 300+ page collection, including my 5-minute play, The Items Forgotten.
Read MoreCheck out my new comedic monologue below for a male actor, 20s-60s, called An Angel of Forced Love. Brian speaks to Abby, a woman he's been casually dating. Abby has felt the relationship is not advancing toward love, but when she tries to break it off, Brian makes a case for his learning to love her...
Read MoreCheck out these performances of my monologue, "A Waste of a Totally Good Jelly Bean." Starting at only four years old, these actors display their own unique take (and talent!) in bringing this monologue to life! Enjoy!
Read MoreIf you're in eleventh grade in the United States (or international equivalent), you're eligible to apply to the Princeton University Ten Minute Play Contest. The deadline is quickly approaching; it's March 31, 2017. So check out more information and the application here...
Read MoreMy friends across the pond may be excited to soon experience the British premiere of a musical about one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century, and one who even made his home in England for a time. One Love: The Bob Marley Musical opens on Friday, March 10, 2017 at Birmingham Repertory Theatre...
Read MoreLove does not always come in a perfectly wrapped box of chocolates! On this Valentine's Day, check out my dark comedy monologue for a female actor (20s-50s)...
Read MoreNew York City seems more than ready to embrace a dramatized version of George Orwell's 1949 ominous novel, 1984, and we'll only have to wait until the summer to do so.
Read MoreCompassion and empathy are essential in theatre--from its inception at the written word to the performers, directors and production team. I love that it can be a tool used to dig into our humanity to pull out the recognition of ourselves in someone else--someone whom perhaps we never saw a connection to before. I'm not the only one who is attracted to the workings of a villain, of a hero with a fatal flaw, the person who does exactly what they should not do, but yet, we discover there is humanity beneath it all. Can this villain be redeemed? Can this villain show remorse? Could we say we would act differently if we were in that situation? If we were not only in that situation, but if we were that person?...
Read MoreIf you're a woman in the arts (and we'll talk about theatre here), you are going to face many similar issues women in any field face, but it typically is compounded by an intimate environment, late or odd hours, no simple "Human Resources" department to turn to, and lines that blur far more easily than most fields...
Read MoreIf you didn't get enough AI commentary from me in my recent post about writing for our beloved bots, check out the next phase of iPhone drama in my comedic monologue below...
Read MoreI wrote for a robot one summer during graduate school, one of about six part-time jobs I took between school years (along with university "telefunder," lab rat, health/fitness teacher to girls in the inner city, and data entrant). It was a fantastic experience to bring personality to a rudimentary AI creation and work with a team of writers and robotic engineers. Our robo-ceptionist had high hopes of becoming a lounge singer, had to navigate the world of dating a Chevy Impala, and still encountered arguments with her overbearing Motherboard--all the while having the map of the building on hand to assist visitors finding their way around the facility....
Read MoreDon't you love it when art changes, morphs, and grows along with the culture, its people, those who speak out, speak up, or speak differently? Many do, but it is often a struggle for artists in any field to stand up and create differently initially. This is ironic in a field based on creative expression, but critics, audiences, and artists alike sometimes have a hard time accepting new forms of something they have grown accustomed to (isn't this life for many, in general?). There are many reasons for this, stemming more deeply than simply, "we fear change"--and how change comes about is not insignificant either--but I'm not going into that here. Having said that, judging by the millions of people viewing one new dance form (thanks, Social Media!), the masses may be ready to embrace this new artistic expression....
Read MoreCheck out my new dramatic monologue below for a male or female actor. A scientist cannot mask his familial love for the horrifying creature he has created (paying a bit of homage to Mary Shelley, post-Halloween)...
Read MoreWhat do you do when you think the world is ending? Not, like, metaphorically speaking here, but literally, aliens are invading, killing, taking over; human civilization is ending, as we know it. We've seen the movies, of course, read the books, but what would you do if it were really happening, to you, to your town, your city? 20 miles or so from your very house where you're sitting, listening to the radio and sipping tea at 8pm? Do you really know what you would do?...
Read MoreCheck out my new free comedic children's monologues below. Three siblings try to convince their mother that a skunk would be the perfect pet. The monologues vary slightly in length, making it a good fit for younger children as well as older children...
Read MoreA lot of holidays carry with them an intrinsic dramatic flair, but Halloween is particularly begging for theatrical opportunities. Besides the fact that, hey, we're dressing up in literal costumes, wearing stage make-up, pretending to be someone else, getting to try out accents, mannerisms, have license to do some pretty dramatic things--dramatists go to some serious lengths to bring theatre to Halloween. Or Halloween to theatre....
Read MoreIn a recent New York Times article, actress Melissa Errico, a dazzlingly beautiful, smart and talented woman at 46 (and any age for that matter) gives a thoughtful look into what goes into being the ingenue of the stage, her experiences playing those innocent, wide-eyed roles (how do they fall in love so quickly?), and what it means to take it on it from the perspective of a mom in her 40s. With it, she poses the ever-present question for aging women (that means, um, all women) in acting:
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