Month: December 2015

My Year in Review with a list of the writing/professional accomplishments I’ve made this year in film, television writing, opera, and stage theater.

LIVE PERFORMANCES

• Plastic Nest (full-length stage drama, full stage production with Carnegie Mellon University New Works Festival)
• A is for Adeline (full-length stage drama, staged readings with Loud & Unladylike Festival)
• Texting (premiered short stage comedy co-written with Colin Johnson with All Terrain Theater)
• Last Night in the Hague (premiered 20-minute opera co-written with Wei He and composed by Chung Wan Choi)
• Neon Bracelet (microplay performed at the SF Playwrights Foundation’s FlashPlay Festival)
• White Woman Tears (microplay performed at the SF Playwrights Foundation’s FlashPlay Festival)
• Cleansing (microplay performed at the SF Playwrights Foundation’s FlashPlay Festival)
• Princess Audrey (Best of PlayGround 2013 Finalist, short play received a staged reading at True False Theater in New York City)

FILM/WEB SERIES/OTHER MEDIA

• Merritt Squad (posted 8-episode web series)
• Fashion Foes (posted 8.5 minute short film)
• The Dinner Project (posted short media film designed by Dave Yen and Danni Zhang)

UNPRODUCED WRITING

• Completed a spec script for the TV drama “Masters of Sex”
• Ninja Scientist (completed one-hour TV action comedy)
• Science Fair the Musical (developing music with composer Phil Surtees for award-winning full length screenplay)
• SalmonQuest (short play comedy)
• Santa Surveillance (short play drama)

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Produced Women in Solodarity: Waking Up with All Terrain Theater
• Produced Six Monsters: A Seven-Monster Play with All Terrain Theater
• Received MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University
• Joined the PlayGround LA writers pool

I guess that does it!

“White Woman Tears” is the third of three micro plays that the Playwrights Foundation produced in its 2015 FlashPlays festival. This play was directed by Sydney Painter and performed by Laura Peterson and Jasmine Williams.

WHITE WOMAN TEARS
A Short Play
By Tracy Held Potter

Setting: An office today.

Characters:
White Woman (f, 20s)
Black Woman (f, 30s)

[BLACK WOMAN enters. She is professional, but not smiley. She sits at her desk and gets to work. WHITE WOMAN bursts into the office.]

WHITE WOMAN
Oh my God! I can’t believe what happened to that poor boy!

[BLACK WOMAN takes a breath.]

WHITE WOMAN (cont.)
I mean, it’s just so shocking how an innocent kid–and for all we know, he was innocent–could be, could be … how could that happen to him?! By the police! Because of the color of his skin!

[BLACK WOMAN processes files.]

WHITE WOMAN (cont.)
We should take the morning off.
(tearing up)
I was crying all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

[WHITE WOMAN collapses into tears on top of Black Woman’s desk. BLACK WOMAN stares at White Woman. She eventually picks up WHITE WOMAN and hugs her.]

BLACK WOMAN
I am so sorry. So sorry that the world has been so unfair to you. Until last night, you didn’t have to think about injustice unless you were in the mood for it. Your view of equality and fairness has been shattered. But it’s alright, because now I’m here to comfort you for all of the suffering you’ve experienced on behalf of my people. Because that’s what’s important right now.

WHITEWOMAN
But…

BLACK WOMAN
Shhh…

[End of play.]

This play was inspired by the article White Women’s Tears, and the Men Who Love Them by Dr. Robin Diangelo. Please contact Tracy for information about performing this piece.

“Cleansing” is my second of three plays performed by the Playwrights Foundation in its recent FlashPlays festival. This play was directed by Logan Ellis and performed by Caleb Cabrera, Anthony Agresti, Ehsaan Taeb, Rivianna Hyatt, and Michael-Ann Conner.

CLEANSING
A Short Play
By Tracy Held Potter

CHARACTERS
A
B
C
D

[A, B, C, and D act out gestures for each of their concerns. They keep moving the whole time.]

A
Gripe: gentrification.

B
Grumble: cost of living.

C
Hissss: racism.

D
Rrrrgh: pollution.

C
Hisss!

D
Rrrrgh!

A
Gripe!

B
Grumble!

A
Gripe!

B
Grumble!

A
Gripe! Gripe!
C
Hissssssss

B
Grumble! Grumble!

D
RRRGGHHH!!!!!

[Rain begins to fall. D notices first. The others catch on and become entranced by the sound, feel, and existence of water falling from the sky. They revel.]

D
Aaaahhhh….

C
Aaaahhhh….

A & B
Aaaahhhh….

A/B/C/D
Ah.

I was very honored to be invited to participate in the Playwrights Foundation’s FlashPlays festival this year. Below is “Neon Bracelet,” one of three micro plays that I wrote for this event. This piece was directed by Rem Myers and performed by JD Scalzo and Radhika Rao.

NEON BRACELET
A short play
By: Tracy Held Potter

Setting: Apartment in the San Francisco Mission.

Characters:

WOMAN (f, 30s) – tech project manager
MAN (m, 30s) – computer developer

[WOMAN and MAN lounge on the couch with their respective laptops.]

MAN
Bam! Work day is officially over!

[WOMAN shuts her laptop.]

WOMAN
Did you actually do any work?

MAN
That’s between me and my supervisor.

WOMAN
So. What are we doing for date night tonight?

MAN
(seductively)
Oooh… how about we Netflix and Chill?

[They kiss.]

WOMAN
How about we go out?

[MAN strokes Woman’s arms.]

WOMAN (cont.)
I heard that new place Neon Bracelet is good.

MAN
You mean that bar on Valencia with the life-sized cutouts of Ferris Bueller?

WOMAN
(pulling away)
Nevermind.

MAN
We had one rule when we moved to the Mission: no hipster places.

WOMAN
I just…

MAN
It’s a slippery slope, Babe. You go to Neon Bracelet tonight, then you think, “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with this place.” And the next thing you know, you’re gentrifying like everyone else.

WOMAN
We’re already gentrifying. This way, we can stay in our neighborhood and save on the Uber. I’m tired of pretending to be someone I’m not. I want to go to a bar with expensive drinks where people dress nicely and they project 80’s cartoons on the wall.

MAN
Like what?

WOMAN
GI Joe. Smurfs. Fraggle Rock.

MAN
Fraggle Rock?

[WOMAN nods.]

MAN (cont.)
It’s just once.

[MAN and WOMAN hop up and down and run offstage, holding hands. End of Play.]