Category: Uncategorized (Page 7 of 7)

On Saturday, October 18, I’ll be moderating a panel discussion called “How to Get Your Work Produced” in Berkeley, CA for Play Cafe. The panel will be a fantastic opportunity to check in with other writers about what it takes to get work produced for theatre as well as to hear advice from five knowledgable and experienced panelists: Melissa Hillman (Impact), Eric Reid (Theater MadCap), Jennifer Roberts, Carol Lashof, and Anthony Clarvoe.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

2pm-5pm

Berkeley School of Theatre, Bakery, 2071 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

Play Cafe presents a panel discussion to help playwrights gain insights into how to get their plays produced.

Featuring Advice and Experience from artistic directors Melissa Hillman (Impact) and Eric Reid (Theater MadCap) as well as experienced playwrights Anthony Clarvoe, Carol Lashof, and Jennifer Roberts.

Moderated by Tracy Held Potter

Our panel represents decades of experience from Bay Area artistic directors who are committed to working with local and emerging playwrights as well as playwrights who have had their work produced locally and nationally and have experience writing pieces on commission or self-production. (Bios are available at http://www.playcafe.org.)

We will open the discussion with moderated questions to the entire panel, and then we will continue the discussion with an audience-led Q&A. The afternoon will conclude with social time and refreshments.

Our panel will be held at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre at 2071 Addison Street. We will be in the Bakery Room on the first floor (wheelchair accessible). There is paid parking across the street and our venue is one and a half blocks from Downtown Berkeley BART.

Pre-purchased tickets are $30.00 general admission and $25.00 member (to become a member, visit http://playcafe.org/memberships/). Door sales are $35.00 general admission and $25.00 for members.

For more information, contact Tracy Held Potter, Executive Director, at tracy@playcafe.org.

Purchase Tickets Online

http://www.playcafe.org

Two minutes before the 31 Plays in 31 Days Challenge ended, I submitted my 31st play.

Rachel Bublitz and I founded this challenge to inspire writers to write 31 plays in the month of August purely to generate more material and to get out of our heads. In the first year, hundreds of writers from around the world participated. This year we hosted our third challenge, marking the second year that I’ve participated as a writer.

Even as a founder who knew the purpose of the challenge was to generate scripts without self-criticism (re-writes come later), I still had to fight against my self-doubts and critiques. I also realized about half an hour before midnight that I wasn’t as far along with my scripts as I thought–whereas I thought I had written 28 scripts, I had really only written 24. Yikes!

As the minutes clicked toward midnight, I started to tell myself to stop writing and just go to bed. But what kind of a role-model would I be if I gave up so soon?

I crammed out as many scripts as I could–modeling them after objects in my immediate vicinity and, thanks to a Facebook comment, my trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Six minutes before midnight, I pushed to complete a typo-ridden yet “complete” script called “Winning” and I submitted all 31 plays before deadline.

Sometimes, success comes in spite of other people’s criticism, disbelief, and negativity. Often, though, we create our own obstacles.

It’s true, I could use a lot more sleep than I get, and I wouldn’t push myself to do a challenge like this all the time, but I wasn’t going to bed within the next half hour, so why not just write?

The image I sometimes call forth at times like these is of the fitness coach standing by shouting for just one more push-up. If you can just go a little further whenever your mind tells you to quit, how much would you be proud of?

Congratulations to all of the writers who participated this year–let’s do this again in 2015!

Meet the Merritt Squad! Vince Faso, Maura Halloran, Peter Townley, Carina, Lastimosa Salazar

Colin Johnson and I have been working feverishly to bring our 8-episode web series to life and we’re delighted that nearly 100 backers recently made generous pledges to take Merritt Squad! from our Final Draft software to internet-capable screens everywhere.

Our Kickstarter page features preview trailers with early footage and bios and head shots of our actors. We can’t wait to start posting the polished episodes at the end of 2014!

On Sunday, August 10th, I was honored that my full-length screenplay “Science Fair the Musical” was one of four first place screenplays in the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Competition at Carnegie Mellon University. I am planning to use part of the $9,000 cash prize to work with a composer to develop music for the songs. Congratulations to my co-winners Josh Ginsburg, Julie Jigour, and Savannah Reich for also putting together incredible work!