Show me the Butler again

I just love seeing photos from high school productions of my plays. This weekend, South Callaway High School (Go Bulldogs!) in Mokane, MO did a two-night run of The Butler Did It! They also got an excellent write-up in their local newspaper, the Fulton Sun. Nice job, everyone!

The Butler down under

And check this out. The Cowra Musical and Dramatic Society of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia is having a reading of The Butler Did It! on November 23, with an eye toward doing a full production next year.

The best part? The reading is taking place at a boutique winery named Kalari Cellar Door. Wish I could be there to enjoy some great Australian Shiraz with the reading.

Break a leg, everybody!

The Wanderer wanders east

Got a nice mention today in The Day, the newspaper for New London, CT. My 10-minute play The Wanderer is having its 2nd production this weekend and next by the Stonington Players as part of their Table & Chairs festival of minimal-set plays.

It also happens to be my Connecticut premiere. 24 down, 26 to go.

I've always liked this play about an elderly man trying to reconnect with his son after getting arrested for shoplifting, if for no other reason than it's my lone drama in a long list of comedies. And the article backs this up, using it to show the breadth of the offerings at this year's festival.

I wish lots of broken legs to my director Vic Panciera and the casts and crews of all the plays at this year's festival.

Show me the Butler

A big Show Me State shout-out to Selath-Hornersvlle High School Drama Club in beautiful Selath, MO. Not only are they doing my new play The Butler Did It! this weekend, but they got written up in the local newspaper for it (love the costumes!).

Break legs, everybody!

Judgment at Nuremberg

One of the best parts of being a playwright is reading articles about productions of your plays. If the plays we worked so hard to pen are our children, then those articles are like letters from our kids. And we all know how rare those are...

Yesterday, I got news of a production of The Butler Did It! by the Nuremberg Community Players in Pennsylvania. It's the second production for my play. Or maybe the third. The world premiere was done by the Eureka Community Players of Eureka, MT back in August.

But the PA production is the first one to get written up in the local newspaper. And from the looks of it, the cast is having a ball.

I think the audience will too. The theatre company had the clever idea of having the audience vote on who they think "did it" during intermission, with prizes going to the winner (Hint: Buy a script!).

But if you hear news of a severe dinner plate shortage in the Wilkes-Barre area, I had nothing to do with it.

Bright young minds

I'll be leading a workshop titled "Writing the Play Inside You" at this year's Colorado State Thespian Conference. I believe everyone's a playwright, which is why I'm so excited to work with the bright young minds at the conference. I'm not going to teach them how to write a play. I'm going to guide them along their own creative journey so that they can pen their stories in the boldest, most meaningful way.

The conference will be held December 5-7 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. I'll be leading two sessions: 8:30am and 10:00am on Saturday, December 7.

If you're one of those bright young minds, please stop by. We're going to have a lot of fun. And you may just go home with the beginning of a great play.