The Ten-Timers Club is born

Seven years ago, I instituted something called the Five-Timers Club. Inspired by the similarly named group on NBC's Saturday Night Live, it's limited to those schools and community theaters that have produced my plays at least five times.

To date, there are eight members, from Johnston Heights Church in Surrey, British Columbia, to Firehouse Community Theatre in LaBelle, Florida. To be honest, I thought that would be the extent of the clubs. I mean, who would be crazy enough to produce my stuff a whopping ten times?

Standouts in Wellington, New Zealand, that's who! This private arts studio just booked my Old West comedy The Stinky Feet Gang for a production in July. That makes ten shows since 2019 when they performed their first play of mine, which also happened to be The Stinky Feet Gang. In between, they also happened to produce the world premiere of two of my plays, Doggone Detectives and The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct.

I've kept in casual contact with founder Gemma Shapleski over the years and I never cease to be amazed by all that she does. Not only is she a gifted theater director and voice teacher, but she's a pretty decent writer in her own right as well as a tireless advocate for the arts in her culturally vibrant city.

So thank you, Gemma! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support!

Tulsa Stinky Feet Gang makes scents

This weekend and next, Spotlight Children's Theatre in Tulsa will be performing my wild west comedy The Stinky Feet Gang, their sixth production of one of my plays. And as with the previous five, three members of the cast appeared on local TV to chat it up. You can watch the spot here.

The young thespians also used the time to promote Storytime at the Spotlight, a free public event organized by the theater in partnership with Gardner's Used Books and the Tulsa City County Library. There will be silly stories, songs, and, in an apparent tie-in with the play, some stinky adventures.

Best of all, each child who attends the event will receive a free book. I mean seriously, what could be better than that? (Probably not the stinky adventures.)

Both the story time and the play will be held at Spotlight's historic Art Deco theater, which has to be one of the coolest-looking buildings that my plays have ever been performed in. The story time is on August 1. The play runs August 1-3 and 8-10.

Break legs, all! I'm sure you'll come out smelling like a rose.

Tulsa Purrfect Crime to bring love and laughter

None of the children's theaters that perform my plays get as much local TV coverage as Tulsa's Spotlight Children's Theatre, and they were back at it again today with an interview of three gifted actors from their production of my cat inheritance comedy The Purrfect Crime. You can watch the video here.

The play runs the next two weekends, and the young actors are very excited to be in it, as the interview makes clear.

My favorite part was when the host asked the kids what they hope the audience gets out of the play. Natalie Mayes, who plays Annie, answered simply, "a lot of laughter, hopefully," while Ray Sawyer-Karloski, who plays Little Bob, quickly added, "it also sends a message to appreciate your loved ones while they're still around."

Guess what. Both answers are correct!

Break legs, everybody! And a big thank you to this amazing theater company for their continued support. They've already scheduled a production of my western comedy The Stinky Feet Gang for August (my sixth production with them!) and I can't wait to see what the kids have to say about that one!

Tulsa's Spotlight joins the club

A big shout out to Tulsa's Spotlight Children's Theatre, which became the fifth member of my Five Timer's Club by booking a production of my millionaire cat comedy The Purrfect Crime for next March.

Inspired by NBC's Saturday Night Live, the Five Timer's Club is, of course, the esteemed group of schools and community theaters which have produced my plays five times.

The first four productions that Spotlight so graciously (and tastefully) selected? They were:

• The Enchanted Bookshop, December 2022
• How I Met Your Mummy, October 2023
• An Enchanted Bookshop Christmas, December 2023
• Madhouse!, March 2024

As I've mentioned previously in this blog, I visited Tulsa several times when my older daughter Ashley lived there from 2014 and 2016. I loved the city, being impressed with how clean and modern it was, with a wealth of wonderful ethnic restaurants and surprisingly underused freeways.

Sadly, although I remember seeing My Big Fat Gay Wedding at the American Theatre Company there, I never got around to seeing The Drunkard, the longest running production in American theater history (71 years and counting), performed by the main company at Spotlight itself.

As for the children's theater, it looks like they're not quite done with me. Their 2025 season schedule shows that they've reserved a spot for The Stinky Feet Gang in August.

Hmmm. Maybe it's time for a Six Timer's Club?

For info on all these plays an more, please visit my playwright page on the Pioneer Drama website.

Send me your videos

I recently heard from a young actress named Maxine who's playing Daisy in a local production of The Stinky Feet Gang and wanted to know why I haven't posted anything from that play on my Video page.

The answer is quite simple. I haven't found one yet. The videos I post on this website all come from YouTube, and if no one has posted a video there, then I can't post a link to it here.

But I'm thinking there are a lot more videos out there than what you can find on the Tube. After all, my publisher allows audience members to videotape their productions (most publishers don't) and every time I go to one of my shows, I see a few parents taping away. So if you have a video and you'd like to share it with me, I would love to post it here. Just email me the file or a link by clicking here.

The same goes for photos. I can usually find quite a few scouring Facebook, but I know a lot of you have your own. If you'd like to see them posted here, please send them my way!

Raising a stink

One of the worst thing about moving to Phoenix is missing out on all the great Colorado productions of my plays. One of the best things about moving to Phoenix is getting to see great Arizona productions of my plays.

I did a little bit of both yesterday as The Stinky Feet Gang had a dual world premiere: one at an elementary school in Fowler, CO and, just a few hours later, one at a Christian middle school in Glendale, AZ.

I got to see the one in Glendale. From where I live in Mesa, it took about 50 minutes to get to the school, and that's without much traffic. (Did I mention how big Phoenix is? For that entire drive, I was on the metro freeway system, going 65 miles an hour, and I still had about half an hour to go before I would see open desert.)

Director Jennifer Pellish warmly greeted me on my arrival (as did the school principal). She apologized for changing the gender of some of the roles. The Stinky Feet Gang is heavily male but, in a twist that runs contrary to everything I know about theatre, she had more boys than girls try out and had to change a couple of shopkeeper roles from female to male.

I told her not to worry. I understand the casting constraints schools (or community theaters, for that matter) are under so changing the gender of roles is fine with me. And you don't have to ask my permission.

I do get a little uneasy if a director adds characters or changes the dialogue in a substantial way. In those cases, it's best if you email me (see the link to the right).

Jennifer went on to say that it was one of the easiest plays she had ever produced, which was a great relief to me. I didn't get a chance to develop this play with a school and while I tried to keep it simple, you never know what challenges will pop up when somebody actually puts the play on its feet.

Anyway, the students did a fantastic job. They got a ton of laughs from the audience, and the parents told me they really enjoyed it.

It's always great to see a new play get up on its feet. Even if those feet reek to high heaven.

The Stinky Feet Gang is now available

Just four days into 2017, and I already have one new play toward my goal of six to be published in the new year. Yes, The Stinky Feet Gang is now available for production.

I had a blast with this one. The characters were a lot of fun to write, and the aromatic appendages of the title provided an endless opportunity for gags.

But the play is more than just a bunch of stink jokes. It's a story of female empowerment (really!) as the women shopkeepers at the heart of the play have to work together to defeat the baddies.

Don't be put off by the cast requirements. The Pioneer Drama Service website says the cast is 10M/8F. But the two leads are female and six of the seven biggest parts are female. Also, as described in the production notes, you can double or change the gender of many of the roles, meaning you can get away with as few as 2 male actors and 15 actors total.

So book the play today. I guarantee your students will never have so much fun!

Here's the blurb:

Something's rotten in Garden City! When Malodorous Mel and his gang rob the town, they use a secret weapon: their smelly feet, guaranteed to incapacitate anyone within twenty yards, But Rose Peddles, owner of the general store, has a plan to stop them. She leads Lily, Hyacinth, and the other flower-named shopkeepers into the gang's secret hideout to de-scent the aromatic appendages with lemon juice. When they find the gang lying in wait for them, however, they're forced to flee for their lives--and their noses! Is there a traitor in their midst? And if so, who? Now the shopkeepers have only one hope left--to fight fire with fire! But how do you out-stink these stinkers? With its large, flexible cast and wacky humor, this Western comedywill leave everyone smelling like... well, a Rose.

For a sample script and ordering info, click here.

The Stinky Feet Gang to be published

I love writing westerns. My second play, a one-act comedy titled Long Tall Lester, came out in 2012 and it's been doing very well, getting about 15 productions a year. In it, a mild-mannered encyclopedia salesman defeats an evil gunslinger using brains instead of brawn.

For a long time, I've wanted to follow that up with a full-length western, only this time I wanted to do one without guns. As any writer knows, a gun can make any dramatic situation more... well, dramatic. But it can also be a crutch, short-circuiting the tension that should arise from the characters themselves.

Plus, I wanted this play to be producible by everyone from grade school to high school. And in my opinion, prop guns just aren't appropriate for those younger folk.

I racked my brain for months, striving to come up with a weapon that would be deadly but also kid-friendly.

And then it hit me: smelly feet. They're funny, especially to kids. And if you spend any time at my house, you know they can be just as deadly as any chambered weapon.

The play came together pretty quickly after that. I created Malodorous Mel and the Stinky Feet Gang. I created Rose Peddles and the other flower-named shopkeepers of Garden City. Then I set them against each other, and pretty soon they were running away with the story, battling each other with lemon juice and clothespins and, in the end, a pretty nasty concoction (suggested only--don't worry, your theatre won't smell like a locker room!).

The play has, I think, some very funny scenes. But it's not just about the gags. Lately, I've also been trying to sneak a small lesson into each of my plays, and the lesson here is about teamwork and persistence (with some personal hygiene thrown in).

As Rose explains, everyone in Garden City wants to get rid of the shopkeepers. First it was the cowboys. Then it was the sheriff. Now it's the outlaws. But by working together and standing up for what they believe it, the seven feisty women (echoes of the Magnificent Seven!) prove their worth.

So I was thrilled when Pioneer Drama Service told me yesterday that they were going to publish it: my ninth play with them.

The play should come out around December. Until then, I'll give you a taste (or should I say whiff?) of my favorite scene, in which Malodorous Mel explains to his underlings why they're the most feared gang in the territory:

MALODOROUS MEL: Now the Bad Breath Gang, they didn't have commitment. Sure, they refused to brush their teeth. But when push came to shove, they weren't above having an occasional breath mint. 

NOXIOUS NICK: Shameful! 

MALODOROUS MEL: And the Awful Armpit Gang. They didn't have commitment either. Not only did they take a bath every month, but I once caught them using deodorant! 

RANCID RON: Horrors! 

MALODOROUS MEL: And that's why we never take our boots off. Taking our boots off would let our feet breathe, and we don't want them to breathe. We want them to molder and fester and rot until they make everyone in the immediate vicinity sick!

I can't wait to see the cover art for this one!