News and Updates

Truth be told, I’m in-between planets right now. The planet that I’m currently living on is full of simple, sturdy things that fit my soul. I live in a world of furniture, regular paychecks, planning for vacation, making a meal, trying to schedule date night with my wife, and occasionally seeing a Mets game with my son. This planet also includes theatre – seeing plays, bitching about plays, wearing a mask to see plays, seeing friends’ work – and it includes considerable landmass devoted to the Kingdom of Playwriting, with districts for my writers’ group, my laptop computer, my mentors and teachers, my rivals and friends, procrastination, hopes and dreams, minor breakthroughs, and major resistance. This planet is home. It is everything I can see in my ordinary consciousness. I suspect that it has everything I need to live a full and satisfying life. But there’s this other planet. This other planet is much harder to describe because I don't

I was talking with a colleague about one of my small-cast plays and I was trying to describe how productions were so "successful" (from an audience-interaction standpoint) while at the same time being tremendously difficult to justify economically. For my two-person drama TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A POEM IN HONOR OF LIFE , a husband and wife navigate a support group for greiving parents in the aftermath of a school shooting. In multiple productions, the play has been staged in a "site specific" way - asking audience members to enter a small room, often in a church basement or other public space. Everyone sits in a cirlce of metal folding chairs reminiscent of contemporary support groups, and the actors enter the space and sit in the chairs alongside the audience. This staging allows for an intimacy and frankness that can be very compelling. It can also be uncomfortable for an audience to give and receive eye contact - both from actors, and from other audience members....

It's been a long year, and now that Spring is coming, a lot of theatres are trying to present new work again. The Drawing Board (NYC) is no different. They are presenting an evening of 10 monologues as a way to bring their community back together - even over Zoom. My contibution is called "What I'd Like to See" and yes, it's a comedy. I like the way The Drawing Board presents work in a virtual environment so that it helps viewers focus on the actor and the text. And I'm thrilled to be working with dear friends and collaborators: actor Peter Husovsky and director Linda Manning . Tickets are free; register here for the link. WHEN: Monday, April 26, 2021 at 7:00 PM (ET) WHERE: Your favorite screen!

I'm so happy to hear my new play THE SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY this week as part of the 10th annual Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Repertory Theatre. Being an Ingram New Works Fellow this past year has been an amazing experience, and I'm thrilled to get to share this play. Responses from patrons: "I wish I could have said this stuff to my Dad." "I understand where they were coming from now." "I remember those years - I loved seeing them all over again." The best work comes from the heart, and this play is mine.

My new play THE SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY will have a reading with The Drawing Board (NYC) coming up this month. I'm glad to be working on this play in a safe environment, and I'm excited about the great cast they've assembled. Featuring: - Peter Husovsky - Michael Perrie Jr. - Rachel Lynn Jackson WHEN: Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 7:00 PM WHERE: The Drama League Theatre Center | 32 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10012

I'm thrilled to announce that I have been selected as a Playwright in Residence with the 2018 - 2019 Ingram New Works Lab at Nashville Repertory Theatre . During the course of the Lab Year, I'll have the chance to work on a brand new play in the safety of a pre-commercial environment.