The waiting game of theatre.   The play is finally done.  Well not done because it’s never done done, but done-production-ready-done which means the playwright is ready to go into rehearsal to make whatever last tweaks/changes that there are to be made.   OK  - so I had a read of There or Here at PTNJ and […]

Writing from Playpenn in Philadelphia, land of brotherly love, humidity and play development. Working with the lovely and talented Michelle Volansky who is no longer a signature on the bottom of letters from theatres to me, and Amy Feinberg and graciously allowing us to co-exist with her in her house with her husband […]

birds opened last night - packed house, beautiful production - one of the few times I’ve really felt the design of a play of mine elevating and illuminating the text to the next level, the last scenes finally worked (rewriting up through previews, always nerve-wracking)…photos to come…homeward bound.

off to the opening night of birds at Rorschach shortly… -  a “challenging” week to say the least but it’s an incredible production team, kick-ass design team, fabulous actors.  I can’t believe I’ve been here a week - a blur of rehearsals, previews and rewriting.   And I can’t believe I’m going tomorrow but the play […]

So casting is finally complete (spit three times so the theatre demons won’t cackle at my expense) for THERE OR HERE  at Playpenn in Philadelphia this summer.  This has been such a challenge - and I find myself wondering how we spread word for things before the internet?  Here I am writing a play that […]

check out the interview on the Rorschach theatre blog.

Sunday I fly off to DC for tech rehearsals and dress and opening for birds. I got the first taste a couple of weeks ago at the first readthrough and first few rehearsals. God, I love working with Wendy (McClellan) - brilliant at asking the right questions and a director I trust. […]

to tout fellow dog ear member Mickey Birnbaum -  I escaped and had a Mickey Birnbaum theatre weekend this past weekend, seeing Bleedrail at the Boston Court and Big Death and Little Death at The Road (still open so run, don’t walk to go).   It’s always fascinating - and somehow heartening (if that’s a word) […]

Ahhhh, the news from Sundance did send me into a tailspin -  one of 17 out of over 700 submissions…almost made it to Utah but not quite.  Lovely to know I was picked out of the pack without an nepotism moving me along…bummer that I have no insider track to get there.   So the good, […]

OK - I’m not starting this post by saying I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve blogged…I’m not I’m not I’m not….suffice it to say, happy chanukah, merry xmas, happy new year, happy valentines day and wishing you a splendiferous st patricks day tomorrow - There, I’m all caught […]

The typical Friday evening of a playwright/mom.    I was going to go see a screening of the Tony Kushner documentary - Wrestling with Angels - at the writers guild, but somehow I ended up seeing Santa Clause 3 with my daughter instead.
How dedicated to the craft can I possibly be?
Or is it just that it’s […]

Just - several days ago - got back from NYC and the readings of Last Seder for investors at the Cherry Lane.  Strangeness -  the reading in the afternoon was laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, tears….in the evening, quieter, snoozier maybe even.  Joseph Megel - the director - puts it all down to the temperature in […]

let’s just make this catch-up post be all about the bragging…
MALLBABY is one of nine finalists out of 700 for the Christopher Brian Wolk award from the Abingdon Theatre in NY….  desperate for unfettered is a finalist for the Heidemann award at Actors Theatre of Louisville…
done bragging…starting packing
and stop sending me porn!

ok, so I suck at this updating the blog thing.
perhaps if I didn’t get so many comments from porn sites and credit card solicitors -  playwright obsessives where are you?  Writing plays, perhaps?
Anyway -  a busy summer - fraught with tonsillectomies, adenoidectomies (Julia), sinus infections (me) and breakthrough articles in the LA Times and Entertainment […]

post vacation.  Trying to hold on to the feeling and not get back into daily freakout mode.  Not always easy.
Got to see Nilaja Sun’s “No Child“  in NYC. Met with the director, Hal Brooks.  Nilaja blew me away - her perfomance above anything.  We met last year when she read in their reading of Mallbaby […]

OK - I just got totally slammed…personally Mother’s Day through June 11th is always a low point but I’m not sure that’s why.   See at least some background on that with this essay that Momready.com  printed.  Click here for the PDF.
Had a little …And the Two Romeos post partum.   Tried to drag myself out […]

OK -  so, in workshop with the Victory Theatre in Burbank for a reading of my play …AND THE TWO ROMEOS.   Haven’t heard the play in a year - it’s been very back burner  - so to get into it again…wow.   We rehearsed last weekend and then - after an insanely insightful conversation with the […]

my heart didn’t make me choose acting….had auditions for the workshop of …and the Two Romeos at the Victory on Tuesday.  Actually callbacks.  Tom had winnowed.   And there were people who were so good - and just not right, just didn’t click, just weren’t it.   But they were good, they worked hard, they were interesting…and […]

Took a tip from my friend Delaune’s talk after her booksigning and started writing “BAD PAGES”  (bad pages, very bad! sounds like the dog peed on the floor) before I start writing.  It frees one up to write crap, and always, somewhere in there, is something good - ish.
What are the careers in which one […]

Went to the book signing last night for my friend  Delaune Michel’s first novel,  Aftermath of Dreaming, at Borders in Westwood.  Not to say that that’s just not inspirational in and of itself -  I always have book lust so I envy the tome - having read an early draft, to see it in print, […]

It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted.  Where did the time go….
absorbed by the sinus infection from hell
a little trip to visit family in Marin and watch my 11 year old niece and 3 year old daughter make up plays and perform them for us - Julia knowing “her” lines amazingly well…no self-editing along […]

Word-a-philes everywhere you need to check out this new poetic craze that’s sweeping the nation - Fibbing.  A Fib  - conceived by my pal Gregory K.  - is a poem based on a fibonacci sequence, let’s call it a 21st century haiku with syllable sequence of  1/1/2/3/5/8.   It’s precise. It’s addictive.  It’s fun….everybody’s doing it.
Come […]

write every day
I’ve been playing with words every day
www.playbabble.com
does that count?
(even worse, I kind of suck at it)
check it out

When it’s more pressing to make a beautiful hat?

That’s me - all pissy about being labelled. I was asked to write an article about being a jewish female playwright for a site called www.jbooks.com. I was surprised to enjoy writing it once I got over the “essay?! (interro-bang inserted…one of the useful terms I learned writing for a television show) that’s […]

Interview in The Guardian with Harold Pinter - “I’ve written 29 damn plays.  Isn’t that enough?”  Which makes me mull about retirement and writers (look at Stephen King for a prolific example of that)…vacation and writers…doing anything else fully and being a writer?  Do we ever really take a break?  I sometimes feel like I’m […]

So - it hasn’t been almost a month since I last posted.  I’m not that much of a procrastinator once I actually start something.  I’m not really sure why I couldn’t redo the date in my first post but obviously I’m already off to a roaring start.

When first considering this blog, I thought, hmmm, yet another form of procrastination. And then I found I wasn’t even procrastinating with it, I was avoiding it. After all, what the hell was I going to say? There were a couple of things that were obviously playwright blogger blogging opportunities happening […]