EXTRA CRITICUM

Re-Entry Into the Apple Largo

It took about two weeks to wrap my brain around being back in our lovely village of Manhattan after spending a 6 glorious weeks (preferred vocation employed) in gorgeous Vermont.

To be a leading woman over 40 was so grand. I did radio interviews, was recognized hiking up Mt. Philo, was asked to speak to theatre students at St. Michael's College. It was so wonderful to not worry about the actron/job searching day-to-day schmooze of New York. For six weeks I was reaping benefits of the 30 year career schlep. No bouts of depression, angst, questioning every decision I've made since birth... No worries about reading great works, adopting a child, taking up kitesailing, joining the Peace Corps, learning a language or doing more so that my life would have some great worth.

Rolando's Random List of 18 Things for Which We Might Give Thanks

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd make a list...

1. Freedom to write, produce and say whatever I like.

2. Actors who love their work.

3. Younger more energeitc upstarts willing to carry furniture heavier and to greater distances than I ever would.

4. Many people still read.

A Cleansing Fire?

Some experts are estimating that the current economic meltdown will result in as many as 100,000 American non-profits closing their doors in the next two years. Of course, this is bad news.

But could there be a silver lining at the end of the firestorm? Even a reason for optimism?

Escape from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Zombies but Were Afraid to Ask: The Final Conflict

Our interview with Brendan Hay about all things zombie comes to a grisly conclusion. Brendan was a headline producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and a contributing writer for America: The Book. More recently, he’s written for The Simpsons, Frank TV, and The Mighty B! A lifelong comic book fan, Brendan also wrote and created the mini-series Scream Queen for BOOM! Studios and is writing BOOM!’s newest series, Eureka, as well as an original graphic novel for Oni Press, due out in 2010. He also co-wrote the book Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit? Brendan resides in Los Angeles with his wife, playwright and freelance writer Jennifer Chen, and their three-legged cat, Bentley.

Mr. Mom in West Palm, Part II - In Which He Discovers the Root of Modern Feminism

In a word: boredom.

That may sound like a joke, or at the very least offensive. It isn’t. Allow me to explain. For those of you who didn’t read my first post, I am down in West Palm Beach taking care of my 6-month-old son Henry while my wife Blair rehearses a play. This is my first time as a full-time dad, and has brought many illuminations.

The happiest of these illuminations is that taking care of my son for a whole day isn’t that different than taking care of him for a few hours. It’s just more. This seems obvious, but until you do it for a few full days you don’t actually know it.But there are difficulties in full-time caregiving.

Foremost among them – boredom!

Filmmaker Roundtable on PBS — Part 1

Several months ago I participated with three other directors of short films in a round table discussion held by NYC's Channel 13 (PBS).

Part 1 of that discussion--how we got started in film--is now on YouTube. Subsequent parts will be posted as they are edited by the good folks at Channel 13.  [ed note: David's post "Starring Haaz Sleiman..." was inspired by his experience taping this roundtable discussion.]

You can watch Part 1 here:

Obama for the Arts

I wrote this right before the election and wasn't able to post it.....so here ya go:) -S

With just a few days left until the election and the widening lead that Barack Obama is exhibiting over John McCain, I have noticed some incredible things that are happening in my local community of New York City. Last Friday night, I had the pleasure of catching Creative Destruction’s marvelous production of Obama Drama at the Access Theater. With an all too brief three night run accompanied with political programming after each show, including artist slams and panel discussion involvement by other local grass roots based companies like The Civilians and Living Liberally, one couldn’t help but feel the crackle of electricity in the air. This was a packed town hall style performance event with seven world premiere short plays about the effect that Barack Obama is having on America. During the show, the audience was privy to a multitude of thoughts and opinions about the man that is Barack Obama…can he save America? Will he inspire a country to action? Will he cause liberals to kill McCain supporters with Obama signs? Just who is this man behind the flag pin?

Mr. Mom in West Palm Part I - Wearing Your Resume Like A Brooch

The basic facts are these: I am a playwright. My wife, Blair, is an actress. We met when she played the lead in a play of mine in 2004 (an absurdly romantic story for another day). Six months ago Blair gave birth to our son, Henry, who leading scientists have already confirmed to be The Coolest Kid Ever.

After three months of near-hysteria (there is no preparation for having your first kid), Blair started auditioning again. The first audition she had was for a play called Mezzulah, 1946 at Florida Stage. She booked it.

This is how I became Mr. Mom in West Palm (I’m actually in Lake Worth, but go with it).

Running From Reality

Last night I was one of several producers invited to attend a Job Forum hosted by the Producers Guild of America. These events are put together every few months to give an opportunity for members seeking work in a particular area to get a bit of "face time" with folks like me who tend to be project generators and thus, might be in a position to do some hiring.

The focus of last night's event was "Scripted Film and Television" and the organizers took great pains to emphasize to those submitting resumes for a slot at the table that this was NOT the night for Reality TV in its various guises. In a town that lately seems completely overrun by the Reality machine, it turns out this would be a tall order.

The First Performance of These Crazy Two Months

It is 5:10pm. I am about to go on for my solo show. I have done this show before, but not in this space and have never done the whole show in this space as well.

I go on and the lights come up a second or two later than I would have liked, but it’s too late to dwell. The sound cue is happening. There are about ten people in the audience and I can see my friend Basil assisting the technician, who is named Ronny.

Funking It Up In Minneapolis

I have just returned from designing the sound for The Five Fingers of Funk at The Minneapolis Children's Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The show was written by Will Power with music by Justin Ellington and directed by Derrick Sanders.  I have not designed a lot of musicals like this, and it was a blast.  The show follows five kids from 1974 to 1978 through all four years of high school.  Each of the five characters have their own struggle; Poppo, the singer, has grown up in foster care and has fallen in with the drug dealer that his mother used to run with, and who has possibly killed her; Ruby, the piano player has an over-bearing father who is a preacher, and she "sneak for the funk"; DP, the drummer has to care for his grandmother while earning a living for the family; Falcon, the white member is forced to move after his father deems their area dangerous; and Cedric, who's basement they practice in, is a momma's boy who is a stand in for his father who abandoned them.  The story is a beautiful one, and the songs are in the style of some of the great musicians of the 70s, George Clinton, Sly and The Family Stone and James Brown.

How to Have a Nervous Breakdown Before Your Opening Night

So after realizing that I am producing my solo show a scant two days before the first performance, I had to go into overdrive. I have produced before, but when I am broke, I really don’t prefer it.

One of the theater company’s shows was performing the night before and so I was not able to enter the space and rehearse in it until the night before my show. In a few hours, I would have to rehearse, do my tech and dress rehearsals all in one. To add to my pain, my director booked a gig in London and could not be there at all. So I was doing it alone.

The Return of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Zombies but Were Afraid to Ask

We continue our discussion about the slow-walking dead with Brendan Hay. Brendan was a headline producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and a contributing writer for America: The Book. More recently, he’s written for The Simpsons, Frank TV, and The Mighty B! A lifelong comic book fan, Brendan also wrote and created the mini-series Scream Queen for BOOM! Studios and is writing BOOM!’s newest series, Eureka, as well as an original graphic novel for Oni Press, due out in 2010. He also co-wrote the book Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit? Brendan resides in Los Angeles with his wife, playwright and freelance writer Jennifer Chen, and their three-legged cat, Bentley.He has seen more zombie films than... why don't I just let him tell you.

Writing: The Fast and the Furious (Part I)

I was planning to write about political theater and the theater of politics… but I have a mild case of election fatigue so I think I’ll save that post for Inauguration Day.  Instead, I’ll stick to the topic I planned: “Writing: The Fast and the Furious.”  (By which I mean to make playwriting sound cooler than a Vin Diesel movie.  Which it IS, people.  Come on!)

A recipe for productive writing

In his appreciation of the novelist and screenwriter Michael Crichton, who died a couple of weeks ago, James Fallows passes on this tip:

[Crichton] said he removed complications from his life while writing by having exactly the same food at every meal, so he never had to waste time deciding what to eat.

It's a marvelous idea, and it explains why I haven't yet done anything to justify my MacArthur genius grant. So I'm going to create a list of 100 (500?) possible meals and try them out in rotation, taking notes on my physical and psychological reactions to each one.