Support for the Arts, Anyone?

Photo by Salvatore Vuono

Before I get to the business at hand, I must send out an enormous thank you to Absolutely *Kate for publishing my story "Coils of Gold" on her amazing site AT THE BIJOU! The story was inspired by an incredibly fascinating photo taken by my friend Damian.  To see the photo and read the story, please head on over to AT THE BIJOU.  There are many other things to see and read while you're there, so stay awhile and enjoy yourself!

Absolutely *Kate always likes to interview the authors she publishes, and in her interview with me, she broke the news wide open of that tidbit of information I hinted about in my previous post. So if you haven't read it there, I'll tell you now. 

My short play, MIND CONTROL, has been accepted as one of the 40 finalists for the 35th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Whoa!  Wow! Mind-blowing!  I'm stunned.  Seriously.  I am beyond thrilled, but seriously stunned and still wrapping my head around the information.  BroadwayWorld did an article about the fact that this year, Samuel French received a record number of submissions. Over 880. And they narrowed it down to 40.  Six will get publishing contracts!  Can I say it again?  WOW!

After getting over the initial excitement, I'm now overwhelmed with the logistics of the situation.  I need to wear the producer's hat for this thing; a role I'm not too comfortable playing.  I have to get my tush out to NYC (the festival takes place July 13th-18th), I have to get a director, a cast, and find a way to pay for all of this.  YIKES. Daunting....but not impossible.

I'm not asking for a handout, folks...I'm simply asking for some fundraising ideas because this opportunity is too good to pass up, doncha' think?  It's not like I'm trying to produce a massive Broadway-scale production...just a 12 minute play that will help convince the Samuel French powers that be to realize this play needs to be in their catalogue. But of course, even that takes money when you're doing it all by yourself.  Which I am. 

They say if you don't ask, you don't get. So, I'm throwing it out there.  And I'm hoping for some positive feedback.  I apologize if this is clumsy and awkward...it is not my area of expertise.  But...if you don't ask, you don't get.  So, I'm asking....

Thank you in advance for your advice and good wishes for this humble writer...I look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions.

Back to the Blog!

Photo by Salvatore Vuono

Forgive my negligence to this blog!  It's been two weeks since my last post. Time seems to be getting away from me  lately.  I hope you haven't deserted me.  I've been traveling to distant lands...okay, well not that distant, but I did go up to Portland, Oregon for a week.  Pretty darn beautiful, I must say. Never saw the color "green" look quite so green!  It was absolutely amazing.

I saw waterfalls! Up close and personal that made me gasp out loud.  Oh, the beauty of nature--do you realize how incredibly cool and spectacular waterfalls are?  I guess I didn't fully appreciate them until now.  Sorry it took me so long Ms. Mother Nature.

I came home last Monday and hit the ground running, catching up on old work and new gigs galore.  So it's all good.  I do have some exciting news to announce, but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer.  I'm not quite ready to fully go public with it yet.  Needless to say, it's delightful news and I'm pretty excited.  Now you're going to have to check in regularly to find out what it is.  A real cliffhanger, huh?

In the meantime, it's good to be back to the blog.  I'll try not to be away too long next time.  Oh...before I forget...a major shout out to my new and dear friend Absolutely Kate.  She featured me on her blog AT THE BIJOU (with the Rabbit, Rabbit post I wrote here last month.) She also included a delightful interview because she is a delightful woman.  I've used that word "delightful" three times now. I must be delighted with it!  Ohhhhh...that was lame...I will now stop! Anyway, please go check out Kate's terrific blog(see...I didn't use "delightful" again!) It features some really amazing writers and it's a very, very fun read!

 Okay...gotta run.  I promise I will be back soon.  It WON'T be two weeks before you hear from me again. So tell me...what have YOU been up to these past two weeks?  Seen any good waterfalls lately?