Match.Comedy

I just posted a new one-act comedy to my website, Match.Comedy.

SYNOPSIS: Trevor is about to pop the question to the love of his life, Audrey. Only things don't quite go as planned when his marriage proposal is interrupted by a parade of women sent to him by an online dating service. Among his potential matches are an emotional train wreck, domineering single mother, adulterous vixen, conservative churchgoer and elderly cat lover. As he weighs his romantic options, Audrey surprises him with a little proposal of her own...

A hilarious comedy for six strong females and one unlucky guy that gets caught in the crossfire.

Kindergarten High

I just posted a new one-act comedy to my website, Kindergarten High. It's a fun and challenging piece that encourages students to develop strong characterizations. I invite you to read the excerpt on my site and send me an email if you'd like to see the entire script!

SYNOPSIS: Dallas has always been the class intellectual. After years of slumming through public school, he’s thrilled to take part in a superior program taught by an ivy league scholar. However, everything becomes topsy-turvy when the new curriculum is nothing like he expected. Before he can graduate from high school, he must return to kindergarten. Instead of studying Plato, he’ll have to master Play Dough. For Duncan and some other smarty pants, the secret to success is just within reach. Will they learn the most important lesson of their lives from a book, or a simple game of tag?

Internet = amazing

I am just amazed at the power of the internet. It's been less than two weeks since I posted my latest one-acts on my website and I already have 5 productions of Laughing Stock lined up and 3 for Attention Detention. I am truly stunned.

Were it not for the internet, it's very possible I would be writing in a vacuum. I would have play upon play piled on my desk, just waiting for a production. But ever since I started my website (almost 10 years ago...egads!), teachers and students around the world have had access to my work.

Once a play has been produced several times, it sort of takes on a life of its own. It gets interpreted and re-interpreted, and crammed with so many great ideas, that it's almost impossible to remember which ones were mine and which ones came from the students. That's why I love high school theater! If I added every great idea students incorporated into my plays, they would all be six hours long. So instead, I consider what I have learned and put that into my next play.

However, getting that first production of a play can be very difficult. Before the internet, I imagine playwrights lugging manuscripts across the country and leaving them on doorsteps. Not my idea of a good time. Now I can workshop my scripts, polish them off, and then post them online for the whole world to see. Much easier than a road trip, I'd say.

I owe a lot of my success to a number of schools that have been very supportive and loyal to my work over the years. High schools in Rosetown and Carlyle, Saskatchewan have faithfully produced my plays over the past 4 years. Same goes for dozens of schools in the US. To all of these schools, I am deeply grateful.

"Lucky me, lucky me" is how I usually start a day of writing. Whenever I find myself plagued with writers' block, I think of the enormous number of kids that have inspired me over the years. Then I keep going, writing for that one student who will one day act in this play and discover a whole bunch self esteem they never knew they had. Just the thought of it gives me chills.

So thank you, internet. You have been amazing to me.

Laughing Stock

I just posted a new one-act comedy to my website, Laughing Stock. I am particularly proud of this play and invite you to read a bit of it at my website.

SYNOPSIS: Michael thinks his life is boring. He stands onstage, wondering why the audience has paid to hear about his tedious existence. With the help of a madcap playwright, his life story is suddenly populated with exaggerated stock characters of every sort. One by one, the humdrum people in his life are replaced by pirates and princes, gunslingers and psychics, clowns and rappers. There’s even a Greek chorus along for the ride. As his story unfolds, Michael begins to realize his life is only as dull as he allows it to be.

SDA Festival: Day 3 (Pt 2)

The reading of Table Talk went off without a hitch! The students from Lumsden High should be very proud of themselves. As much as they may have learned from me, I learned sooooo much from them as well. It was creatively stimulating to be in the room with so many young minds buzzing with ideas. I hope to have the opportunity to do this again next year because I truly had a blast and was honored to do it. Hmmm...maybe I should do this all the time. We'll see what happens!

And if you're following the festival drama, you probably want to know how it all turned out. 11 plays in 3 days is a lot to take in, but well worth it. Anyway, I should arrange to have coffee with the adjudicator because her favorites lined up with my own. Of course, at this level of competition there are no winners or losers; all the groups should be proud to have been a part of a great weekend of theater. Best Play was awarded to Romeo Revised by Wilkie High School and runner-up was given to Conflict by Lampman High School. Oddly enough, both were written by Wade Bradford! I told you his plays were awesome, didn't I? :-)

So congrats to everyone involved! I hope to be back again next year, and maybe have a play or two of my own in the running...

SDA Festival: Day 3

As I write this, I am waiting for rehearsal space in the theater. Since we changed an enormous amount of Table Talk yesterday, I did not want to overwhelm Danny with a ton of work. So I asked him to re-write the first few pages and told him that's what will be presented before the awards ceremony. Unfortunately, he had to be out of town today, but his classmates are so dedicated to making Danny proud that I know it will go off without a hitch. If only we could get on the stage...

Also, the final two shows of the festival were presented this afternoon. First up was Cagebirds by David Campton. To be honest, this has never been one of my favorite plays. However, that should never be held against the students in a competition setting. So it speaks volumes for the inventiveness of this production that I actually enjoyed myself. Very nicely conceived and executed.

The last play in competition was The Fourth by James Ostime. I quite enjoyed this breezy little comedy. The lead actress really held her weight and made it a success. I also enjoyed the creative set design it employed. They built an entire room out of milk crates and it looked really nice.

So who will win? That's tough to say. I definitely have my personal favorites, but the winner comes down the opinion of one person. Were I the judge, the winner would be a toss up between Flaky Lips, Romeo Revised, and Conflict. But everyone seems to be buzzing about A Thousand Cranes, so it's anyone's guess.

Oh good, it looks like we get the stage now!

SDA Festival: Day 2

Today was one of the most inspiring days I have had in a long, long time! Working with students on a play is such an invigorating treat that I highly recommend everyone out there give it a shot!

As I wrote earlier, I am workshopping the play Table Talk by Daniel Russell. Danny is a grade 11 student with talent bursting out of his ears. His play is very funny and very solid. What I was pleasantly surprised to discover is how talented his classmates are as well! The seven of us worked all morning and afternoon, making the script as strong as possible. Ideas were bursting from everyone, and we were able to sort them out and find which ones worked best for the play.

I am just so impressed at how open everyone was, not only to my suggestions, but those of everyone in the room. They are a truly amazing bunch of students and I am honored to be in their company. I can't wait to see the play performed before an audience tomorrow. I know it will go over fantastically!

As the festival continued, I also got to see five more one-acts. Which, as you may have guessed, is one of my favorite things to do! So here were the plays from today...

Romeo Revised by Wade Bradford. This is the second play by Bradford to pop up at this festival, and it's no surprise why. His plays are obviously a hoot to perform, and audiences eat them up. The timing of the two leads was so impeccable that, I swear, they could be plopped into the lastest Judd Apatow movie and fit right in. A very, very strong production that may be difficult to top.

Next was a play I know well, Just a Stage He's Going Through by Pat Cook. The production was extremely nice to look at and well paced. All around, the production was very solid and technically superior.

Mystery at Murder Mansion by Duncan Ball was produced by a school from Northern Saskatchewan. It was the first time this group had ever been to provincials, so they have a long way to come. That said, the production had some really cute moments and it was especially nice to see how receptive and supportive the audience was to the students on stage.

The fourth play of the day was A Thousand Cranes by Kathryn Schultz Miller. I have seen this play several times, but never as visually stunning as this production. The final scene, as a thousand paper cranes are brought on stage, was so breathtaking that there was not a dry eye in the house.

The final play of the day was Your Mother's Butt by Alan Ball. I really like this play. Really, really, really like it. I had read it many times, but never seen it, so I had been looking forward to it all weekend. The two actors in this really knocked it out of the park. The pacing requires that the actors trust themselves and the audience (there are lots of pauses), and these two did a sensational job.

So far, my favorites this year are Romeo Revised, Conflict, Flaky Lips and Your Mother's Butt. But you never know what the adjudicator is thinking, so it's anyone's guess as to who will win. And there are still two more plays to go tomorrow!

SDA Festival: Day 1

I arrived in Regina and had several hours to kill before I could check into my hotel. So I drove around town in a desperate (and somewhat pathetic) search for free wireless so that I could check my email. I drove from parking lot to parking lot, barely able to pick up even the weakest internet connection. I finally hit the jackpot in, of all places, the Dairy Queen. What the Dairy Queen needs wireless for, I will never know. Nonetheless, I was able to check my email. Nothing but spam, so my search for internet access was a waste of time and gas. Ah, the addiction to technology.

I don't start my playwrighting workshop until tomorrow, so I just got to enjoy a really great evening of plays.

First up was a presentation of Flaky Lips by Lindsay Price. The play is all about racial tension, and I must say I was extremely impressed with this group. Their interpretation of the play was completely different than what is written in the script. Instead of actors of two different races, they chose to paint the young actresses bright colors. This could have come across as silly, but the maturity of the acting really kept the play grounded.

Next was a production of Inside Al by David S. Baker. I have been aware of this play for some time, but I had never seen it. The students tackled its serious subject matter with great humor and dignity. When I read that it was a student directed production, I was even more impressed.

Third was a play that I had never heard of before, Conflict by Wade Bradford. What a fantastic piece, especially for high school students! And the quality of the production easily matched the quality of the script. The staging was ultra creative and its pace never faltered for a moment. Great job to all involved!

Last on the bill was Competition Piece by John S. Wells. This was a little strange to see because I acted in the play over 13 years ago. Since high school has changed a lot in the past decade, the play has become a little creaky and old. However, it was neat to see a play I know very well and remember bits of dialogue as they came up.

All in all, it was a great evening of theater. I look forward to starting my workshop tomorrow, as well as seeing another five plays.

Attention Detention

I just posted a new one-act comedy to my website, Attention Detention.

SYNOPSIS: Five honor roll students have been summoned to detention. To avoid being punished, they each come up with a preposterous excuse for their tardiness and their wacky tales are acted out by an ensemble of performers. As one wild lie piles on top of the next, the principal gets farther away from the truth. Will he be able to figure out these bright young minds? If so, he'll have to play close attention in detention. For he's up against a swift bunch of kids, each with a knack for making the most ridiculous stories sound entirely possible.

Reading Room: By Candlelight

I recently revisited a wonderful play that I hope you will take a moment to read. It's a lovely play by my friend Claudia Haas. The play is By Candlelight and it is truly one of the most stunning pieces of theater I have ever read. I say "read" because I have never actually seen the play produced. However, its pages are so alive with rich dialogue that I feel like I have seen it.

Synopsis from Playscripts, Inc:

• Young people want to connect with one another in every era, but in the wake of tragedies like 9/11, that impulse is especially strong. Taking place in 1963 and 2001, this powerful drama shows how youth deal with the aftermath of terror: from making chocolate truffles, to painting murals, to exploring other religions. Their solutions may seem naïve, but their hope makes everything possible.

Most of the play is available to read online, but I recommend you order the play in its entirety. You will be blown away, I promise you.

Claudia Haas has here own website and blog, which can be visited by clicking here.

Playwrighting Workshop

Next weekend I will be attending the 2009 Saskatchewan Drama Association Provincial Festival in Regina, SK. It looks like it will be a great weekend, filled with exciting one-act plays by high school students all over the province. The last time I attended the festival was in 1998, so it should bring back a whole lot of good memories. I remember looking forward to provincials all year long when I was in high school, and always being so impressed by the plays I would see. This year looks like no exception. There are some great shows in the line up.

The real reason I am going is because the SDA asked me to judge their playwrighting competition. I was more than happy to oblige, and was very impressed with all the entries. The winner is a real gem of a play called Table Talk. It's written by a young student from Lumsden High School, Daniel Russell. I was impressed with the maturity of his writing, and also in his humor. The play is laugh-out-loud funny without ever relying on punchlines. Being a comedy writer myself, I know how difficult that can be.

Anyway, I will spend two days with Daniel and a few of his classmates, workshopping his script. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get into the nitty gritty of a play and see what makes it tick. It should be a really great time!