Psst...you''ll find the 2007 archives through here.
The 2007 restrospective is here.

FEBRUARY 28

LONG TIME COMIN': No, it's not my exciting new musical about an embarassing accident involving Viagra, it's photos of the Curtain Call Theatre production of One Before Forty from the EMACT festival! Thirteen big full-color photos suitable for framing! Okay, or mayne just for lookin' at. But go see how good it looked back in the day, changing colors on the cyclorama and everything... Honestly, this was a hell of a show. Won Best Ensemble, it did. Among other awards. You'd think I'd be able to get someone to produce it again. Sigh. Anyway, see the photos here!

AND IT'S COMIN' ALONG NICELY: Rehearsed for "If the Shorts Fit" tonight. A nice combo of working on the two shows I'm in--Mr. Levine's "In the Jar" and Mr. Lockheardt's "Helluva Poker Face"--and getting a look at the other shows. Obviously, I'm particularly interested in the progress of mine, but all the shows are so very strong. And Stacey showed impeccable taste in who she placed in which roles. It's a blast to watch. And everyone has really stepped up to the challenge of doing this all in five rehearsals. As for me, this mini-fest has given me my first look at "First Time for Everything," and I daresay I like it. The piece is very much about the two waitresses, but the interaction between the other two characters looks good, too, and drives the piece toward the punchline. I think it'll get some good laughs. Good time sure to be had by all!

FEBRUARY 23

WINDING DOWN, WINDING UP: So we're down to the last two shows of Dinner for Several--one more, really, as I'm writing this after tonight's nearly sold out performance. It's been a wonderful thing. We sold out or nearly sold out pretty much every show. Opening night was about half a house, but every other show's been full or close to it. We lost one to snow last night, but tonight and closing night will pick up some of the overflow. Response has been great--lots of compliments for everyone after every show. A friend of one of the castmembers wrote to me out of the blue on my myspace to say how much he enjoyed it. Hell, I've enjoyed it the two times I saw it. Naturally I see things I intend to change or cut in the next revision, but overall? Lovely stuff. From here I dust up the script and try to get it published. It deserves to be seen, and this run proves it. So that's winding down, but we (the wife and I) are smack dab in the midst of a whirlwind project that I'm also quite charged up about. Our "home" theater, Curtain Call, had some trouble casting their winter show. Truth be told, it had trouble casting two shows. In their place we came up with the idea of doing a night of shorts. Initially it was going to be a group of my shows, but I felt that people involved with CCT have pretty much had their fill of me at the moment. So I put out a call to some playwrights whose work I know and respect, and they were happy to contribute scripts. The wife read them all and chose a total of eleven. So on March 6, 7 and 8, "If the Shorts Fit" (click here for our cool logo...) will feature 10-minute plays from me, Lisa Burdick, Mark Harvey Levine, Chris Lockheardt, Jack Neary and Kristyn Leigh Robinson. A grand total of 28 actors have been dragged into service, and we're doing this all in--ready for this one?--a grand total of five rehearsals. Woo hoo! It's either going to be a train wreck or something akin to jumping a train over thirty buses. Filled with girl scouts and nuns. If you're local, come find out which.

YES, IT'S FAMILIAR: If you've been here awhile (and, again, really--why would you?) you may recognize that "If the Shorts Fit" moniker. We stole it from one of our aborted projects from last year.

ONE LAST KID: One of my shows in this eve of shorties is "First Time for Everything"--my last completed piece that hasn't been seen yet. Sure, it's cheating a little to have it done at the home theater but...at least it gets seen!

FEBRUARY 14

I GOT SOME SWEET LOVIN' ON VALENTINE'S DAY: It's a sad truth that I don't get it nearly as much as I ought to. I mean, I tend togo a long time without getting even a little. I try not to think about it. In fact, I had pretty much given up on ever getting any, so I was absolutely thrilled when today I, the Amazing Unreviewable Man, actually got a REVIEW! (Hold on, what were you---oh...oh, never mind.) The local paper, the Patrot Ledger, ran a very nice article/review on Dinner for Several in their "Get Out" section, complete with a large and flattering photo of the ladies of the show. The beginning of the article focuses on Stacey and I meeting in theater and now having this production, then does a lovely job of synopsizing what scribe Jim Dorman calls (you know, just to toot my own horn) my "laugh-filled take on singlehood and coupling." Dorman goes on to compliment the set, including the infamous recliner "used to great comic effect by Gordon Ellis and Robin Gabrielli." He describes the action as "a series of unfortunate, but interesting and funny events." Thank you, Mr. Dorman, for doling out a little love for DfS on V-Day. And thank you again, my delightful DfS cast, crew and director, for gettin' me some lovin'. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm puttin' on a little Barry White and re-reading the review.

FEBRUARY 13

SNAP A FEMUR, PENSACOLA!: Tomorrow night Studio 400 at the Pensacola Little Theater puts up "That Thing" as part of their Short Attention Span fest. My thank to director Bill Whalen and his cast, Margie Wagner and Bill Mankins for taking on the show. This fest is thick with playwrightbinge authors--myself, the estimable Ms. Robinson, the ever-present Mssr. Levine, the delightful Ms. Lindsay, and others. My thanks to PLT, and a hearty "break a leg" to my peoples there.

FEBRUARY 9

SO OTHER THAN THAT, MRS. LINCOLN...: And now Dinner for Several is up and running. I went to opening night last night. It was a very good house--I'd say more than half of the 275 seats were filled--and a good start. There were, of course, some first-night speed bumps (which we talked about later over drinks and post-show relief) but that's to be expected. My focus was on the audience, really. At the beginning they were less responsive than a playwright who's written a comedy might like. It reiterated to me how hard it is to sit there knowing when the gags are coming and then have them not hit--despite knowing, intellectually, that tonight those same bits will kill...while others won't. But it's like watching your two-year-old take a facer into the pavement. You know it happens, it happens to every kid, but you still want to run to its side when it happens. The cast was strong and were clearly having fun. A lot of good comedic moments landed beautifully. One of my favorite laughs of the night came at the very beginning of the second act during a lengthy (by design) silence. It was wonderful. If you're local I hope you'll take the opportunity to catch the show. But act now--I understand we're just a few seats away from being sold out tonight and next weekend looks much the same. Ain't that nice? :-)

OVERHEARD: At intermission, an older woman talking about how she really liked the "master baster" joke...

OH, AND NEXT WEEK...: "That Thing" turns up at Studio 400's Short Attention Span Fest in Pensacola, FL. Love that play!

FEBRUARY 1

DINNER SNEAK PEEK: Yep, it's just a week away. Tomorrow I babysit the kids all day while the missus hammers out the tech side of the 2008 production of Dinner for Several. (I have the easier job of the two!) I've snuck into a couple of reheasals and it's looking good, folks. Want to see how good? Well then just jump through here and take a look at some shots from a recent rehearsal. Meet the cast, see the set, feel the love. Eleven photos for your viewing pleasure.

I'LL SAY IT NOW AND I'LL SAY IT LATER: My sincere thanks to Jim, Gordon, Robin, Toni, Shannon, Christine and Colleen for their hard work on recreating these characters. I hope you've had fun. Thanks to Dan Sheehan for the set, Roberta Kreigsman for the lights, Rich Morton for the sound. Thanks to Christine for endlessly pimping the script. And thanks to my Stacey for believing and seeing and loving. Namaste, all.

JANUARY 19

THANK YOU, ACME AUDIENCE PEOPLES: At the Acme Theater New Works Winter Fest, audiences vote for their favorite play of each track (there are two). By virtue of enough people tearing off the little tab with my play's name on it, "Tall Order" came away from NWWF holding my first-ever "Charlie" award. The audience was quite into it-- in fact, at the end of the play, Richard hangs a pause before he announces what he eventually ordered for breakfast and in the silence someone in the audience called out, "What did you order?!" Quite funny. Thank you to everyone who voted for us, and thanks to Acme for giving us the chance to put it onstage.

WHAT FEELS REALLY NICE: This might come off snarky, and I don't mean it to. With small fests that do audience-fave voting, it's an accepted general belief/knowledge that He Who Packs The Audience With The Most Friends Wins. Makes sense, right? You come out to see your friends in a play, you vote for that play. No biggie. Not to say anything negative about our friends, but the first night of the run we didn't have anyone there. Last night, about a half dozen. And we still won. So it feels that much more wonderful.

JANUARY 4

THANK YOU, RATS!: The other day I wrote to Michael Ruby at TheatreRats to ask how their Curtain Up 2008 fundraiser went--okay, I wrote to ask how "Tall Order" went over, but I also wanted to know how it all went for them--they've been very good to me these last couple of years! According to Mr. Ruby: "Your piece had everyone in the theater asking each other what they'd be eating the next morning." Now that may sound like an odd bit of praise, but if you knew the show (or if, for example, you were local to me and showed up at Acme Theater on Jan 12 or 18 to see it) you'd know that it's exactly what I wanted to hear! So my genuine thanks to Michael, to director Brad Caswell and to his actors, Mike Lesser (who I loved at this fall's Chester Horn Fest in Mary Steelsmith and Steve Lee's "The M Word"!), Rob Bellsey and India McDonald for giving "Tall Order" a great first showing.