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Ladies and gentlemen: Past and present alums of the Staten Island Women's Playwright Collective! (Yours truly at top/center.)

This year's Showcase runs from August 15th-17th at the SI Playhouse within Empire Outlets.

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Theater Talk 6/15/25

My hottest take from last week's (overall excellent) Tony Awards broadcast: Was LuPone originally supposed to introduce the Gypsy performance? I couldn't help but notice that it was the only one that didn't have a proper intro onstage from...well...NOT a voiceover and b-roll.

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Did You Know?

Two of the short plays in my Staten Island Quintet live within the universe of a full-length play.

"Too Smart to Score" exists in the same world as The Dead Die Repeatedly.

"Cross-Stitch" directly gave rise to the events of Paper Garland.

(Now wait, that was a silly question...how could anybody- other than me- possibly know about this?!)

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Sometimes...

Being a playwright is cool and all, but periodically you just want to acknowledge that apparently my work is trash and nobody is interested in what I have to say...

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NEW ARTIST STATEMENT

The driving themes of my writing are “universality” and “optimistic resilience.” These phrases permeate many layers of my life; I know them well, and so they inform my work. Being autistic is a double-edged sword, and it’s been a long journey to discover my calling…but I’m grateful for the opportunity it has given me to develop a distinctive voice. I’m determined to inspire others to also remain optimistic and keep their spirits strong in the face of difficulty. Theatre is my biggest passion in life, and I believe that meaningful change in the world is the result of hope + idea + action! (My personal "self-actualization?" To be like Lin-Manuel Miranda and give a great performance in a fantastic play that I've written.)

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Theater Talk 4/27/25

So I heard that they're making a musical of 10 Things I Hate About You...

I've never seen the movie...

Music by Carly Rae Jepsen? I can live with that.

Orchestrations by Tom Kitt? Heck yeah let's go!

Book by Lena Dunham? ...

WHYYY HERRR...?!

(Iykyk)

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Monologue Monday

Queueing up monologues from my full-length plays. Today's pick is hot off the presses: the "title drop" from The March Hare (Andra Sae).

I also liked to “cast” people in my life as inhabitants of Wonderland: my favorite actress was the Rose in the singing garden, my 8th grade math teacher that hated me was the Queen of Hearts, etc. A big chunk of why life has improved since then, is ‘cause I found people who saw charm, rather than annoyance, in my quirks. I’m Alice…but I think that I’m also the March Hare. The March Hare is a “2nd banana” in his own story. You know? He’s not the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, or the Cheshire Cat. He isn’t even the White Rabbit. He has no decisiveness of his own; he just supports the Mad Hatter. But, what if the March Hare had his own agenda? His own dreams? Maybe he could go for a nice cup of coffee, rather than just tea.

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Really? How many times am I going to have to reference the "Spiderman pointing joke" for Playbill covers?!

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Theater Talk 4/5/25

Having seen John Proctor Is the Villain on Thursday, after SUMO last week and having the rest of April effectively booked...I can't help but wonder...when on Earth did I become popular?

But seriously. I went to an all-girls' Catholic high school in New York City, and the characters of "John Proctor" are at a co-ed public school in a small Southern town. I was kind of taken aback by how similar they were to my friends and me despite this...

Also "Green Light" by Lorde is a great song.

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And Now for Something More Serious: We Need to Thank Kimberly Perry

When I was in high school, The Band Perry released their ballad "If I Die Young." I'm not going to rehash history, other than to say that it was the ultimate romanticizing of a tragic (potentially suicidal?) end to a brief life.

Within the past year or so, however, lead vocalist Kimberly Perry released "If I Die Young Part 2." Have you all listened to the lyrics? If not- do so- then come back.

We ought to collectively thank Kimberly Perry for releasing this extremely important footnote on her band's hit song. Even she herself, years after the fact, perhaps learned from the original song that the words of its sequel must be echoed. For everybody who has ever gone through dark days.

"I'm changing my tune...it was so dramatic, beautiful but tragic...I guess it's too late anyway to die young," she sings in Part 2. And that is at the heart of it, my dear friends.

As long as we're alive- even if the chance is small- then there is a chance that our lot can improve.

If we end it all...then it drops to zero. Because death (once enacted) is the only thing in this world (not hyperbole) that cannot be reversed, undone, or fixed up. The only thing!

So, hang in there folks. You can do it. I promise. I'm glad that you're stickin' around! Happy Autistic Acceptance Month from me to you.

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Theater Talk 4/1/25

You heard it here before anywhere else, and it's no April Fool's joke: SUMO at The Public Theater was one of the coolest things that I'd ever seen onstage. If it ever transfers to Broadway, they MUST turn the Circle in the Square Theatre into a hella legitimate wrestling ring.

The lighting/projection design was ingenious, some wonderful performances, and- like all great plays- it told a very specific story but had universal sentiments and themes.

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Tsk tsk! Proofread with care...or I will find you.

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Music Talk 3/18/25

The bridge of Dido's "White Flag" walked so that the Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo bridges could run.

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Monologue Monday

Queueing up monologues from my full-length plays. Surprise! It's a Dead Die Double-Feature: Act One Scene 5 of The Dead Die Repeatedly (Cheri Kumari).

Not just any old pocket watch. Please allow me to explain. This device is engineered with molecular reality-warping technology. I’m not kidding! We call it the “Divine Watch.” It is registered to one user with a fingerprint touch panel on the back. This was done so that only one person at a time would be able to interact with it. Then, once activated, it’ll reset time to a pre-appointed day in the past at exactly 7:18am. When all was said and done, Miss Grusha wanted to be the determinant of that day…at least for the trial run. Then we can always change it later. 718 is simply her favorite number.

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Monologue Monday

Queueing up monologues from my full-length plays. Today's pick: a portion of the opening speech in Paper Garland's Prologue (Bagel Guy).

I couldn’t tell you if people are born with their alignment, or have it projected upon them. “Nature versus nurture” is a real thing, but…one’s outlook on existence…can it really boil down to just those two factors? You know what…if we’re not able to affect another person’s fate, maybe even the course of history itself…what’s the point of it all? Why stay alive? I am fortunate, and cursed, in that many sides of the universe are revealed to me. I’ve decided to open a hole in the fabric of time and show one of them to you today. But remember, the story that you are about to see is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Unless it isn’t. Unless they were encountered in a dream, or perhaps some long-forgotten memory.

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Theater Talk 3/16/25

"Hal, it's about abortion..."

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We're going to go full Daniel Fish's Oklahoma! or Barrow Street Sweeney Todd or "Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre." See you in however many years...from my keyboard to God's oven.