(A look into what I've been up to, as well as an update regarding what's on the horizon.)
For the third summer running, Alli and I ran around the middle of the woods at the Sterling Renaissance Festival as a part of the Wyldewood Players.
SUMMER - "So What Do You DO In the Middle of the Woods?"
(If you don't care about the answer to that and just want to know details about upcoming productions of my plays - you can skip to HERE.)
If you do...I'll give credit where's it due, Alli made a great post earlier in the year that describes it well.
She notes, "It may seem like we just play around all day in fancy costumes." (We definitely do, and we're so British. SO BRITISH.)
"Well...that's certainly part of it. But here's an explanation for those unfamiliar: ...the Wyldewood Players is the resident acting troupe at the Sterling Renaissance Festival. It's America's oldest interactive/immersive improv troupe under the direction of our fearless leader Gary Izzo. He literally wrote the book on this stuff (which was no joke our supplemental reading for Forbidden Frontier)." (Forbidden Frontier = a now defunct attraction at Cedar Point, where we met one another! It was basically Westworld. For kids. Without the murder. Mostly.)
"'Players' is the perfect moniker for what we do as actors there. Our group is unique in its steadfastness for period accuracy. We are what sends faire-goers back in time. To do this job well, it takes your whole self, using every corner of your brain. You've gotta show up each day at your best, ready to support the other players on your team. And boy, do we have a great team."
It truly is summer camp for performers. It's a privilege to disconnect from the internet a little and gallivant in the primal spaces of pure play and creation. The people are wonderful. The space is magic. The actions are ritual. And we learn a lot. Did you know "lump" is period, but "bump" is not? These are the questions.
OCTOBER - The Update's Spooky Section
On the acting front, you can catch me at Cedar Point's "Halloweekends" through November 3rd in a cameo performance as Frederick Earle Anderson Rochester, the murdered dead man in Wake the Dead. It's a smash up of Clue and old-fashioned Agatha Christie, with loads of hit tunes you know and love. The cast is also incredible. So please come check them out! We need your help, because the audience chooses the killer every show, and we've got multiple endings to spare.
Looking ahead at my plays, I'm booked and blessed to have enough upcoming news that it requires this very blog post! In the mid-to-late evenings of spooky month (my favorite, not just because it now also contains my anniversary), I've got two shows to plug, both appropriately...well, spooky.
First up, Max and Charlie (the storytellers of scary at the center of You See Them in the Corners of Your Eyes) are getting some stage-time at Central Michigan University as a part of their Advanced Directing class showcase. The performances will be October 18th and 19th, so hit them up if you're nearby! This two-hander has gotten a lot of collegiate love, and it fills my heart that it's resonated with so many students across the country. 45 more states to go! And Puerto Rico. Second up, in NYC, I've a new one-act premiering in The Witching Hour Festival as a part of FRIGID's "Days of the Dead 2024."
CHILDREN'S CAMP CONTAGION It’s lights out. But one fire remains lit, as three counselors sneak some alcohol in effort to loosen up. Finn, Libby, and Parker are deeply shaken by some of the campers' recent and disturbing behavior. There’s something wrong with the kids.
And it’s spreading.
The play is called Kudzu, and I'm most enthused to be sharing the bill with some other terrifyingly talented playwrights. The evenings in question are October 24th and 25th, 7pm at Under St. Marks.
You can purchase tickets HERE, but make sure to check out the rest of the programming, there's stuff going on almost the entire back half of the month.
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER - Stoners, Aliens, & Vampires, Oh My!
Past October's delightful horrors, also in NYC, I'm chuffed to say that altitude is getting a reading through the Neurodivergent New Play Series, a project spearheaded by Anthony J. Piccione.
If you don't know the play, I refer to it as my "semi-hostage stoner comedy adventure," which really means it's an adventure about waiting. I'd like to imagine Beckett would chuckle and then flip over in his grave. There's a character named Shitrat. And yes, that's probably my biggest contribution so far to the history of American Theatre. It's also the play that, at the standing of 152, has my record for uses of the word "fuck" or its variations.
So swing by and kick it with us in Brooklyn on November 17th, 2pm. Alli and I will be there, so you can ask us directly what the fuck is wrong with me.
Rounding out the year, Iðunn's coming to raid Chicago! My short play, Barbarian, about a young boy encountering a Viking vampire is a part of Bump in the Night Theatre's "Jump Scares, Vol. 1."
Again, we're sharing the bill with some unbelievably cool and talented playwrights, so make sure to come out and support horror on the stage! Showtimes are November 21st, 22nd, 23rd, December 5th, 6th, & 7th at 7:30pm; November 24th & December 8th at 3:30pm
Well, Goodness...
That's a lot. I'm very humbled. And grateful.
It feels like I'm a real playwright. Not to say that being a playwright requires productions to prove it, because if you write a play, you are a playwright. But a hot spell is an undeniably galvanizing thing. I said to myself at the beginning of the year that I wanted to aim for a production of something, anything, for every month of 2024. I did not hit 12, but a smattering of others, the unexpected publishing of In the Slush, plus a solid run from July to December straight is again, very humbling.
It's a warm, warm feeling to know that my weird, little guys (the plays) are finding their way to folks who enjoy them, especially enough to want to play around in them. I'm hoping to keep it going.
And to now use my least favorite segue, "speaking of which," perhaps the biggest news is the one farthest out...
THE FUTURE - Is LA Actually Real?
Hat and Glasses are coming to LA. (And Third Wheel, I guess.)
The Inkwell Theater has placed Pit smack-dab into the middle of their LAB Series, which means I'm headed to LA for three weeks in February. Have I ever been to LA? No. Is LA as beautiful as they say? Probably! Is it even real? Also probably, but since I've yet to go, I can't be sure.
I am, however, so. fucking. jazzed. We're going to workshop the hell out of it, and I'm excited to be doing it with a play about people being totally okay with living captive in a pit. Hint: this play is a metaphor.
And that's about it! Alli and I are working on some cool stuff that we're not quite ready to talk about, but we will soon. In the meantime, it's 2024, remember to eat some citrus fruits every once in a while to prevent old-timey disease. You know, like scurvy. This is a clue.