And We Will Climb on Top of His Furry Head. His Big Funny Furry Head.

We're going to do it.  

MOTHRA IS WAITING.  

Several years ago, Kevin Newbury optioned a short film version of my play, MOTHRA IS WAITING. (Kevin directed - and really dramaturged - CANDY & DOROTHY.   Also, THE EUMENIDES.)

MOTHRA IS WAITING tells the story of two aging showgirls, one giant moth and a very long night in Bridgeport, CT.   It's a comedy.  

We're going to shoot it in New Hampshire next month.

We are aiming to raise $30,000 to finance the film.  Instead of going the Kickstarter route, we decided to go through Fractured Atlas, an organization that offers non-profit fiscal sponsorship.   

Thus, any donation is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.  Every little bit helps, even $25.

I am grateful for any support you can offer.

The Facebook page for the project is here.

Ryan Taylor, the Washington Rogues and the Cap Fringe

An interview in the Washington Post with Ryan S. Taylor, the great guy who directed "Busted Jesus Comix" in DC a few years ago. 

"In some ways, the inception of Washington Rogues took place in New York when artistic director Ryan Taylor went to see the weirdest performance he could find — “Busted Jesus Comix,” performed in a six-floor walk-up — after taking in such big-name shows as “The Lion King” and Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme” (“which was awful,” Taylor recalls)."

For the record, the old Abingdon space at Dyre and 42nd was a fifth floor walk up.  The building is gone now.  But I definitely remember from the summer of '03 - five flights. Five.

Dreams of T. Hickman

"I was dreamin' Hickey come in de door, crackin' one of dem drummer's jokes, wavin' a big bankroll and we was all goin' be drunk for two weeks. Wake up and no luck." - Joe in O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh

North Carolina, I Love Your Beaches...

But why are you so goddamn awful sometimes?

I Saw Bill Cunningham at a Party Last Night

So, last night I was at the chashama gala for work. Anita Durst is one of our board members, and a pretty spectacular lady. It was a big event on West 43rd with lots of food and beautiful people.  And Bill Cunningham was there, taking pictures.  Now please understand I know nothing about fashion (surprise!) and am not really interested in it, even a little bit. But I saw the Cunningham documentary on recommendation from friends and loved it. This old guy hits all these Manhattan parties, snaps pics and puts them in the NY Times.  It was fascinating to watch him move through the room - absolute focus of purpose, finding the right shot, not a wasted move, nothing getting past him.  It was like watching a good ball player, an athlete in their prime, or even a top notch Broadway song and dance person - complete and total focus on the job at hand.  A man incapable of being distracted  from what he's doing.

The Wedding Gift of Pirate Granny

OK, here it is.  The final project for ALT.  It's one night, at Symphony Space, June 25 7 PM.  Here's the deets:

"ALT’s annual Opera in Eden concert returns to the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space for one night only on Monday, June 25th, 2012 at 7:00 PM. This evening of work written by Resident Artists from ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) will feature four new one-act operas by librettists Magda Bogin, Stephanie Fleischmann, David Johnston, and Kate Light; and composers Jeremy Howard Beck, Alla Borzova, Theo Popov and Jeffrey Dennis Smith." 

I've written the libretto for THE WEDDING GIFT OF PIRATE GRANNY, with music by Alla Borzova.  There are pirates in it.  There's also a ghost. 

Get yer tickets here. 

Last Things in NJ

Tonight, a reading of "Last Things," which has been in the drawer for a few years. I'm excited to hear it again.  It's out in South Orange, New Jersey with my friend Marni Raab's group, Midtown Direct Rep. It'll be a whole lot of actors I haven't seen before, so this should be fun.

Marni also tells me there are cookies.