I’m afraid I haven’t been updating here as much as I should but I have a good excuse – I was doing lots of theatre in 2023! In the spring, I was “Alf” in “Peter and the Starcatcher” and then a few months later in the summer I was Bruce The Shark in “Finding Nemo, Jr.” – both at the Harwich Junior Theatre. They were very time-consuming and lots of work but great fun and well-appreciated by our audiences.
During “Nemo,” I found myself with an idea for a new play that I was so excited about that I was actually writing it backstage during rehearsals and performances! (And I will proudly point out that I never missed an entrance.) I’ll let you in on a little secret – shhhhh! On the surface, “Invasion Of The Brain Eaters From Outer Space!” may seem like just a fun and exciting 1950’s story of aliens experimenting on earthlings with a new weapon prior to an all-out invasion but it’s really about something much more insidious, current, and very, very real…Let me know if I’ve whetted your interest and you’d love to read it.
I know you won’t want to hear this but the beginning of the Covid-craziness actually spurred me into a burst of creativity that I haven’t experienced since…well…since ever! What can I say, I guess pandemics agree with me. Besides creating this new site, I wrote three, count ’em THREE, new plays! Well, two brand-new ones with the third being an expansion/reworking of an older script (but three sounds more impressive.)
High School Confidential
“High School Confidential” is probably the most serious piece I’ve ever written. I’ve had the idea, if not the courage to work on it, for years now and I decided what with the way things were going, it was high time I put on my big girl pants and try to tackle it, after all, God hates a coward. It came out better than I dared hope…and it was both a dream come true and a life goal achieved when it won the 2020 Aurand Harris Award! So take that, doubting-inner-critic-voices-in-the-back-of-my-brain!
SLEEPING BEAUTY STAYS AWAKE
“Sleeping Beauty Stays Awake” was written for a very specific script call for pieces that could be staged with Covid-19 protocols in place during the performances. It wasn’t chosen for that production…but it was chosen as one of three winning scripts in the Old Miner Children’s Playwriting Contest! Although they couldn’t offer their usual in-person week-long workshop, their Zoom reading proved invaluable for my rewriting process. Many thanks to John Newman and his talented students at Utah Valley University! Puppet Mitty was my favorite!
The D.I.Y. FAIRY GODMOTHER
I wrote a short version of “The D.I.Y. F.G.” specifically for another competition in 2019 and when it didn’t win, I decided last spring to play around with and expand it…and I’m glad I did because it took Third Place in this year’s East Valley Children’s Theatre New Play Competition! Years ago, I actually won this contest and had an amazing time out in Arizona attending the premier production of “Puss ‘n Boots: A Tale of a Tail” that they so brilliantly staged. I am determined to win and get out there again one of these years!
INVASION OF THE BRAIN EATERS FROM OUTER SPACE!
In 1956, aliens infiltrate a high school in small town America to test a weapon before a full-scale invasion, a weapon that is capable of changing reality and warping minds. Only our heroine Mary Sue seems immune to its effects and the fate of the planet rests with her. That’s what happens…but the play is actually about a threat that is all too real, insideious and contemporary – book banning in school libraries.