Three Things: Monologue Show, Good Jew, and Stage THIS! Book Review

The Monologue Show, November 6 & 7

E-MergingWriters.com had a successful first preview of The Monologue Show on October 17, 2009, and are now sharing a few more preview performances this Saturday and Sunday, November 6 and 7.  SmartTix.com will be glad to help you purchase your tickets.

The Monologue Show is currently at Stage Left Studio, 438 W. 37th Street, Suite 5A.  Audience feedback so far:

• “Wow!  That was so funny.”
• “The characters are so real.”
• “I know these people.  I ride the train everyday with these people.”
• “Amazing!”
• “If you do more shows, I want to come back.”
• “Were there really 50 characters?”

Actually, the grand total is 62, but we don’t want to make any promises of more than 50…because (1) if the actor forgets something, we’ve falsely advertised and (2) who would believe 60 characters from one actor?  Fifty is much more believable.

First Reading of Good Jew

In addition to these performances, we are looking for a space in December to hold the first public reading of new play Good Jew.

Our 5th published book Stage THIS! Volume 3 Gets a Great Review

And, Stage THIS! Volume 3: Monologues, Short Solo Plays and 10-Minute Plays, just received a wonderful review from BookPleasures.com.

“This book is very appropriate for anyone that understands and enjoys theater, but also for those that have lost that joy. This collection should be included in all community theater libraries. It also gives everyone another reason to watch a play and to do so soon.”

Yes, this is some GREAT NEWS!!  And not just for community theatre libraries, but for college theatre libraries, student actors, scene study–both monologues AND scenes, and anyone interested in quality 10-minute plays.  But we especially liked THIS compliment:

“The individual pieces combined into an oddly cohesive whole. There is depth of emotion, passionate expression and sound resolve throughout. All forcing the reader to look in the mirror of their own reality to measure how easy the transitions from reality to fantasy might feel.”

Hats off to guest editor Dana Todd and Volume 2 and 3 partner, Sydney Stone of Fn Productions.  We appreciate and cherish your collaborative efforts.

 

Checking in Before Fall Takes Over

After the successful book release, E-MergingWriters.com didn’t take much time off, it just might seem that way.

First, two solo shows will be going into pre-production/development in the next few months.  These Monologues What I Wrote:DRAFT, written and performed by Frank Blocker and directed by Helena Gleissner will be given its first test drive on October 4, 8:00 pm, Sunday, at Stage Left Studio, 438 W. 37th Street, 5A, New York.   Get your tickets NOW.  The production is a sketchbook collection of monologues from plays, works-for-hire, and from just plain fun and is geared toward E-MergingWriters audiences who have told us time and time again how much they enjoy collections of work.

We have not given up on story, on full-length linear plays, or on longer attention spans.  There are many works still going on within our confines!

The next solo play, Good Jew: The Personal History of Henrik Altman as Told by Him, written by Blocker with Murray Scott Changar, will go up at Stage Left Studio as well, November 6 & 7. And HUGE thanks to Live Arts Collaboration and The Performance Project @ University Settlement for accepting the piece into the Salon Series on October 5, Monday, 7pm.  Without development opportunities like this, artists struggle far more than they should!!  Come see the Salon and enjoy five other brilliant artists including choreographer Adam McKinney, composer Darcy James Argue, writer Jonothon Lyons and his production designer Daniel Brodie, musician/composer Nathan Koci, and performance and multi-media artist Esther Neff.

Blurb from GOOD JEW:

Teenager Henrik Altman escaped from a concentration camp for the Warsaw ghetto and familiar faces.  He found it burned and his people gone.  What happens next is unthinkable: He purposely got himself caught so he would not be alone.  “You couldn’t be a good Jew and survive a thing like that,” he says.  In 1985, from his Midwestern American den, he’s far enough away to tell his story—or so he thought.

Book Release Celebration Re-cap and Audience Award Winners

An amazing cast, amazing plays, fantastic theatre space, and an afternoon that turns into evening all helped make the Book Release Celebration for Stage THIS! Volume 3 a huge success.

The readings were performed in two segments: monologues 5:00 pm-6:30 pm, then short plays at 8:00 pm, followed by a wine reception.

From Stacie Theon’s brilliant performance of Alex Broun’s Beer and Newspaper, followed by a knock-out reading by Charnele Crick of Paul Shoulberg’s Gone, the audience knew they were in the presence of talent.

Those attending voted for the Audience Favorite  In the monologue category, attendees selected Beth Kander’s Psychic.  Runners-up were Lisa Stephenson’s Cheryl, bolstered by a head-turning performance (sans book) by Cara Vander Weil, and Michele Merens’ Geraldine, with a delicate and heartfelt reading by Emilie Byron.

Audience Favorite winner in the short play category went to Trunk of Turin: A Small Act of Faith by Andrew Davis and David Dolle.  These playwrights certainly owe a thank you to performers Eric C. Bailey and Michael Yeshion for lending their comic chops.  Runner-up Favorite was Steven Korbar’s All the Way, performed with incredible elegance by Robbie Neigeborn and Chima Chikazunga.

E-MergingWriters.com and Fn Productions are grateful for all the great acting witnessed last night and want all playwrights to know that their works were in the hands of gifted performers that also included Cheryl King, Heather Koren, Bobby Abid,Frank Blocker, William DeMeritt, Krista Severeid, Brian Schlanger and Sydney Stone.

Books will be mailed by July 21 to playwrights not in attendance.

Stage THIS! Reading and Book Release Party

The Public Reading and Book Release Party for Stage THIS! Monologues, Short Solo Plays and 10-Minute Plays will take place at The Vortex Theater, 164 11th Ave. (@ 22nd St), New York, New York.  For those of you in the area, that’s right across the street from Chelsea Piers.

Monologues are presented at 5:00 pm on Sunday, July 12.  At 8:00 pm, ten-minute plays will be presented.  Afterward, a wine reception will take place along with book signing party.  There is a suggested donation of $5.00 for each event, and with a $15 donation or more, patrons receive a complimentary book.

Monologues, 5: 00 pm

• Beer and Newspaper by Alex Broun, Australia, featuring Stacie Theon
• Gone by Paul Shoulberg, Brooklyn, New York, featuring Charnele Crick
• I Witness by Joan Anderson & Dorothy Sanders, Ft Worth, Texas, featuring Sydney Stone*
• Cosmic Judo by Alan Steinberg, Potsdam, New York, featuring William DeMeritt
• Cheryl by Lisa Stephenson, Cincinnati, Ohio, featuring Cara Vander Weil
• JD by Lisa Stephenson, Cincinnati, Ohio, featuring Krista Severeid*
• selection from Faith by Wm. P. Coyle, Flushing, New York, featuring Brian Schlanger*
• selection from Geraldine by Michele Merens, Bayside, Wisconsin, featuring Emilie Byron*
• The Right Not to Take Me Seriously by William Gebby, Indianapolis, Indiana, featuring Michael Yeshion
• A Peace of Candy by Marie Mastrangelo, Irvine, California, featuring Stacie Theon
• Psychic by Beth Kander, Jackson, Mississippi

Short Plays, 8:00 pm

• Bodkin by Robin Russin, Los Angeles, California, featuring Robbie Neigeborn and Chima Chikazunga
• Maude by Mary F. Casey, Los Angeles, California, featuring Sydney Stone* and Cheryl King
• Night Vision by S. L. Daniels, Chicago, Illinois, featuring Heather Koren*
• Just Because of The Umbrella by Ivor Martinic, Zagreb, Croatia, featuring Charnele Crick and William DeMeritt, assisted by Stacie Theon and Eric C. Bailey*
• All the Way by Steven Korbar, Torrance, California, featuring Emilie Byron and Robbie Neigeborn
• Tied Lines by Amanda LePain, Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring Bobby Abid* and Heather Koren*
• Trunk of Turin: One Small Act of Faith by Andrew Davis & David Dolle, Houston, Minnesota, featuring Michael Yeshion and Eric C. Bailey*

* denotes members of Actors’ Equity Association

Stage THIS! Volume 3 Now Available

Stage THIS! Volume 3 is finally in print and available for purchase.  Winning playwrights will receive their free copy, but that will be delayed somewhat as we plan on releasing those books along with a public reading…so all present can sign books!

Congratulations to all the winning playwrights and to us for surviving the grueling process of editing (the easy part, comparatively speaking) and dealing with online publishers (may God smite  iUniverse and BookSurge).

On other E-Merging fronts, Southern Gothic Novel: The Aberdeen, Mississippi Sex-Slave Incident has 2 performances left, June 17 and June 24.  Hurry and see the Drama Desk Award-nominated solo play while you still can!

We will be posting information about the reading and other summer events in the coming weeks…when we get space and a schedule!

Stage THIS! Volume 3, the Publishing Nightmare!

Some people may be wondering where, oh where, is the published version of Stage THIS! Volume 3.  We wonder that, too.

The work was all done by January, meaning the editing, revising and formatting of 20 writers into a cohesive book.  We set about using BookSurge.com this year because iUniverse has been slipping in the past few years with their service–not to mention their share of the royalties of each book is obscene.  Booksurge, connected somehow with Amazon, was supposedly the answer.  Booksurge staff kept warning from day one that we should not get too attached to dates as that was often a complaint of their customers.  They wanted to make clear that things take time.  Well, FIVE MONTHS later we are told that we were back to Square One: “We can’t format things like this [play scripts].  You have the wrong package and will have to pay more.”  After some more screaming, they explained we could probably get a free upgrade for all the trouble, but we’d need to start over with salesperson “Whitney”…some moron named who had caused 3 months of delays right off the bat because she apparently can only read from a piece of paper and cannot process customers’ speech.  The very person whose name was invoked in every discussion with Booksurge about the problems we faced (she seemed to be attached to every one of them).  This was the SECOND TIME they attempted to force us to deal with the very customer service person we had requested NOT be involved–and God knows, as bad as she was to begin with, we never should have had to ask in the first place.  It was time to go back to our own Square One.

We returned to iUniverse, since they had been eating up the royalties from Volumes 1 and 2 (after all, this ain’t exactly a money-maker anyway), but at least they got it done before, perhaps they could do it again.  Apparently, iUniverse is still confused about a change of email addresses that occurred years ago and they still have not resolved it.  After 2 weeks of runaround the problem was “fixed” according to them.  But after trying to log on for more than 2 more weeks, it is obvious that they are going to be a while on this issue.  That’s right–we can’t even LOG ON to our account right now!

In the meantime, we found CreateSpace.com, where it looked like MAYBE we’d be moving forward quickly and the book would be available within days (Great!  Isn’t that what POD is supposed to be about?)  CreateSpace insisted on a volume number, which was included on their computer form, but then did NOT appear when generating the book cover.  We tried to rectify that since we had options to edit–and even went to the original form and corrected it there to match the title on the book cover.  Next thing we get is a rejection notice from them because the title on the form doesn’t match the title on the book cover.  This is a technical problem on their part, but we have gone from being print-ready by now, to CreateSpace “looking into the problem.”

We truly have been making great efforts to get this done, but apparently the death of American productivity ended some time between Volume 2 and Volume 3 (and a lot of these guys farm out their work to other countries, to boot!!!).  We will not stop until it’s published but can make no guarantees as we seem to be at the mercy of some of the worst businesses ever created.

To sum up…the book is still sitting in the queue at CreateSpace.com and we are hoping they can resolve their issues.  Meantime, the book has been resubmitted to them in attempt to simply start over, but they have been sitting on it for five days now (and they have a 1-2 turnaround promise on their site!).

Drama Desk Awards 2009

The following is from Drama Desk Nominee Frank Blocker, Solo Performance for Southern Gothic Novel:

I attended the Drama Desk Awards Sunday night.  The winner in my category was Humor Abuse, still running on Broadway.  I say “still running” because there seems to be an instant assumption that any solo show you mention must have already closed.  I can’t tell you how many condolences I’ve heard for my show’s supposed closing and I’m still running through June.

I had the blessing of being nominated against Broadway and off-Broadway shows even though I perform only on Wednesdays in a 35-seat house.  To even get off-off Broadway reviewers and award committees to come is impossible, but the Drama Desk Nominating Committee came and made great efforts to encourage the voting members to attend.  They continued throughout the entire process to insist that my work was just as important as any big-budget incarnations they’d seen throughout the year.  Barbara Segal even went as far as to say, “What we’re saying is that we believe you have Broadway-star quality work coming off that little stage.”  Yes, she said that.  You don’t forget something like that.  They have been very kind and have certainly lifted my visibility.  I can’t thank them enough. I love indie theatre but it can be somewhat thankless and brutal.  Nice to dance with the belles for a spell.

Lynn Nottage had my favorite acceptance speech, but then again, I always love the playwright!  I had the pleasure of meeting many favorites and heroes throughout the course of the nomination and the accompanying hoopla, like Geoffrey Rush, Jim Dale, Janet McTeer, Marcia Gay Harden, and even got shoved by Dolly Parton’s bodyguard and I was just standing in line to be interviewed with all the other nominees.  A long story, but it seems every one else was upset by it but Dolly and me.  (I love being part of a controversy without knowing it!)  These events added a lot of exposure to “little folk” like me.

And yes, it was nice just being nominated.  To be “invited to the table” is an honor but to kvetch about votes when 200 voters suddenly have to see everything in two weeks–well, I love math, but that just gives me a headache.

Again, huge thanks to the Drama Desk Nominating Committee for all they did for me this year, and especially for always answering that thanks with, “But you did the great work.”  Do people get any nicer than that?

Award nominations abound for Southern Gothic Novel

Playwright and actor (and webmaster) Frank Blocker has just been nominated for an Audience Award for Favorite Solo Performance by Broadway.com.  The 10th  Annual Broadway.com Audience Awards, the only theatrical award that honors the best of the season as chosen by regular theatergoers.   The nominations were determined after two weeks of online voting, in which readers were asked to choose from complete lists of eligible shows and performers. Winners will be determined after a second round of voting, with all previous votes wiped clean.  Winners will be announced on Friday, May 22 and honored at a private reception.

Please vote for Frank Blocker for Favorite Solo Performance.

Blocker is also nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.  The awards show will be webcast live for the seventh year in a row by TheaterMania.com.

For more information, please contact The Jacksina Company.

We’re not gone! And we’re not foolin’!

NO THANK YOU, TIME WARNER!

Just a quick note to say, yes, the site is being reconstructed and things are being done, but no thanks to Time Warner Cable.  Each time I have had to deal with them, they have grown to be amazingly more inept than the last.

To clarify, the website for E-Merging Writers is in transition ON THE NET.  Not in real life!

In real life, E-Merging Writers is doing the following just this week:

• Enjoying the fourth month of Southern Gothic Novel, extended at Stage Left Studio through June (so far!).  Buy tickets, please.   It’s received 10 brilliant reviews!
• Continued rehearsals for Pamela Parker’s Dreams of Martha Stewart, making its New York City debut at The Left Out Festival, April 17 @ 8pm and April 26 @ 3pm, starring Gina Bonati.  Buy tickets!
• Updated PlaywritingOpportunities.com through May!  Go get your plays some love, playwrights!
• Just sent Stage THIS! Volume 3: Monologues, Short Solo Plays and 10-Minute Plays to the printers for publication and now awaiting print date.
• And watched a few other projects sit on the burner because we’re swamped:  Sprechgesang and a few monologues and such that different folks are presenting in different places in the next couple of months.

Just so you know that more is coming and this is really JUST supposed to be the blogspot for E-Merging Writers, but that site won’t be ready for a bit.  So, we’re here for a bit until the Home(site) Makeover people are ready to “unveil” for us all.

Stage THIS! Volume 3 Winners Announced

The following have been accepted for publication in our third volume of the Stage THIS! collection:  Stage THIS! Monologues, Short Solo Plays and 10-Minute Plays:

Monologues

All the Pretty Little Horses, Robert Paul Laudenslager, Blacksburg, Virginia
Beer & Newspaper, Alex Broun, Australia
Cheryl, Lisa Stephenson , Cincinnatti, Ohio
Cosmic Judo, Alan Steinberg, Potsdam, New York
Geraldine, Michele Merens, Bayside, Wisconsin
Gone, Paul Shoulberg, Brooklyn, New York
I Witness, Joan Anderson and Dorothy Sanders, Fort Worth, Texas
JD, Lisa Stephenson , Cincinnatti, Ohio
Peace of Candy, A, Marie Mastrangelo, Irvine, California
Psychic, Beth Kander, Jackson, Mississippi
Right Not to Take Me Seriously, The, William Gebby, Indianapolis, Indiana

Short Solo Plays

A Slight Limp: The Later Life and Adventures of Tiny Tim , Steven Korbar, Torrance, California
Barsha Bardal, Asher Wyndham, Tucson, Arizona
Faith, William Coyle, Flushing, New York
Librarian, The, Hugh Cardiff, Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland

10-Minute Plays

All the Way, Steven Korbar, Torrance, California
Bodkin, Robin Russin, Los Angeles, California
Just Because of The Umbrella, Ivor Martinic, Zagreb, Croatia
Maude, Mary F. Casey, Los Angeles, California
Tied Lines, Amanda LePain, St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Trunk of Turin: One Small Act of Faith, Andrew Davis and David Dolle, Houston, Texas

We selected these 21 from a field of 150 scripts that were submitted.  Each play was read three times by a theatre professional, critiqued, and ranked.  Through a double-blind scoring system, semi-finalists are selected.  From there, plays are read aloud by professional actors in several private table readings with the judging committee until the final selections have been made.

In the coming days, as I begin to compile the materials into the book, I will be blogging about those experiences.