Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 in review

2011 was notable for some theatre-related accomplishments:

  • JULIA & BUDDY - finally complete as a full-length play and ready to go - although I didn't produce it, which was one of my 2011 goals. But that's a goal for this year now.

  • PALMYRA, NJ - I almost have a completed first draft (after three years!) of my semi-auto-biographical play. I have an upcoming reading this January for the completed play.

  • THE SLASH - I produced and directed it myself in 2011 and was pleased to discover that the play didn't suck after all - it's just that the Looking Glass production had extremely clunky direction. It's actually quite charming and funny. Yay! And producing this was one of my goals for 2011. Done!

  • MISTRESS ILSA - I learned alot through this production - much of it in the what not to do category, but that's learning for yah. And I got to use those prop bullwhips I had around for years.

  • Dramatists Guild convention - first major Drama Guild event I've been to.

  • TAM LIN IS FREE! Speaking of the Dramatists Guild, thanks to Ralph Sevush and the gang the ill-gotten Edward Einhorn "blocking and choreography" script registration has finally been cancelled! After only five years of waiting.

  • NYCPlaywrights - whether due to the Play of the Month project or other factors the traffic to the NYCP web site has doubled and its ads are starting to bring in some money. Whoohoo!

  • Manhattan Theatre Source is closed. There may have been good work done at Manhattan Theatre Source, and good people associated with the organization, but I always had very bad experiences with the organization, especially the reckless and absurd Andrew Bellware, who seems to have quite a bit of time on his hands, and culminating in the confirmation that I had apparently been defamed by a group of people associated with the organization, and the defamation occurred on the MTS premises. I really must write up the entire saga one of these days. Perhaps I will entitle it "The Girl Who Kicked the Vipers' Nest."

  • After almost four years I got an apology from one of the people associated with the nasty group I used in a theatre production some years ago. Ironically, this person behaved well - during the production at least. But I always suspected he was a cut above the other members of his gang - the others I'm sure are incapable of even acknowledging they behaved badly, much less offer an apology. Well, that's the problem with people, isn't it? The bad ones and the good ones are all mixed together and there's always that painful, heart-breaking and laborious hand-sorting process that must be performed. C'est la vie.


So what are my goals for 2012?

They are:
  • A production of the full-length JULIA & BUDDY

  • PALMYRA NJ - not only first draft but revised, finalized play

  • At least one other completed play. Some contenders:

    • Full-length MISTRESS ILSA

    • Full-length SODOM & GOMORRAH: THE ONE MAN SHOW

    • Play about Catherine the Great (sans horses)

    • My CELIA play

    • Play about Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech

  • More video projects

  • Increase NYCPlaywrights web traffic.