I wrote two new full-length plays in 2023 – both commissions – and worked on revising several others. My short play drought continued, though. No new shorts written. That's something I hope to change in 2024, but at least the start of the year looks very busy with continued work on full-lengths.
2023 saw slightly fewer productions of my work than 2022, but that was largely (I think) due to my focus on full-lengths. It was by most measures my most successful year for those.
My biggest project for the year was a full-length commission from Gloucester Stage Company, a group I've long wanted to work with. They were looking for a piece about local "legends and lore" to produce as their season-ender, as part of the Gloucester 400+ commemoration. We agreed to contract terms for Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern in February, though I started the research based on their initial request in December 2022. I submitted draft one in April, draft two in June, and we went into rehearsal with draft three in August. The show ran for the month of September and was the highest grossing September show they've had in years. More important, it was a joy from start to finish. I got to work with some amazing artists (including my composer son, who did arrangements and sheet music for the song I wrote for the piece), and I find I miss the experience more than most--despite the daily 100+ mile round trip to rehearsals and performances. Fortunately, the commission fee helped fund an EV purchase, so I wasn't burning a lot of gas.
My solo adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was nominated by the Boston Theater Critics Association for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script produced in the area last season. It made me three-for-three in nominations for scripts produced in Boston, and three-for-three in the "always a bridesmaid" category. That said, Paul Melendy, for whom I wrote the play, won the Norton for Best Solo Performance, and that made me happier than if the script had won and his performance had not.
Sleepy Hollow had two additional productions – California and Colorado – and the theater in Colorado is reviving it in 2024. Both productions happened via word-of-mouth, which is a good sign. I need to figure out where to submit it for more productions! So far, no luck with publishers.
In addition to those full-lengths, Queen of Sad Mischance had a brilliant filmed presentation as part of the N.Y.C.-based TRU Voices series as well as an audio production from L.A.'s Dean Productions.
Covenant had a video presentation by Walking Shadow, and it's slated for a workshop production in Boston and an audio production from Dean Productions in 2024.
My "white whale" of a play, Renovation, was accepted into the Digital Development Project and after years of struggling with the piece, I'm getting great support for the work from dramaturg Suzi Elnaggar. That project continues into early 2024.
And, in December, (re)Dressing Miss Havisham, a solo-play commission from dear friend and long-time collaborator Miranda Jonté, had readings at the Dramatists Guild in New York and at Boston Playwrights Theatre. The talkbacks were useful and exciting, and I'll be working on draft two for additional developmental readings in 2024, with hope for a production later in the year or early 2025.
I had a dozen stage productions of short plays in 2023, in addition to three streaming productions and one podcast production. It was a blast to be interviewed for the Gather by the Ghostlight podcast for its production of A Monogamy of Swans, and by The Three Guys podcast about the Gloucester commission.
My four annotated, one-hour Shakespeare adaptations written for secondary school theater and classroom use had a good year around the globe. I don't count productions in my totalI remain grateful to Theatrefolk, the publisher, for their marketing
Miscellany? I was a reader for one new play competition and a finals judge for another, and did some editing-for-hire, cutting a full-length for a local production for a high school theater festival. My article on new play production in Eastern New England was published in The Dramatist.
In the money column, I made more as a playwright in 2019 thanks to a 15k Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, but 2023 was my most lucrative playwriting year based on commissions and royalties. Commissions were a little over $8000 this year, and royalties added just under $9000 to that. Most of the $17K total came from the Gloucester commission and royalty payment. I have a feeling it'll be a while before I see five figures in writing income again. But I can hope!
My number of productions was also down due to the continual drop in submissions made. I made 138 submissions this year, which may seem like a lot, but it's down from 174 last year and 200 or so during most of the years before. Again, this is partly due to my shift in focus to full-lengths, and the continual drop in open submission opportunities. I did spend more time this year networking and collaborating as a way to not only move my work forward but also to support the work of other theater artists. A rising tide, as they say.
Consequently, it was a more active year for my Dramatists Guild "Ambassadorship." I continued to host online Silent Writing sessions every alternate Sunday, and those have been a joy. I worked with Western New England DG Rep Emma Palzere-Rae to co-host a Guild networking event at The O'Neill in Connecticut and a "State of the Industry" session at Boston Playwrights Theatre. I also helped to organize a Dramatists Guild night at BPT for the solo show Mr. Parent, and a panel following with the show's collaborators, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Melinda Lopez, and Megan Sandberg-Zakian. More DG events are in the works for 2024.
Here's to more new theater in 2024.
2023 saw slightly fewer productions of my work than 2022, but that was largely (I think) due to my focus on full-lengths. It was by most measures my most successful year for those.
My biggest project for the year was a full-length commission from Gloucester Stage Company, a group I've long wanted to work with. They were looking for a piece about local "legends and lore" to produce as their season-ender, as part of the Gloucester 400+ commemoration. We agreed to contract terms for Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern in February, though I started the research based on their initial request in December 2022. I submitted draft one in April, draft two in June, and we went into rehearsal with draft three in August. The show ran for the month of September and was the highest grossing September show they've had in years. More important, it was a joy from start to finish. I got to work with some amazing artists (including my composer son, who did arrangements and sheet music for the song I wrote for the piece), and I find I miss the experience more than most--despite the daily 100+ mile round trip to rehearsals and performances. Fortunately, the commission fee helped fund an EV purchase, so I wasn't burning a lot of gas.
My solo adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was nominated by the Boston Theater Critics Association for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script produced in the area last season. It made me three-for-three in nominations for scripts produced in Boston, and three-for-three in the "always a bridesmaid" category. That said, Paul Melendy, for whom I wrote the play, won the Norton for Best Solo Performance, and that made me happier than if the script had won and his performance had not.
Sleepy Hollow had two additional productions – California and Colorado – and the theater in Colorado is reviving it in 2024. Both productions happened via word-of-mouth, which is a good sign. I need to figure out where to submit it for more productions! So far, no luck with publishers.
In addition to those full-lengths, Queen of Sad Mischance had a brilliant filmed presentation as part of the N.Y.C.-based TRU Voices series as well as an audio production from L.A.'s Dean Productions.
Covenant had a video presentation by Walking Shadow, and it's slated for a workshop production in Boston and an audio production from Dean Productions in 2024.
My "white whale" of a play, Renovation, was accepted into the Digital Development Project and after years of struggling with the piece, I'm getting great support for the work from dramaturg Suzi Elnaggar. That project continues into early 2024.
And, in December, (re)Dressing Miss Havisham, a solo-play commission from dear friend and long-time collaborator Miranda Jonté, had readings at the Dramatists Guild in New York and at Boston Playwrights Theatre. The talkbacks were useful and exciting, and I'll be working on draft two for additional developmental readings in 2024, with hope for a production later in the year or early 2025.
I had a dozen stage productions of short plays in 2023, in addition to three streaming productions and one podcast production. It was a blast to be interviewed for the Gather by the Ghostlight podcast for its production of A Monogamy of Swans, and by The Three Guys podcast about the Gloucester commission.
My four annotated, one-hour Shakespeare adaptations written for secondary school theater and classroom use had a good year around the globe. I don't count productions in my totalI remain grateful to Theatrefolk, the publisher, for their marketing
Miscellany? I was a reader for one new play competition and a finals judge for another, and did some editing-for-hire, cutting a full-length for a local production for a high school theater festival. My article on new play production in Eastern New England was published in The Dramatist.
In the money column, I made more as a playwright in 2019 thanks to a 15k Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, but 2023 was my most lucrative playwriting year based on commissions and royalties. Commissions were a little over $8000 this year, and royalties added just under $9000 to that. Most of the $17K total came from the Gloucester commission and royalty payment. I have a feeling it'll be a while before I see five figures in writing income again. But I can hope!
My number of productions was also down due to the continual drop in submissions made. I made 138 submissions this year, which may seem like a lot, but it's down from 174 last year and 200 or so during most of the years before. Again, this is partly due to my shift in focus to full-lengths, and the continual drop in open submission opportunities. I did spend more time this year networking and collaborating as a way to not only move my work forward but also to support the work of other theater artists. A rising tide, as they say.
Consequently, it was a more active year for my Dramatists Guild "Ambassadorship." I continued to host online Silent Writing sessions every alternate Sunday, and those have been a joy. I worked with Western New England DG Rep Emma Palzere-Rae to co-host a Guild networking event at The O'Neill in Connecticut and a "State of the Industry" session at Boston Playwrights Theatre. I also helped to organize a Dramatists Guild night at BPT for the solo show Mr. Parent, and a panel following with the show's collaborators, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Melinda Lopez, and Megan Sandberg-Zakian. More DG events are in the works for 2024.
Here's to more new theater in 2024.
2022 Round-Up
Not sure 2022 would qualify as either the best of times or the worst of times, but it was a memorable year as a playwright.
The numbers first:
I wrote 2 new full-length plays this year (and a big chunk of a third), and new 1 ten-minute play. No new monologue pieces. My focus has shifted almost exclusively to full-lengths.
I had 25 readings or productions, so the total was a bit lower than 2021 and 2020:
4 live productions of 3 different full-length plays (including 1 premiere and 1 world premiere)
3 readings (zoom) of 2 different full-length plays
1 live production of a one-act play (premiere)
15 productions of 8 different ten-minute plays (most were live)
2 1-minute plays produced (zoom)
I was a "finals" judge for 2 playwriting competitions.
2 short plays and 2 monologues were published.
It was my second-best year for playwriting income: Royalties, guest playwright gigs, and writing awards amounted to just over $9,000.
I made (with a couple of days to go) 174 play submissions or queries this year, down from my usual 200.
My percentage of acceptances is currently only 8% for the year, down from 2021's 16% and the unreasonable 24% in 2020. I attribute the drop to the fact that I've been focused on sending out full-lengths since the middle of 2021 and to the fact that I have yet to hear from a lot of the 2022 subs.
Other highlights:
Full-length Queen of Sad Mischance received both the Judith Royer Award from The Kennedy Center/Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the Louise Wigglesworth Award from The Laboratory Theatre of Florida. I was interviewed about the play as part of the ATHE Conference and was the responder for the short plays being workshopped.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a solo adaptation of the Washington Irving tale, was my first "official world premiere" (it's based on length of run, professional status of the theater, previews and official press opening, etc). It was the largest venue/longest run I've had, and it accounted for about half of my writing income for the year. More importantly, it was a joy from start to finish.
A Monogamy of Swans was part of the Lanford Wilson Festival in Missouri, and was both anthologized by the festival and later produced by students at the college that hosted the event.
As the year ends, I'm working out details of a commission for a new play with a local theater I've long wanted to work with. First full-length commission for me and for the theater. Their request came about largely because of the success of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I guess they liked what they saw. I hope to provide details about that soon.
The numbers first:
I wrote 2 new full-length plays this year (and a big chunk of a third), and new 1 ten-minute play. No new monologue pieces. My focus has shifted almost exclusively to full-lengths.
I had 25 readings or productions, so the total was a bit lower than 2021 and 2020:
4 live productions of 3 different full-length plays (including 1 premiere and 1 world premiere)
3 readings (zoom) of 2 different full-length plays
1 live production of a one-act play (premiere)
15 productions of 8 different ten-minute plays (most were live)
2 1-minute plays produced (zoom)
I was a "finals" judge for 2 playwriting competitions.
2 short plays and 2 monologues were published.
It was my second-best year for playwriting income: Royalties, guest playwright gigs, and writing awards amounted to just over $9,000.
I made (with a couple of days to go) 174 play submissions or queries this year, down from my usual 200.
My percentage of acceptances is currently only 8% for the year, down from 2021's 16% and the unreasonable 24% in 2020. I attribute the drop to the fact that I've been focused on sending out full-lengths since the middle of 2021 and to the fact that I have yet to hear from a lot of the 2022 subs.
Other highlights:
Full-length Queen of Sad Mischance received both the Judith Royer Award from The Kennedy Center/Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the Louise Wigglesworth Award from The Laboratory Theatre of Florida. I was interviewed about the play as part of the ATHE Conference and was the responder for the short plays being workshopped.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a solo adaptation of the Washington Irving tale, was my first "official world premiere" (it's based on length of run, professional status of the theater, previews and official press opening, etc). It was the largest venue/longest run I've had, and it accounted for about half of my writing income for the year. More importantly, it was a joy from start to finish.
A Monogamy of Swans was part of the Lanford Wilson Festival in Missouri, and was both anthologized by the festival and later produced by students at the college that hosted the event.
As the year ends, I'm working out details of a commission for a new play with a local theater I've long wanted to work with. First full-length commission for me and for the theater. Their request came about largely because of the success of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I guess they liked what they saw. I hope to provide details about that soon.
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