My full-length play, All Stations Distress, was recently selected as a finalist in this year’s Screen Craft Stage Play Competition. A tremendous thank you to the team of directors, producers, actors, and collaborators over the years who have helped me develop this transformative piece of work.
Category Archives: theater
tell the story
A while back, I wrote a play. I was in conversations with a theater company about producing this play when the world shut down. A lot of things happened after that. You know what I’m talking about. Now, theaters wants to produce plays with a message, plays that say something about the world we liveContinue reading “tell the story”
don’t dream it, be it…
For three years in college, I played Brad Majors in an annual production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The production, mounted in a seedy bar on the edge of campus, featured full-scale musical numbers and plays host to a slew of University of Dayton-specific callbacks, Easter eggs, and references. Contrary to what you mightContinue reading “don’t dream it, be it…”
head down. mouth shut. (or “discretion if the better part of valor”)
I’ve never liked how I worded number three on my list of rules to live by. When taken by itself, the phrase “head down, mouth shut” seems to imply looking the other way in the face of atrocity (much like the German baker in Band of Brothers, who claims not to have known there wasContinue reading “head down. mouth shut. (or “discretion if the better part of valor”)”
finding the medium
I’m currently working on a novel high school kids in revolt and a play about comic book writers building a universe–two different stories with different characters, engaging with completely different worlds. A friend asked this week, “how do you determine which stories are books, which ones are plays, and which one would be movies?” GreatContinue reading “finding the medium”
be findable
Over two years ago now, I hosted a reading of a play. For obvious reasons, that play never went into production. I spent two years twiddling my thumbs, telling myself my play would get produced “as soon as all this ended,” and taking solace in the wisdom of George S. Kauffman, whose Broadway debut wasContinue reading “be findable”
for moments of catastrophic failure
I’ve been working on a new play for the last year or so. This past weekend, I assembled a cast of actors to sit and read the script for the first time. It was awful. While the feedback I received was invaluable, the consensus from those in the room was that the play was aContinue reading “for moments of catastrophic failure”
lessons from Mike Nichols
I finally finished reading Mark Harris’s biography, Mike Nichols: A Life. A few takeaways: “I passionately believe that in art, certainly in theater, there are only two questions…The first question is: ‘What is this, really, when it happens in life?’ not what is the accepted convention…but what is it really like? And the other questionContinue reading “lessons from Mike Nichols”
we wear the mask
It’s both chilling and appropriate that Facebook announced its name change and shift in business the week of Halloween. ‘Tis the season for all the mischief that accompanies wearing a mask. And Facebook has always been in the business of mask-making. It’s fair to say that most of us on the internet wear masks thatContinue reading “we wear the mask”
letting go
I’ve never been great at letting go of things. But I’ve come to realize letting go might be the single most important lesson to be learned. The one constant in life is that everything changes. If we aren’t able to adapt to that change–to let go of the way things used to be–then we windContinue reading “letting go”
joshua chamberlain 