A Capella Vampire Weekend. Aw yeah.

Instead of "Hot cross Cruz's cockles will rise", Patricia said "HOT COCKS... Damn it".

Stopped the show because we couldn't stop laughing.

Suckers has been nominated for several Planet Connections Awards!

Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script of a Play
Mark Richard Caswell for Outstanding Costumes
Duncan Pflaster for Outstanding Sound Design
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play - Alan McNaney for the role of Rich
Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role of a Play - Joe Fanelli for the role of David Lamb
Outstanding Postcard and Program - Duncan Pflaster

AND Outstanding Performance in a Reading - Patricia Comstock as Nicole in Hate Myself in the Morning

I'm also nominated for the Congeniality Award.

Oh HAI, finally a review of Suckers:

Speaking of Otherworldly, this leads to one of my favorite things in the world: Vampires! And when I can have vampires, comedy, a playwright whose work I enjoy and an actor whose work is tremendous all at the same time, I am a very happy camper. Suckers was directed by Duncan Pflaster as well as written by him, and I was excited to see how that was going to work. Having recently seen his amazing Ore, or Or, I was interested to see what he was going to do with my zeal for the Ol' Fanged Ones. I was not disappointed. Pflaster did not take himself seriously at all in this piece, and it allowed the actors - and the characters - to again, as in the above discussed piece, make full, dynamic choices that made the evening so much fun to watch. When an innocent couple is taken to a coffee house by a not-so-innocent couple of vampires on the pretense of good books, a happening scene, and great coffee (while taking a small shot at pretentious coffee houses, which I adored), they actually go to the lair of the leader of a vampire clan, the absolutely fabulous Elvis (Shawn McLaughlin), who is looking for an equal to stand by his side and be his queen. His boy toy David (Joe Fanelli) is too busy living in a world where he is the star of a musical, and Elvis is drawn instead to Romaine (Paula Galloway) because she is an intellectual who is strong in spirit as well as a born leader. As the other vampires in his lair are plotting his downfall, he tries to make her see the benefits of being a vampire - and that two queens are better than one! (Moments like that in the play are so much fun).

There are fabulous moments of his hypnotizing her with sound effects, and a goth coffee barrista (Eric C. Bailey) who is under cover to undo the undead. It's a delightfully campy ride all the way from beginning to end. What steals the show for me, entirely, is Shawn McLaughlin. I saw him previously in Pflaster's Ore, or Or, and it is clear to me that no matter what type of play he is doing, be it a concerned gay roommate or the delightfully gay and diabolical Vampire, he has a quality that allows him to use his humor and way with the text to have fun on stage with his fellow characters and the audience. I look forward to seeing more of his work, in other kinds of pieces. I applaud Pflaster for directing in a way that allowed the actors to have so much fun on stage that the audience could do nothing but go along for the ride and enjoy themselves as well. Though not profound like Pflaster's other piece that I've mentioned several times now, it wasn't supposed to be. Sometimes it's great to just be prolific and allow the audience to eat it up like that great dessert you put off because of the calories but you finally give in and are so happy you did.

Went to ladypeculiar's birthday shindig last night, at Poco, a nice tapas bar down in the village (Avenue B). Awesome foodz- I had their crispy pork, which was in a sauce with mandarin oranges, and their sliders, which included ham and stuff. Yummy. Plus, there was a Tommy Bahama promotion, so we all got a free drink, as long as it included rum.
Had a nice time. Met ladypeculiar's friend Victor, who was to have auditioned for Ore, or Or, but who got sick and wasn't able to make auditions.
Left my debit card there. Err. I called to check, and they do have it. Going to pick it up before I go to rehearsal tonight.

Stopped off at Tony's for some wine on the way home- he texted as I was leaving the party. Ended up crashing on their couch.

I Hate Love rehearsal tonight was to have been on Kyle's roof again, but since it looks like rain, one of our castmates got us the 4th floor banquet room at Sardi's. ???
I guess he works there. Bringing my camera.

Making plans for Empress of Sex reading on the 27th. It'll have to be at Elana's- I don't think we'll be able to fit 14 cast members plus regular group folks anywhere else- and even then people will be sitting on the floor. Must finish script.

Have come to the startling realization that The Empress of Sex is not as much a salute to Marivaux as I intended, and is more the plot of a comic operetta. ...a genre in which I've always wanted to write, but never did. Till now. By accident.
I wrote in 14 speaking roles plus a chorus. Of course it's an operetta.
Just need to write the denouement, and I'm done with the shitty first draft.
Probably doing a reading with playwriting group at the end of July.
Now I have to decide if I should add music and turn it into a Gilbert & Sullivan with sex.

Speaking of which, when I saw him at Pride, Jim Allen suggested turning Suckers into a musical- he said it totally sang to him- Jeff's "Come lie down with me" song, the La Cage Aux Folles-style opening number at Le Bras et La Jambe, and of course the Elvis-Romaine tango. Hmmm. Most members of the cast I have do sing... An entertaining idea, but then vampire musicals don't work.

Yesterday went to see Alberto's Maria, an adaptation of Medea, setting it in the modern New York theatre scene, with the lead being an actress playing Medea on Broadway, whose director/boyfriend recasts a TV star in the lead on press night. Some really great stuff. An interesting working environment, sponsored by Resonance Ensemble- Alberto had written 4 scenes 2 weeks ago, and finished the play with the help of the cast over the past week.
Knew a bunch of people in the audience, Elana, Felipe, Jason Wynn. Elana and I discovered that Alberto's wife is the lovely and awesome blonde who we saw in The Cherry Orchard with Resonance. Also said hi to Ryan, who was in the reading, and in 23 Knives, and who I met the other night with the playwright of that.

Got an e-mail from the PR guy for Benny, the latest version of We Call Her Benny. Of course they want me to review it again, since I thought both versions of it I reviewed were awesome. Had to let them down easy, since I'm doing shows in the MITF myself, and directed them in dry_2olives' direction.

And speaking of the MITF, yeah, I was going to see Bartholomew Fair, NJ anyway, but thanks to Facebook, now I'm definitely going:

The hottie takes his shirt off in the show. Good lord, are they trying to kill me?

Speaking of Facebook- Jeremy just added me on there. Blast from the past.
And it's my 2nd girlfriend Katie's birthday today.

Alan, who played Rich in Suckers, has been working on a piece called Silent Night, about the Christmas Truce. The playwright's been working with actors improvising to develop the script. He's been excited about it for months. Now, under the new title In Fields Where They Lay (better, I think), it's having some readings later this month. I'll be going on July 15th.

July 16th I'm part of Drunken! Careening! Writers! Still don't know what I'll be reading for that. I have 10-12 minutes.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Having discovered I can read the minds of animals, I've started a new sideline as a ghostwriter. Here's an excerpt from an interview I did with Prestige, a potbellied pig born under the sign of Gemini.
Brezsny: What do you like best about being a potbellied pig?
Prestige: I'm greedy but cute. I get to eat like a pig, yet not be victimized by the negative judgments people usually project onto pigs.
Brezsny: Is there anything you're worried about?
Prestige: I need to make my caretaker understand that for the next few weeks we Geminis will need more than the usual amounts of food, love, presents, praise, attention, everything.
Brezsny: Anything you'd like to say to my Gemini readers?
Prestige: Don't let anybody make you feel guilty for wanting what you want.

Happy birthday catseurat and vfc!

Oh man, awesome last show last night. Full houses make me happy. Standing Room Only is weird, but even better.
Drinks after. So many drinks. Pictures to come.

Off to pass out I Hate Love swag at Pride, then move my furniture out of the theater, then I Hate Love BBQ, then if I'm not dead, the MITF party.

My new camera is here!

"I Wanna Be Where You Are"

Was watching an old American Theater Wing podcast from 1995, in which Jeff Calhoun (then working on the ill-fated Busker Alley), said he became interested in the project because he'd wanted to do a stage version of Mary Poppins starring Tommy Tune and Cyndi Lauper. He brought the idea to the Sherman brothers, who said, "fuck no, but we have this other script...", and so he did Busker Alley instead, after he showed it to Tommy Tune, who said, "I'm starring, right?".

Annoying thing: I'm on Glory's e-mail list and the Facebook pages for Planet Connections AND Planet Connections 2009. So every time someone gets a review, I get the e-mail 3 times. I'll see if this is still annoying if anyone ever actually posts a review of my show.

Our Country has been getting great reviews- Martin Denton practically jizzed all over it, and since they only had 4 performances, I made sure to actually buy a ticket for tomorrow's show, to be sure I get in.

Have decided to skip America: A Problem Play, and just nap instead.

All the promo photos from Ore, or Or here.

Christine is looking for short plays about Golf- I already suggested David Ives' Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue. Any other suggestions?

Nicholas' production of Little Murders will now be going up January 2010. I'll be playing The Judge. Huzzah for acting!

Ordered my replacement camera. It may arrive by tomorrow! Would love to have it for our cast party.

I'm going to be doing Kathleen's Drunken! Careening! Writers! July 16th. I have 10-12 minutes to present whatever I'd like. Most people will be reading, but Kathleen said I could bring in actors if I wanted. But what to do? A 10-minute play? A selection from a longer work of mine? I don't know.

I'm supposed to go out to John Trigonis' reading of his new screenplay on Saturday, but it's the only time I can see New Beulah in the Festivity (which I hear is good, and hottie Nathaniel from that show came to see both of mine).

Sunday the cast of I Hate Love will be passing out postcards and buttons at the Gay Pride Parade. Then we're having a BBQ at a park uptown somewhere. Then it seems people are still going to the MITF opening night party (it turns out it's only $10 for MITF members). I might go to that. Might not get to Marie's Crisis this year, and certainly not going to Cowgirl.


Yesterday's Suckers show was sparsely attended - about 12 people, including Jonathan, Orion, Calvin, Antonio, J. Stephen & his partner, and a few others. As a result, the show was a bit sloppy and low-energy at first, but the cast rallied, and the audience was with them by the end. Some very respectable laughs for such a small house.
Jonathan (who'd changed his travel plans to come to my show) really liked it a lot, and was surprised by all the references to things that a young man like me might not know (he even recognized the Rocky & Bullwinkle reference, which I admittedly put in as a shout-out to On the Verge anyway).
Think Saturday's performance may sell out- get your tickets now!

After that went to The Workshop Theater to see From Russia With Angst, which Carrie had organized. 5 of The Workshop's resident playwrights adapted some of Chekhov's short stories for the stage. I found them hit-and-miss, mostly miss. I liked the one Carrie was in, called Joy, based on Joy, which was rather brilliantly adapted into being about a daughter showing up on YouTube.
I especially liked the final piece of the evening, Misery, Apathy & Despair, based on An Artist's Story, which was a hilarious piece of meta-Chekhov, poking fun at the tropes- three of the characters were completely in-genre, while the 4th had a more modern perspective. Was especially impressed by actress Sutton Crawford, who was in both pieces.
Some very impressive projections that subtly introduced each playlet.

Show ran longer than I expected, so I didn't get to Hold for the Laughs after all.

Gonna try to see America: A Problem Play in the Festivity before our 6:00 show.

Great show last night- surprisingly large audience for a 4pm Tuesday show- we were about half-full. Patricia, Paul, Elana, Katie, Arol & his wife, and some folks from HipObscurity (a company to whom I've submitted plays- they apparently really like my work, the woman who sought me out afterward said my plays are "deliciously twisted"), and even more people I didn't know.

Then Alan and I went to see Hound, in the festival, which was half amazing and half a big confusing mess.

Then we'd planned to see Jonathan Wallace's Layla and Harley, Best Friends Forever, but it was sold out with a 12-deep waiting list- Jonathan had put me on the list already, but Alan was shut out, so I sent him to see Wrestling the Alligator, where he reportedly ran into oldsilenus and enjoyed the play very much.
Layla and Harley, Best Friends Forever was really very cool. I'd seen a scene from it in the WED 10-minute play festival, as I suspected. The all-female cast was made up of the Interns for the festival, and they were hilarious.

After shows, met back up with Alan, and we went drinking till the wee hours. He insisted on many shots of John Powers Irish Whiskey, so that later he could say to me, "IF ONLY I HADN'T GIVEN YOU THE POWERS!!!"*, a pun coup he has apparently been planning for some time. I lurve him.
Am now very hungover.

Suckers performance today at 4:30, then I'm going to Workshop Theater to see From Russia With Angst, their collection of Chekhov short stories adapted for the stage.

* A line from Suckers.

Fight Girl Battle World is coming back for a few performances next month! So inspiring, the show.

The quote from BroadwayWorld in the trailer is from my review.



New production has Jason Liebman in it.

Submitted a few short plays to Emerging Artists Theatre for their EATfest. I know enough people in the company by now, people are asking if I'm in it. They might as well do some of my plays. Deadline is July 1st, so I made it just under the wire.

Submitted to 4thMeal's latest collection of 10-minute play fundraiser insanity. Didn't get accepted. Whatev's.

When I was waiting to be blocked into the final scene of I Hate Love this last weekend (in which I'm only the last page or so), I busted out the laptop and wrote more of The Empress of Sex. I feel like such a dilettante when I do that, bouncing from play to play- I have 5 or 6 plays-in-process, and rarely focus on one for more than a day or two at a time. I guess if they all get done eventually, that's fine, but still. It does lead to interesting resonances between plays- e.g. the Pope jokes in Ore, or Or and Suckers.
Last night I was reminded that I do want to get going on It's a Wonderful Aborted Fetus, so I can send it to the Bad Musicals Festival (part of the Cringe Fest) for next year.

Oh yes, and ( David Hernandez in a kilt: )

Nice Suckers performance last night. House a little more than half-full, but full of great people: planga, oldsilenus, Arienne, Erinn, Susan Barnes Walker, Maitely,and a few other people I didn't know.

Susan said that Katherine was great, and should play April in Savage in Limbo. I pointed out that Savage in Limbo was a bit of an influence on the play (not as much as Rocky Horror, of course); the silent bartender who just brings up drinks out of nowhere, a mostly-abandoned bar... We were both amazed that she'd made that connection that Raquel=April and Harry=Murk. Very funny.
She also said I should look up John Patrick Shanley on Facebook and invite him to the play.

A bunch of us went out to eat at Dojo afterward, which was a delight. Alan's friend Jonathan (who had been laughing heartily throughout the show) came with us, and he and I three times made the same joke in unison. He clearly needs to be in one of my plays- I've put him on my casting e-mail list.


This morning I have a subletter coming to look at the apartment for to live in Amanda's room. Then I'm getting some coffee.


Suckers show today at 4, then tomorrow at 4:30. A number of people seem to be interested in coming to those performances - who knows, we may have good houses at those weird times.


Why do I know the name "Jarred Aldi"? He added me on Facebook, and I don't know why I know him. He's an actor. ?

After shows yesterday, met up with Tony, his Padawan Kevin, and Tony's understudy Dan at Don't Tell Mama's. It was an okay time, though the crowd for the piano bar were loud and annoying, to the point that one of the singing bartenders refused to continue with "Being Alive". Dan (who is going on the ITH tour as Kevin) sang "Inutil".
Sat next to a mother-and-daughter team who are writing "the next big smash broadway musical" about Anna Nicole Smith.
After a bit, the loudness got to Tony, so we wandered over to the lounge section of the building.

When I went home, was lucky enough to get right on a subway train pulling in at 49th st ...which promptly went to 57th st, and informed everyone that sorry, but we had to get off the train, go DOWN to 42nd Street, take the 7 instead, then switch to another train at Queensboro Plaza (they said it was a problem with the air conditioning- more likely it was just Sunday night). ARGH

On the 7, saw a flash of red hair in the next car, and realized it was Katherine Harte and her husband. Hopped over to their car and said hi, and we chatted all the way home (they live off the same stop as jayspec, mollyx, and Eric). It was their anniversary, so they were drunk and happy. Didn't realize she'd just been in a play by James Armstrong which I'd had to miss (playing Delia Bacon). Nathan had his hair cut short and looked hawt.

Looking forward to Suckers performance tonight! Was going to go see shows beforehand, but was too sleepy.
Made new blood capsules for the show. Discovered that I'd made a mistake with my first batch- I thought that they had to be made more than 2 days in advance... When actually they should only be made UP TO 2 days before. So the ones we'd had before were strange and melty. Still worked fine, though.

In the Heights is creating a scholarship, inspired by Nina's story in the play. Graduate to New Heights (or Graduate Tone Wheights)

Today is the reading of The 40-Foot-Jesus Statue and Hate Myself in the Morning. Excited and nervous.

Last night's performance of Suckers went well; it was a quieter audience than our opening night, but people still seemed to enjoy it. Still some crazy thumping above us.
Glory, Ramona, Amber, blackattire, and a bunch of other folks were there.

Was going to try to see some other festival shows afterward, but my arm was twisted, and I went with mollyx, Katherine, Rebecca, Jared and Alan out for drinks and dinner instead. We went to that neat, sort-of open-air place on E 4th St.
We were sitting by a large open window, and this sort of swarthy-hot guy came by and stuck his head in, then walked away, then came back and asked us how to get in. We pointed him to the door. He walked by our table, and Rebecca made jokes about getting him to come over to our table, and then HE DID. His name was Lev, he was from Israel, and was supposed to be meeting a friend for a party, but she hadn't arrived, and he asked if he could sit with us. He was very impressed to meet real New York Actors.
Food was yummy, I got an avocado black bean salad, but next time I'm there I'm getting the fried calamari salad that Katherine got. Mmmm.
Alan's girlfriend came by for part of it. She approves of Alan and Jared's bromance.

And then to Marie's Crisis for a bit, with Alan, Katherine, and mollyx. Fun, but place was very crowded and hard to deal with, so we didn't stay too long.

So first performance of Suckers was very good, aside from some major sound bleed from a studio above us, where people were doing some form of martial art, which sounded and felt like elephants dancing above. But the audience was responsive and enjoyed the show.
In the house was nswakko15 (who also brought me birthday scotch!), Frank Calo, Jim Allen & Evey, a guy named Isaac who knows Alan and who I met at one of Glory's parties ages ago but didn't remember, Katherine's boyfriend, Jared's sister, and many more. The house was a little more than half full.

Party afterward was fun, we had wine and cake and cheese and good times.
Colleen bumped into me and I dropped my camera, which now seems not to be working. Booo. It tries to turn on and extend the lens, then it just goes back in, and it says "lens error" on the screen, then it shuts off again.
Afterward we went out to some place nearby that Shawn knew which had $4 drinks. YES. I had some Blue Hawaiians.

Very excited about tonight's reading of Sleeping in Tomorrow at Maitely's place. Can't wait to hear Sam play Jeremy.


Have been thinking lately about the Madonna/Whore complex- it shows up in my work a lot. I've been reading the blog Real Adult Sex lately, too, and one of his recurring points is that women are the "no-sex class", meaning that respectable desirable women are expected by society to not like and enjoy sex. If they do, then they're whores, which is a turnoff. So the ultimate expression of the male idea of sex between a man and a woman is tantamount to rape, since therefore men want to have sex with women who don't want sex.
AND I too am a man, and just had the epiphany that the same warped idea might be part of my (and possibly other Gay mens') fascination with straight men*. It's not just the idea of the unattainable, it's that men who like and enjoy Gay sex are by societal norms less attractive then men who don't. The willing are not interesting. This is fucked up.
AND taking into account the classic Freudian idea that homosexuals are formed by families with domineering mothers and withholding fathers, then Gay men looking for men like their dads (as many do- we're all looking in a way for the comforts of the home we grew up in) might be more attracted to men who won't give them what they want.
Provocative ideas that I must consider further.

* and maybe straight men with lesbians - the ultimate "can't have it".

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The books of psychologist Carl Jung provide crucial insights into the nature of the unconscious mind. To the degree that I have any skill in deciphering the part of human intelligence that works in mysterious, secretive ways, I owe a great debt to him. I want to tell you an anecdote about him that may be useful. Once, as an adult, Jung took a break from work to go strolling on a beach. While meandering, he was overcome with a spontaneous impulse to build things as he did when he was a kid. He gathered some stones and sticks and used them to construct a miniature scene, including a church. As he finished, he was visited by a flood of novel intuitions about his life. He concluded that his childlike play had called forth these revelations from his unconscious mind. I suggest you try a similar tack, Gemini: To access important information that your deep mind has been sequestering, go play a while.

Oh my squee, Suckers opens tonight!!!

Party at Marie's last night was FUUUUUUUUUUN. Thanks to everyone who made it out! There's fotos on phacebook, and they'll be up on phlickr soon, too.

Dude. Tony was amazing last night in In The Heights.
There was a lot of the cast out, the show almost didn't go on- the Vanessa had never rehearsed the role officially before, had only been hired a week ago. And Tony was going on as Kevin. So there was tons of happy nervous energy. Place was packed, show was great. Some things were a little different- still wept, but in different spots.
Andréa Burns had an entirely different, somewhat laconic energy and still nailed every joke.
Ran into Peter as I was waiting to get in with my SRO ticket, and Peter pulled some strings and got us into Row J. Holy crap, was that amazing.
Went out for drinx at DTM Lounge afterward with Tony, Peter, and some friends who had all come to see him (and some of the cast). Had some Rob Roys.
Passed out a couple of postcards. One of Tony's friends said, "Ew, it's a TICK!"

Before that, Ken's birthday party at "Brass Monkey", which is on Little West 12th Street, nearly on the West Side Highway. Fun times.

Before that, dress rehearsal for Suckers. Awesome, though some folks are a little iffy on their lines still.


Before that, Jason took promo photos for Suckers. They're amazing, of course.
All Jason's Suckers Photos can be found here.

Tech today, then I can go home and die and then go out to Marie's for my birthday. Called movers who helped me move to help me move the counter for the show. He's only charging $50, since it's just one piece. BAM.