february roundup
laundry is out. ina garten is in....
dear readers!
we’ve been blessed with another 50 degree day in new york, and it’s doing wonders for the community. I live in what’s known as a “railroad apartment,” which I’ve learned is a nicer way to say “mostly windowless,” so getting to spend some time outside without freezing my extremities off has been huuuuge for me.
first, I have to start by shouting out two incredible organizations, ghostlight theatre company and off the lane’s collab program, both of which produced my show the laundry play this month. with ghostlight, I got to see a full production during a 2-show run at the tank, and collab hosted a dynamic and engaging staged reading (for example, audience members were given mini bubble wands upon entering and told to blow bubbles at the actors every time something came up they should talk about in therapy. I would like every staged reading to have bubbles from now on)…
I am so grateful to the ghostlight crew: keely hagerty (producer), maddie heeney (director), lilliana patracuolla (SM), and justin borak & malin glade (actors). to be able to discover new things about this piece after setting it aside for two years (!!) was magical. and to see my pipe dream of having a REAL WASHER AND DRYER ONSTAGE was. so cool. like I’m still not over that.
and same the off the lane team: sophie brubaker (producer), rachel sabo-hedges (director), and jared kirsch & giuliana augello (actors).
I can’t believe these two events were last month because they personally feel like a million years ago!! haha!!!!!! if you’re interested in learning more about the laundry play, feel free to check it out on new play exchange :)
one last piece of good news to share: insertion is being produced by stagefemmes, a student theater group at my alma mater kenyon college. this is so crazy and special!! the first draft of this play was written in my college playwriting class, so the script is quite literally coming home. I spent an ungodly amount of hours in the black box on campus where they’re performing the show, so I hope the blood, sweat, and tears I left in that building provide stagefemmes with good vibes!!
and with all that lovely news comes the other stuff too. I don’t know if anyone else is feeling this but february was also the month that most of the submission opportunities I applied for six month ago have reappeared and popped rejection letters into my inbox. it’s gotten me thinking about how, as emerging playwrights, it’s become a privilege to even develop your work alongside other people, let alone perform it. so I’m trying something new – I’ve put the current draft of my play cooking in the hamptons on NPX even though I don’t consider it “finished.” like, it says “end of play” at the end but it’s by no means a final draft. in the spirit of embracing imperfection and making the writing process less isolating, I’m putting this script out there in the hopes that I can find collaborators who are interested in the story. (could this be you? does a play about ED recovery and food network stars sound intriguing to you? do you have the capacity to coordinate an informal table read with actors? let a girl know!!)
I also am back on my pinterest game and made a board for cooking in the hamptons (example pin above). I used to think these were silly but now I kind of vibe with it. I think it’s because there’s so much pressure now to be able to clearly articulate that WHAT and WHY of your play/your art/yourself, and the images help me visualize that intangible essence of a play.
and, as has been the case for a while now, the great joy of my month was 1319 Press. our catalogue jumped to 15 books this month (!!!!!!!!!) and i’m so proud of all of the writers. we also announced our first acquisition post-inaugural cohort!
thanks for reading along, as always! nothing like shouting into the void on a tuesday afternoon.
enjoy the sunshine today!
x sarah