"Dig" Has Found a Home

The truth can now be told.

As noted here, "Dig" will be presented as half of a CurvingRoad program entitled "The Next Curve: Two One-Act Plays" from June 8 to June 23 at The Old Red Lion Theatre in London, which is well known and highly regarded as both a performance venue and a place to raise a pint. In fact, productions at The Old Red Lion Theatre are reviewed in publications such as Time Out London and The Guardian.

As noted in the post immediately below, there will be a fundraiser for the event on Thursday, March 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the 1901 Arts Club. Scottish playwright Michael Hart and I will be preparing statements to read at the fundraiser.

If you don't happen to find yourself in London on that point (or even if you do and can't attend), you can also make a tax-deductible donation through the very convenient PayPal button found on this page. Any amount is welcome in these trying times.

Fundraising is something at which I don't have a great deal of experience, but CurvingRoad co-director Sue Guiney tells me that this is something done by everyone in theater who is any kind of player, and now I apparently am one.

I'm always the last to know.

Dig: Workshop and Fundraiser

The development of my one-act play "Dig" continues. I have completed one round of revisions that have clearly improved the script. It's always a treat when people ask you to add rather than take away.

On Thursday, February 10 CurvingRoad director Ellie Joseph will put the new version through its paces at a workshop reading to see what further changes are needed. Bit by bit the play will reach its final form. Since I have never taken a class in dramatic writing, I am getting a valuable education in how theater is done.

In case you find yourself in or near London shortly, I should also note that CurvingRoad will have a fundraiser for "Dig" and "No More, Salvator" by Scottish playwright Michael Hart on Thursday, March 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the 1901 Arts Club, located at 7 Exton Street, London SE1 8UE. Directions, including Tube and bus route information, can be found here.

I don't anticipate being able to make the event myself, but I may prepare a statement or place a trans-Atlantic call during the event.

The reality is setting in.

Round-Up

These posts usually mention only one topic at a time, but a lot of news has come in over the past few days.

This post therefore lists several items in a round-up, not to be confused with one of the brand names of the herbicide glyphosate, which looms large in controversies surrounding genetically modified organisms in agriculture.

This round-up should engender less controversy, but perhaps a certain amount of interest.
To wit:

1. Literary agent Robin Mizell interviewed me last Friday on her blog Treated & Released. She graciously gave me a considerable amount of valuable online real estate to discuss The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo as well as work that is very much not for children.

2. My poem "Dachshunds of Buenos Aires" appears in Issue 55 of legendary literary magazine Gargoyle. After many years of trying, I have managed to place a poem there. Still, I have to live the rest of my life knowing that I may never come up with a better title for a poem.

3. My poem "Lullaby for the Bereaved" appears in the Winter Issue of Able Muse. Come for my poem, and stay for work by many fine poets as well as a tribute to the late Turner Cassity.

4. I have begun discussing revisions of my one-act play "Dig" with members and affiliates of CurvingRoad in London as we begin the long journey toward a June engagement at a venue to be named nex month. I am a bit intimidated by the whole thing, but there is no choice but to press on and learn something.

5. I am even now starting preparations for next May's Book Expo America. The time for my signing has not yet been determined, but I have put in for a slot and will make the information known as soon as possible.

The last few days have also included rejections of both prose and poetry, including one of my two circulating book manuscripts, but those are much less enjoyable to discuss.