Fresh Ground Pepper

FGP-2016-playground-banner_email1I’m thrilled that Julia and I have been selected for Fresh Ground Pepper‘s 2016 Playground Playgroup. As FGP says:

The PlayGround PlayGroup is a year-long, collaborative workshop culminating in the PlayGround Festival, realizing Fresh Ground Pepper’s mission to prompt and provoke the artist to make art. It is a place where writers and creators of varying mediums convene to convert their pages, projects, and ideas into fresh new works.

We’re excited to be writing and working alongside old and new friends – and especially excited that it means we finally get to start work on the show I’ve been waiting seventeen years to write…

kerri-strug-vault-oThe Magnificent Seven will tell the story of the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team and their road to winning the gold medal. Seven girls – Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, and Kerri Strug – were on their home turf in Atlanta and caught the imagination of the world in the first truly post-Cold War games. It resulted in one of the most iconic Olympic images: Kerri Strug’s final vault, landed on an injured ankle, that clinched the gold medal.

Check back for updates, and be on the lookout for a December presentation of work from the show!

 

A little preview…

REB+VoDKA+ME logoOn May 20, we’ll have our first public sharing of material from REB + VoDKa + ME as part of The Civilians’ R&D Group Findings Series. More information will be coming soon!

For now, though, we’ve been recording some rough demos as we’ve been writing. Give the first five tracks a listen on Soundcloud!

Check back here in a few weeks for more information about the sharing…

Let Me Ascertain You: Flops, Failures & Fiascos

12633536_10153856599468389_4321566438178432276_oJulia and I have contributed a song to the next installment of The Civilians’ Let Me Ascertain You on Tuesday, February 23 at 9:30pm at the Metropolitan Room. LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: Flops, Failures, and Fiascos is a night of new music and true stories that celebrate artistic and relationship disasters as told by those who have survived the shame, horror, and glory of failing big. The evening is being directed by our fellow R&Ders Colette Robert and Sanaz Ghajar, with material by friends like Eric March and Sam Chanse. The ever-glorious Ally Bonino is singing our song about being lost and found (and nuns and boats.)

Find out more and get your tickets here!

Good times at Goodspeed

I’m feeling very lucky to be spending the week at Goodspeed in the Johnny Mercer Writing Colony working on REB + VoDKa + ME with Julia! It’s a cold and snowy week in East Haddam, CT – just the kind you want to spend bundled up and writing.

We’re halfway through the week and we’ve been productive so far – writing and researching and planning and scheming… There are six other wonderful writers/teams up here with us this week, and we’ve had the pleasure of hearing their work at our nightly sharing sessions. During the day, I’ve taken breaks by raiding the amazing Goodspeed library for rare cast recordings and demos. And the whole time I’ve been nostalgic for my old NYU classmates, remembering the week we spent here almost exactly nine years ago!

Thanks to Colony dramaturg Michael Bush, Mercer Foundation VP Jonathan Brielle, and Colony coordinators Hunter Bird and Max Schwager.

All in all, it’s been a fruitful week in a beautiful place – what could be better?

The Goodspeed Opera House.
The Goodspeed Opera House.
Our cozy housing.
Our cozy housing.
The famous East Haddam Swing Bridge, the longest truss bridge in the world, over the Connecticut River.
The famous East Haddam Swing Bridge, the longest truss bridge in the world, over the Connecticut River.