Announcing the 10 #PitchNPlay Finalists
After hundreds of pitches and thousands of votes we have our 10 finalists! They are:
We r the .01 percent of germs surviving the hand sanitizer. A timely microbial tale of love, occupy movements, and fear mongering. @Theatre_Teacher
The real Puck messes with hearts of teens during high school prod of A Midsummer Nights Dream. @rkmallister
Young girl wins a TV singing competition, but to launch her career, her agent says she'll need to create a tabloid scandal. @Theatreaneater
Sweethearts take Course of True Love: zen of snoring, white lies, multitasking, accept shortcomings Profs=historical figures @KennerLeslie
Man writes tweet-pitch that causes all who read to love him. When pitch is rejected, he pursues immune-to-the-charm Lit Director. @Droopy Riser
A journalist meets Hollywood's Eligible Bachelor at a press junket; he thinks hes found the One, she thinks she's found a story. @briannehogan
On the eve of their 1st anniversary, a married couple discovers their life is a sitcom, which has just been canceled. @Benzic
A play about a scientist who makes tween bands that are actually androids...until he falls in love with one of his products. @thespianhero
SOCK FIGHT: Neighbors nor police can stop verbal sparring when a couple argue over folding socks. "The Dozens" on a sugar rush. @thebluelines
Teen vampires infiltrate the jocks and cheerleaders' Spin the Bottle game. @malcoyote
Thank you again to everyone who voted, pitched, and tweeted. We hope that you found this project as fun and inspiring as we did. We're looking forward to announcing the winning pitches and opening the play submissions on Monday, March 5th.
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
5 Questions for Writer, Syl Jones
Syl Jones is the author of 60-plus plays, including Black No More, produced by the Guthrie Theater and Arena Stage and winner of the Kennedy Center Award for Best New Play of 1998. He is the only playwright to win the Mixed Blood Theater Versus America and the Penumbra Theater Cornerstone awards in the same year. He began his career as a journalist in Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 14. In 1980, his historic interview with physicist William B. Shockley appeared in Playboy and has since been anthologized in The Best of The Playboy Interviews, Vol. II. Mr. Jones writes an editorial column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and is the author of Rescuing Little Roundhead: A Childhood In Stories, published by Milkweed Editions in 1996. Playscripts, Inc. publishes two collections from Mixed Blood Theatre that contain Mr. Jones's plays Sacrament and Wooden You?.
What inspires you to write (plays)?
I believe that theater has the ability to enchant, to entertain and to teach audiences, and so I write because of the impact I think a good/great play can have on people. The world is starved for insight into the human condition. What we as playwright's do (without actually talking about it) is create situations that allow audiences to gain an understanding of what it means to be human. To me, the greatest drama and the greatest comedy have one thing in common: both show characters attempting to soar beyond the gravity that keeps us rooted to the earth. Whether they succeed or fail -- and how they do so -- determines the level of enjoyment an audience receives from a play. Finally, I write because I truly love it.
Who helped you along the way, as far as your playwriting career?
I learned to write plays by reading plays, especially Shakespeare, Shaw, Brecht, LeRoi Jones, Ed Bullins, and a host of others. I learned about theater as literature before I learned about it as a performance art. I started writing at the age of 14 and had a one-act play produced in high school. At the time, I set a broad goal for myself of writing plays as one form of communication that I would master. I never set out to be just a playwright. Life is too uncertain to set such narrow goals. Then, I had my first play produced professionally in 1972 and since then I've been writing plays for many different venues and audiences. I would not be honest if I ignore the fact that in my lifetime as a playwright I have received many grants, commissions, and awards that contributed to my financial success, which is no small thing in the realm of theater.
What play are you most proud of and why?
I would have to say Black No More which won the Kennedy Center New Play Award. It is an adaptation of an obscure novel but the comic twists and turns in that script were primarily my own and they really moved audiences. It is the play most people remember. But I am also proud of Kirby, Cincinnati Man and Shine! But I'm also working on two new scripts that may be the best I've ever done. We will see!
What advice would you give up and coming playwrights?
My advice is to write constantly and read, too. Storytelling is an art that can be mastered in the doing of it and not by thinking about it. Also, insist on finding a collaborator who is willing to work with you on producing your work. No one is successful alone. We all need partners who believe in us and are eager to help us.
Were you involved in theatre in high school or college?
Yes, I actually thought I was destined to be an actor. I had many great roles in high school and college. But I learned that despite being a reasonably good actor, I often came away from a show saying to myself, "I wish I had written that." When those feelings became strong enough, I began to write steadily and never stopped.
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
Playscripts #PitchNPlay Contest
New social technologies (Twitter in particular) are changing the way that writers, readers, and theatergoers promote, discuss, and debate new plays. But, could social innovations like Twitter also help to create new work? We think so! That's why we are inviting our Twitter followers to pitch us ideas for the next great Playscripts play. The first ever Playscripts Pitch 'N' Play playwriting contest gives you the chance to write a winning pitch, a winning play, or both!
The Basics: Today until February 21st we'll be collecting pitch ideas via Twitter that are inspired by this Shakespeare quote, "The course of true love never did run smooth."
The Rules: All pitches should be PG-13 or cleaner, comedic, have the potential for 8 or more characters, and have the ability to be performed between 20 - 40 minutes.
You don't need to directly reference all of the above criteria in your pitch, just don't pitch an idea that can't yield a play with those features (for example, a one woman reenactment of the movie Scarface.) You're free to make as many pitches as you want.
To be considered for the pitching portion of the contest, you must follow @Playscripts on Twitter and your pitch must include the hashtag #pitchnplay.
From the submitted tweets, Playscripts will choose 30 semi-finalists who will be narrowed down to 10 finalists by an online poll. From the 10 finalists, the Playscripts Literary team will select 3 Pitch 'N' Play winning pitches.
All interested playwrights will then have two months to write and submit a one-act play based on one of the 3 winning pitches. All play submissions should be sent via http://www.playscripts.com/submit and must include #pitchnplay in the Comments or Special Instructions field.
The Timeline:
February 14: Pitch 'N' Play begins with Twitter pitches.
February 21: Pitching closes at 12:00 AM.
February 22: 30 semi-finalists are announced via an online poll and voting begins.
February 28: Online voting ends at 12:00 AM.
February 29: 10 finalists are announced.
March 5: The three winning pitches are announced and submissions for the play portion officially open.
May 5: Play submissions are closed.
June 5: The winning play is announced!
The Reward:
The three winning pitches will be contacted via direct message on Twitter and receive a $100 reward.
The winning playwright will receive a $1,000 advance, and his or her play will be published.
At Playscripts, we're always looking for ways to engage more directly with our playwrights and customers, and to use available technology to expand the possibilities for the creation and distribution of new work. We can't wait to start reading your pitches! Submissions are now open.
Any additional inquiries should be directed to the Playscripts Twitter handle: @playscripts
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
Playwright Spotlight: Tim Kochenderfer
The very funny Tim Kochenderfer is a playwright, comedy writer, and television producer. His plays have been performed across the United States and around the world. A graduate of Michigan State University, Mr. Kochenderfer's work is featured in The Best Stage Scenes of 2006 (Smith & Kraus), Cracked Magazine, various newspapers, and he is a producer for WXYZ, the ABC affiliate in Detroit.
How did you start writing?
I guess you could say I started writing write from the womb. I remember right after delivery I motioned to the nurses for a pen and a pad of paper. “B+ doctor,” I scribbled. “That was a good delivery, but it needs improvement.” He immediately grabbed me, flipped me upside down and smacked me right across the butt. I was terrified to write from that moment on, or provide constructive criticism for that matter.
Eventually I conquered my fears and by age 18 I had mastered most of the alphabet. By college I could brag that I knew well over 100 words. I began writing skits in high school and videotaping them with a group of friends. Because I only had 90% of the alphabet mastered, some of the words didn’t make any sense but people got the point.
In college I had a creative writing assignment to write a story based off of the following line, “My uncle drinks like a fish….” I carried on with, “over time I noticed my uncle also eats like a fish. Eventually I noticed other things, like flippers, gills and a tail. Finally, I realized my uncle was a fish.” This would eventually become my play, The Fish Story, A Young Man’s Search For The Truth published by Playscripts, Inc.. I also wrote my first play, Canned Hamlet in college, a spoof of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (title inspired by David Letterman and canned meats.)
What inspires you to write?
The fact that I don’t always like what I read. Like Shakespeare for example. That guy thinks he’s so great. Well if he’s so great, he would have noticed his glaring lack of vampires and mob bosses in Romeo & Juliet. I took the liberty of adding them in my play Romeo, You Idiot. Also, killing off the main characters? Please. I had them escape that fate and then I killed everybody in the play. And Macbeth? Didn’t Shakespeare realize this play would have been better set in a Southern American fast food chain. That’s what I did in my play, Old Macbeth had a Farm. And Othello should have been set in a boy band, that’s all I’m saying. I’m sure he’d give the lame excuse that no such organization existed at the time of his writing. Whatever.
Did you write or act in plays in high school?
I had a creative writing class in which the assignment was to write a series of comedy skits. This was in the mid-90’s, a time in which if you wanted something printed you had to wait 3-10 days next to an excruciatingly loud dot-matrix printer. Valuing my time and hearing, I hand wrote my book of sketches. My assignment was marked down to a B for penmanship! What does penmanship have to do with creative writing?! I wrote my teacher a terse letter complaining about the injustice, but she couldn’t read it.
I also acted in a play in which I played Gepetto. For some reason, my character was forced to wear tights. This traumatized me, although I would have to say that it made my legs look sleek.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten in regards to your writing?
Don’t write while running away from an angry grizzly bear. ONLY focus on escaping from the bear. I mean this literally. There is no deeper meaning to it.
The other best piece of advice I’ve gotten was that the next line, the rest of the story, the answer to your problem is out there, you just have to devote the time and energy to find it.
What advice would you give high school students in one of your plays?
My first piece of advice has to do with comedic acting. My personal theory is that comedy is most effective when acted as a drama. Many directors may disagree with me about this, but comedy is a balance of realism and exaggeration. I would argue the more exaggerated the script, the more realism you add to the acting, the more hilarious it is. Consider the movie Airplane. Leslie Nielson is the perfect comedic actor in this film. When someone says to him, “Surely you can’t be serious?” He responds, “I am serious, and stop calling me Shirley!” He delivers that line with offense and anger, as one would in a drama, and it is hilarious because you believe he actually believes he’s being called ‘Shirley.’ Consider too, how ineffective this line would have been if he would have goofily replied, “Stop calling me Shirley.”
I would also advise to really think and pay attention to the lines you’re delivering and how you’re delivering them. Sure you need to project and you want inflection, but don’t let that get in the way of believability.
Are you working on anything now?
I just finished a very short play titled If Bob Cratchit Was A Kiss-Up. It’s a quick retelling of how A Christmas Carol would have been dramatically different if Bob Cratchit was a sycophant.
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
44 Plays for 44 Presidents Aiming to Break a World Record
The secret service called Sean Daniels and told him that former President Jimmy Carter was attending our play. He was to tell no one. So he didn’t.
Except he called me, Genevra, Chloe, Sean and Karen and told us that the play we co-wrote, 43 Plays for 43 Presidents, would be attended by an actual president. Tomorrow.
The production was in Atlanta, at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company. We were in Chicago, making theatre with The Neo-Futurists. None of us could afford to buy last-minute plane tickets.
So we missed when a cast member asked, sarcastically, “Who here knows ANYTHING about Benjamin Harrison?” Carter was the only one to raise his hand. “That’s not fair,” the cast member shot back. “It’s like you’re his cousin.”
We missed the Atlanta audience giving Jimmy a standing ovation after his play and we missed him laughing…hard…during the Reagan play.
Ten years after Jimmy Carter attended our show at Dad’s Garage, something even bigger is happening with (the now re-titled) 44 Plays for 44 Presidents.
This time I won’t miss it. In fact, I engineered it—with a lot of help from some awesome people. We’re attempting to inspire 44 separate productions of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents across the country to coincide with the election this fall. And if you want in, we’d love to have you!
In 2000, I had the idea to create 43 Plays for 43 Presidents. I gathered some talented writers, we met at my apartment and we wrote a Neo-Futurist show with a $400 prop budget that premiered above a funeral home in Chicago.
Jimmy Carter attends 43 Plays for 43 Presidents.
It sold out on opening night and never stopped. It was remounted by Dad’s; my boy Jimmy saw it; Playscripts rode in like Teddy Roosevelt charging San Juan Hill and published it…and then 30-something productions later it’s 2008 and the Actors Theate of Louisville is mounting a production complete with special effects and a large, replica Mount Rushmore.
I didn’t miss that show. The audience at Actors had the same level of excitement about our history, about a citizen’s responsibility as a voter, about the complicated gift that each election represents—that indescribable buzz that erupted into standing ovations most nights in Chicago…that’s when I knew that whatever this show had, it worked in high schools, colleges, and theaters of all sizes.
The election year added something extra: a broad view of history that felt like a respite from the temporary insanity of the political news cycle. It reminded people that we’ve been here before—like 60 times—and whatever it is…we’ve survived worse.
So then I thought, ‘why not spread this effect all over the country? Why not invite schools and theater companies of all sizes to participate in a good kind of political madness?’
It’s been the most grass-roots effort I’ve ever participated in. We’re closing in on 20 productions now (although I can only go public with 11 at the moment.) If 23 productions happen on the same day, we’ll set a record. (http://playsforpresidents.com/44-plays-for-44-presidents-on-track-to-set-a-world-record/)
The coolest part: we’re having each producer make a video of part of their show, and then we’ll string all those parts together into an online, composite production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, which we’ll unveil on Election Day.
If you’re intrigued, shoot us an email: playsforpresidents@gmail.com.
Check out our website http://playsforpresidents.com/ and learn about what we’re doing. Or give us some leads! Honestly, the coolest part about this project has been getting to correspond with theatre people from all over the U.S. It’s such a close-knit, interconnected community. The effort itself has really been a gift.
--Andy Bayiates
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
Free and Almost Free Ways to Promote Your Production
When you’re busy producing a play the last thing you want to think about is filling seats. Whether you’re staging and elaborate Broadway musical or a bare bones middle school production, developing an audience should be a top priority.
Marketing your production begins before you start rehearsals. Online fundraising has become a way to build excitement and cultivate fans. Kickstarter is a relatively simple way to raise funds and build awareness. Kickstarter allows you to create traditional and not-so-traditional donor awards based on pledge level. Awards don’t need to have a high dollar value; they can be experiential. A donor that pledges $15 might receive one free ticket to opening night. A donor who pledges $250 might receive four front row seats to opening night, drinks and snacks backstage, and a photo shoot with the cast in costume. Another great feature is the ability to upload videos onto your page. Your videos can be sneak peeks of your set and costumes, an interview with cast members, or a 30 second commercial. (Remember to make sure to ask permission before you record any performances, rehearsals or readings.)
There are now great free resources to enhance your Facebook page with tabs. Involver has a suite of freebies that easily add coupons, photo galleries and PDF files to any Facebook page. Wildfire also has an application to add a free tab to your Facebook page. It’s a bit more complicated, but there's also more freedom to design your own tab. A few ideas on how to use your tabs: Offer your Facebook fans a 2 for 1 deal on slow selling show dates. Post backstage videos. Have your fans vote on an element of your production. (Remember to make every post count. The more people that comment and like a post, the more it will be seen.)
Find opportunities to send your cast out in costume. Parades, fairs and other large community events are ideal for finding new audience members. Make sure to have postcards, stickers or flyers to handout with the date prominently displayed. (I’ve forgotten to include the date before, and it was a costly mistake.) And don’t underestimate your community. Having people involved with the production going door-to-door to businesses is always a buzz booster.
Lastly, aim for earned media coverage with a press release and follow up pitch. Find a well-spoken person involved with the production to be your media representative. He or she will talk to reporters and write press releases. (My “media rep” was one of my best friends who studied PR in college.) Writing a press release doesn't take extraordinary skill, and there are hundreds of websites with great press release examples. The Publicity Insider has great tips for writing your release and pitching your story here. The best way to get media to cover your event is to find a newsworthy angle. Are there any unusual elements to my production? Do any of the cast members or production staff have an interesting story? Does the play you chose have significance? Find your angle and pitch it!
And always feel free to tweet us @playscripts with any questions.
--Lane Bernes, Playscripts, Inc. Marketing Director
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
Opening Night
I’ve worn a lot of theatrical hats over the years: actor, director, playwright, assistant to the assistant stage manager (I just wanted to go to the cast party), and one disastrous turn as prop designer. (Side note: I saw that car crash coming from miles away. Why didn’t anyone stop me from trying to build a phone instead of buying a phone?) But one thing stays the same: opening night is always a nerve-wracking, stomach-churning joy.
I say joy because I’ve been pretty lucky over the years. I’ve been involved in nearly a hundred opening nights now, and I don’t think I’ve ever had one be a complete disaster. Sure, there have been times when I’ve forgotten my lines as an actor, or we skipped five pages of the script on accident (which completely eliminated one person’s part – not fun!), or the bicycle we were supposed to ride zoomed off the stage and landed in the first row, but after every opening night, I still felt that mixture of relief and joy. I guess there’s a surge of dopamine in your brain that causes you to forget all the mistakes you’ve made, but overall, the worst case scenario never occurred.
As tough as it is to be an actor or the director, I think the playwright has it the worst. I recently attended the professional opening of my newest play, Current Economic Conditions, at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, and it was pretty great, (if I do say so myself), but it was also just like every other opening night: a smorgasbord of neuroses.
I say “professional” as if it makes a difference. It really doesn’t. I felt the same way I felt when I was opening a show at the middle school, or in college. It goes like this:
First, I try to sit next to people who don’t know I’m the playwright. I don’t sit with friends. I try not to acknowledge people who wave at me and say, “if the show sucks, I’m blaming you!” (They actually say this. They are trying to be funny, but they say this! I usually want to respond with, “If the audience sucks, I blame you!” but I hold my tongue.) Now, if you’ve read this blog before, you realize that I’m an egotistical schmuck, but before the opening, I want to be anonymous. This allows me to hear honest opinions from people sitting next to me, and to escape unnoticed in the event of disaster. Really, though, it’s an act of bravery. Your friends and family will always tell you they like it (unless they’re my Dad – thanks Dad!), but random strangers will let you know if the play is actually any good.
Maria Souza-Eglen and John Goodson in Current Economic Conditions.
I spend about ten minutes staring at the program. I don’t know why. I adjust my coat. I sit up unusually straight. My stomach creates an extraordinary amount of gurgling noises. Sometimes my head starts tingling – (I’m not sure if this like spiderman’s danger sense, or if I used the wrong shampoo, or it’s the feeling of my hair falling out – maybe all three.) At this point, I usually distract myself by counting audience members. I try to see if they’re already having a good time. I pray there’s a “big laugher” out there somewhere – (the “big laugher” is the second-best person you can have in the audience next to the rare and beautiful “weird laugher” who makes everyone else laugh because their laugh is strange).
The worst thing about being the playwright on opening night is that you have no control over anything that is about to happen. It’s like being strapped onto a rocket and told that it’s going to launch somewhere, but not being told where the actual destination is. At least as an actor, you can try to cover for someone if they forget their lines, or a director can give a pep talk at intermission, or the props guy can (well, okay, there’s nothing the props guy can do), but you have some tiny measure of influence over whether the night is a triumph or a disaster. As playwright, you just watch. And believe me, when an actor forgets his lines, and there’s a one minute pause on stage where nothing at all happens, the playwright suffers more than the actor. Mostly you think: Why didn’t I write a more memorable line!? What is wrong with me? Why am I so terrible!?
Anyway, the show begins and the actors can relax a bit while they perform. The playwright continues to suffer. It gets worse, because now, if I laugh at a particular joke and no one else does, I look like a total moron who laughs uproariously at their own jokes. On the other hand, if I don’t laugh, then I’m part of the reason the show is dying a slow death.
You would think the best part of the night is the applause at the end, but even then, there are things to be neurotic about. Is the audience clapping loudly enough? Are there enough people putting their hands over the heads and clapping? How many people are standing up? Why aren’t they standing up? Why is the reviewer leaving so quickly? Why can’t I stop worrying?
It’s like being Woody Allen for a night.
But then there’s joy. And relief. It’s over.
Until the second night.
--Don Zolidis
Visit Don's website: http://www.donzolidis.com/
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
5 Questions for Keen Teens 2012 Writer, Janine Nabers
Janine Nabers is one busy playwright. She is a member of The MCC Playwrights Coalition, Ars Nova Play Group and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group. Her most recent honors include a P73 fellowship, Sundance residency and being named a 2012 Keen Teens writer.
What are you up to right now, besides being a new 2012 Keen Teen Writer?
Well, I just started my fellowship program at Juilliard where I'm studying playwriting for two years (once a week) with Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman. Being in the room with them has been really amazing. In December I had a workshop of Welcome to Jesus that I'm currently re-writing. And I'm hoping to finish my commission for Playwrights Horizons this spring/summer. I'm also working on a couple of musicals with my wonderful composer/lyricist, Sharon Kenny. We're hoping to develop our musical, A Beautiful Something, this summer. We started working on it last summer at Williamstown, and it was the most amazing place. We work really well together. Sharon is just the best thing that's happened to me in a very long time.
What's the difference when you write adult characters vs. adolescent characters?
I just find young characters to be so much more free and dangerous. I love writing bold characters of all ages, but I have so much fun writing teenagers/20-year-olds. It's the only time I really feel funny. Teenagers are so complicated and unpredictable. They are so incredibly passionate about every single thing they do, and that is what makes me love writing them. I love examining the minds of teenagers and their relationship to each other/the world.
Who inspired you in high school?
I was a pretty eclectic kid. I was a track runner who wrote poetry and went to an all white private school, until I begged my parents to let me go to a predominately black public school... so I was inspired by a lot of random things: Alex Haley, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Tupac, My So Called Life. The weekends I spent with my family in Louisiana, my best friends, the WNBA, and old films. One of my favorite things in the world was watching really old films with my parents.
Do you have any tips for aspiring high school playwrights?
I think it's important to write from the heart and really let your emotions just live in what they are. Are you mad? Write about it. Are you in love with your friend? Write about it. I used to write my friends/boyfriends/parents letters when I was in high school/college, too shy, or scared, or goofy to say something to their face. I was far more eloquent in the letters/poems/plays I wrote than I was in person for a really long time. I honestly think writing those letters to whomever helped me find my voice. And it helped me be brave. I can honestly say that my plays today are very brave.
Just for fun, did you ever act in or write a play in high school?
I DID act in high school. I was a good actress, and left high school as the only actress in my class who got into acting school in New York. I didn't write my first play until I was 19. I occasionally wrote comedy sketches and short stories/poetry, but that was it. Looking back I would love to go back and write a play at 16. Oooof. That play would be cra-zy.
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
Geek Theater: Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company
On a chilly evening last November I found myself wandering through the empty, warehouse-lined streets of Bushwick. I was new to New York, and I had been told that Bushwick was a “hip” neighborhood in Brooklyn. But as the cold air nipped at my fingers and ballet-flat-clad toes, I began questioning my decision to come out at all. A friend of mine was sound designing a short play for Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company and I had promised I would attend, but I was skeptical as to what kind of art I’d find among the maze of warehouses. I was about to give up and head home, when I stumbled upon the address.
I entered the venue tentatively and was certainly surprised by what I found. The space was packed with buzzing people. I quickly staked out a spot by a wall (the seats were already filled) and went to retrieve my free beer. This was going to be good.
The show that I saw that night was part of Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company's ongoing Saturday Night Saloon series. The Saloon featured six serialized plays--a zombie western, a space epic, and a supernatural, "Upstairs, Downstairs" piece, to name a few. Each short play was highly stylized and combined different cinematic/comic-book genres with varied theatrical styles. The result was a highly original and entertaining show, akin to a live-action comic book or modernized old-timey radio show. The crowd of devoted fans, who would no doubt return for the subsequent installment, was raucous.
Vampire Cowboys started in 2000, as a collaboration between then grad students Qui Nguyen and Robert Ross Parker. Both Nguyen and Parker studied traditional theater, but the two bonded over their shared love of comic books, action movies, and pop culture. In a recent interview, Nguyen said, “We wanted to create the kind of theatre we always wanted to see – a kind of theatre that was both fun and philosophical, hysterical and emotionally engaging." Parker added, “I’m always interested in the combination of disparate elements, embracing both the high and low brow, the place where fart jokes and philosophy meet and have tea.”
Producing a successful and popular theatrical production is no easy feat, but for the Vampire Cowboys, it’s the norm. The innovative, "geek" theater company, won an OBIE award early in 2010, and they are also recipients of a Drama Desk award.
To my delight, Vampire Cowboy Trilogy by Nguyen and Parker, has recently become a Playscripts published play. The three part script perfectly embodies the winking tone and comic book aesthetic of the group that made them famous. In the first act of the play, a paranormal detective takes on the case of a mysterious stranger. In act 2, we are presented with cold-war era crime fighting duo Captain Justice and Liberty Lady, who must stop the communist super villain, Hooded Menace. Act 3 tells the story of your typical teenage warrior princess, battling the likes of alien cheerleaders, and of course, high school. Qui Nguyen talked about the experiences that inspired him to write Vampire Cowboy Trilogy:
"Growing up inArkansasin a fairly homogenous environment, my folks wanted me to have strong Asian role models. So instead of allowing me to watch things like Rambo, Mash, or shows that depicted Asians as bad guys, they fed me campy Kung Fu movies to help keep my yellow-esteem high in a land full of black and white. And it worked."
For innovative and contemporary New York theater, look no further than the Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company. Vampire Cowboy Trilogy, is a great place to start--this fun play epitomizes the company's point of view, and it is equally accessible to theater people, high school students, and the general public alike. After that cold, wonderful night last November, I knew that I would be a fan of the Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company and Bushwick for life.
--Lizzie Martinez, Playscripts' own Comedian
Posted by Playscripts, Inc.
5 Questions for Playscripts New Marketing Director, Lane Bernes
Playscripts is excited to announce the arrival of our new Marketing Director, Lane Bernes. Lane comes to us from Zinio, where she managed social media and merchandising. In addition to her marketing background, Lane is a playwright and has been produced at The Bloomington Playwrights Project, The New York International Fringe Festival and The Estrogenius Festival. Her play, The Mercy Swing, was nominated for the Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project. Lane's unique background makes her a welcome addition to the Playscripts team. We are very excited to begin the new year with her on board, and look forward to the great work ahead!
What brought you to Playscripts?
I was ecstatic to find a role that combined two things I’m passionate about: marketing and plays. I also have 50% of the Playscripts paperback collection in my apartment.
What did you do prior to Playscripts?
My previous jobs have all been in the publishing world, in a marketing role. I’m lucky to have worked with amazing brands like Robb Report, USA Today and Zinio.
What marketing trend can play producers take advantage of to market their plays?
Facebook Ads! They are super easy, and one of the best ways to find new audience members.
What play or playwright has made the biggest impact on you?
Dennis J. Reardon. He was my first playwriting teacher and is an amazing story teller.
Just for fun, were you in any high school productions?
Yes! We did Alice in Wonderland when I was a freshman, and I got to be a card because I could hold a back-bend while the queen played croquet.
You can find Lane on twitter @lanebernes
Posted by Teresa Sanpietro
Playscripts Play of the Day
13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview
by Ian McWethy
Short Comedy
Connect With Us
