If the play is my thing...

...then I might be in for some real trouble.

Good news: Had my first one-act read last week; received huge positive feedback.

Not So Good News: Today's Times tells of a year long study that definitively proves gender bias in getting women's plays produced. Particularly disheartening was the experiment in which identical scripts with different names (Michael vs. Mary, e.g.) showed that women playwrights received "significantly worse ratings in terms of quality, economic prospect and audience response than Michael's." You can read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/theater/24play.html?emc=eta1

So, what are the chances I can get "Do Us Part" produced? Oh, now I'm determined to do it and I'll - well - keep you posted. Here's a picture from the Playwright's Group reading (I'm in the middle) with the luminous team of Albert Dabah, Paul Mantell, Gloria Falzer and Kristine Zbornick.

$107 of Bliss

What to do with all that life history - you know, the file on the fundraiser, the notebook you organized for the big project, every performance review ever written about you (especially by people who did not appreciate your unique charms). I have a compressed experience of personal joy that I'd like to recommend: Get a shredder truck to your house and let it all go.

Let go of the work files with confidential revenue plans that never worked out and spiffy organization charts designed to transform your workplace into a fast-moving idea machine. (Good luck with that.) That poetry prompted by your difficult relationship with your mother? Shred it so your own sired ones don't get any ideas. Do you really need the phone numbers of every parent in your child's third grade class? I had to think about that one for a moment but since my son's 21 now, I think The Law of Improbable Connections to your Children's Friend's Parents is officialy sunset, effective today.

Today I shredded 880 pounds of such stuff. Go ahead, I dare you to do more.

http://www.njshred.com/