I value play — that’s why I write them. (A lot of folks say this.) The impulse to find joy in creation and performance, and to fool around, is basic to what I do.
I believe that we can get at so many serious topics and artistic challenges through play — by seeing creation as play (not that it isn’t hard work) which carries and frees our imaginations.
This isn't game theory or “gamification.” I’m talking about finding a looseness, a freedom, and a place where difficulties, discomfort, and failure are trusted to lead to the next compelling thing — like the kid who’s soccer ball has rolled into the scary but fascinating new neighbor’s yard.
Check out my poetry and (very occasional) articles on Medium.
This year I have a residency at PlayGround to write a full length play, Frida and Mrs. Trotsky, a surreal two-hander about Frida Kahlo and Natalya Sedova. Here's the story: Mexico City, August, 22, 1940: A masked cop interrogates the prime suspect in the murder of Russian revolutionary exile, Leon Trotsky: Trotsky’s ex-lover, painter Frida Kahlo. When Frida & the cop fight, she rips off the cop’s mask, revealing Trotsky’s partner, Natalia Sedova. As the 2 women share their stories, they dance, flirt, and shape a new destiny, richer, though perhaps goofy-er than the flat narratives they have been dealt by capitalism, fame, and history.
Here's some recent work of mine that doesn't fit the Medium format :
--My short opera about interruption, nada, written with Norwegian composer, Tze Yeung Ho, premiered at Strange Trace Opera’s Stencils Festival in November, 2022.
--My comedy, 7 Secrets of Teaching Online was the hit of 2022 Theatre 33's New Works Festival in Salem Oregon.
--My play, Oakland 1982: You, Me, and Rickey is the first drama ever published in the online baseball journal, The Twin Bill.
--The Invisible Project, co-written with Katja Rivera, launched the Latinx Mafia's Staged Reading series.
-- Freeloader in the House of Love won the "Most Compelling Story" Award at the Boulder Fringe. (Click here for "Porn, Tears & Talk: How I wrote Freeloader in the House of Love.")
