My Interview in the SF Chronicle on August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie”

“Comedies are the stories of people who survive and live to make another set of mistakes.” -me in the SF Chronicle, Aug 12 2019

To mark the fact that two companies in the SF Bay Area are tackling reimagined versions of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” this year (Cutting Ball Theater, which commissioned my new version, and Poltergeist Theater, a newly-launched indie company where the performers created and directed their own show), we’re all in the paper!

Lily Janiak from the San Francisco Chronicle did a group interview this week with me, Ariel Craft (AD of Cutting Ball and director of my script), and the founders of Poltergeist about what it means to rethink August Strindberg’s classic.

Read the full article “FIXING A MASTERPIECE” here.

It’s an honor to be able to share some of the tactics and strategies that Ariel and I have hit on while developing my script “FREE FOR ALL: A New Miss Julie for a New World” which will premiere Sept-Oct in SF.

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Filed under miscellany

No Audience Member Left Behind: Howard Gardner, Shakespeare, and Writing for Everybody

Yesterday, I heard a script for the first time, at the table reading with the cast of this commission I’m working on for young audiences. For a playwright, the first table reading is half Christmas morning and half job interview, full of explosive joy and barbarous self-judgement. It’s got me thinking about Shakespeare, Sudoku, and “multiple intelligences.” Continue reading

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Filed under educational.theatre, how.to.write, learning.about.things, play.in.progress, shakespeare, the.horse's.ass, unabashedly.emo, young.audiences

All About a SATURDAY WRITE FEVER to Love and Fear!

This weekend, I return to hosting SATURDAY WRITE FEVER, the monthly writing party and instant-scripted-new-works theater festival I co-founded with Stuart Bousel! It was a 2014 San Francisco Magazine Best Of The Bay pick, and it’s not quite like anything else I’ve done. Here are five reasons why: Continue reading

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60-Second Playwrighting Prompts: Write Now, Right Now

You got a minute? Give your playwrighting battery a jump-start with one of these 60 second prompts. Continue reading

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Filed under how.to.write, playwrighting.prompts, writing.exercise

Long Distance Relationship: Playwrighting in a Global Age

One of the best/worst reasons to be a playwright? Your work can be happening while you are 5,362 miles away. Continue reading

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Filed under another.artist, edinburgh.fringe.2014, helen.of.troy, play.in.production.

Word Choice in Dialogue: Whether the Weather

Someone walks up to you and says “I like this kind of weather.” Or, someone walks up to you and says “This is the kind of weather I like.” Then, the person walks away. Continue reading

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Filed under how.to.write, play.in.progress, sf.olympians.festival, the.horse's.ass

My 4 Favorite Online Writing Resources

Ever get stuck in your own brain when you’re trying to be creative? Here are my Top 4 favorite online resources that help me shake things up when I feel like my mind is in a rut. Continue reading

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Filed under how.to.write, internet.is.awesome, learning.about.things

What Writing Really Looks Like

Writing doesn’t always look like writing. When you hear the word “writing,” what do you think of? A pen moving across paper, or maybe a clicking keyboard and a glowing screen? Do you think writing is the application of language to a page? If that’s what you think of, you’re half right… but you’re also really wrong.

Writing is not the production of words. Continue reading

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Filed under about.me, how.to.write, play.in.progress, the.horse's.ass