I want to extend my congratulations to the cast of my upcoming play “A Flower of the Field”, which is premiering at Tyler Civic Theatre Center on May 4th!
The play will run from May 4th-May 7th and will be directed by David Dickerson, with whom I have had the pleasure of chatting about the piece.
The cast is as follows:
John Clyn — Kevin Willis
Richard Ledrede — Bryan Michels
Mathias O’More — Heath Huffstetter
Alice Kyteler — Aletha Nelligan
Basilia de Meath — Mallory Hallmark
Shadow Friar (Male Voice) — Kevin Phillips
Tickets for the event will go on-sale to the general public starting April 6th!
For this Throwback Thursday, I will focus less on a play and more on a place – namely, the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre – where I had the pleasure of seeing my play “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” being given a staged reading way back in 2015.
While I will discourse more on “Fifteen Men” some other time, I will simply say that it was the first “real” play that I wrote and has always had a special place in my heart – and while the play was recognized in many contests and festivals over the years, I must say that the staged reading it was given by the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre was one of the most memorable.
Located in Denver, Colorado, “the Elitch Theatre has been a vital part of Colorado’s cultural landscape since its inception in 1891” – including being home to the oldest summer stock theater in the country and hosting the screening of Colorado’s first moving picture in 1896 – and to that (fitting) end, it has had many notable performers grace its stage, including Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Grace Kelly, and Edward G. Robinson.
After many years of decrepitude and dormancy, the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre was renovated and scheduled for a big reopening in the summer of 2015 – and to celebrate the theater’s rebirth, the theater association sponsored a new play contest where six new plays would be given staged readings in the theater’s awe-inspiring rotunda – and needless to say, to my delight, “Fifteen Men” was one of the plays chosen to be so honored.
Thrilled by the invitation, I traveled to Denver in August, 2015 and was absolutely mesmerized by the unique beauty of the theater (see the photos below) – and not only was impressed with the caliber of the acting (especially for a staged reading), but had the great pleasure of meeting the director of the play, Bev Newcomb-Madden, who sadly died a few years later and whose husband sent me a very kind note about how much his wife enjoyed directing the piece and how much it meant to her.
I won’t say much further, other than leave you with some of the wonderful pictures I took of the Elitch Theatre during my time there…
For this Throwback Thursday, I will highlight my play “Shadows of Men” – one of those plays where I can’t help but wondering why it has never been produced, especially after seeing it read and seeing how much it resonated with audiences.
Among my repertoire of straight plays, “Shadows of Men” ranks “number three” – the third play I wrote, after “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” and “Harriman-Baines” – and one which I have always personally enjoyed, encompassing, as it does, the theme of the dignity of the human individual and how that dignity is often threatened by abstractions and ideology.
Way back in 2020 or so, I initially encountered the story of John Dos Passos in Civil War Spain in the book “Intellectuals” by the British historian Paul Johnson – where Joh Dos Passos, who came to Spain to participate in a propaganda film in favor of the leftist Spanish Republic, ended up becoming obsessed by the fact that his dear friend, José Robes, had gone missing – ultimately discovering that Robles was executed by Spanish Republican forces, who were heavily backed by Stalin and the Soviet Communist Party. (John Dos Passos ended up writing extensively about his experience, which turned him away from leftism, until he ended life as a traditional conservative.)
Over the years, I have had relatively little traction with “Shadows” – and indeed, the play has only been read twice… never actually produced… which I hope will soon change.
The first staged reading was part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival in 2016, where the play was read at Fells Point Corner Theatre and directed by the great Barry Feinstein.
The second staged reading was by Arts Forth Worth in Texas, where the play was presented by the group Altered Shakespeare as part of Arts Forth Worth’s 2021 new play festival.
“Shadows” is one of those plays that I’m still striving to see produced, because I know that it works and that it carries an important (and eerily relevant) message for the modern ear.
You can catch the reading of the play at Arts Forth Worth below:
I don’t often share comments in this regard, but I received some great commentary on my drama “A Flower of the Field” from the readers at the Austin Film Festival who judged the script within the top 10% of entries.
It’s very gratifying to see a play register with experienced, discerning readers and I very much appreciate Austin Film Festival forwarding me the comments – which always serve as a great inspiration for pushing forward with a piece.
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Concept: “The concept of this play was executed very well. With a focus on the time in the World where the Black Plague was in it is height, this was a story of how hope never dies and the way this was expressed through the continual existence of John Clyn was powerful.”
Plot: “‘A Flower of The Field’ is a play about a man who has taken the name and likeness of ‘John Clyn’ in order to continue giving hope to the many people seeking healing from the pestilence. During this time, many people enter into the abbey, some in accusatory fashion, others seeking help. The play establishes strong exposition, creates deepening conflict and tension, leading to a satisfying climax and denouement.”
Structure: “By fitting this play into one act with five separate scenes, the writer weaves a narrative which is rich with mystery and yet enough to propel the audience with clues as the story continues. The structure of this play is highlighted by the writings which end each scene. We find out ultimately, that the writer is Basilia de Meath, which shows a great use of foreshadowing in the earlier scenes when the character is not introduced and we are assuming it is John Clyn.”
Characters: “Every character shown in this play was not only important to the telling of this story, but filled with unique attributes which allowed each of them to be fully complex and developed as the play continued.”
Dialogue: “The dialogue was very strong and well written. No matter who was speaking, the dialogue of the character talking presented a unique voice with wants and needs different from the other voices on stage. The dialogue also (to a degree) felt like it was true to the time period of this story.”
Overall: “‘A Flower of the Field’ tells a powerful story of hope as translated through the continual perseverance of the John Clyn figure head. This story shows John Clyn was an array of different people who felt called to serve in the role as John Clyn to give hope and assurance during a time where death and pestilence were rampant and inevitable. The structure of the story shows the message of this play in the continuation of the existence of this main character. The concept and plot are sound. The dialogue and characters are rich with personality, wants and needs, internal struggle and decisions which propel the story to a dynamic climax. What needs work is very minimal however could prove beneficial to investigate–the action or exposition between the lines. At times, the poetic descriptions seemed to act for the characters before they would say their lines. Consider going through the exposition and lightening it as it felt more like a novel than the action descriptions within a scene.”
Today, Tyler Civic Theatre Center announced its 75th theatrical season, which features the premiere of my 14th century drama, “A Flower of Field!”
As fortune would have it, my play just happens to be given prominence of place in the title image seen in this great promotional video from TCTC.
“A Flower of the Field” won the sixth annual “People’s Choice Award” in Tyler Civic Theatre Center’s new play festival in July of this year, where excerpts from six finalist plays were read before a live audience and the audience voted their favorite play for prodcution in 2023.
I’m very excited to see “A Flower of the Field” given its big premiere, as the play in 2022 alone has been a finalist in five other contests, sponsored by such companies as FirstWorks Theatre, The Shawnee Playhouse, and American Bard Theater Company.
Here’s a line-up of TCTC’s 75th season, with lots of wonderful shows:
Stay tuned for more information about my play next year!
I’m thrilled to announce that my Hitchcockian drama “Few Thy Voice” has been judged within the top 15% of scripts in the biennial new play contest sponsored by the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT)!
AACT is a wonderful organization that supports community theaters (the real lifeblood of the theatrical community) throughout the United States and has used its new play contest to elevate new works of theater since 2014.
“Few Thy Voice” concerns Illyria Swan, a former movie actress of delicate mental state, whose guilt at the abandonment of her now-deceased father leads her to take care of elderly, senile men abandoned by their families – but when the latest subject of her caretaking zeal reveals an apparent tale of murder, the actress finds her life in danger and her sanity in question.
I have had three other plays of mine been similarly recognized by AACT in previous years – “The Footsteps of God”, “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room”, and “I and the Emperor”.
I learned today that my play “A Flower of the Field” was judged to be within the top 20% of scripts by the Austin Film Festival!
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) was founded in 1994 and serves 20,000+ people with year-round programming that “furthers the art and craft of storytelling by inspiring and championing the work of writers, filmmakers, and all artists who use written and visual language to tell a story.”
AFF is well-known for its annual October Austin Film Festival and Conference, which was “the first event of its kind, bringing professional and amateur screenwriters together to celebrate the role of screenplays in filmmaking and host conversations focusing on craft and on particular films and television series.”
I’m extremely proud to have my play within the top 20% of playscript entries considering that the festival is more oriented towards screenwriitng than playwriting, it receives hundreds and hundred of submissions per year, and it’s such a well-respect and well-known event.
Many thanks to Austin Film Festival – and I wish them the best for their big festival in October!
This past weekend, an excerpt from my play “A Flower of the Field” was read at The Shawnee Playhouse of Shawnee on Delaware, PA as part of their new works festival.
You can check out the 30-minute excerpt using the link below.
Many thanks to Shawnee Playhouse for this great recognition!
I’m thrilled to report that my drama “A Flower of the Field” is a finalist in a new play contest by the American Bard Theater Company!
American Bard Theater Company is based in New York that focuses on plays of dramatic, heightened language and of an artist-driven nature.
As they explain on their website:
“American Bard Theater Company approaches each play based on text analysis technique shared by the 14 individuals who studied Shakespeare together and wanted to create greater opportunities to perform. In our first few years, we presented various works by William Shakespeare in the “First Folio” text analysis style. Just like Shakespeare’s own troupe of actors, we maintain that “the play’s the thing” and root all our artistic choices back to the language in the script, with respect to the punctuation and word choice in order to guide our storytelling. By working through the lens of the playwright’s language and its structure to shape the actions on the stage, much as Shakespeare’s players did 400 years ago, we keep our rehearsals and performances targeted at creating the playwright’s unique world through cadence, intonations, and emotional energy evoked by the “music” of the script.”
Many, many thanks to American Bard for the great honor of being a finalist in their new play festival!
