I’m very honored to have received my official certificate and winner’s badge from Writers’ Digest in recognition of my play “The Beggar of Bethesda” being awarded 8th place in the Script category for their annual writing competition.

I’m honored to receive this nod, not only because Writers’ Digest is such an established, respected group, but also because there were over 3,000 entries to the competition this year alone – an incredible number – so it’s a great honor for my script to be recognized.

Again, many thanks to Writers’ Digest for this recognition!

I’m thrilled to report that my Biblical tragedy “The Beggar of Bethesda” has been given 8th place in the script category in the 90th Annual Writer’s Digest Competition!

“The Beggar of Bethesda” is a quirky re-telling of the story of the lame beggar at the Pool of Bethesda during the time of Jesus (found in John 5:1-15) and the events surrounding his healing.

The Annual Writer’s Digest Competition is the oldest and most well-known competition sponsored by Writer’s Digest, which has been recognizing writing excellence on a global scale for nearly 90 years.

The “script” category under which my play has been recognized includes all sorts of scripts – including playscripts, screenplays, and television scripts – so the category itself is very broad.

The Annual Writer’s Digest Competition is one of the most popular writing contests in the United States – often receiving more than 1,000 entries across a wide range of categories – so to receive an acknowledgement that puts my play among the top named scripts is very humbling.

Be on the lookout – my name and play will be mentioned in the Nov/Dec edition of Writer’s Digest later this year.

Previously, my play “Whit(e)man” received an honorable mention in the 2017 competition.

Many thanks to Writer’s Digest for this great honor!

I’m happy to say that my drama “The Beggar of Bethesda” was a semi-finalist in a new play contest sponsored by Garry Marshall Theatre of Burbank, CA!

The Garry Marshall Theatre was founded in 1997 by noted director Garry Marshall and was renamed in his honor in 2017. It is “a nonprofit organization providing innovative performances, educational opportunities, and storytelling activities for all ages, year-round”… “located in the heart of Burbank and Toluca Lake’s entertainment industry.”

“The Beggar of Bethesda” has been a finalist in two other contests, as well.

Many thanks to Garry Marshall Theatre for the consideration!

I am pleased to announce that my biblical play “The Beggar of Bethesda” is a finalist in the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition!

The Maxim Mazumdar Competition is hosed by the esteemed Alleyway Theatre, located in Buffalo, New York. They are one of the better known theaters in the area and are widely respected for their development of new plays. In fact, Alleyway “is one of only a handful of companies nationwide dedicated to the development and production of new plays and musicals.” They have been in operation for over thirty years and developed scores of full-length plays, musicals, and one-act plays.

The competition itself is named after actor/playwright Maxim Mazumdar (1953-1988) whose “many contributions to the early growth of the Alleyway were artistically invaluable and instrumental in shaping a continuing relationship with Canadian theatre.”

Thank you so much to Alleyway and its Artistic Director Neal Radice – and congrats to all winners and finalists!!

“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had…”

I am proud to announce I have finished a new play – entitled “The Beggar of Bethesda.” The play is a retelling of the story in the Bible when Jesus healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5: 1-15). This Biblical story is one of the more interesting ones to me, both because it is told with the informative ambiguity that makes the Bible so fascinating and also because it embraces very forcefully the Christian concept of man’s relationship with God.

In my play, the story of the same man – the beggar of Bethesda – is re-told with a different lens, detailing the experience of the beggar before and after the miracle that made him walk. The beggar is not only lame, but cynical and spends his days conning passersby out of money in the great Temple of Jerusalem – until, that is, he meets this strange man who bids him to rise and walk. The news, however, is not as welcome as expected – not to the temple authorities, not even to the man himself – and so he is banished from the city and forced to wander aimlessly. Then, suddenly, a second chance at living comes the beggar’s way – perhaps the only chance he will ever have – but is he faithful enough to take it?

You can find more information about the play here!