I’m very pleased to say that Theater23 of Knoxville has officially announced their 2025 theatrical season, which will include the production of my historically flavored drama “The Last Flight of the Electra” among a set of four other plays, with my play being one of two premieres during the season.
While the dates are being finalized, “Electra” will be produced next October – and almost just as interesting is where the play will be produced – namely, The Historic Grove Theater in Oak Ridge, TN – which was built some 80 years ago to entertain workers associated with the Manhattan Project.
At the time of its opening in 1944, The Historic Grove Theater could seat 1,000 people – back when ticket prices were $.35 for an adult (goodness) – and then, after subsequently closing down and falling into some disrepair, the theater was renovated and reopened in 2007.
Again, many thanks to Theater23 and its Artistic Director, Tom Eubanks!
I’m looking forward to seeing “Electra” next October!
I am beyond thrilled to announce that my drama “The Last Flight of the Electra” will be produced in 2025 by the theater company Theater23!
Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Theater23 was founded only recently, in 2023 – by “recovering Californians” – and has been actively engaged over the last year to bring more theater to the Knoxville area, striving “to be a place for actors, directors, designers and artists to create instinctively, taking risks, challenging themselves, above all else, to entertain.”
Despite their newness on the theatrical scene, Theater23 is focused on producing new, intimate, thought-provoking plays – and indeed, in this climate, when fewer and fewer theaters are willing to “take risks” with new work, it’s very impressive and wonderful to see Theater23 stepping out proactively to incubate and support new theatrical works.
Last but not least, I would be amiss not to point out that Theater23 is helmed by playwright and director Tom Eubanks, with whom I had the pleasure of engaging a few years back when he was the Artistic Director of Elite Theatre Company in Oxnard, CA, which ultimately produced the world production of my award-winning historical drama “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room.”
I should be learning more in short order as to when “Electra” will be produced – so stay tuned!
(This will be the first time a play of mine has been performed in Tennessee.)
I am happy to say that one of my scripts has advanced to the semifinalist round in the 2024 national playwriting contest sponsored by the American Association for Community Theatre!
Since the script is still actively under consideration by the readers, I have been asked not to name it specifically until it has made its way through the full process, so… “shhhhh!”
Regardless, I’m thrilled by the news, as AACT is a well-regarded organization that brings together community theaters across the United States, helping community theaters to thrive “with expertise, assistance, networking, and support.”
For a trip down memory line, I myself was a theater leader at one point, founding and leading the group Speerhead Theatricals almost 10 years ago (time flies!) and leading it through two years of theatrical productions in New York and Connecticut – so I viscerally understand the challenges of the theater world and love what AACT does to support the arts in local communities.
A few other plays of mine have also been semifinalists or finalists in prior AACT contests, as well.
I am honored to report that my play “The Last Flight of the Electra” has received its second recognition in a month as a semifinalist in 2024 FutureFest, a new play contest sponsored by Dayton Playhouse of Dayton, Ohio!
Dayton Playhouse is a well-regarded community theatre founded in 1962 that provides outstanding theatrical productions to the Miami Valley area of Ohio and is the only theater in its vicinity to operate on a 12-month schedule.
Alongside its theatrical credentials, Dayton has become well-known for FutureFest, its annual festival of new and unproduced plays that started back in 1991, making it one of the longest-running new play festivals in the United States and a great incubator for new theatrical work.
Not only am I thrilled to be recognized as a semifinalist in such a well-known and well-respected contest, but there were over 470 script submissions entered this year alone, putting my script in the top 2.5% of all submitted scripts and making it one of the more selective contests in which any of my plays have been recognized. (Yes, I bothered to calculate the exact percentage!)
I sincerely wish Dayton Playhouse the best for the remainder of their festival and, again, am thrilled for “Electra’s” double recognition this April!
I am thrilled to report that my drama “The Last Flight of the Electra” was recognized as a finalist in the 2024 New Play Contest sponsored by Valley Players of Napa Valley, California.
The Valley Players had well over 200 submissions to their New Play Contest and my script was recognized among the top 10% of all entries, which is a great honor.
Even more to the point, it’s so encouraging to see groups like The Valley Players providing opportunities for new playwrights and their work! In the post-COVID world, it’s even harder to come by theaters that will recognize new plays, especially smaller theaters, so Valley Players deserves tremendous kudos for promoting opportunities for new playwrights to see their work performed.
Not only that, but my “finalist” badge is none too shabby, as well:
Many thanks to Artistic Director June Alane Raif and Valley Players for this honor!
I’m thrilled to announce the “launch” (if “launch” is indeed the right word) of my newest play, “The Last Flight of the Electra!”
Taking place in late 1968, “The Last Flight of the Electra” concerns the retired magazine executive Aileen Craigmore, who finds her carefully manicured (and well-protected) world turned upside down by an obsessive secretary, who insists that Craigmore is, in fact, Amelia Earhart, the famous aviatrix who went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean in July of 1937.
A brisk-paced, full-length one-act, “The Last Flight of the Electra” is an exciting, even haunting play about the nature of identity – who we truly are and who we choose to be – and, indeed, the extent to which there is any difference between the two – requiring only a single unit set and a cast of five actors to bring its story to life.
The play is inspired by a real-life historical incident, encapsulated in the below picture:
Irene Bolam before the press, denying she is Amelia Earhart – 1970
The woman above is Irene Craigmile Bolam, who was famously (or infamously) “accused” of being Amelia Earhart in a book by Joe Klaas in 1970. Joe Klaas wrote his book inspired by former air force officer Joe Gervais, who became convinced that Irene Bolam – a retired bank executive, living in New Jersey – was actually the living, breathing Amelia Earhart. (Hopefully, most readers know that Amelia Earhart was a world-famous pilot who disappeared while flying over the Pacific in an around-the-world tour way back in July of 1937.) Gervais met Bolam in the early 1960’s at an event sponsored by The Early Flyers’ Club of Long Island (Bolam was a former aviatrix) and became convinced she was Amelia Earhart, secretly repatriated to the United States by the American government following World War II. Bolam subsequently sued the publisher of the book and pursued legal action against Klaas and Gervais, but withdrew the case eventually when a judge asked her to provide her finger prints for comparison with Amelia Earhart’s. This decision – and the fact that Bolam subsequently insisted she be cremated upon her death in 1982 – have kept the extraordinary claims by Klaas and Gervais, if not fully “alive,” at least in a state of labored breathing.
