Where in the World?

Bad Sevan for not keeping up with the blog.

I wish I could claim being busy every single day of the last three months, thus leaving no time to blog, but the truth is, I was busy for half of it and lazy for the other half.

I've done a smattering of readings (it's the year of readings apparently) and my first show with Prospect Theatre Company in their dark night show Mapquest at 59E59. A great space. A great cast. And a fun experience working on 7 different pieces by 7 different composer/lyricist/writer scenes. It feels like a rep company because there is familial feeling to the organization that avoids nasty inbreeding. I am indebted to them for being offered three wildly random characters: a closeted 70s jock, a Jackson Heights Indian guru and watchseller, a piece of year-old salami. Yes, I do not lie.

The Williams College 2-day run of Betrayed went well. Had a great time walking around and enjoying nature. I think I would be bored out of mind if I lived there for more than a month or two as there is nothing much to Williamstown. But maybe this is an overture to doing an actual WTF show.

Unfortunately, as it turning out to be the norm nowadays, funding did not come through for our D.C. month-long run. So we all kind of stood around, mouths agape, and wondering what to do next. I am not sure if this is the end of the show or what is in store for it. It's the show that keeps on breathing and finding life, which it should. I just hope the forward momentum also pushes it up the hill.

I participated in my first NY Arab-American Comedy Festival, now in its 6th year, having been exposed to it last year as an audience member when I was first introduced to the notion of a "brown" community and what that meant. The festival also marked my debut as a writer. Now, as a writer of literary fiction, I was not even sure if I could even create something theatrically-based. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed it and think I have a wee bit of a knack for it. So much so that since then I have whipped up a screenplay (which has some interest in it from a local production company), a play I am halfway through, and another screenplay/play in the works. When it rains it pours. I don't know if I am actually any good at anything larger than the sketch I wrote for the festival, but this is the only way to find out.

But the festival was amazing, not only for the actual festival itself, but the people involved. Feeling like you are part of a community and being able to commiserate about issues in your industry that no one else can truly understand is such a liberating thing. I had a great time with it and can't wait to do it again.

I have a reading of a musical called Beauty Queen for 3Graces Theatre that I start rehearsing this month.

Auditions have been slim, but the ones coming in have been substantial. I think I need to get new headshots because I went in for a movie and the first thing the CD said was, "Wow, you look so much younger in person." And kept reiterating that. Granted, the part was in his 40s, which I could not even come close to passing off. Mayhaps he had a point.

I had two amazing auditions last week for two high-profile projects and got called back for both. My callback rate keeps improving, although the second-man syndrome thing is still alive and kicking.

At one of those auditions I learned a lesson that I always knew but kind of ignored. I have cuts of songs in my book, and very few of them have the rest of the songs with them. And the unspoken rule is: Know the entire song to all your cuts!

Much to my surprise, after I got there, I discovered they wanted to hear a whole song. Now...the song I had chosen...I knew the cut of. I have never memorized the whole song for any reason. Somehow, probably via osmosis of hearing the song over and over, I had a hail mary moment and did the whole song, remembering all the lyrics. Needless to say, once my book stops being in flux and I settle on all the songs I need, they will all be committed to be memory.

Both projects would be amazing to book. I just need to book one of them. And stat. I need another big NYC credit. And soon.

Until then, I am writing at the fervid speed of an attacking locust.