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1100 Playwright Interviews
1100 Playwright Interviews A Sean Abley Rob Ackerman E.E. Adams Johnna Adams Liz Duffy Adams Tony Adams David Adjmi Keith Josef Adkins Nicc...
May 31, 2007
May 30, 2007
night and one of the worst this morning but I can't
really talk about either one.
Let's just say the TV/Film industry is constantly
getting so much better and more innovative and at the
same time they won't stop making unwatchable dreck.
But you already know about this.
May 29, 2007
Susan Gets Some Play
everwhere. So i wrote this song which i think will be
in my fringe play. It's called Never Fuck The
Director and i hope you will take it to heart. here
is the beginning. To see the rest, come see my fringe
show. We're going to makes Susan dance again.
(spoken) There's a motto in my profession, goes
something like this:
Never say the Scottish play when walking round
backstage
Never kiss the understudies when they're underage
Don't fool with the lighting guy if you want to be
well lit
And stay away from the costumer if you want it all to
fit
Chorus:
And Never Never Never fuck your director
Never Never Never fuck your director
Last chance, west coasters
last weekend for Food For Fish in LA. See it if you can. It's a great production!!
" . . .Szymkowicz has written a refreshingly perceptive work about how love, work and interior narratives act to both blind and free the individual." - Steven Mikulan, LA Weekly
"Adam Szymkowicz puts a fresh spin on Anton Chekhov's most popular play in this hilarious facelift of The Three Sisters, performed by LA's multi-talented theatre of NOTE. Three sisters from New York put their father to rest in the Hudson River, and as he quickly becomes nourishment for the river denizens, they confront their individual choices and assess if, and how, the unraveling threads of their lives can be salvaged. Examining the least flattering tendencies of human nature both draws the siblings closer and threatens to pull them apart, showing that, as in life, tragedy and comedy exist side by side." - Flavorpill LA
http://www.theatreofnote.com/
May 27, 2007
Bill Clinton
a new book by my former professor
May 24, 2007
LA Daze, New York Days
I had a great time in LA even though I was in culture shock much of the time. And all that sun and open space and having to drive a car. But I got to meet with a lot of great people and the theatre of note production is really excellent. Go see it if you're on that coast.
But yeah I'm happy to be back in crowded subways again. I'm happy to be graduating in two days. I kind of wish I had an excuse to wear a robe every day without having to answer a bunch of questions.
May 23, 2007
upcoming
June 12 at Michael Weller Theatre:
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/drea5149.htm
As you may know, my play Food For Fish is published in
the New York Theatre Review. There is a reading and
book signing at the Drama Book Shop June 15.
http://www.dramabookshop.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=348208
mini review of F4F in LA
It's a really good production. Go see it if you can.
May 21, 2007
very simple equity petition that pisses no one off
preserving and strengthening Off-Off-Broadway in New
York City, the Actors Equity Association's Showcase
Code merits revision."
check it out here:
May 16, 2007
May 14, 2007
2 emails i received today
thank you for visiting
user friendly. I often don't try to entertain you. I
don't spellcheck. sometimes I go for long stretches
without posting any content of my own and instead just
post links to things I find interesting. Sometimes I
post a bunch of pictures that have perhaps no interest
to anyone except me. Sometimes I go a long time
without posting any pictures at all. Also, I post
scenes from plays. No one likes to read scenes off
the computer taken out of context. I am sometimes
snarky and/or ironic or possibly snarky and ironic yet
not funny. My blogroll is not in any particular order
and is probably incomplete and not up to date. Also I
don't link to others as much as I could.
I've been doing this blog thing for over two years now
and my audience is gradually growing despite the fact
that I don't seem to cater to anyone and don't much
think about audience or anyone besides me really.
So, thanks.
Please know that I will continue to give you the kind
of quality you have come to expect.
wise words from Freeman
would use were you to win one of our Pretentious
Awards.
"Members of the Brick Theater... I accept this Award
on behalf of the Working Class, who cannot speak for
themselves; and my parents, who should never have
gotten divorced."
http://pretentiousfestival.blogspot.com/2007/05/interrogation-iv-interview-with-author.html
What I'm reading
I am a sucker for the charismatic young genius. I loved reading about Neal Cassidy, can't help but like Finding Forrester or Good Will Hunting or Proof. I love the myth of the rebel genius who can do things no one else can or who is bold enough to do what no one else would. That's what this book is so far and I'm loving it.
article about Jonathan Coulton
think we rode the same bus when I was in Elementary
school. He is super-talented but I had no idea he had
a blog.
Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog
May 10, 2007
Tom Robbins' writing process
"When he starts a novel, it works like this. First
he writes a sentence. Then he rewrites it again and
again, examining each word, making sure of its
perfection, finely honing each phrase until it
reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite.
Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes an entire day is
devoted to one sentence, which gets marked on and
expanded upon in every possible direction until he is
satisfied. Then, and only then, does he add a period.
Next, he rereads the first sentence and starts
writing a second, rewriting it again and again until
it shimmers. Then, and only then, does he add a
period. While working on each sentence, he has no idea
what the next sentence is going to be, much less the
next chapter or the end of the book. All thoughts of
where he is going or where he has been are banished.
Each sentence is a Zen universe unto itself, and while
working on it, nothing exists but the sentence. He
keeps writing in such a manner until he eventually
reaches a sentence which he works on like all the
others. He adds a period and the book is done. No
editing or revising in any way. When you read a Tom
Robbins book, you are experiencing the words not only
in the exact order that he wrote them but almost in
the exact order that he thought them. "
from Heidi's article about J. Schwartz
painstakingly slow and rather weird process: she
rewrites the entire play from memory each time she
works on it. "I think my process of typing the play
from the beginning over and over again, whenever I
work on the play, helps me to figure out a formal
structure that supports the emotions," she says. "It
also helps me to get the language into my body…When I
get too formal, I usually feel like I'm taking a wrong
turn.""
read more here:
http://brooklynrail.org/2007/5/theater/the-fat-lady-will-sing-with-bells-on
the last juilliard class
I was actually really worried about it and uncertain
but it was a big hit. Now I just sit back and wait
for the offers to roll in. That's what it's like to
be a playwright. You jsut write it and then everyone
finds out about it and wants to do it. You have to
hit them away with a stick.
"No, bad producer! Not until you get Kevin Spacey to
be in it! Go away! Bad!"
May 9, 2007
wed
just never noticed? Has it become more true lately?
So depressed. Today is the last day of Juilliard. I
will miss it. sorely. so sad.
got to finish the play for the fringe and write that
ten min play for ars nova and then finish that novel
by August 17 and then write a screenplay and a new
play and somewhere in there revise all the things that
need revising.
Wish me luck.
May 8, 2007
this morning
currently called "Temporary Everything."
I hope it's good. One never knows with these things.
I'm just so glad to have it done. It took way longer
than it should have.
Go See
was very impressed. Amazing cast, excellent
direction. It goes off on tangents sometimes but damn
it's so good. Don't miss it. She's an exciting new
voice in the American theatre you should know about.
http://www.newgeorges.org/frame_content/cev.html
I also saw Cymbeline over the weekend at BAM. I'm not
a big Shakespeare guy but I had a blast at this. I'm
glad K dragged me to it. They make the play extremely
clear and enjoyable to watch. I especially loved the
music number.
May 4, 2007
I love this song
The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll store them for you in an airplane hangar
There's guys in biohazard suits
Mud kicking on their rubber boots
They've come to keep your pretty things from danger
The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs
I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures
My camera groans beneath the weight it bears
more here:
May 3, 2007
Coming this summer to the New York Fringe
by Adam Szymkowicz
starring Ms. Susan Louise O'Connor
and Some Men.
Directed by a Young Genius Director (as long as he is
still available.)
Just found out today. This means I have to finish
writing the play now. I'm glad I got in this time.
Last time I applied, I did not get in. Although the
rejected play is now published by DPS so I guess it
worked out OK.
wow
http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/the_rug_removed.html
"In the United States, the NEA has a budget of $139.4
million US dollars, none of which (by law) can go to
individual artists. What does this mean in terms of
per-person spending on the arts? The United States
spends $0.47 per person, while Denmark spends $12.27
per person, which means that Denmark spends 27 times
what the US does.*** (To make the point even starker,
if we were to raise the NEA's budget to keep up with
the Danish government's budget it would come out to
something around $3.6 billion dollars) . This is
despite the fact that the US's GDP is $13.22 trillion
dollars and Denmark's GDP is $256 billion dollars"
from Kristen Palmer's email to me
Please join me on May 13th at 7pm for a reading of
"The Melting Point." There are wonderful people
involved and it's very new and I'd
love for you to be there!
more sooner,
Kristen
May 13th, 7pm
SohoRep
46 Walker Street
a reading of:
The Melting Point by Kristen Palmer
developed in the SohoRep Writer/Director Lab
directed by Awoye Timpo
with the talents of...
Nicole Behaire
Stephen Bel Davies
Kate Benson
Chris Kipiniak
Alfredo Narciso
Heidi Schreck
Mary Schultz
the other review of my LA play so far
"If watching a woman dressed as a man pretend to
masturbate to orgasm---TWICE! ---isn't revolting
enough for you, how about a coffee table made out of a
coffin in which the father of the family is slowly
and stinkily decomposing? And so is the play.
It's "Food for Fish" by Adam Szymkowicz, a thoroughly
stupid production in which most of the parts are
played by actors of the opposite sex. What it's about
I couldn't tell you. I left at intermission. But the
playwright has the nerve to claim that it's loosely
based on Chekhov's "Three Sisters". (You bet! Just
like
"Dumb and Dumber" is based on "Hamlet").
This is not a review, it's a heads-up. "Food for Fish"
will be performed at Theatre of Note, 1517 N. Cahuenga
Blvd. in Hollywood through June 2nd. Consider yourself
warned!"
I don't think she liked it. What do you think? Am I
crazy?
Although I bet we'll get some people in to see it from
this seemingly bad review. On the theatre company
myspace someone wrote "Masturbating men being played
by women? Where's my fucking ticket?"
May 1, 2007
pull quote from the only review of LA Food For Fish I've seen so far
work about how love, work and interior narratives act
to both blind and free the individual."
LA Weekly
go see it
tues night blog
Thanks to everyone who came out to see it.
An unrelated question for a scene i'm writing. If you
wanted to fuck up a bunch of computers, how would you
do it? Erase the hard drives? mess up the network in
some way? Is there a physical way that is not too
complicated to take out a necessary part of a PC for
example? Like can someone just take out the hard
drive or the motherboard or something? What would you
knowledgeable computer people do to screw up a bunch
of computers if you were so inclined?
(I am not in any way endorsing destruction of any
computer, even a PC. It's just something my character
wants to do in this play.)