update

My bike ride to my temp job this morning was cold. My fingers felt wind burned or frost kissed. Winter comes early to Minneapolis it seems. I've been writing a new play. I'm trying to keep the cast size down this time so it won't be one more play that requires 7 actors. It looks like it will just be three people. I'm writing a lot of two person scenes. I haven't done that in a while. I kind of like it. I hope it works out. It could be good, I think, if I do it right. Anyway, I'm enjoying get up at 5 and writing. (6am new york time) I'm also enjoying (sort of) having the apt to myself. Although it gets lonely. Kristen was saying that 2 weeks is like the limit for her. I think that's true for me too. I'll see her on the 11th which is not so far from now. And I do have people here to hang out with, but damn! If you told me you wanted to get married and then move to minneapolis and then be apart from your spouse for a couple months, I would advise against it. But I'm ok. Thanks for asking.

go see my short play Snow in East Haddam, CT

(The town next to the town where I grew up)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20142648&BRD=1635&PAG=461&dept_id=8613&rfi=6

ht Daisey

many outright lies of Palin

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/the-lies-and-li.html#more

those corn syrup commercials are driving me crazy

Here is some actual information

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603294.html

Things Mccain has said

another swell video to go with that last one

http://www.mikedaisey.com/2008/09/blog-post_1181.sht

I'm sorry, what?

h/t Daisey

Lab Readings on playbill

Here

Lab Readings

October 23 - November 15, 2008 BARN SERIES Don't miss LAByrinth's ninth annual festival of free staged readings! FREE TICKETS will be distributed 30 minutes before curtain on a first come, first served basis. No reservations necessary. All readings take place at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette St) Oct 23 & 24 at 8pm Objects Are Closer Than They Appear A new play by Megan Mostyn-Brown Directed by Carolyn Cantor A raging thunderstorm. A dumpy motel. Charlie wants to escape from the chaos of his life. Evan just wants to deliver a pizza. A play about what happens when who we were finally catches up with who we are now. Oct 25 & 26 at 8pm The April Hour A new play by Jonathan Smit Directed by Scott Illingworth Writing, drinking, screwing—it’s a writer’s life—old school. No distractions, no kids, no compromises. And that’s the way Henry Slanger likes it. Trouble is, his wife’s bored with the great man routine, his protégé is pregnant, and when a gothy fifteen-year-old shows up from nowhere, Henry’s the last to see the writing on the wall. Oct 27 & Nov 3 at 8pm Night Train A new play by Mel Nieves Directed by Felix Solis At the crossroads of the world, on a dark rainy night, a boy and girl will meet, take a ride into the wee small hours, and perhaps forever change the course of their tomorrows. Oct 28 & 29 at 8pm 7 Captiva Road A new play by Andrea Ciannavei Directed by Michele Chivu 7 Captiva Road explores the pervasive and secret sickness of one family as they gather for their matriarch's final hours and later for a grim birthday party. Through it all they go about their rituals with glee even as they crumble under the weight of their past. Oct 30 & Nov 6 at 8pm Incendiary A new play by Adam Szymkowicz Directed by Damon Arrington Incendiary is a noir romantic bedroom police sex comedy. Elise is a pyromaniac fire chief who falls in love with Jake, the detective investigating her fires. Carrie, Elise's therapist, is trying to get her to stop lighting fires, and Carrie's husband, Gary, is leading the life of a somewhat ineffective corporate spy. Oct 31 & Nov 5 at 8pm A Life Time Burning A new play by Cusi Cram In a perfectly decorated mid-century modern apartment on Mulberry Street, one sister has written a memoir. Another sister claims that not one word of it is true. Both may be right. Is memory ever what really happened—or, in these reality obsessed times, is it possible to rewrite one’s life? Nov 1 & 2 at 8pm Bus Accident Play A new play by Raúl Castillo Directed by John Ortiz A look at a Border town through the eyes of a New York photographer. After the loss of her lover, a woman visits his estranged family in search of the truth about his past. Nov 7 & 14 at 8pm The Transparency of Val A new play by Stephen Belber Directed by John Ortiz Val is born. Within minutes he learns part of the entire history of the world. Then, having finished college, he has to actually live. It's not quite the coconut he was taught, what with all the twisted Buddhists, sexually amorphous mates and frighteningly friendly Nazis. But Val's a survivor and he'll endure. Unless he first goes insane. Nov 8 & 11 at 8pm Burning, Burning, Burning, Burning A new play by David Bar Katz Directed by John Gould Rubin Poland, 1666. A small village community is thrown into chaos when one of their own returns home as the prophet of the messiah, Sabbatai Zvi. Infusing the people with messianic zeal, he coerces them to break every holy law they once held dear, to hasten the End of Days. Nov 9 & 10 at 8pm Thinner Than Water A new play by Melissa Ross Directed by Mimi O’Donnell Martin is in debt. Martin has three ex wives. Martin is a pain in the ass. Martin is dying. Martin needs help. So Martin turns to the people who hate him the most. His family. Nov 12 & 13 at 8pm Face Cream A new play by Maggie Bofill Directed by Mimi O’Donnell No man should ever get between a woman and her face cream. Nov 15 at 7pm and 9pm The Motherf**ker with the Hat A new play by Stephen Adly Guirgis The Motherf**ker with the Hat is a new work in progress about frailty, faith, fidelity, and a defiant act of depraved indifference perpetrated against a male fashion accessory. THE PERFORMERS INCLUDE: Betsy Aidem, Carlo Alban, Maggie Bofill, Eric Bogosian, Elizabeth Canavan, Monique Carboni, Raúl Castillo, Maria Cellario, Beth Cole, J. Eric Cook, Cusi Cram, Alexis Croucher, David Deblinger, John Doman, Jamie Dunn, Kat Foster, Kevin Geer, Yetta Gottesman, Gerardo Guidino, Sarah Nina Hayon, Lauren Heisler, Greg Keller, Florencia Lozano, Sandie Luna, Megan Mostyn-Brown, Didi O'Connell, Kelley O'Donnell, Wilemina Olivia-Garcia, John Ortiz, Melissa Paladino, Gina Maria Paoli, Richard Petrocelli, Paula Pizzi, Portia, Michael Puzzo, Joselin Reyes, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Andy Scully, Maureen Sebastian, Felix Solis, Matt Stadelman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ed Vassallo, Yul Vázquez, Aaron Roman Weiner, Elanna White, Sidney Williams, David Zayas

Critics have sell-by dates?

http://www.artsjournal.com/lies/2008/09/do-critics-have-sellby-dates.html

also Nerve starts on Long Island, NY this weekend

http://www.arenaplayers.org/pages/ss/ss-p1.html

I just discovered this

Nerve in Florida starting Nov 7

http://www.nakedstage.org/

more about the Palin poll

http://www.pbs.org/now/palin-poll.html

Sarah Palin qualified to be VP? PBS poll

http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html

petition

Subject: No blank check for Wall Street.

Dear Friend,

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?

Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.

This is worse than a bad deal - this isn't a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.

I just signed a petition calling on key members of Congress to impose a few sensible conditions to this bailout in order to protect the American people -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/no_blank_check/?r_by=-1841693-zaUmmwx&rc=paste

Thanks

save the dates

Reading of my play Incendiary

Oct 29 and Nov 6 at 8pm

at the Public by LAByrinth

Blog of my former boss, the artist Charles Fazzino

Some of you have seen his work on my wall

http://www.fazzinocollectors.com/Blog/default.aspx

Remember that theater doing Food For Fish in Baltimore?

They were named Best New Theater in City Paper's Best Of Baltimore

http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=16683

We're Gonna Frickin' Lose this Thing

Don Hall http://donhall.blogspot.com/

points us to this article by Adam McKay

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-mckay/were-gonna-frickin-lose-t_b_124772.html

looooong list of things Mccain flip flopped on

Wow!

Isaac point us to this:

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/flipflops

Palin Monologue

Unknown Theater in LA had a call for short plays about Sarah Palin. I wrote this: Sarah Palin sucked the soul out of my cat. She did. I saw her do it. Blood was dripping down her fangs. My kitten, Fluffy by name, was torn open and her tiny guts were pouring out onto the pavement all over Sarah’s PTA dress. “Wait, I said. That’s my cat.” But by then she had picked up her automatic and semi automatic and strapped grenades to her chest and jumped on the back of a camouflage truck. “Northward!” she screeched and the tires kicked up dirt all over Fluffy as they sped away. Four years ago it would have been snow, not dirt. “The old man is dead,” she had said as they drove away. “Tomorrow we go to war with Russia and Pakistan and Switzerland. We will bomb the fuck out of them. But first, let’s go kill us some polar bears.” And she was gone. And my cat was gone. And my wife had gone the year before, because we were denied health coverage when it turned out she had cancer. I had nothing. Not even Fluffy. And that’s when I began to make the bombs in my basement. And that’s when I began to dream of Sarah.

Register to vote, request absentee or find polling place--easy

http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php?source=091008emailR

photos from Snow in Edinburgh Fringe

Michigan GOP attacks right-to-vote for the recently foreclosed

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/11/michigan-gop-attacks.html

you know what's genius?

http://www.emusic.com/album/Rat-Cat-Hogan-We-re-Bicoastal-MP3-Download/10990442.html

track 5

pure genius.

Seven Years Ago Today and what followed

http://writerjoshuajames.com/dailydojo/?p=972

Theresa Rebeck on the Broadway glass ceiling

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/sep/09/broadwaysglassceiling

free preview tix

1000 Free Tickets to Previews of Women's Project Production of
The World Premiere Dark Comedy:
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills
By Saviana Stanescu, Directed by Tea Alagic
Previews September 22, Opens September 30 at 7:00pm at Women's Project
Are Downloadable Via the Web

www.WomensProject.org.

If I was in NYC right now, I would go see this:

SWIMMING CITIES OF SWITCHBACK SEA
An installation by SWOON
with a performance written by Lisa D'Amour,
created with the crew
Music by Dark Dark Dark
3 Nights Only
Thurs-Sat, Sept 11-13
Long Island City, NYC
September 11, 2008, 8pm at Deitch Studios
4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City
7 train to Vernon Jackson (First stop in Queens)
www.deitch.com

plays coming up

Can't make Food For Fish in Baltimore?

How about Nerve on Long Island

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/1841/1222907400000

my travel plans

After my temping gig ends here in October, I take off to Independence, KS to see Kristen and stay in William Inge's house. The Dark at the Top Of The Stairs was written about this house. I was in that play in high school. I'm interested to see it. Then we drive back to Minneapolis for an event at the Playwrights Center. That next weekend I fly to Baltimore to do a talkback after the last weekend of performances of Single Carrot's production of Food For Fish. (Oct 25) If you're a DC or Baltimore person I hope to see you there. Then back to MN for a short respite before a New York trip for another reading of Incendiary in Nov. Come if you can, Nycers. Then what? I'm not sure. I'd like to not stay on the ground too long. An LA trip? Prague? Paris? If so, I'll have to figure out a way to get some money before now and then.