Flux event

Poetic Larceny ...because inspiration is the sincerest form of larceny... A play reading series where playwrights steal three things from the playwright before them, only to have three things stolen from them by the next shifty scribe. A staged reading series inspired by the themes of our Spring production of Adam Szymkowicz's Pretty Theft. $10 Tickets for Pretty Theft available at the door of the April 6th Poetic Larceny! Or use the code Larceny1 for tickets online here. This limited time offer is good for the 1st week of performances, opening excluded. Poetic Larceny The dates: Mondays, April 6th and 13th at 7PM At Primary Stages Studio A, 307 West 38th Street, Suite 1510 And Mondays, May 4th and 11th at 7PM At Access Theater's Gallery, 380 Broadway, 4th Floor $5 suggested donation The playwrights: Rob Ackerman, Johnna Adams, Bianca Bagatourian, Jeremy Basescu, Erin Browne, Chad Beckim, Bekah Brunstetter, Katherine Burger, James Comtois, Corey Ann Haydu, David Ian Lee, Jeff Lewonczyk, August Schulenburg, Crystal Skillman, Isaiah Tanenbaum The directors: Michael Davis, Jessi D. Hill, Kate Marks, Kelly O'Donnell The actors: Ryan Andes, Havilah Brewster, Tiffany Clementi, Nick Gallegos, Mariam Habib, Ian Heitzman, Kitty Lindsay, Elise Link, Nick Monroy, Matthew Murumba, Gretchen Poulos, Carolyn Ratteray, Isaiah Tanebaum, Daren Taylor, Gregory Waller, Shannon Michael Wamser, Anthony Willis Jr., DeWanda Wise, Cotton Wright, Travis York More information here on the Flux Blog.

Rebeck on plot

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-theresa-rebeck29-2009mar29,0,2065069.story

coming soon

Matt Freeman and I do a podcast at nytheatre.com

http://www.nytheatre-i.com/2009/03/some-nyte-good-news-updates.html

new monologue books for actors and those who like monolgues

I have one monologue in each of these books. They are both from Food For Fish. So if you wanted, you could just read Food For Fish, but then you would miss out on the other cool monologues contained within. There are some heavy hitters in these books, including many people that you or I may know personally. See below: Women: And Her Hair Went With Her (2), Zina Camblin And We All Wore Leather Pants, Robert Attenweiler Beauty of the Father, Nilo Cruz The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (2), Kate Moira Ryan and Linda S. Chapman Boats on a River, Julie Marie Myatt A Body of Water, Lee Blessing Boom (3), Peter Sinn Nachtrieb The Butcher of Baraboo, Marisa Wegrzyn Christmas Belles, Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten Chronicles Simpkins Will Cut Your Ass Off, Rolin Jones The Conscientious Objector, Michael Murphy Custody of the Eyes (2), Anthony Giardina The Drunken City (3), Adam Bock Earthquake Chica, Anne Garcia-Romero Eat the Runt, Avery Crozier Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, Quiara Alegria Hudes Fall Forward, Daniel Reitz Food for Fish, Adam Szymkowicz Fuck Tori Amos, Caitlyn Montanye Parrish Giftbox (2), Francine Volpe God's Ear (2), Jenny Schwartz Great Falls, Lee Blessing Guardians (2), Peter Morris The Hopper Collection, Mat Smart Hunting and Gathering (2), Brooke Berman In Our Name, Elena Hartwell In the Shadow of My Son, Nadine Bernard Joy, John Fisher Love-Lies-Bleeding, Don DeLillo Marvelous Shrine, Leslie Bramm Mauritius, Theresa Rebeck Men of Steel, Qui Nguyen Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, Jennifer Haley None of the Above, Jenny Lyn Bader 100 Saints You Should Know (2), Kate Fodor Property, Rosary O'Neill Regrets Only (2), Paul Rudnick School of the Americas, Jose Rivera A Small, Melodramatic Story, Stephen Belber Smoke and Mirrors (2), Joseph Goodrich Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Young Jean Lee Spain, Jim Knabel Tea, Valina Hasu Houston tempOdyssey, Dan Dietz This Beautiful City, Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis Unconditional, Brett C. Leonard Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, Julie Marie Myatt What Shall I Do For Pretty Girls?, Don Nigro When The Messenger Is Hot, Marisa Wegrzyn White People, JT Rogers Men: The Actor, Horton Foote Adopt a Sailor (3), Charles Evered Boats on a River, Julie Marie Myatt Cagelove, Christopher Denham The Conscientious Objector (2), Michael Murphy Darwin in Malibu, Crispin Whittell Digging Eleven, Kia Corthron Down and Dirty, Lee Blessing Eagle Hills, Eagle Ridge, Eagle Landing, Brett Neveu Echoes of Another Man, Mia McCullough The Emperor of Ice Cream; or, Thirteen Ways of Looking at Donald Rumsfeld, Matt Moses Fall Forward, Daniel Reitz Food for Fish, Adam Szymkowicz The Four of Us (3), Itamar Moses Gary, Melinda Lopez November (2), David Mamet Good, Clean Fun (2), Lee Blessing Great Falls, Lee Blessing Hunting and Gathering, Brooke Berman The Last Good Moment of Lily Baker, Russell Davis Massacre (Sing to Your Children) , Jose Rivera Mauritius, Theresa Rebeck Men of Steel (2), Qui Nguyen 100 Saints You Should Know, Kate Fodor On the Line (2), Joe Roland Property (2), Rosary O'Neill Rats, Ron Fitzgerald The Rules of Charity (2), John Belluso School of the Americas, Jose Rivera Screw Machine/Eye Candy, CJ Hopkins Songs of the Dragon Flying to Heaven, Young Jean Lee Spain (2), Jim Knabel The Sunset LTD, Cormac McCarthy The Thirteenth of Paris, Mat Smart This Beautiful City, Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis Unconditional, Brett C. Leonard Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, Julie Marie Myatt White People, JT Rogers Willy's Cut and Shine, Michael Bradford Wittenberg (2), David Davalos Yemaya's Belly, Quiara Alegria Hudes

PT

Last Chance for 1/2 Price Tix to Pretty Theft Offer expires this Sunday March 29th at midnight, so buy now! Use the code PICKPOCKET for $9 tickets the 1st week of performances (opening excluded) Preview: Thurs, April 23rd, 8PM Opening: Friday, April 24th, 8PM Pretty Theft runs Thurs-Sat at 8PM And Sun at 7PM From April 23rd - May 17th Patron's Night with Pre-show Reception Sat, May 2nd! Access Theater's Gallery 380 Broadway, 4th Floor New York, New York 10013 2 blocks south of Canal St N,R,Q,W or 6 trains to Canal St Flux's 2009/10 season begins with Adam Szymkowicz's Pretty Theft, a play about ballerinas, boxes and the dangers of beauty. After losing her father, Allegra falls under the wing of bad girl Suzy, only to find an unexpected friendship with Joe, an autistic savant. When things between them take a violent turn, Allegra and Suzy escape cross country and befriend Marco, a mysterious thief who claims he cannot be caught.

Ken of the Producer's Perspective publishes his 1st year of blogging as a book

http://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2009/03/kindle-or-not-books-will-never-go-out-of-style-so-i-published-one.html

evolution of a one-man show

I wrote this one person (one dog actually) show called Bee Eater while I was at Juilliard. I thought it was 40 minutes long and I kept trying to write short 20 min or so one person shows to go before or after it. I wrote two of these and attempted another before scrapping it. We put up Bee Eater for a couple of nights in Minneapolis and I can tell you it's actually 50 minutes long. (I had two 10 min pieces go on before it) While rehearsing Bee Eater I came up with another idea-- a short one person piece to go after it played by the same actor and I think it's the right one this time. I finished writing it today. It'll still have to be tested but I think it brings out the things that people are glossing over in Bee Eater and hopefully does so in a cool way. I'll have to see. I wrote Pretty Theft in '04 sometime and it's finally being done in nyc this April. Who know how long this play will take to go up. Could be next year, could be five years from now or ten. In any case I can add it to my list of my plays I want to see produced. That list is getting longer. And as I sit here, having just finished a new play all I can think of is that I better start another one soon.

notes about the play

I was asked to write playwright notes for Pretty Theft. Here they are-- In 2004, I took a class with Chuck Mee at the Flea. He was writing what would become Hotel Cassiopeia about the life of artist Joseph Cornell. Cornell is probably most famous for his boxes—dioramas created from collages of found objects. He lived his whole life in the house he grew up in and probably died a virgin. He also had many friendships with ballerinas and sometimes gave his art to them as gifts. In Chuck Mee’s class we were supposed to all write our own play about Joseph Cornell and in the spirit of Mee, we were all supposed to steal from one another. Every scene everyone brought in was on the table to potentially become part of our own pieces. I did not end up writing a play about Joseph Cornell but instead wrote a play about an autistic guy named Joe who is obsessed with ballerinas and likes to collect things in a box. Likewise, I took my character of the Waitress from a café scene someone brought in where a character said “If you live in New York long enough you will eventually fall in love with a waitress” and I took my main character Allegra from an interview someone brought in of the dancer Allegra Kent. Although I didn’t end up stealing scenes or dialogue, I instead wrote a play about stealing. I wanted to figure out why I was so opposed to taking lines from people’s scenes when that was what we were supposed to do. Ingrained in me still was the idea of theft as an unallowable taboo. So I wrote about it. I was interested in showing different versions of theft—the serious and less serious, emotional theft and physical theft and what theft means in America and to us as individuals. Why do some people compulsively steal? When something vital is taken from us, how does it affect us? That was the initial impulse to write this play. I also looked at Chuck Mee’s theatricality and tried to make my version of a Chuck Mee play. In Pretty Theft, ballerinas dance between scenes and wrenches fall from the ceiling. And above all, I wanted to make something beautiful, maybe terrible, hopefully funny but also emotionally resonant.

Half Price Tickets to Pretty Theft

Pretty Theft in New York at the Access Theatre 1/2 price tickets Use the code PICKPOCKET for $9 tickets for the 1st week of performances (opening excluded) - this is a limited time offer - so click here now to save! Preview: Thurs, April 23rd, 8PM Opening: Friday, April 24th, 8PM Pretty Theft runs Thurs-Sat at 8PM And Sun at 7PM From April 23rd - May 17th Patron's Night with Pre-show Reception Sat, May 2nd! Cast Allegra: Marnie Schulenburg Suzy: Maria Portman Kelly* Joe: Brian Pracht Bobby: Zack Robidas Marco: Todd D'Amour* The Ballerinas: Waitress, etc: Candice Holdorf* Supervisor, etc: Cotton Wright* Psychiatrist, etc: Lynn Kenny *Appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association Director: Angela Astle Choreographer: Ashley Martinez Scenic Design: Heather Cohn Costume Design: Becky Kelly Light Design: Andrew Fritsch Sound Design: Kevin Fuller Prop Design: Kelly O'Donnell Stage Manager: Kate August Flux's 2009/10 season begins with Adam Szymkowicz's Pretty Theft, a play about ballerinas, boxes and the dangers of beauty. After losing her father, Allegra falls under the wing of bad girl Suzy, only to find an unexpected friendship with Joe, an autistic savant. When things between them take a violent turn, Allegra and Suzy escape cross country and befriend Marco, a mysterious thief who claims he cannot be caught.

in Minneapolis

This Thursday, come see my show.

Lark has a blog

http://larktheatre.blogspot.com/

playwriting

I started writing plays about twelve years ago. I think I’m pretty good at it now. At the same time, I look at where my career is and I’m disappointed I haven’t yet had an off Broadway or regional show. My plays are being done by various small theaters throughout the country, mostly because I work really hard to get my work out there. I’m happy that people are seeing my plays but I really want them out in the world in a much larger way, a way I have no control over. It’s frustrating but I haven’t found an alternative. Theatre is what I love. And I stick with it because of the way I feel when I see something onstage that clicks and I feel myself change emotionally, intellectually, physically. I want to write things that touch people softly or rip out their guts and this is the way I’ve found to do it. Theatre is the closest I’ve come to a religious experience on this planet. Which is why I keep doing it even though it’s a hard life that no one sane should choose.

this week and next in Minneapolis

http://culturemob.com/events/5747397-the-captivity-plays-snow-all-access-and-bee-eater-mn-minneapolis-lowry-hill-east-55408-bryant-lake-bowl

Dentyne and Theatre

This is my response to the Dentyne people who want me to promote their 10 min play contest: If you want to actually help playwrights and theatre, why not commission new full length works for the stage or give cash awards to playwrights? Why do we need another 10 min contest? It's pretend help, not real help. There are people who are serious about theatre who don't have enough money to make theatre and don't have enough money to live. Why aren't you helping them instead of asking people across the country to write plays for free to promote your gum? Why not promote your gum by actually supporting the arts instead of having actors read 10 minutes of work one night at an event? Put some actual money into the arts to show that Dentyne does care about the power of live theatre to show the complexities of relationships?

Ars Nova

Please consider donating to insure continual fantastic programming

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/store/27165/donate

Flux press and Pretty Theft Pre-Press (say it ten times fast)

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Flux_Theater_Ensemble_To_Produce_3_Plays_In_200910_Season_20090305

Where I'm at

Back in Minneapolis rehearsing for a show. My agent is sending off my two newest plays, both of which I'm hopeful about. I'm writing a spec of Sunny in Philly for my other agent and she's passing around my pilot. In April, I'll head to nyc for a couple of weeks for Pretty Theft. Then what? Not sure. Food For Fish is being done in Atlanta. Herbie is being done in DC, I think. And then Kristen and I either stick around here, head to LA or come back to NYC. Or something else entirely. Who knows?

Coming up next

In Minneapolis The Captivity Plays: Snow, All Access, and Bee Eater Award-winning New York-based playwright, Adam Szymkowicz teams up with local directors, Genevieve Bennett (Twin Cities Chekhov Festival creator) and Hayley Finn (Ruth Easton Resident Directing Fellow) to produce an evening of three very funny, sometimes heartbreaking plays about missed connections: Four friends searching for love in a snowstorm. Reporters following a bad-girl celebrity. A dog looking for a way out of his pen and into a meaningful career. Performed by a cast of local favorites including, Leif Jurgensen, Leigha Horton, Kimberly Richardson, Tim Uren and Matt Erkel. March 12 and 19 at 7pm Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake Street Minneapolis, MN $10-$15 sliding scale Reservations: 612.825.8949 or www.bryantlakebowl.com

okay, I'm on Twitter

https://twitter.com/AdamSzymkowicz

Women in Theatre, Julia Jordan

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=25937072860&topic=5810

h/t Mark at Isaac http://parabasis.typepad.com/

yesterday

My play went really well yesterday. Like really really well. I'm very excited. It's this week only. Hope you can come. I saw Sheila Callaghan's play last night. Amazing. You have to see it. Damn. Just go see it.

Reason 2

I saw the dress rehearsal last night of our show at Juilliard, Hearts Like Fists, and I love it. It hasn't been in front of an audience yet and that will be a different test and there will be no uniform reaction, but right now, before they arrive, there is my reasction and my reaction is that I'm terribly proud of this play. I can sit in this for 40 more minutes and then I will watch people watch my play, and I will learn things and I will laugh. It is a little terrifying and will also be fun, probably. And there is nothing exactly like that thrill you get when you feel people respond to what you put down on the page months ago. And that is Reason 2 to be a playwright.

Reason 1

Sometimes when it's hard to be a playwright, it's stressful and you're poor and discouraged, you will get an email like this and it makes it all worthwhile. this is from the director of Food For Fish at Northwestern. Their show just ended. Adam- We returned a coffin to Evanston Funeral and Cremation today. The lights will be loaded out tomorrow, and then that will be that. What to do now!? The cast hit it out of the park show after show. A total, um knockout. They peaked during the last performance to a packed 11pm house and I sense are feeling rightfully very proud of their work. The designs came together beautifully (I'll certainly send along photos from the photo call). All in all, you're a HIT at Northwestern. People kept asking, "Where did you FIND this?! Who is this guy!?" I had many conversations with complete strangers about the script's poetry and truth and humor and beauty. Simply because of your story and your language, the whole weekend was by far my freshest and healthiest theatrical experience in recent memory (and I'd been living with the script since last spring!). And others seemed to agree. I learned a ton and had a blast. I will always look back upon my senior year as the mini-era of "Food for Fish." I can't describe to you how much I appreciate that you have created that world and have allowed others to live in it as well. To teach us as we laugh is a high art, and you are certainly a master. I hope that your time in NYC has been rewarding and that you're excited about any/all current coals you have on the fire. I wish you all the best with your future endeavors. Whenever you're in Chicago, know that you have quite a fan club that would love to hear from you. One such fan, Jake ps: The cast gave me a fish in a bowl with the label "Adam Szymkofish." Please tell me if that makes you uncomfortable and I will promptly begin training him with a new name.

this summer

Food For Fish in Atlanta

http://essentialtheatre.blogspot.com/2009/02/2009-power-plays-festival-lineup.html

roundup

Okay, so Food For Fish at Northwestern later this week. Hearts Like Fists the week after at Juilliard. Some new short plays at Bryant Lake Bowl when I return to MN and then in April, back in nyc, Pretty Theft. So here are some scenes to get you in the mood. A scene I cut from Pretty Theft. The beginning of Food For Fish. And a scene you have not seen from Hearts Like Fists: (DOCTOR X exits. The CRIMEFIGHTERS and LISA arrive at the slain couple. It is a crime scene now. They all put on rubber gloves as they enter. The dummies of the previous scene are replaced by CARSON and ED.) SALLY Welcome to your first crime scene. LISA It’s – not like I thought. SALLY It never is. JAZMIN Doctor X entered through the window as is his custom. He stood here. NINA I’m standing where Doctor X stood. I’m breathing the same air. It feels—I don’t know. I feel alive. JAZMIN The doctor is efficient. I’ll say that. Comes in. Kills ‘em. Goes out. NINA It makes me shiver. SALLY Any clues? JAZMIN Nothing. LISA (standing over the dead couple) Look at his eyelashes. He reminds me of— JAZMIN Who? LISA No one. Never mind. I shouldn’t think of it anyway. NINA You can’t help what you think. LISA Can’t I? SALLY Get some carpet samples. NINA I’ll take samples of where I’m standing. JAZMIN I have a sink full of dishes at home. Why do I always think of that at a crime scene? SALLY I always think of the Commissioner. NINA I think of nothing but Doctor X. LISA They were very much in love. (The CRIMEFIGHTERS gather around the dead bodies.) SALLY They were? JAZMIN Were they? LISA The way they’re holding each other. NINA I don’t see it. LISA Look how close they were. Breathing on each other until they stopped. Oh, yeah, there is no doubt. They were very much in love. (A flashback: The couple, ED and CARSON, come alive. CARSON in bed. ED moving around.) CARSON Come to bed. ED I’m coming. CARSON Did you lock the window? ED Yesss. I always lock the window. CARSON Did you lock the window tonight? ED I said I locked the window. CARSON Ok. Ok. Don’t get bent out of shape. ED I’m not. CARSON Are you sure I’m the one you want to spend the rest of your life with? ED I’m sure. CARSON Are you sure you’re sure? ED Yes. CARSON I’m sure too. ED Let’s go to sleep. CARSON Ok. Hold me. (They hold one another.) CARSON Our life is good. ED I think so. CARSON Me too. ED You were really good at Trivial Pursuit tonight. (But CARSON is asleep. ED closes his eyes. Light shift. They are dead again. The CRIMEFIGHTERS and LISA sigh.) LISA It makes you think. SALLY and JAZMIN Yeah. LISA Oh, well. NINA What’s wrong with me? I don’t feel anything. SALLY Why did I ever break it off with the Commissioner? NINA I think I don’t feel anything. LISA I think I’m going to cry. JAZMIN I’m going to be late to my date. But I ran out of fabric softener. Should I go get the fabric softener and be a little later and then carry it around on the date? Or should I just go without it and have clothes that aren’t as soft? LISA I can’t stand this. NINA Does Doctor X hate love? I think I hate love too. Do I? Is that possible? I am just like the Doctor, deep down or even on the surface too? I look at them and I don’t care. I am empty. LISA I—I— SALLY I think I’m going to call the Commissioner and say we should give it another shot. LISA I got to go. JAZMIN Are you going? LISA I got to go. I can’t wait another second. I’m sorry. (The CRIMEFIGHTERS watch her go.) SALLY We have to go to work. JAZMIN Where are the body bags? I can’t look at these anymore.

I've discovered the miracle of computer painting

It says "Paint." so I do.

the world is quiet here

and snowing.

coming soon

Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz Directed by Evan Cabnet starring Justine Lupe-Schomp, Thorvaldur Kristjansson, Evan Todd, Joaquina Kalukango, Jo Mei, Caitlin Harrity, and Katie Tuminelly Wed, Feb 11th @ 1:30pm Thurs, Feb 12th @ 7pm Fri, Feb 13th @ 7pm Sat, Feb 14th @ 2pm Sun, Feb 15th @ 7pm Let me know if you want to go and I'll put you on the list.