Two short pieces to be produced in New York Dec. 18
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions on December 10, 2012
I will soon have something in common with Mick Jagger.
And Kanye West.
And Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl and a lot of other famous people.
We’re all involved in benefit gigs in New York to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims in the Rockaways neighborhood of New York.
Mick, Kanye and many others are all performing a benefit concert for at Madison Square Garden — the 12-12-12 concert.
Meanwhile, I have two short pieces being produced as part of “Rockaway,” a day of theatre produced by the Barefoot Theatre Company at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan on Dec. 18.
Both of my pieces deal with baseball: “The Uniform” and “Deep Into October” were both previously produced at the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival of one-minute plays in New York (the links take you to video). “The Uniform” was produced in June 2012; “Deep Into October” in June 2011.
I am indebted to Rose Bonczek of Brooklyn College, who helped make this happen, and to Francisco Solorzano, artistic director of Barefoot.
Here’s the full list of playwrights taking part (a list which is growing, by the way): Read the rest of this entry »
“The Fruitcake” hits its 35th production, with more on the way
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions on December 8, 2012
The Christmas one-act “The Fruitcake” — published by Brooklyn Publishers — is pulling away as my most frequently produced work.
Two places have produced it this winter season, and one more is scheduled to.
The ones so far are:
* Cedar Rapids Public School, Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, Nov. 19, 2012.
* Rock’n’Bach (which appears to be a private arts school of some sort), Frisco, Texas, Nov. 30, 2012.
That Rock’n’Bach performance marked the 35th production.
And then the Fort Worth school district in Fort Worth, Texas is scheduled to produce it on Dec. 20 (not sure which school.)
Alas, for all those productions, I have yet to see a one, nor receive any photos from any of them.
My second most frequently-produced script is the one-act “Macbeth Goes Hollywood” — produced by Eldridge Plays and Musicals. That show has been produced 24 times, most recently in October at a school in Steger, Illinois.
In third place is “Hamlet on Spring Break” — published by Playscripts. That show has been produced 23 times, most recently in July 2012 by a school in Port Republic, New Jersey. (Here’s video from a May 2007 production in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and still photos from a 2004 production in St. Paul, Minnesota.
However, that ranking might change. In fourth place is another Christmas show, “Santa Claustrophobia,” through Big Dog Plays. It’s been produced 17 times. However, Playscripts notifies me immediately when a production is scheduled; Big Dog only lets me know when it’s time to send a royalty check. Last year, “Santa Claustrophobia” was produced three times, so it’s possible there are more productions out there this fall, which could cause Santa to bump Hamlet back to fourth.
In fifth place is “Code 40 Verona,” a murder mystery based on the police investigation into the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. It’s published through Eldridge, and was last produced in October 2011 at a school in McDonough, Georgia.
I have other published scripts that have been produced less frequently and, of course, I have many unpublished ones, which are available, royalty-free, through me. Inquire within!
Video: “57 Hours in the House of Culture” in Roanoke, Va.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 6, 2012
Here’s the archival video from the premiere of “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” my full-length play about the Moscow theatre seige.
The play was produced at Studio Roanoke in Roanoke, Va., in May, and played to good reviews and good houses. We even had a visit from our local congressman, Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County.
The video is so long it’s broken into several parts, although the show ran without an intermission.
And here’s part three:
And here’s part four:
MORE ON “57 HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF CULTURE”:
* Backstage graffiti from the show
* Photos from the show
* Audience reaction to the show
* Review: “It ain’t ‘Oklahoma!'”
* Congressman Goodlatte attends the show
* Review: “Most interactive show I’ve seen”
* Media interviews about the show
* The set takes shape
* Rehearsal photos
* Rehearsal begins
* The poster for the show
Video: “The Cherry Tree Near Loos” at Liminal gallery
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 1, 2012
Here’s another video I’m a little late in posting. The Liminal gallery in Roanoke, Va. hosts periodic readings, often in conjunction with an exhibit or classwork at Community High School, the private school with which it is associated.
On March 27, 2012, the theme was “place.” Community High School student Sahar Babi read my monologue “The Cherry Tree Near Loos.”
It’s a true story that I came across in reading once about World War I. A British soldier was killed in a tree in no man’s land, and the only way the British could retrieve his body was to bombard the tree.
I’m indebted to Cara Modisett, who organizes the readings, for finding someone to read the piece.
Video: “The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules” in England
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 1, 2012
The Castle Players in Poole, England produced my one-act comedy “The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules” in February 2011.
Previously, I just had still photos from the show available.
Now, there’s video!
(More accurately, I just figured out how to post a video of this length, although I see it came in two parts.)
Video: “Macbeth, The Prequel” in Roanoke, Virginia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Video on November 6, 2012
I have almost an entire catalog of Shakespeare riffs, mostly one-acts aimed at schools. In fact, the very first script I had published was “Hamlet on Spring Break,” through Playscripts.
One sub-genre of Shakespeare I’ve been exploring has been prequels. I have two of them so far — “Macbeth, the Prequel” and “Hamlet, the Prequel” with two more in the editing stage.
This past week, “Macbeth, the Prequel” was staged at a private event in Roanoke, through the auspices of the Grandin Ensemble and the Star City Creators Society.
Here’s the result.
This script tells how the future Lady Macbeth came to be cursed, with deadly ramifications down the line. Her mother died in childbirth bearing her and her father, who longed for a male heir, refused to name her or acknowledge her as his heir. As you’ll see, I use the most famous (and some of the not-so-famous) lines from the actual Scottish play, but re-arrange them and assign them to different characters as the Thane of Skye plots how he can put his family on the throne — only to conclude that “the girl” is the key.
The cast:
* The Thane of Skye: Gary Reid
* Witches: Brandon duMonde, Ashley Smith, Leisa
* Lady Macbeth: Kelly Anglim
* Servant: Darlene Fedele
* Thane of Cawdor: Owen Merrit
* Macbeth: Owen Merritt (double-cast)
Directed by Brandon duMonde.
In addition, Charles Reynolds created some very spooky music to go with it, which you can find here.
Video: “The Secret Lives of Goldfish” at Liminal gallery
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on October 30, 2012
I have a series of short pieces called “The Secret Lives of Goldfish” in which I take a humorous look at two goldfish, one of whom has delusions of grandeur, the other of whom is very much aware of its piscene limitations.
One of those pieces — “The Secret Lives of Goldfish, volume 4: Hot for the Deep Sea Driver” — was performed as a staged reading Oct. 25 at one of the regular readings hosted by the Liminal alternative artspace gallery in Roanoke.
Two students from Community High School — Celine Anderson and Frank Finch — were the goldfish in question.
(There’s a male version of this particular piece. That’s volume 3: “Hot for the Mermaid.” Same piece, just genders reversed.)
“The Kissing Consultant” wins praise in South Africa
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on October 13, 2012
As previously noted, my one-act “The Kissing Consultant” was produced last year by a school in South Africa — a fact I only recently became aware of. (Sometimes, play publishers take a while in reporting these things.)
I’ve since searched the ‘net and found this brief mention of the show (along with a photo) in The North Eastern Tribune, a South African newspaper.
My script, it seems, was Athlone Girls High School entry in the local one-act competition. The school doesn’t appear to have won, but s0me of the actors were commended individually. Additionally, the paper reported: “The judges commended the play for its character work.”
The script is published by Brooklyn Publishers.
Behind the scenes of “Martian Beach Babes”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, No Shame Theatre, Photos, Uncategorized on October 9, 2012
Hannah Whitt and Julia Moran in “Martian Beach Babes”
No Shame Theatre, the open mic theatre venue in Roanoke where I try out a lot of new work, recently marked its 9th anniversary in the Star City. To celebrate that, we held a Best of the Best of No Shame Theatre to show off work from nearly a decade of late-night original performance.
No Shame co-founder Todd Ristau asked if I would re-stage “Martian Beach Babes,” a piece I debuted at No Shame in July 2004 and which went on to be produced at New Frontiers Charter School in San Antonio in 2006. It’s not my best piece, by far, but I’ll admit it is visually stunning — two young women in green paint. Technically, it’s a scene about climate change. Demi and Phoebe (Mars experts will recognize them as derivatives of the moons Deimos and Phobos) can’t understand why high tide on Mars isn’t as high as it used to be, and why the sun’s rays seem stronger.
I’ve got another “green” piece — “The Women of Deep Space Pay a Visit To Earth and Don’t Like What They See” (since published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals) — but it needs four women and I only had two.
Hannah Whitt and Julia Moran, two of our regulars (indeed, our outgoing hosts), agreed to green up for the occasion. Here are a few shots of the process back-stage (with even more here on my flickr site): Read the rest of this entry »
Two of my scenes to be reprised in The Best of No Shame
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, No Shame Theatre, Photos, Uncategorized on October 1, 2012
That’s me, before a recent No Shame, with Hannah Whitt and Julia Moran, our hosts, taking the order and handling the best office. As you can see, I’ve been to the frozen yogurt shop. Photo by Todd Ristau.
It’s time for the twice-a-year Best of No Shame Theatre, in which our local open mic theatre venue in Roanoke, Va. showcases some of its best work from the past six months.
This fall’s edition will be Friday, October 5. My entry is “Time for an Upgrade,” a monologue about how a teenage girl blackmails her mother into getting her a new cellphone. It will be performed by Hannah Whitt, who debuted the piece back in July.
This year, we also have a special twist. On Saturday, October 6, we’re doing a Best of The Best of No Shame, featuring pieces from the past nine years in Roanoke — a run-up to next year’s 10th anniversary.
My entry is “Martian Beach Babes,” which will be performed by Hannah Whitt and Julia Moran. It’s about Mars losing its water, a topic now back in the news with Curiosity’s discovery of an ancient streambed on the red planet.
That piece was first done at No Shame back in July 2004, when we weren’t even a year old, and then was produced in 2006 at New Frontiers Charter School in San Antonio, Texas. No Shame producer Todd Ristau asked me to reprise it because it is a visually stunning piece when done with the proper customing. Ideally, I’ll have photos from the performance to show off as proof.
That’s Darelene Fedele, a puppeteer and one of our regulars.
The poster for our 9th anniversary show.
