I’m featuring two playwright/screenwriters this week and one pop culture critic. I thought it sounded like a fun mix.
I love reading screenplays and plays. While a novel can take me to a different place for a while, screenplays and plays engage my imagination on multiple levels. I’m engaged with the characters, I’m designing the set, I’m framing my shot, I’m blocking scenes. It’s a total experience for a certified theatre geek and film/tv addict. So I was happy to feature our resident playwrights.
First up is Joshua James:
The majority of my plays are royalty-free, and one of them, THE PENIS PAPERS (currently being produced in NYC and Maine) is also perm-free as an ebook.I’ve done a bunch of film work, but thus far my main credit is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie entitled POUND OF FLESH, which came out last year and is now streaming on Netflix.
JOSHUA JAMES is a screenwriter, novelist and playwright based in New York City. As a playwright, Joshua made his London debut when The Men’s Room was produced at the Croydon Warehouse Theatre. He made his Off-Broadway debut in The Fear Project at The Barrow Group with his piece Extreme Eugene. His plays have been produced throughout New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, all across the United States and various other parts of the world. His most recent books are THE JOSHUA JAMES PROJECT, an anthology of forty-four short plays that are now royalty-free for educational and amateur production and THE PENIS PAPERS, a free ebook of his popular play.
Did you know our own Mustang Bobby was an off-off-Broadway playwright? Yup.
From Mustang B:
Donny Hollenbeck is a successful writer of romance novels under the pen name of “Amanda Longington” living calmly and quietly in the Florida Keys with his girlfriend, Anna, a successful realtor. Both have what they think is their dream life. To make things even better, Donny’s agent Barbara arrives to tell him that he could make even more money turning his bodice-rippers into made-for-TV movies.
The poster from the off-off-Broadway production
But then, as if by magic, Bobby Cramer appears. He is the main character in the Great American novel that Donny was writing when he hit the big time with the romance novels. Bobby asks Donny: “Why have you left me in a file folder in the bottom of your desk drawer? I’d like to know what happened to me.” This leads to a hilarious series of confrontations between the flesh-and-blood author and his fictional character who is, in many ways, the guy Donny wishes he could be.
Meanwhile, Anna begins to look at her life and wonders if just selling real estate is all there is for her. She’d like to start a family. Donny must choose between Anna and their comfortable life, or Bobby and the unknown.
Here’s a link to all his works. Hit him up in the comments with questions about his play and his experience off-off Broadway.
And finally, our pop culture critic Jeff Pike:
Jeff Pike is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in more than a dozen publications—including The Utne Reader, Seattle Weekly, and USAir Magazine. He is the author of The Death of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the blog Can’t Explain, where he reviews music, movies, and books.
From his author’s page at Amazon:
You can dissect a song or analyze a movie until you’re blue in the face. But when a favorite TV show or a book really, truly speaks to you, it’s a feeling you just can’t explain. There’s no mathematical formula for that otherworldly joy, that love that drives fans to obsess over their media darlings.
So what’s a critic of pop culture to do when forced to find a balance between dissecting the value of this media and simply letting the magic of enjoyment happen?
Since 2006, Jeff Pike has been discussing these conundrums of cultural criticism while reviewing music, books, and movies on his blog Can’t Explain. There, he contemplates the value of mindless versus mindful entertainment, issues of consensus and taste, and the complexities of constructing a cultural canon.
Now, in this collection of short essays, Pike provides a fascinating look into his life and work as a media critic with a handpicked selection of reviews from his blog.
Organized alphabetically, from AI: Artificial Intelligence to an analysis of the letter Z, Index serves as a guide to pop culture and the reasons we love it—written for people everywhere who love to listen, read, and watch.
You can also check out his blog here.
That’s it for this installment. Hopefully the authors will be able to pop in and tell you more about their works. For the previous Authors In Our Midst post, Alain nicely set up a quick link at the top, or click here.
There are a few more authors to go, so if you’d like to be featured, email me (whats4dinnersolutions [at] live [dot] com) and I’ll be happy to include you.
I’m thinking once we’ve covered the authors we might just move into a favorite book thread once or twice a month, since we have a lot of book lovers in our midst. – TaMara
WaterGirl
I love these threads and I really like that they are in the quick links for easy pull-down at a later date when I might have more time to read them.
Like tonight, when I am so tired that I ate cheese & crackers and drank a glass of wine for dinner and I am about to go lie down and pretend to watch TV while I fall asleep at an embarrassingly early hour.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thanks for these, Bixby’s housemate. I can attest to the talent – and charm – of Bobby Mustang, and I’m eager to read more about the others.
Miss Bianca
Oh, boy – another author post! And playwrights too! This rules!
MomSense
I wonder where in Maine Joshua’s play is being staged. Perhaps I could go see it. I’ll have to look.
JPL
@WaterGirl: I agree. Although these are my favorite posts, I often wait until later to read.
Major Major Major Major
Index is bookmarked for later.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m reading the Hamiltome while listening to the cast album and checking political threads, and I’m struck by how something as thought provoking, smart, of the moment, and hopeful as “Hamilton” exists in the same time and space with Donald Trump being the Republican nominee for president. Maybe art, including obviously play writing, is more important to the culture than we sometimes think.
I’ll have to check out this batch of BJ authors.
Mnemosyne
I haven’t updated it for a while, but my film history/criticism website still exists:
The Insufferable Movie Snob
I got a little too wound up in trying to post in sync with the TCM calendar and stopped posting, but I should start again now that WatchTCM means people can still see the movies for several weeks after TCM airs them.
Also, I think I’ve mostly decided with my Regency novel that the hero is going to inherit a Scottish estate, but the heroine’s family is on the English side of the border. It will make the various plot devices operate more smoothly that way. Probably.
HinTN
@MustangBobby – dayummm, dude
ETA: what I mean is, “Well done!”
Mnemosyne
@Iowa Old Lady:
Zootopia was also a major hit ($300 million in the US alone), which is why I keep telling you guys Trump won’t win. The cultural moment is totally wrong for him.
Mnemosyne
And, third, only half an hour until I get to start drinking on company time and at company expense! Woot!
HinTN
@Mnemosyne: Always an interesting proposition
Mnemosyne
@HinTN:
It’s the official company party for
Secretary’sAdministrative Professionals’ Day. And believe me, everyone tries to get their money’s worth out of the company today.Zinsky
Wow! A lot of talent in our midst! I play some guitar – maybe we should have a “post your musical performances” thread.
Steeplejack (phone)
Reminder that Pandora’s Box just started on TCM. Classic German films all night.
Mustang Bobby
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Aw, thanks!
@HinTN: Thanks.
Ruemara
@Mnemosyne: woot! And, I loved Zootopia. What, a story not just about prejudice but also about intersections? Fantastic.
Very cool post. I should direct my confusion towards all these playwrights when I start trying to adapt my short into a play again. Kudos to all of you.
MomSense
@Mustang Bobby:
I really want to see All Together Now.
Joshua James
Hey, thanks for featuring me.
A reminder, my play The Penis Papers is permanently free as an ebook here.
There’s also a twitter for it (but I don’t run the PP twitter, that’s one of the producers)… I’ll be around this evening if anyone has any questions, please hit me up.
ThresherK
@Mnemosyne: Do you follow the SBTB website?
MomSense
@Joshua James:
Where in Maine is your play being produced?
Mustang Bobby
@MomSense: It is “in development” with New Theatre of Coral Gables (Florida). What that means is that I’m working with the artistic director, Ricky J. Martinez, to get the play into the company’s next season. I’ll be working with him on it this summer.
New Theatre was the theatre that premiered “Ana of the Tropics” by Nilo Cruz, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. Ricky will receive the prestigious Margo Jones Award this coming Saturday.
Joshua James
@MomSense: It’s at Port Fringe … it’s the same production that was done twice last year in NYC. I likely won’t make it up for it, sometime this summer, but I hear good things about the festival.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@MomSense: I’m trying to figure out who I can present it to in this town with a recommendation. I’ll get some feelers out soon, I hope. I’ve been enjoying a period of poor health, as our inimitable Betty Cracker put it. Oh wait, perhaps I needed a different word there.
MomSense
@Mustang Bobby:
I hope it goes well. I would love to travel to Florida to see it!
Mustang Bobby
Shameless self-promotion: my plays are available for download at the link up in the body of the post (and here) from the New Play Exchange. NPX is part of the National New Play Network which promotes new works through a group of theatres around the country. If you’re interested in producing my works or shilling for them to a theatre, contact me through NPX.
Shana
@Iowa Old Lady: For you and all the other Hamilfans, go to broadwaycares.org and click on the Easter Bonnets link to get to the story, with video, about the cast of Hamilton doing the tune of the opening number of the show as if it were the opening of Sweeney Todd. Truly a thing of joy.
Miss Bianca
@Mustang Bobby: Heh heh – “One Character in Search of an Author”, eh? : )
My local theater company is always looking for new plays to do – I’ll point ’em in your direction! (we’re going to be up to our eyeballs in “King Lear” and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” very soon, but not sure they’ve got next season planned yet).
Joshua James
@Mustang Bobby: You should check out Indie Theatre Now, if you haven’t already… Martin Denton (who runs it) is an invaluable resource and publishes a lot of plays just out of the goodness of his heart. I have my plays there, as well.
MomSense
@Joshua James:
Oh cool. I think Ellipsis Productions is part of Port Fringe and the person who runs it is a close friend of my oldest son. Thanks for the link!
Joshua James
@Miss Bianca: My plays RUNNING IN PLACE and OLD DOG are good fits for rep companies with a lot of local actors… send them their way, if you please.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: I’ve been thinking I’d like to “honor” my Scottish ancestors one day (the family name is notorious for being among the worst of the “Border Reivers”) with a “Lorna Doone” style cross-border romance. Will be watching to see how yours turns out!
@Joshua James: sure! : )
MomSense
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Sorry you aren’t feeling well. I just texted the link to my son to give to his friend from Ellipsis.
MomSense
@Joshua James:
Sending your plays to two local theaters.
This is fun!
Iowa Old Lady
@Shana: That was great! Miranda is a very convincing sadistic lunatic.
Joshua James
@MomSense: thank you!
I don’t really write plays any longer… I had a good run in the last 90s, and early aughts, had a lot of fun and got quite a few productions, but when my wife got pregnant (with our first) I just couldn’t afford to do theatre any longer, and so my focus became screenwriting (like many of my playwrighting brethren) and thankfully that’s gone well enough to call myself a working professional since I got my first gig in 2007.
I dig screenwriting, a lot, but it’s a far, far different creature than theatre… it’s awesome, but theatre just doesn’t pay, and, in fact, cost you money, in the end, simply to do it.
MomSense
@Joshua James:
I was one of those crazy teachers who put together the school plays and musicals so I definitely understand the losing money part. I do miss it, though.
Nicole
My husband and another playwright just launched a new podcast series, Uncanny County that is a kind of 21st Century Twilight Zone-esque radio play style thing. Here’s a link to the episodes. I wrote the third episode, “Mother Loves You”:
http://uncannycounty.com/episodes/
My husband wrote the first episode and the other playwright the second. I think they’re really good, and we got a nice shoutout on the AV Club’s Podmass feature last week.
You can also subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and GooglePlay (it’s free; links on the site). The plan is to drop a new episode every month. The 7th episode (“Rainbow Magic Kittens”) will also be by me.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack (phone):
I gave it the Old College Try. Brooks is gorgeous, but that isn’t enough to hold my interest. My mind was wandering and when it wasn’t wandering I was repelled by the doings on screen. I don’t know when I’m going to “get” silent film. Hasn’t happened yet.
MomSense
@Nicole:
Thanks you! Looks great.
gwangung
New Play Exchange is TOTALLY cool…creating a lot of excitement among the smaller theatres and playwrights I know. Helps a lot even for ethnic playwrights like Asian Americans…
Miss Bianca
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. Hope it is nothing serious!
satby
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Sorry to hear you’re feeling poorly, hope it turns around soon!
ruemara
@Nicole: Cool. I can always use another podcast to listen to.
Mnemosyne
@ThresherK:
I don’t, but I should. I feel like like I’m so early in my story development that I don’t want to be accidentally influenced by what other people are writing in the genre right now.
Party was so much fun that I walked the 1 mile home rather than drive. G will take me back to pick up the car later.
Mnemo +3
BGinCHI
Holy shit. The “Can’t Explain” dude is one of our regulars here?
Am I the only one who didn’t know that? It’s a great blog, so head over there if you have never read his stuff.
I often disagree, but I always appreciate.
Mustang Bobby
Thanks, everyone, for the props and kind words. Sorry I had to bug out early last night but plays and blogs don’t write themselves and morning comes early for my muses.
Jeff Pike (fka JPK)
@BGinCHI: Thanks! I’m more of a lurker, but a regular reader for years.
BGinCHI
@Jeff Pike (fka JPK): You are most welcome.
I just clicked over there and saw your post on Sherwood Anderson’s “The Egg.” It’s a great story, but if you don’t know it, read “Death in the Woods.” It’s his greatest story, IMHO, which I teach all the time (especially in methods classes).
It’s the greatest story about storytelling, and about the writing/storytelling craft, that I can think of. Amazing.
Must be read more than once! /shakes finger
Jeff Pike (fka JPK)
@BGinCHI: I will check that out, thanks!
Mnemosyne
@Mustang Bobby:
I’m slightly annoyed with the premise of your play, so Imma throw this link here for you:
“Writing A Romance Novel Made Me A Better Feminist”
(Short version: MFA fiction programs over-valorize the tough, faux-Hemingway male POV about fiction. Dudes need to get over themselves and stop forcing their narratives on the rest of us. Hmph.)
Carol Van Natta
I’ve written a few short plays myself, and no truer words were ever spoken than “…theatre just doesn’t pay, and, in fact, cost you money, in the end, simply to do it.” And if it doesn’t directly cost money, it costs your time to cast, direct, and/or produce them, when you could be writing the Things That Sell. I love theatre, but I’m exceptionally fond of eating regularly, sleeping indoors, and buying premium catfood.