From Provincetown to Camden....

What an incredible Tennessee Williams Festival this year! Beautiful weather, good bartenders and the wonderful words of a true American master Tennessee Williams. Now, after a bus ride [rough sea alert, so no ferry] and a short plane ride I am back in Camden getting ready for the final three shows of 'Last Rites" this weekend. You have three more chances to go back in time and visit Walt's Cafe as the shipyard closes and a city changes. A great review and wonderful word of mouth have resulted in brisk ticket sales. Don't miss it! Reserve now online at www.southcamdentheatre.org. "The Old Settler" will be coming after that opening on October 22nd.

We are working on next season already. Many wonderful surprises to come!! En avant!

Tennessee Williams Festival Closes

I am sitting here listening to the increasingly angry surf crashing under my window after the closing party for the very successful 5th Annual Tennessee Williams Festival here in Provincetown. Rain is moving in and....it seems a fitting end to an incredible week. The more I come up here the more friends I make and it is always so great to see them and...so sad to say goodbye. Many good things are happening and my dream is to find a way to connect SCTC with this incredible festival here to bring this quality of work to Camden. and..to bring SCTC to P'Town. Thanks to everyone that made this week so special. Art continues to flourish here and Camden's own art travels well to the tip of Cape Cod. 3 more performances of "Last Rites" this weekend. Tickets are going fast. Don;t miss out. See you at 4th and Jasper and...as Tennessee ended all of his letters....en avant!

Floating with the wind

I was just getting ready to meet my friend, playwright Gail Phaneuf for lunch when I looked out the window to the harbor and just above my head was a gull, motionless except for the wind propelling it wherever it took him. He chose not to fly, instead just let the wind push him wherever it wanted. It was a purely majestic sight and I realized that, at times, we must all just let the winds of life take us where they lead. I had to use my effort to get up here but since then I have been letting the winds lead me where they will. As the festival draws to a close and I head back home I intend to let the wind take me more and more as majesty is there for all of us if we trust in it. Provincetown is a magical place. I feel O'Neill's and Tennessee's energy everywhere. En avant!

"A man ain't a plaster saint"

I just saw Eugene O'Neill's "Diff'rent" at the Tennessee Williams Festival in P'town. Tenn saw this play here in the 1940's which is why it is included here now. O'Neill's poetry on a P'Town wharf [where he wrote so much] ....tide lapping gently under the boards, spume under your feet, with lighthouses over your shoulder has never brought him more to life. He wrote such personal, painful poetry so long ago that is still so relevant in 2010 and far beyond. We can all see ourselves in his work. "A man ain't a plaster saint" will stay with me forever. One needs whiskey after such magic. I'm off....

Early Saturday Morning in P'Town

One more day of theatre and Tennesse Williams behind me. At about 5 AM the street sweeper cleans Commercial Street, breaking the silence of the early morning with the sound of a loud truck. It is harbinger of next week when I return home to the reality of my non P'Town existance. The reality of everyday life again invades my space as a writer. Necessaary....but...unpleasant. I saw two small plays called "Escape" tonight. I now understand Tennessee more than ever.

Of P'Town, Tennessee Williams and Jupiter

So, I was privileged to be in the audience tonight for Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, MA. It was a remarkable night as I was in Tenn's sometime home, seeing one of his incredibly intense and poetic plays, in a production produced by my friend Beth Bartley that was incredible. I mention Jupiter in the title since, on my way to the theatre, a man next to me told me to look up and see Jupiter as close as it would be for the next twenty years. This bright light next to a full moon cast a beautiful blue-green light as the tide gently washed ashore as we were preparing for an evening of Tennessee Williams.

Never lose sight of what theatre truly can be. A chance to see a rare manifestation on a random night because we venture out and see a work of a master. This is a magical place and I have just witnessed true magic on this earth. Art WILL save us.

6 Performances of Last Rites left...don't miss it!

We completed our 6th show yesterday and I am so proud to say that over 450 people have already seen the play in the first two weeks! We are on target to break our attendance record for a single show and we are so grateful. Tickets remain for the last 6 shows this and next weekend [some days much tighter than others]. Don't miss out on seeing the play performed by a tremendous cast on the corner the play is set...and... in the theatre that was built because of this play. I have received so many compliments from the audience on Last Rites and this production. I am humbled and grateful. Please...don't miss the chance to see our first production in our new home. Reserve your tickets online at http://www.southcamdentheatre.org/ today. Come see what all of the excitement is about. See you at 4th and Jasper!

First amazing weekend of "Last Rites"

Thank you to everyone who came out to the new theatre this past weekend to see my play "Last Rites". The first three shows were sold out and Sunday's audience was large and enthusiastic. You have nine more shows over the next three weeks to come out to Waterfront south and see this excellent cast work so hard. We had people come this weekend from as far as northern New Jersey and Delaware. Please tell your friends to join you. Seeing this play in the new theatre allows you to travel back in time forty years and see what happened to Camden as well as many other US cities from your seat in Walt's old saloon; now a new theatre. Come feel the happiness of a close knit neighborhood and feel with the characters it's change and decline. It's easy to reserve online at www.southcamdentheatre.org. Please join us and help bring Camden back to life.

LAST RITES OPENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night was one of the most emotional nights of my life. We opened "Last Rites" after an incredible opening ceremony that brought 4th and Jasper to exciting, vibrant life. Thanks to an incredible cast and crewwho have taken my play and made it their own. A special thanks to Mayor Dana Redd for her wonderful speech and for the two proclamations that were given to the theatre company and myself. It is such a high honor and is so appreciated. You have eleven more chances to see the play that changed a corner. "Last Rites" runs until October 3rd. Come to Camden and join the emotion and excitement. Heal Camden!

Open Dress Rehearsal last night

What a night I am just waking up from! Last night over 100 people came to the new Waterfront south Theatre to see an open dress rehearsal of my play "Last Rites". It was an emotional evening as we all honored Pepe Piperno for his incredible generosity in building our new home. I will never forget the look on Pepe's face when his children unveiled the sign over the theatre "Dominica Hall". Dominica was Pepe's mother and the theatre will forever honor her. After, a performance of the play to all of our seat sponsors who were the first people to go back in time and see a play in the old bar. Opening night is tomorrow which begins a a four week run. Please join us. For times and schedule go to www.southcamdentheatre.org. The emotional impact of this on us will spread to you as we all sit in Walt's Cafe at 4th and Jasper. Art will save us!

Labor Day 2010 - Shifting Gears

I couldn't let Labor Day pass without saying thank you to all of the people who have worked so hard to get the Waterfront South Theatre ready to open this Friday. To all of our staff, donors, volunteers and especially everyone from Heart of Camden led by Helene Pierson...thank you. So now...construction is over and a different kind of labor is occurring. Our talented cast led by "Jumbo" have been working for months to bring my play to life with rehearsal after rehearsal. Bob Bingaman has designed and built a set you will not believe. Adrian, Jim and Katie have been setting light and sound cues to put you back into Camden in the late 1960's. Brad, Ashley and Erika have been gathering props, costumes and putting it all together.

Producing a play requires the same hard work ethic as any other endeavor, and by many talented, professional artists. The long wait is almost over. The magic begins on Friday.

Please join us.

Walt's Cafe reborn!

Today, thanks to my cousins Suzanne Metzgar and Rob Derowski, I picked up the cash register that my grandfather used during the days of Walt's Cafe from 1928 to 1968. We carried it back into the bar, now theatre, and rang up a sale where for so many years my grandfather rang up the sales of shipbuilder after shipbuilder. The register will be used onstage in my play "Last Rites" which opens next Friday. Bringing it back into the building was yet another emotional moment in this long journey. We have a long rehearsal tomorrow getting ready to bring the past back to life in the present. Please come to Camden over the four week run to see "Last Rites". And...while you are there.....take a real close look at that register to see how cheap beer was back in my grandpop's day! En avant!