O'Neill Immersion

When 2 time TONY award winner Brian Dennehy honored us last year with an interview onstage at SCTC I asked him what it took for an actor to play in an O'Neill play.  His answer, to paraphrase, was " You need to leave your heart, emotion, laughter and tears onstage.  You need to give him everything". I conveyed this to my cast for "Exorcism" two weeks ago as our play was taking shape.  After last night's dress rehearsal it proved that they are great students of Mr. Dennehy. As a playwright, directing O'Neill is always something that can lead to dark places.  His work is so honest and personal that, if you are brave enough to dig deep inside his words, he will lead you to your own personal darkness through his own.  He shows you the "secret" as he later wrote about in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and, as he wrote, that your "seeing the secret..ARE the secret". The humor in this dark play is also honest and comes from a place of alcoholic pain and mask wearing. This play is genuinely very funny which, I think, might surprise some. "Exorcism - a Play in One Act" is a deep, pointed look into a young man's genius...and pain. I am honored to travel this road with the master and to have such an incredible cast of gifted actors to share this path with me. I hope to see you this weekend at SCTC.  I hope Brian would approve.

"Exorcis-ing with O'Neill"

Rehearsing an O'Neill play comes with the knowledge that if you are brave enough to emotionally enter his world, it will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.  His newly discovered "Exorcism - A Play in One Act" is no exception.  This one act play, the story of his own failed suicide attempt was thought to be lost as O'Neill had destroyed all copies after two performances in 1920.  Thankfully, one was discovered in 2010 and SCTC is proud to be only the 5th company to ever produce it that we know. With the drama, though, also come serious laughs brought to you by the denizens of the flop house the play is set in back in 1915.  The cast is superb as I handpicked the actors from men I have worked with many times over the years except for one, who's first onstage appearance will be next Friday at SCTC.  So..I am now home and emotionally worn out as O'Neill's work will do IF...you leave all of your your heart, soul and emotion on the stage..which..these actors do every day.  There are FOUR shows only Friday and Saturday January 18th and 19th at 8PM and Saturday and Sunday the 19th at 2PM. Sunday is already about 3/4 sold so please do not wait.  www.southcamdentheatre.org for tickets.

"2 try to walk out on Joe Paprzycki's INDOOR PICNIC

This was written by my friend Jumbo Schimpf who is featured in my play "Indoor Picnic" at SCTC for five more shows starting tonight at 8PM. I cried when I read this and I have tears in my eyes now.  "2 try to walk out on Joe Paprzycki's INDOOR PICNIC Last night was Neighborhood Night at South Camden Theatre Company's Waterfront South Theatre, which opened in 2010 and is the first and only professional playhouse in Camden, NJ. Anyone who lives in Waterfront South and wants to see a show can enjoy it, free of charge, on Neighborhood Nights throughout the season. The bill last night was Artistic Director Joe Paprzycki's own Indoor Picnic, a play set in Camden during the 1960s through the early 90s. It witnesses the city's decline and the rampant racism that tore neighbors apart. Seen through the eyes of four members of the Polish Club (Dan Hickey, Edward Monterosso, Eric J. Pederson and Jumbo Schimpf) and the black woman who is their hired help (Zuhairah), the hate, fear, ignorance, and hope of the once-proud city collide. At times, the mirror this play holds up is difficult to look into; the reflections can be disappointing, and show us imagines we shy away from in real life. But as the play offers a chance for redemption at a bus stop, it reminds us that sometimes healing is as simple as that - a smile and a hello - if we have the courage to go that far. During Friday night's performance, 2 patrons saw these reflections and tried to leave during the intermission. They were residents of Camden's Waterfront South neighborhood who had taken advantage of the free ticket offer. Paprzycki, stopped them at the door and asked why they were leaving. Their response was not what the average theatregoer might expect: "We thought it was over." When Paprzycki explained there was still another Act to come, the two neighbors, very embarrassed, apologized. They didn't know. They had never sat through an intermission. They had never been to a theatre before. They returned, happily, for Act II. Indoor Picnic runs through Sunday, November 11. Tickets can be purchased at www.southcamdentheatre.org

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Held in the Grasp of Ghosts

Flying to Boston this morning on a clear blue day, looking out of my aisle seat number 14 window out to my right…the blinding glare of the rising sun had just begun to pass over the top of us when I looked down…to see that the curving coastline of Cape Cod was unfurling out below me.  I craned my neck as the miles passed by tens and twenties over the my bemused window seat compatriot when as I jockeyed to look more ahead..I could finally see the hook and hook of the tip.  This is the part of the cape…the furthest from Boston…..that protects Provincetown.  And…as I looked down from 26,000 feet, watching the fist of Massachusetts protecting this former Portuguese fisherman’s village…I had my epiphany.  …the reason I return over and over again to this place…the reason for the quest….the reason I need to be here.  Because…I realized that not only was that fist protecting Provincetown but….it was also there to protect me.  Protect me and the countless writers and artists and poets who also…NEED…to be here.  Here…I have my protection.  Here…I can write what I need to write with the ghost of artist and writers past standing hand in hand on the rocks protecting me….and…all of the other current residents of this sphere who find this tiny town a respite… and…an Eden.  It finally hit me……26,000 feet in the clear blue fall sky….and all from aisle seat number 14. 

In the years ahead…I will be one of those hand in hand on those same rocks…holding hands with the writers and artists of the past as we protect the creators of the future….carrying this sacred place forward through time and space.

As O’Neill  [One of the writers on the rocks] said in his masterpiece “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”…”the moment of ecstatic freedom” . It is now something that I can call my own.  Call my own now…as I am speeding on a ferry from Boston……now only miles from my own personal Mecca.

 

I have found my place.

Art Imitates Life

Very sad news today as the final Polish Picnic in southern NJ scheduled for this Sunday was cancelled due to expenses and diminished crowds. My play "Indoor Picnic", opening on October 26th at SCTC tells such a similar tale.  A story of old traditions being left behind as our cities and neighborhoods change. A story of people, still living in the past grapple with the change all around them as their city becomes a different place with new people and problems.  A story filled with old world music and celebrations that are now disappearing as a new, more dangerous city rises, as seen through the eyes of a few residents.  Their story is told through laughter and tears; the essence of life itself.  The  Polish Picnic ending at this particular time is an eerie reminder to all of us that change is always around and, how we adapt or do not adapt to it, can be triumphant or tragic.  Please get your tickets for this three week run at www.southcamdentheatre.org.  Come grow with us at our home in Waterfront south.

"Express Tracks" The writing and journey of a new play

Writing a play is a complicated thing.  It is a combination of inspiration, timing, voices, story and character that all come together in the writer's mind and then, on the page to..hopefully..come to life on a stage.  My new play "Express Tracks", will have it's first open to the public staged reading on Monday, July 30th is the combination of all of those elements.  This is a play that was inspired by a trip on a train...one from Camden to Trenton ..as I travelled last winter.  On the train I saw people and heard voices that lent themselves to this story and...inspired me to seek answers to other questions of my own.  Questions of faith and feeling trapped and isolated in a world with open windows and sunlight.  These characters allowed me to dig deeper into their backgrounds and motivations and in doing that..ultimately...my own.  This world is complex and....this ride let me question my own world by exploring the world of strangers...people we see every day and pass by..or ..interact with. I wrote this play in the predawn hours of five mornings in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  As I wrote lightning lit up the cove below me and the constant heat and humidity of June on the Mexican coast surrounded me.  These elements have now become a part of this work.  I invite you to the reading..to be a part of its first breath of life and to offer feedback...should you feel inspired. Director Dan Student has brought together an amazing, stellar cast on this particular Monday evening and we will be witness to their talent as "Express Tracks" comes to life in its earliest form.  SCTC wants to bring you into the process of creating theatre as well as being an audience member.  As we enter our eighth season we want to engage you even more into the process..and ..give you a theatrical home of your own.  Please come.   We begin at 7PM and it's free. 

A tree grows in Provincetown

Sitting on my deck...staring out onto O'Neill's tides and working on a rewrite for this coming season I stopped to take a break and...for a second...looked away from the harbor to see a tree..a very old one..on the lot next to me.  I say old because the top of the tree and all of it's branches were a snowy grey/white...but..below it the tree is as green and vibrant as...I can imagine....decades ago when it first sprung to like not far from the shadow of the Pilgrim's Monument.  I kept watching this tree and...saw the parallel to my own self..and my own life.  The grey on top of this tree did nothing to affect the life going on inside.  The green, heavily leafed branches were swaying in the cool breeze of an early afternoon in July.  The tree still felt the breeze...breathed in the sea air and was growing..just as it was since it's birth on a small hill in this historic cape town.  I thought it was an eerie parallel as I continue to work at my writing..constantly inspired by Tennessee's moon and O'Neill's lighthouse...the same this tree has bore witness to over the generations.  I found myself jealous....though...as this tree is rooted in the place I have grown to love the most in the world..a place where it will only leave by disease or by a tree surgeons saw.  The trees roots are here...and mine are 350 miles away.  So.....the need to lay new roots has become more and more clear to me...even as the gray/silver of my own becomes more visible and has now begun to overpower my hair's former hue.  We both feel the breeze and feel the sun here. We both have seen sunny days and many storms...but...for now...only one of us has permanent roots here.  The tide is changing below me...I see the water rising higher and higher to it's fmailiar spot convering our second deck step.  The tides are changing.