2016 is getting off to a rollicking start — I’ve even kept my commitment to posting monthly updates so far!! But dumb self-deprecating jokes aside, there are some really cool announcements! So grab your “fam” and get “lit” on this update.
AWARD SEASON: This time of year is always a nail-biter for us show biz-types with the Oscars and Kids Choice Awards just around the corner, but I’ve already had one victory, the Titan Award for Playwriting from Theatre Bay Area. Last fall, I was accepted into TBA’s ATLAS career development training for playwrights, which in turn made me eligible for the Titan. I would like to thank TBA, my awesome new mentor Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and everyone who helped me on way my way to this award. You know who are.
THE ICE CREAM SANDWICH INCIDENT: On the same day I found out I won the Titan, I also found out that the great FaultLine Theatre would produce my play THE ICE CREAM SANDWICH INCIDENT, about a group of wannabe astronauts testing out group dynamics in a fake space station. It goes up for four weeks in August at San Francisco’s PianoFight theatre complex, and you better believe I’ll let you know when you can get tickets (get subscriptions to FaultLine’s season here).
This show will be the first full production (full budget, four week, full-length play) of my career, so I’m extremely excited to see it come to fruition and break on through to the other side.
I WOULD GO OUT TONIGHT BUT I HAVEN’T GOT A STITCH TO WEAR: My short play THIS CHARMING MAN, based off The Smiths’ tune of the same name, was featured in SF Theatre Pub‘s Morrissey Plays this January, where all of the plays were based off the lyrics of Britain’s saddest vegan. And it was covered in the Chronicle!
IN MEMORIAM: One last thing — a few days ago Nan Withers-Wilson, a dialog coach around Chicago and one of my former theatre professors at Loyola, passed away. She helped me and many others find our voices.
Barry Eitel 