I was privileged to attend the World Premiere of CARVED-OUT LIGHT at the Obsidian Theatre in Houston last week, at Cone Man Running Production's "Five Minute Mile" festival of 5-minute plays. Congrats to cast Elizabeth Grant (left, above) and Brittny Bush (right, above) and director Renata Smith! And, for Houstonites, there are three more shows, for a total of 8 performances.
 
From Cone Man Production's website: "The best part is that you get to help decide what you see! 32 plays are selected for the production. Eight are scheduled to perform each night. The next six are drawn at random at the start of the show. The last six are voted on by the audience based on the title, descriptions and the actors involved!  It’s a different line up every single night!
 
From a submission pool of almost 400 short plays and monologues, this festival features plays from 32 playwrights across the country..."

Also, CARVED-OUT LIGHT will be published in THE BEST 5-MINUTE PLAYS book by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, a Division of Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group (tentative publication date  January 2017).

CARVED-OUT LIGHT is a spiritual dramedy and was inspired by a Lino Tagliapietra glasswork exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum. 

A beautiful vase, glowing from within, sits on an art gallery shelf. She is joined by a divaesque “new girl” vase who blames the glassblower for her woes…  

​Please contact me here regarding productions and licensing.

I AM COTTONWOOD: An Opera in Words was given a fabulous reading by a terrific group of actors at Moving Arts Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday 9/22.
Larissa Gallagher starred as the historic opera diva Nellie Melba (above, left). She also doubled as Young George, Nellie's son. Julie Briggs (above right) portrayed her teacher/mentor, Madame Mathilde Marchesi. William Salyers (2nd row, left) played Charlie Armstrong ("Kangaroo Charlie"), Nellie's husband.

I AM COTTONWOOD: An Opera in Words is based on the true life story of Dame Nellie Melba, the 19th-century superstar opera diva who rose from the Outback of Australia to the heights of European society but sacrificed everything and everyone on her way to the top. Dame Nellie was a recent "guest" on Downton Abbey.

I was inspired to write the play by the painting "The Shadow Side" by Maynard Dixon (2nd row, right).

Many thanks also to Kipper Adams (Jonesy the Mailman/Alphonse the Footman), Jeremiah Benjamin (Mr. Mitchell/Judge), Tom Diggs (Salvatore/Bailiff/Stage Directions), Ron Morehouse (Philippe, duc d'Orleans/Mr. Lanyer/Herr Strakosch), and of course to Trey Nichols, in whose Workshop I developed the play and who did the casting. Brava to one and all!

Seattle-area Kent-Meridian High School students produced MORE PRECIOUS THAN DIAMONDS three times during their recent Drama Fest and I was privileged to attend! Director Jimmy Aung selected the play from THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS 2009 book (published by Smith & Kraus, available on the Store page). He and two of the cast members are in the IB (International Baccalaureate) program for international students.
Congrats to Jimmy (Myanmar) and the cast for a job well done: Michelle Martinez (Guatemala) as MICHELLE, Sabrina Madamba (Philippines) as JULIE, and Darwin Robin (Philippines) as STEWART.
Photo: Left to right, Director Jimmy Aung, Sabrina Madamba, Michelle Martinez, Darwin Robin, and yours truly.
MORE PRECIOUS THAN DIAMONDS is also available in a musical version. Songs from MORE PRECIOUS THAN DIAMONDS: The Musical can be purchased on Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby (click here).

I saw an Olympic event today in which a woman with a (hula) hoop was doing a routine. The announcer referred to it as her "apparatus", which sounds fancier than "hoop". Anyway, I didn't know there was an Olympic event involving hoops.

I've been jumping through multiple hoops lately but it seems nobody has noticed (I guess that's why I haven't gotten any medals, ha!).  Just when I thought I couldn't be on a tech support call any longer, I beat my own record-it lasted from 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. (well, actually 2 calls). My landline was out, the internet was out, and email was out. I was on my cell so long that the battery died. I now know several gentlemen in India by their first names :)

Anyway, I was faced today with choosing the genre for my new album, MUSEUM TOUR: The Musical, for CD Baby and Jango internet radio. The musical is based on my 10-minute play, MUSEUM TOUR. The storyline goes: The Old West meets The Twilight Zone when a sophisticated Angeleno visits a Western museum. Musically, I describe it as "Americana with a Broadway twist". In addition to piano, one song uses drums and another, banjo. Country or Musical? Which artists do we sound like? Let me know what you think!

Hi there!
It means a lot to me that you’ve been a supporter of my music career, and as you know, to an indie artist every dollar counts— so I wanted to let you know that if you purchase my MP3s from CDBaby.com between July 31 and August 3, I’ll get to keep 100% of the sales!

If you’ve been thinking about it for awhile, now is the best time to buy my music because your money will literally help me pay for the cover art on my next album (already in the works).

And, I'm happy to say that MORE PRECIOUS THAN DIAMONDS: The Musical charted as Top Album on CD Baby's Show Tunes, as well as its three songs charting #1, 2, 3 on Easy Listening/Show Tunes and #1, 2, 3 on Musicals/Broadway!

The 3 song album, plus synopsis, is only $2.99. Check it out at:  http://cdbaby.com/cd/morepreciousthandiamonds2

 A review of the show can be found on the Reviews page.

Thanks a bunch!

Breaking news: My 3 songs from MORE PRECIOUS THAN
DIAMONDS: the Musical are currently #1, 2, 3 on CD Baby's Easy Listening/Show Tunes and #2, 3, 4 on Easy Listening/Broadway Musicals! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/morepreciousthandiamonds2 to listen to Fay Gauthier, Deborah Png and Marco Antonio Aguilar! Congrats, guys!