maurice martin : : freelance journalist & playwright

I just stumbled across the DC Theatre Reviews blog. Good info and a fine set o’ links.
Notice they spell it “theatre.” Not so at the Washington Theater Review. I admit that I had some internal back-and-forth over this when setting up my blog.
Using “theater” made me feel provincial and out of touch. Using “theatre” made me feel pretentious and pedantic. What to do?
As you can see, I finally decided on “theatrrr.” The rest, as they say, is history.  

More than a year ago I got an evaluation sheet from BareStage Theatre, who produced the first west coast staging of my play “Vampires on Disability.” I just took another look at it, and realized that they gave me a numerical grade.
The evaluator had to fill out ten-point Likert scales for five elements of the play. Here’s what they gave me:

• Originality - 10
• Style - 9
• Dialogue - 8
• Plot development - 8
• Character dev - 8

I got 43 out of 50, which would be 86 out of 100, which I think would have been about a B-. If I don’t bring up that grade, I won’t be eligible for varsity basketball!

Did I say play? I meant FULL-LENGTH play! That’s right, the 10-minute format can no longer contain me. I am busting out. Oh yeah.

Bughouse will be read at 8pm Sunday, Sept. 3, at the Kennedy Center. Admission is free. FREE!

This reading is part of the annual Page-2-Stage Festival. Here’s the description of Bughouse from the program:

When the International Chess Federation declares anti-depressants to be a “performance-enhancing drug,” professional chess player Kale Dutton has three months to kick the habit or end his career. He checks into the Salopek Mental Health Institute, where he falls in love with a fellow patient and accidentally starts an anti-medication revolution. Unfortunately, some people should just say yes to drugs.

The reading will take place in the South Atrium of the KenCen. Hope to see you there!

Three Questions

Waddaya know? Looks like my play “Three Questions” just appeared in show called A Pink Cadillac Nightmare and 6 other short, lighthearted plays presented by the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield in New Jersey. Here’s a picture…

Actually, that’s a picture from John Guillory’s movie adaptation of 3Q, available for online viewing here. But you get the idea. The First Unitarian Society has a broad definition of “lighthearted.”

I didn’t know about the Plainfield production until after the fact. The way that works is, they get my play from an anthology published by Samuel French Inc., which also handles permissions and royalties.

So, every once in a while, out of the blue, I get a check from Sam French for $28 or $34 or some such. As they say on the Internet, “w00t”!

Here’s another cool thing: lots of these productions are in church basements or high school gyms… even though my play has the F-word! That’s like “w00t” with a bunch of unnecessary zeros.

Let’s just hope those Unitarian thespians didn’t “forget” to contact Samuel French about the production. I’m watching you, Plainfield, and waiting for my $28. Don’t get cute.

Twister!

Play in a Day has come and gone. The contribution from Team Woolly Mammoth was “Right Hand Red”–a cautionary tale for little girls who dream of meeting Prince Charming and marrying into a bizarre Twister cult. Or something.

Richly deserved shout-outs to director Andy Wassenich, and actresses Liz Mamana and Beth Hylton. And a tip of the fedora to Olivia Doherty, who didn’t misrepresent me in her Montgomery Gazette article. Gotta keep an eye on those journalists–they’re a shifty bunch.

Michael Merino

Last year’s Play in a Day did not go well for Team Woolly Mammoth. For some reason, Lisa, Michael, and I thought we should split the playwriting duties. But rather than building on each other’s talents, we quickly sank to our least common denominators.

The result was “Cooking with Lesbians.” If you saw the performance, I apologize. Actually, I should apologize just for the title. I’m sorry. Really. To make amends, here’s a picture of Michael in his playwriting togs.

Tonight, I report to something called “Laugh Riot” in the Bethesda Hilton, where I’ll be given a line of dialog and a prop that have to be incorporated into my script. That name reminds me of comedy clubs back in the 1980s, except that it would have been called “Laff Riot.” Like “Funny Bonez.” Back then, misspellings were supposed to be funny, not emblems of bogus street cred.

Of course, they are neither. It was a simpler time, that’s all I’m saying.

Last night, I finished watching season 3 of Red vs. Blue. So if my play comes out sounding like a cross between “Catch 22″ and “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” that’s why.

Edward Albee

Sunday is the annual Play In A Day event in Bethesda, and yours truly will be playwright on the team representing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Watch out, Olney Theatre–you suckas are going down!

Pictured is last year’s winner, Edward Albee, a.k.a. “Edward Maul-Me,” who took the gold belt from three-time champ Harold “Bone-splinter” Pinter. This is not a church-basement event, yo!

Bella Lugosi

For the first time, one of my plays will be produced on the West Coast! I don’t know where exactly the town of Red Bluff is located, but it’s somewhere in California and that officially makes me nationwide.

Barestage Theatre will produce “Vampires on Disability” as part of its Six 10s @ Eight Festival this Friday and Saturday. If you catch it, let me know what you think.

The play is about a vampire who applies for disability on the basis that he’s dead. Pictured right is Bella Lugosi who, sadly, can’t appear in my play because he’s dead. So you see, it really is a disability.