-
My Playwright’s Nightmare “The Empty Cornucopia”
I had a “playwright’s nightmare” three nights ago. I dreamed I was a ghost-like spirit able to walk through walls and into “the room where it happens” in new play development – those elusive panels with artistic directors, dramaturgs and in-group-writers, the ones who get to “choose” the “winners.” There was a large white board…
-
Salt Circles for Sarah and Rebecca
Growing up we were taught that witchcraft was very real and very very freaking scary. Witches and warlocks would sacrifice and torture live animals. They could control the demons always battling just above our heads in unseen spiritual warfare and tell them slip into our souls – if even we left a crack of curiosity…
-
Writers are Witches, Suzan-Lori Parks and Milk
As a writer I often feel like a spilled cup of milk – running in all directions over an uneven floor. I’ve got substance and history and nutrition to honor, and unseen sacrifices of birth and consumption, and I don’t want to waste any of it – but damn it – there’s laundry and kid…
-
Hamilton, Gucci Handbags, and no hope for new plays…?
This article is so right on. I have few answers. (Just lots of commentary which includes curse words and inner crying emojis – not pictured here.) And also more questions. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/12/1127065985/new-play-development-american-regional-theaters-next-stage From the title: Where will the next ‘Hamilton’ come from now that so many playwrights are in TV? Why is Hamilton always the standard?…
-
Hemingway, Me, and the Times again
I started reading Hemingway’s first novel In Our Time in January of 2021 at a cabin overlooking an ancient and remote part of the Allegheny River. (See featured photo of my kids, cabin and the river.) It was the thick of COVID, and I was in the thick of grieving. My Dad had traumatically died…
-
My grandma, Tom Stoppard, and the gray
So this is a big one, and I’m hesitant to even do a blog post on it. Sometimes in order to muster up the courage to even begin a complex conversation – I have to be able to give myself permission to just “scratch the surface.” So here’s my “made from scratch” blog post for…
-
“Write Plays?! I could do that!” 3 Common Thinking Traps – NPR article
This article from NPR was challenging and affirming. The first cognitive bias discussed here is “We overestimate our abilities.” In her class at Yale, Ahn uses an experiment to illustrate this phenomenon with her students. She shows them a dance clip from the song “Boy with Luv” by the K-pop group BTS. After watching six…
-
“Show Me the Money” in professional theatre
I just want to continue to uplift Jesse Green’s recent series in the New York Times. His latest piece “After a Long, Starring Run, Will Racism at Last Get the Hook?” continues to thoughtfully interrogate the many complexities of theatre making in this country. I have so many thoughts on all of it, which include…
-
James Buchanan High School
I graduated from James Buchanan High School in rural Mercersburg Pennsylvania, known to the locals as JB. The namesake of my school is from America’s 15th President, James Buchanan, known until recently as America’s “worst” president, as well as the only one from Pennsylvania. The “Do Nothing President,” as he was known, was America’s only…
-
National TCG Conference
I was proud to be a member of the host committee and contributor with the National TCG Conference held in Pittsburgh this year. Although my work is not highlighted in any way in this article – which is to say – as rosy as this article is – Pittsburgh theatre is all of the wonderful things…
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Anya Martin 