New Year, New Stories
I can’t believe we’re already done with the entire first quarter of 2025! Time seriously flies when you’re having fun—or when you’re in a creative flowstate! The first chunk of the year has been such an exciting time for writing new words, but also the development and production of old favorites!
We kicked off the year with a Playwrights Thriving reading of Murdering Medea, and I cannot overemphasize how helpful it was to hear feedback directly from playwrights! The cast that performed in the EastLine workshop came back for a reprise, which was also a blast! And since then, development has only continued!
I was lucky enough to see the play featured in The Athena Project’s Read & Rant series in February, where a passionate group of theatre artists got to discuss the play book club-style, which was so much fun!
Then, I had the opportunity to work with dramaturg Emma McGee through the Digital Development Project’s mini match. I LOVED working with Emma, whose enthusiasm was contagious. I can honestly say she single-handedly got me excited about this play again. But the development fun also didn’t end there!
Unleashed Theatre Co in Denver put up a reading as part of their Pints & Plays series this April! I got to see all the work and revisions I’d put in since January come to life in front of a VERY enthusiastic audience that I am told spanned from age 20 through 80! The actors were phenomenally funny, I got a ton of great feedback, and I think I’m just about ready for the next revision pass. I am SO excited about how far this play has come… just in time for the premiere this June with Black Swamp Players in Ohio!
I was also incredibly lucky to attend the very first staged workshop of my new play, they have become the forest, in Greenwood Lake, NY! It was produced as part of the Greenwood Lake Theatre’s New Works Festival, and we spent an entire weekend rehearsing, designing, revising, and putting this thing on its feet! It was a FAST but rewarding process, and I loved seeing my story come to life for the very first time! This play seriously means so much to me, and watching other artists cry at the table read (!!!) really affirmed the importance of this story.
they have become the forest was directed by Casey Morris and featured Gitana Mims as Sy and Courtney Silber as Daphne.
And the development of this play isn’t over, either! I’ll be traveling to Shepherdstown, WV, this May to further develop the piece in a workshop with The Roving Peregrine Theatre Company. We’re playing with some really exciting stuff during this workshop, like figuring out live music, working through movement dramaturgy, and playing with puppetry! I have complete faith that it is going to be a completely different experience, and I cannot WAIT to see what we learn! I hope other groups will take a risk on this lovely little two-hander and help me get it where it needs to be!
Meanwhile, in Iowa, These Gilded Souls opened Mirrorbox Theatre’s 2025 Big Box season, and the production was stunning! Here’s a peek:
Photos were by Greg Billman, Courtesy of Mirrorbox Theatre.
Now that we’ve had a feast for the eyes, it’s time for the ears to have a turn! I learned that my audio play, reANIMA, was nominated for Best Story and Best Ensemble Cast in LAWebfest 2025! It’s wild that my first attempt at audio fiction has done so well out of the gate! If you haven’t listened, the full production is available for free on YouTube:
You can also listen on your favorite Podcasting app, like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc!
In the meantime, I’ve been spending pretty much every waking moment working on a new audio project… at a slightly (okay, a MUCH) larger scale. It has all the things I love—Greek Mythology, starcrossed queer romance, outerspace, government corruption, woodland creatures, crepes… among other things!
We’re gearing up for a table read any day as I put the finishing touches on the series! I honestly can’t believe how refreshing it has been to find myself in a creative flow state, working on this project for HOURS a day, even after a full day of work and on the weekends! I wake up first thing in the morning with these characters in my head! Have I wept while working on this project? Yes. Will it happen again? Almost definitely. There is going to be an ALL STAR team behind this one, so watch this space for updates!
Other fun things that either happened this quarter or are coming up:
A production of Come Back Right as part of Memoriam Development’s Nightshade festival (pictured above).
The Psychopomp was selected for inclusion in Smith & Kraus’s Best Ten Minute Plays of 2025.
The Psychopomp will receive a local production with the Port Washington Play Troupe as part of their festival this May (possibly the first NY production?!)
Hot Blood Sundae, that old chestnut, will have a production at Pace University.
Occupied will receive a staged reading as part of NJ Rep’s staged reading this summer, directed by my friend actress Jill Eikenberry, and featuring the same actors who performed in a workshop with New Normal Rep way back in 2022 (Ella Dershowitz and Melissa Joyner).
And, of course, the premiere of Murdering Medea with Black Swamp Players this June!
And we’ve already discussed Blowhole getting a nod for The Blue Ink Award, but it’s still very exciting to me! I’ve taken a step back from short plays, and haven’t been submitting very much, but you never know what might come up! Have an idea? Get in touch, and let’s make something cool in Q2!
