Archive | Writing

St George & the Dragon

Playing with history

At the Taft Museum I came across a Claude Lorrain oil (on loan from the Wadsworth Athaneum) ostensibly about St. George and the dragon. But history, here, is a vehicle for landscape: the dragon ain’t no thang. Which got me to thinking about all the feedback I’m getting about how my play The Whistler could […]

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Joshua Hemings redux

Life’s exigencies have occasioned the replacement of Reggie Willis in the role of Joshua Hemings with the exquisite Tony Darnell Davis, who has taught theater (including improv) at the University of Cincinnati and elsewhere, has been an actor, director, producer and writer for decades, as well as President of the Cincinnati Black Theatre Company.  He […]

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The film Carl & Jim, by 12-year old scriptwriter Michael Wolfe. Check out the score.

Deerslayer in real life

The actress who plays Deerslayer, the talking rifle in The Whistler, happens to be Juilliard-trained cellist and composer Gerri Sutyak, who wrote and performed the score for the short film below.  Her musical talent will figure prominently in my play as well. And she can whistle loodles. You can watch a clip of Gerri as […]

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Speakeasy on Race

Did I say The Whistler would be on Court Street, and the tickets $10?  Oh la!  My partners on the ground have found a better space literally around the corner at 815 Race Street. It wasn’t a Prohibition beerhall but you gotta love the name “Speakeasy on Race.” We’ll have less work to do to […]

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The first quarto

IV–>V

Our local repertory theater, hight Playmakers, ran Henry IV and Henry V in rotating rep this winter.  They were juicy productions, the moreso since I (and half the audience) had recently seen Henry V on trapeze  [sic] at Burning Coal.  Despite the great resources that this UNC-based production brought to bear, I was really disappointed […]

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A First Production!

We’re working on the first full production ever of The Whistler for a May 17th opening at a refurbished storefront theater in Cincinnati, Ohio–the Speakeasy Theater on Court. Please come if you can, and if you can’t then please follow developments on my blog using the tag Whistler (who would have thought?). Also, please consider […]

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