Day 149: My next short play!

I can't believe I've been so insanely busy that I haven't even had time to post about my next short play!  Performances are this Saturday and Sunday (details below).  This is probably my favorite short play I have written, Spirit Dust, set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.  I'm working with a superb director, Paul Stancato (who just came from directing the national tour of the Lion King), and two beautifully talented actresses, Suzee Dunn and Sally Burtenshaw.  Tickets are completely sold out for Saturday, and Sunday is filling up fast, so get your ticket online ASAP!  Details below.

I'm trying an experiment with this play: after finishing the rewrites from the first 2 rehearsals, I have now stepped back and will not be attending the rest of the rehearsals.  I will just show up on Saturday and sit in the audience and see what they have done with my play.  While part of my brain says "eeeek!", the other part trusts that the wonderful people I have chosen to work on this will do great work and is actually excited about this.  I know I'll still be nervous the night of the show (have I mentioned how much more nerve-wracking it is to watch someone perform my play than it is to perform myself?), but it is refreshing to let go of some control.  I'll let you know how I feel about the experience when I come out the other side of it.

The other interesting part of this performance is that I have taken on the role of "curator": I selected all of the playwrights and their plays, and am basically doing all of the coordinating of the event without assuming the financial risks or rewards of producing it (though I'm still paying for the rehearsal and production of my own play).  I seem to be really good at this sort of thing, and am wondering if perhaps I'm going to end up being a producer....  Though I loathe the thought of dealing with the money side of things, so I don't know.  But given the success we are having with selling tickets for this run, I am considering producing another run of it myself, perhaps in partnership with one of the other writers.  We shall see. 

In the mean time, come on down for what promises to be a lovely night of theater!  Did I mention that all the plays are by women?  I didn't start out trying to make that happen, but all the writers who responded to me at first were women, so I decided to make a thing of it.  In a world where only 17% of plays produced are written by women, it is exciting to put together a program by so many talented women writers.  I hope to see you there!

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John Chatterton's Short Play Lab presents:

Ladies' Lab: Short Plays to Amuse and Amaze

Seven women playwrights bring you seven smokin' hot new plays, curated by Natalie Wilson.

7pm Saturday June 19th
4pm Sunday June 20th

Roy Arias Payan Theatre
300 West 43rd Street, 5th Floor (@ 8th Ave)

Tickets: $18 (available online at SmartTix.com, or by calling 212-868-4444)

For information about the plays, visit my website.
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