But there’s a lot that’s going on.   Here’s what’s up:

1) EDGEWISE – rehearsals started today.  It’s Eli’s play.  The meet-and-greet was great (“greet great”).   We start performances in less than month.  We love this play.  You will too.

2) THERE ARE NO MORE BIG SECRETS – this is Heidi’s play that we worked on during her fellowship year.  It’s premiering at Rattlestick.  Kip Fagan (of JACK’S PRECIOUS MOMENT) is directing.  Heidi is tremendous.  We miss her.

3) THE WIFE – this is Tommy’s play that we worked on during his fellowship year.  It’s premiering in November/December.  May Adrales is directing.  Tommy is insane.  The other play of his (SEXTET) that we worked on premiered in Seattle this past week.  If you’re there, please check it out.

4) 1001 – it just closed in Chicago.  We heard it was great.  We thought about going this past week, but then realized that, uhm, we didn’t have enough miles.  We wish Chicago were closer to New York.

Anyone out there who wants to blog for us?  Mom?

In the meantime:

Dan LeFranc received the 2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award for Sixty Miles to Silver Lake.  We were there to watch him shake Arthur Sulzberger’s hand and be interviewed for 15-20 minutes at the New York Times Center.  It was really nice.  And it was great to have a mini-Sixty Miles reunion and see Dane DeHaan, Joe Adams, Sarah Benson, Tania Camargo and Dane Laffrey.  But we missed Annie Kauffman, because she’s off directing her fancy-schmancy play.

Go, Heidi Schreck.  2009 P73 Playwriting Fellow Heidi Schreck (who is also uhm an actor – heh) is getting the Theatre World Award.  Also!  There Are No More Big Secrets – which she wrote while being the fellow – is having a reading at MTC’s 7@7 on May 24 directed by none-other-than Kip Fagan.  (We won’t be able to be there b/c we have a reading that same night for Sam Marks’s new play directed by Sam Gold.)  And, by the way, congrats to one of our other favorite actors: Keira Keely (who also has done readings of There Are No More Big Secrets) for her Theatre World Award.

\”Heidi Schreck on Life\”

Darren Goldstein, Sofia Jean Gomez, Jeremy Shamos

We also had that amazing Charles and Mary Lamb Shakespeare book at our house and I spent months examining the picture where Macbeth is killing Duncan. I nearly destroyed the page. I can still vividly remember the big beards and the nightgowns and a huge dagger dripping with blood. I was both horrified and entranced by this illustration.

When I was grown up I saw the play in Russia, done by Bolshoi Drama Theater in St. Petersburg – it was kind of a hacky production with the Duncan stumbling bloody out of his chamber to die right on top of Lady M. It did start the brilliant Alissa Freundlich (from Tarkovsky’s Solaris) but it wasn’t otherwise very good. However, my Russian boyfriend was seriously freaked out when we got home, he kept muttering that “the spells are real! The spells are real!” and tried to convince me that the reason the reason the play is because Shakespeare included actual spells in the text that when spoken…well you get where I’m going with that.

Anyway, I was just reading Sara Ruhl’s short essays on Device and in number 13 “The Scary” (http://device.papertheatre.org/?p=21)  in which she quotes Mac as saying that theater is so rarely scary any more, and what a terrible challenge it is to write a play that actually induces fear. I keep thinking about that, and how I wish I could write a scary play one day because a play that incites actual terror really wakes up the brain – a rush of actual and metaphysical adrenalin. It has the power to cause people to question what they actually believe, to lay awake at night wondering what, if anything, is lurking in the dark.

If anyone is lurking in the dark beyond this obscure blog, I have two questions: Are there any plays that have actually scared you?

and

Do you remember the play that made you want to be a writer or actor or whatever it is you are today?

Performances for Sixty Miles to Silver Lake by Dan LeFranc and directed by Anne Kauffman start in 11 days.  The theater is getting prep’ed for the actors’ arrival on-stage this coming Thursday.  First run-through today.  Engines are revved up — and we’re all ready to go.  Don’t forget to buy your tickets today!

After reading over 200 applications, we have a new fellow: Heidi Schreck.  This is an always unbelievably exciting time for us.  It’s also a bit sad – since it means that our time working with Tommy Smith (as our P73 Playwriting Fellow) has come to an end.  Thankfully, Tommy’s in Interstate 73 this year so we’ll get to see him for a little bit longer.

And now it’s Heidi’s turn (cue Gypsy).   We narrowed it down to 6 unbelievable finalists and it’s always a huge struggle to pick one.  But here she is, boys.  (Must. Stop. The. Gypsy. Reference.)   Most people know Heidi’s work as an actor.  Very few know her work as a writer – it’s tremendous (her writing).  And smart.  And funny.  And we can’t wait to work with her.   So we begin today.