My play A Talented Woman gets an airing at the McCarter Theatre
By Jim Dalglish

A new comedy I’ve written with the indomitable Lynda Sturner will travel down to Princeton, NJ, this weekend for a staged reading at the McCarter Theatre, one of the nation’s most prestigious theatres.   
Am I excited?  Oh, yeah.  Lynda?  She is too.  Which is saying a lot for such a sophisticated New Yorker like Lynda.  Those New Yorkers.  You gotta love em.

What’s the play about?  Well, a lot of things actually.  Families?  If I wrote that you’d all yawn.  The recession?  Zzzzzzzzz.  Robots?  Hmmmmmm.  Infidelity?  Okay… I’m probably getting closer. 

Every writer hates having to ball a play into a few words that’s supposed to pitch the premise and titillate.  In a few sentences?  Really.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could just say the damn play is about “life”?  No?  Okay here goes…

The Goddamned Premise
A Talented Woman follows the exploits of a former doyenne of New York’s Upper East Side, who discovers she’s spent most of her adult life living in a house of cards.  As the play opens, she’s destitute in a down economy.  She shops at Daffy's instead of Bergdorfs. She takes the bus instead of a car service. She's given up the Met, MOMA, BAM, even botox.  Nothing seems to help.  The play follows Maxie’s humorous and heartbreaking journey to find her footing in a world she no longer recognizes.

Are you still with me?

Trust me… the play’s kinda good.  At least that’s what my buddies at Boston Public Works – a great new organization I belong to tell me.  My writing lab in Boston – the Accomplices of Interim Writers – helped Lynda and me pull it all together.  So ask them about it.   Guys?  Help me out here, okay?

If that doesn’t convince you how about some awards and recognition?

Awards and Recognition
The play was named a semifinalist at the National Playwriting Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Center and was included in the "Best of..." festival at The Actors Studio in New York last summer.  It also won the New Playwright, New Plays Competition and the Kaplan Prize awarded by Eventide Arts.  

So it may actually be kinda… good.

The McCarter Theatre
Why am I so excited about having a reading at the McCarter?  Maybe because it won a Best Play Tony last year for it’s Broadway production of Christopher Durang’s comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.  It’s a regional theater in Princeton, New Jersey, but its influence is national in scope.  It has a successful history of taking new works from their gorgeous theater in Princeton to Broadway.  Lynda and I were thrilled to work with Emilia LaPenta, the McCarter Literary Manager and Mike Donahue, a hot young New York director. 

Out of the Head and Onto the Boards
So many times you write a play and the only place you see it is in your head.  Having a chance to get it up on its feet – not a whole production, but a reading – is a step in the right direction.  And having a chance to hear it in front of the  McCarter’s discerning audience is fantastic.  With such tremendous actors it’s over the top.

Two Playwrights?
Writing a play is effing impossible enough.  But writing it with another person?  I don’t think either Lynda nor I suspected what a ride that would be.  Thrilling and frustrating and… a lot of other things.  It took us four years.  Much of the time we weren’t living in the same vicinity.  Three-hour Skype sessions had to suffice.  

I should write a primer about the dos and don’ts of Skype collaboration… Hmmmmm…  Next blog maybe.  On to working with the Sturner Woman.

Lynda is a former resident of New York, and I grew up in North Dakota.  So at first glance we may seem like odd collaborators.  But we found that combining two unique perspectives is just what was needed to make this damn play fly.  

This is how we described our writing process to the Provincetown Banner in a feature story the newspaper ran about us a few years back:

Sturner: “It started when I gave this short play I had written to Jim to critique and he said…”
Dalglish: “…This isn’t a short play. This is a whole evening. You’ve got a tiger by the tail.”
Sturner: “I didn’t see what Jim saw.”
Dalglish: “So I cut a deal with her. We’d write it together.”

They had written another play before.  A short piece called “Superlubricated.”

Dalglish: “It went well. I mean, we didn’t kill each other,” 
Sturner: “We came close,” 
Dalglish: “I’ve always loved Lynda’s work — both as an actress and a playwright.”
Sturner: “And I’ve loved Jim’s work as well. We’ve acted in each other’s plays…”
Dalglish: “…directed each other’s plays…”
Sturner: “…and interfered in each other’s lives.”

Yeah.  That’s what writing with Lynda was like.  Often times I wish we had recorded those Skype sessions.  I just hope we managed to get the drama on the page.  

The reading will take place this Friday, June 27, at 7:00pm at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey.  It will be directed by Mike Donahue and will feature some of New York’s leading actors.  The reading is free and open to the public.  To reserve seats, contact the McCarter Theatre by emailing Hilary Judis at [email protected]

Reading Details

Where: McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ 
When: Friday, June 27th at 7pm.
Director: Mike Donahue
Dramaturg: Emilia LaPenta, McCarter Literary Manager
Producer: Chelsea Mark Adams
Cast: 
Harmony – Rachel Covey
Peter – Ray Virta
Victoria – Miriam Silverman
Maxie – Patricia Hodges
Greg – David Furr
Christopher – Matt Saldivar

Find out more about the play
Find out more about Jim Dalglish

Charles Linshaw is an actor in Boston. 

You may be wondering why you should contribute to Boston Public Works. Here’s why I did. There’s a vibrant, productive theater community here in Boston, and that includes playwrights. Certainly a number of companies have either been devoted to new work or very proactive in developing and supporting playwrights’ careers. Boston Playwrights’ Theatre has been doing this at a high level of excellence for many years, and The Huntington Theatre Company, A.R.T., Central Square Theater, and New Repertory Theatre among others have been instrumental in nurturing new work. But we need more opportunities to meet the demands of the talent we have in this city. There isn’t enough production at this point to support the careers of emerging playwrights and many other talented theater artists in a sustainable way. Perhaps the only way to retain artists (who often leave for larger cities out of sheer frustration) and to generate more healthy competition is to produce more work and create more jobs.

Boston Public Works is doing just that. A group of experienced playwrights, each producing a play over the course of three seasons, casting local actors who are committed to the rigorous and exciting process of workshopping and building original work for the stage. Union contracts when a union actor is the best fit for a role. Jobs for directors, stage managers, designers, dramaturgs, producers, technical wizards. Internship/apprenticeship, and assisting opportunities for students and early career artists. Just what our theater community needs… and all of this takes money.

To that end, the company has launched an Indiegogo campaign – now at its midpoint. Full disclosure: I’ve been part of the development process of Cassie M. Seinuk’s unique and magnificent play, From The Deep, and have been cast in the BPW production next spring. But the fundraising at this point is collective, and my contribution is divided equally among all nine playwrights. I wanted to make a donation to the company because I believe in the work they are doing. I have had the privilege of collaborating with a number of playwrights on new work over the years, both in New York and here in Boston. It has been a highlight of my career and one of my favorite parts of being an actor – the challenge of creating a new role, the blessing of having the playwright alive and in the room to answer questions and discuss the play, and ultimately to share a story that’s never been seen before with an audience.

From The Deep is very special to me; so special that I decided not to audition for any fall or winter shows so that I can focus on preparing for this role. I’ve done three staged readings now and have been moved to tears each time I’ve read the play to myself, in nearly every rehearsal, and in each public reading. Every time I read it I discover something new, and I am amazed at the intricacy and depth of the writing. Cassie’s play is complicated, full of conflict, full of love, and takes the audience on a roller coaster journey into the heart of the mystery of the human condition. We had a large audience for the last reading, and when we finished, there was first a palpable silence and then a very intense talkback. It was further proof to me that audiences want complex material, they want to be challenged, to be moved, to leave haunted by unanswered questions, to be changed by the experience. It’s no surprise to me that this play was chosen to be honored at the Kennedy Center. It’s objectively a stunning play. In fact, I initially thought I wouldn’t be cast and wanted to help get it produced anyway after doing the readings because I believe in it and feel strongly that this story needs to be told onstage.

There will be many ways of supporting Boston Public Works and From The Deep, including spreading the word, coming to see the shows, ushering, donating props, donating time to help with marketing, joining the mailing list, etc. But right now, the most pressing need is money. Any amount will help. So please join me and the many others who want to see these plays on stage and these artists hard at work preparing to give everything they’ve got to the citizens of Boston over the next three years. We’re doing this because we love theater, because we love Boston, and because there’s always room for more love and more theater.

Thank you!

Cassie M. Seinuk is P2.

So many of you--my friends, colleagues, peers--have been the victim of me sharing the Boston Public Works Indiegogo campaign with you and asking you to show your support and donate. I hate doing it, I really do. We all do.  It’s like that time when your great aunt gives you money for Afikoman (see Jewish translation below), and you really want to sneak a peak inside the envelope, but have to wait until later, and you’ve cleaned up from a five-hour Passover seder to finally peek inside that envelope and look for dollar signs. It’s the same thing really, but just like you don’t want to humiliate yourself by greedily ripping open the envelope and slobbering on it like Cookie Monster would a chocolate chip, asking your great aunt Silva (name changed to protect the family) for $25 seems incredibly rude. 

Even more so, asking best friend Jennifer (name changed to protect the grad student), is even more awkward and, let’s face it, terrifying, because that means you’re saying , hey, person who would never ever give me money as a gift, can I have money as a gift?  

So… you know, it’s not easy. It’s even weirder when you message someone on Facebook, like your flat-mates  from 2007 in Scotland (location changed to protect the ultimate playlist makers), asking them to support your dreams… they might even ask, who is this? We don’t like doing it. It’s not fun. It’s squirmy sometimes.

BUT in the past three years since this Indiegogo/Kickstarter/Crowdsourcing phenomenon began, I too have been broke, often unemployed, and constantly weighing theatre tickets over meals, playwriting books over cups of coffee, and of course, donating to your campaigns over a drink with friends.  No, this isn’t I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine… but wait, isn’t it? Isn’t that what the whole crowdsourcing phenomenon is about??? That’s what I always thought… Pretty much until now. I always thought if I gave 10 or 15 or even 25 here or there to your I'm-Making-My-First-Record Campaign, or Building-My-Own-Restaurant, or Starring-In-My-Own-Web-Series campaign, that I would one day, when I needed it, get some sort of “pay-it-forward”-cute-Haley Joel Osment-return of the favor. Was I really so wrong to think that? I support you, you support me? Maybe. But that’s besides the point, I support you because, frankly, I believe in you. I do. I really do. I’m still the girl sitting with my face glued to the TV screen watching the VHS tape of Mary Martin in Peter Pan clapping my hands off, screaming, “I believe in fairies!” (Many of you fairies turned out to be some of my best friends…) Look, for those of you to whom this rant applies, I believed in you. I had one less iced latte, whiskey drink, or, dare I say, ice cream (for those of you who really know me you know how serious that is) so that I could support you!

Regardless, it doesn’t mean that if I didn’t donate to your campaign, or if you never had a campaign to begin with, that this whole rant above doesn’t apply to you. It does. It applies because remember that time we went out for dinner and for whatever reason I took the bill? Or that time we went out for coffee and you needed two more bucks and they didn’t take credit cards? Or that time I got you, again dare I say, COMP TICKETS! (Sorry, I was loud just there). Or that time you were in a show and I came, or you needed a friend and some cookies and I was there with a bag of rainbow cookies form that bakery in Spring Hill (location changed to protect my co-kitty-mamas), or that time I met with you for extra time to run lines (you all know who you are)… It’s not because I wanted to be repayed someday, it really isn’t, that’s not the way the world works, clearly, but it’s because I cared about you, and believed in you, and wanted to support you.

Look, this whole blog isn’t about donations over $36, really it isn’t even about donations over $18, and actually it’s really about donations of $9.  It’s about 9 bucks a playwright. 9 bucks! 9 smackeroos! That’s all I am asking of you. Because believe me, I do know what it’s like to be waiting for the next pay check, and boy do I really hate asking you guys who are in my shoes, but then I think about myself, and how many times I buy a beer or an iced chai latte, and how I can take that money this month, or week, and put it towards the first season of Boston Public Works, where my dear friend Cassie aka Frass aka Cashew aka Cah aka Cass aka Cassiopeia aka Nuk aka whatever you call me, will have her first EVER full length production (that runs for more than two days as a thesis project – all you Runners out there, no disrespect, H.D.C!) … get to the point Cassie! 9 bucks. Right?

Here are some things you can buy for 9 bucks:

• 2 Starbucks Grande Iced Caramel Macchiatos
  
• 1 sandwich at Diesel Café in Davis Sq.
  
• 1 frozen yogurt with a bunch of toppings if you go to a self-serve place and don’t realize how much stuff weighs…
  
• 2 small ice creams in cups at JP Licks
• 1 can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray, Fresh Scent - 19 oz. Spray Can 
•  1 book at a book store (and a cheap book, most paperbacks are up to 12.99 these days) 
• 1 HD download rental on iTunes!

 Look how many things cost only 9 bucks!   Here are some things we will need to buy for our shows that will cost 9 bucks or less! 

• Small hand props – like a blue ball in FROM THE DEEP
• A bag of Ping-Pong balls also in FTD! 
• A clock! 
• A wrench! 
• A wine glass! 
•  Costume pieces - T-shirts, shoes, most clothing from thrift stores like Goodwill are under $10! 
• A hat!  

 These things I listed are things Boston Public Works will need in just a few months! So when I ask you to donate, think about those things, if you can’t give us a million dollars, I mean. If you are prepared to tell me, Cassie, I'm waiting on a check, or Cassie,  I’m unable to support but I’ll shout out, or Cassie, I’m gonna ignore you right now – Please don’t. Please think about the sets of Ping-Pong balls I’ll be needing in February, or the Goodwill hat that a character in John’s play might wear, or a wrench Jesus will use to fix a car in TURTLES, or a wine glass that Emily’s character will sip from… Think of those items. And then think, can I give enough to cover the cost of one small prop or one small costume piece? We need those things, almost as much as we need the theatre to do our plays in, and the lights to hang, and the royalties to pay the playwrights…(just kidding on that one).   

 If you can spare two Starbucks drinks, or one sushi roll, or make one sandwich at home this week instead of your favorite sandwich shop, the whole Boston Public Works gang will shower you with our undying gratitude. We really will. We are very good at playwriting, but we are also very good at showing our love.   

Thank you! 

I’m going to get back to stalking you all on Facebook now…   Love the very awkward and kooky curly,   Cassie aka P2  

 (PS: Afikoman, meaning "that which comes after" or "dessert” is a half-piece of matzo which is broken in two during the early stages of the Passover Seder and set aside to be eaten as a dessert after the meal.)

   

May you live in exciting times. That's either a blessing or a curse, and for Boston Public Works, it's most definitely a blessing. So many exciting things are going on, from the preparations for our first season starting to kick in, to our Indiegogo fundraising campaign rolling along. 

Here is just a small sampling of what we're doing and what people are saying.

Joanna Castle Miller (pictured at the left), a blogger in Washington DC, a city that has a lively, robust new play environment, interviewed  P1 John Greiner-Ferris, P2 Cassie M. Seinuk, and P4 Jess Foster in a feature.  Joanna writes about what's great about a group like BPW, what's not, and what a playwright who is considering self production might want to think about when starting a group like ours. 

Reaching out and embracing Boston theater makers is the kind of work we want to do to change the way plays are developed in Boston, and we're already doing it. Boston Public Works invited some of New England's most promising dramaturgs to Jamaica Plain on May 28, 2014 to share dinner, drinks, and stimulating conversation. Find out what our dramaturg comrades have to say about BPW's impact on the Boston Theatre scene. 

We really don't like asking for money any more than you like hearing us ask, but in the United States, the non-profit model really is the only viable business model for a group like ours. We don't like it any more than you do.  P4 Emily Kaye Lazzaro blogged about why it's important to support Boston Public Works in our Indiegogo campaign.  Emily makes an intelligent, heartfelt case for supporting Boston Public Works, with a touch of her own brand of humor and personality. 

Boston Public Works and Interim Writers are close. Very close. The co-founders of BPW are Accomplices in the writing group, and seven of the playwrights in Boston Public Works are also Accomplices, including Cassie M. Seinuk, the founder, and Laura Neubauer, operations manager.  IW organized a retreat in western Massachusetts in an old hunting lodge, replete with bunk beds, family style dinners, and lots and lots of theater-making. IW brought out playwrights, playwrights as dramaturgs, directors, and actors in order for some of the IW playwrights to develop new work. Tell us you've never seen a happier bunch of theater artists. 

Even though they were in western Massachusetts at the time, P2 Cassie M. Seinuk and P7 Jim Dalglish still had Boston Public Works supporters on their minds. They had something to say to all our supporters, so, iPad in hand, they said it. 

*Actors Equity Association