Playwright Rachel De-lahay (The Westbridge, Routes, Amazon’s The Feed) shares tips for staying on track and how to keep writing when you feel overwhelmed on this post from the Royal Court Theatre.

I especially love these simple logic exercises she adapted from a course by Leo Butler.

–                A is in a room. B enters, A stands… write

–                A and B are sat. A laughs, B stays silent. A stops… write

–                A and B enter a room to find C stood. B turns to leave. A stops them… write

Like any practice, the most important thing is when you find you’ve lapsed, start again. Let’s make this a productive summer!

-ag

On the premiere episode of Running Lines, on Electric City Television hosts Alicia Grega and Mark Zdancewicz welcome guests Eric Lutz and David Parmalee from The Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre’s recent production of King Lear to discuss the challenges and thrills of producing Shakespeare in the 21st century and why his 400-year-old plays continue to receive more productions in the U.S. than the work of any other playwright.

Topics you’d like to see covered on future episodes?

Contact us at dramastruction@gmail.com.

Mark Zdancewicz and I plunged into the wonderfully evolving world of public access television with the newly refreshed Electric City Television this past month.
Running Lines will soon air monthly on Comcast public access channel 19 and programs will also be available on YouTube.

Our plan is to create “evergreen” programs that hold up after topical tie-ins have passed. Shakespeare is still the most produced playwright in the U.S. so it made sense to start with Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre’s production of King Lear that ran the last weekend of January and first weekend of February.
Our professional camera crew shot the entire three and a half hour production.

As the show was lit for the audience and not for cameras there are dark scenes the cameras could not do justice. It’s my understanding that the amazing Mary Frances Jackson is going to edit together a highlights reel and possibly insert key moments of footage from the show into our Running Lines interview with director David Parmalee and actor Eric Lutz who played Edmund.

If you already peeked at the photos below you may have noticed that Eric isn’t at the table but Deirdre Navin (Goneril) is. That’s because we had to shoot the first episode twice.  Everyone thought the volunteer working sound knew what he was doing but … while the pictures were pretty the overmodulated sound recorded was unsalvagable. My mic was hot the whole time and Mark laughs a lot louder than he speaks. Deirdre’s mic was too low. Fortunately, David was able to return for a second take and while Deirdre couldn’t make the reshoot, Eric was able to join us at the table.

We’ll let you know when the episode is out of post-production and available to view. And please, let us know what you think and any ideas you might have for future episodes.

For March, we’ll talk about women in the theater, tying into Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, guaranteeing women’s suffrage. April’s episode will focus on poetry.

Catch you on the tube!
-alicia

All images by Electric City Television.

Dear local theatre friends,

Let’s say, theoretically for now, that there was soon to be a local theatre (and poetry/performance) related talk show on ECTV public access television.

Episodes would be aired with multiple potential encores so while specific productions could be promoted to an extent, program content requires “evergreen” relevance.

In other words, if people were to catch an episode after a mentioned production had come and gone, the conversation would still retain value and interest to viewers.

Specific emphases would be placed on new, original work and the challenges of production/presentation/reaching audience in NEPA now, in this decade as it evolves. Work in the public domain is also of special interest as recording rights are not an issue.

Let’s say Alicia Grega and Mark Zdancewicz could be the hosts of this show shot in a new ECTV studio with the potential of location shooting if/when it makes sense. There could be a new episode every month, maybe.

What are you working on in this coming year that we want to know about? What discussions with whom would you like to see?

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks for letting me pick your brains!

Alicia

Among the many fascinating revelations of The Mueller Report:
FBI Director James Comey refused to announce publicly to the media that Pres. Trump was not personally under investigation, so Trump fired Comey and used the letter he knew would be released as a platform to tell the nation that Comey said he was not being investigated.

On December 29, 2016, the Obama Administration announced that in response to Russian cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election, it was imposing sanctions and other measures on several Russian individuals and entities. When first asked about the sanctions, President-Elect Trump said, “I think we ought to get on with our lives.”

-Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election as prepared by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tickets for our Scranton Fringe Festival production of The Investigation Sunday, Sept. 29 are on sale now. Shows are at 3 and 7 p.m.

Did you catch what John Oliver had to say back in April?

Or how about The Daily Show after the congressional hearings last month?

The more that sinks in over time, the more we realize it’s not too late to get the word out. People need to know what’s in this report!

Great description of the success of Schenkkan’s script in this Mikhaila Fogel article at the Lawfare Blog.

Here’s what works about the play: It brings the document to life. Even after reading the Mueller report, there are segments that seem almost unbelievable. For instance, on paper, it’s hard to buy that a president would lambast his attorney general for following basic legal ethics by saying, “This is terrible …. Jeff, you’ve left me on an island. I can’t do anything.” Yet, according to Mueller, this is exactly what Drumpf said to Sessions after Sessions followed the advice of career Justice Department ethics officials and recused himself from what would become the Mueller investigation. Watching Lithgow, face reddening, hurl that evocative accusation at Grey’s simpering Sessions, you believe it. And you’re horrified.

We were inspired to bring Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election to life after reading a recent article in American Theatre magazine about different presentations of this important text that are springing up across the country.

Our current plan is to present two performances of Robert Schenkkan’s The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts on Sunday, Sept. 29 and/or Saturday, Sept. 28 in conjunction with the Scranton Fringe Festival.

The Investigation premiered on June 24 in New York City in a production hosted by Law Works. You can find the script and more information here:
https://lawworksaction.org/citizens-digital-toolkit/

The script is 45 pages and is estimated to run about 70 minutes. Actors will be reading so no memorization is required. As Law Works recommends, actors will not attempt to impersonate the characters so much as maybe channel a vibe. We would like to make the cast as diverse as possible. Please feel free to recommend actors and/or community activists you feel might be a good fit for this project. Some actors may play more than one role.

If you decide after looking at the script & digital tool kit that this important event is still something you’d like to be a part of, send an email to Alicia’s attention at dramastruction@gmail.com with your projected schedule conflicts/availability.

We won’t require a lot of rehearsal but some advance reading and meeting will be required. Please also contact us if you have ideas for staging, music, marketing, etc. Nothing is set in stone yet, but decisions will have to be made quickly. We want this project to belong to everyone in the community who feels as strongly as we do that the findings of this important report be known to all Americans.

Other suggestions, thoughts, and ideas are welcome! Let us know how you would like to participate. If there is further demand/interest to get The Mueller Report out into the community, for example, we could expand from this preliminary staging to other events, perhaps a live outdoor marathon reading in a highly trafficked public square, etc.

If you are looking to access a free copy of the Mueller Report in its entirety, look for the free audio podcast (e.g. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mueller-report-audio) or the .pdf download online at https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf. I can also provide a couple of print copies to circulate, if so desired.

Thank you!!!
Alicia