I had a great time at the Great Plains Theatre Conference this summer. My play, Dough & Cookies, got a PlayLab Reading.
I got so lucky in getting an amazing director, Noah Diaz, and a supremely competent and professional cast. Also, we had a gifted guitarist and composer, Michael Campbell. The gift of hearing live music accompanying this play for the first time felt like a dream finally realized.
I had a panel of commentators made up of two established theatre practitioners. They gave me a lot of positive feedback. And they also gave me the great compliment of giving me some questions and thoughts to motivate revision. And that's the whole point of a process like this.
So literally two days later, I had already done a revision. So yeah... that's very satisfying.
The other real gift is meeting other very talented and accomplished playwrights. My peers are accomplished playwrights from all over the country and have attended the best playwriting schools. I was aware that I hadn't done or accomplished as much as these folks in my career. But have been very open and warm. I've made some great contacts and friends. Coffee/note sessions happened freely.
Since GPTC, I found out that Dough & Cookies is getting a reading at The Barter Theatre's Festival of Plays & Playwrights. So that's neat. I'll get to hear the new draft in August.
And my short play, Laundry at the Coin & Spin is getting a reading in August outside of Chicago at the Rockford New Play Festival.
It's weird how there are ebbs and flows in these things. Some of that had to do with my own busyness which corresponds to how many contests I submit to etc. Some of it I think is the culmination of several plays that I've been working on for years that are finally getting to the point where they're ready.
And more and more I'm a fan of writing a new 10-minute play as I can. There are so many opportunities for 10-minute plays. So it's an