Sunday, June 15, 2008

I am teaching at The O'Neill Theater Institute

And I am incredibly excited.

Beginning Monday, June 15, for two weeks I will be teaching Playwriting at The O'Neill TheaterMakers Summer Program. For two weeks I will be working with three bright college students within a collaborative, project-based process. And we will be working in the same soil through which some of the greatest American playwrights came to blossom.

I don't know how I got so lucky, but I plan to make the most of it.

I look forward to meeting my students, my fellow teachers (Michael Cadman, Acting; and Yuriy Kordonskiy, Directing), and the rest of the good people at The O'Neill. It will be an education as well for me, and the assignment will require my best listening skills, my sharpest collaborative acumen, and the tippy-top of my imagination.

In creating as challenging, dynamic, and as fun as process as possible for my students, I look forward to sharing my generosity with the rest of the talented, creative folks in Waterford, and will do my best to stay humble, thankful, and gracious for one of the most exciting opportunities in my life.

Rock on,

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ROMERO

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ICE HOLES as part of CAT Tales 2008

As part of CAT Tales 2008, the good folks of City Attic Theatre asked fellow playwright Melissa Gawlowski and I to write three serial plays to be included as part of their second biennial Playwriting Festival.

Melissa sent me a wonderfully fun play, full of world explorers, an Inuit, and the North Pole. My response was to write a follow-up piece (largely about Erik the Red, game show contestants, and an Inuit who continually fishes into the ice) Ice Holes, which will then be followed by another Melissa Gawlowski play to end the serial.

It should be great fun!

The three short plays will be performed during the festival (one play each night), and followed by a staged reading of the finalists' plays for this year's festival.

City Attic Theatre are the lovely folks who first produced The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard off-off Broadway (May - June 2007) and they are lovely, talented, highly outstanding people.

All of the fun details below:

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On the momentous weekend of Fathers Day, Flag Day, and Friday the 13th, City Attic Theatre presents…

CAT Tales
our second biennial Playwriting Festival!

From over 200 entries, three scripts were selected for our reading series. In addition, the Festival will open with a reading of company member Jeff Scot Carey’s new play Paint.

In a new twist to this year's Festival, CAT Tales 2006 Winner Greg Romero and CAT resident playwright Melissa Gawlowski have collaborated to create a series of three short pieces, which will be performed as staged readings at the beginning of each evening.

Festival Schedule:

Friday, June 13th at 7 p.m.: Paint by Jeff Scot Carey
Can you forgive and love the brother that you'll never understand? How much can you learn and change while still staying true to yourself? And how much can you give without giving up?

Saturday, June 14th at 3 p.m.: Touch by Drew Larimore
A young man living in the forest and dwelling on a painful secret befriends a park ranger and her eccentric aunt, who are fighting to save their home in the woods from an encroaching coal company. Over time, the three learn to make peace with their pasts and forge a new beginning.

Saturday, June 14th at 7 p.m.: Parens. by Alexander Danner
For years, Eloquence and Bill have been ferrying recorded messages between their grammar-obsessed parents, who never speak face-to-face. But after a decade of silent cohabitation the family is at a breaking point, and the parents must face their misguided rituals of communication or divide their family forever.

Sunday, June 15th at 7 p.m.: Lost Nation by Tira Palmquist
Evan Drake returns from Iraq as his rural hometown wrangles with the construction of a new "big box" store, which promises new jobs at the expense of farmland in which their history is literally buried. As Evan comes to grips with what haunts him from the war, he finds himself pulled into the battle for this town, for its people, for the land itself.

CAT Tales will be held at the Stella Adler Studios, located at 31 West 27th Street (between 6th Ave. and Broadway), 2nd Floor.

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ROMERO

Sunday, June 08, 2008

VALENTINE'S DAY to be included in Philly Fringe

My short solo-performance work, Valentine's Day, will be part of the 2008 Philly Fringe Fest. Originally produced by Red House Arts (Austin, TX) in February 2007 (originally performed by actress Melissa Ann Rentrop and directed by Chris Humphrey) as part of The Last Castrato Valentine's Extravaganza, the revised work will be produced by The Burn Ward Theater Company and directed by collaborator and partner-in-crime, Andrew J. Merkel.

Valentine's Day is about a woman, Opal, who decides every Valentine's Day if she's going to kill herself. This year, she makes lists, she makes pizzas, she rollerskates, and she's afraid of hula-hoops.

The Burn Ward is a theatrical group/outgrowth from a handful of talented, enthusiastic students/alums/dragons from Drexel University. I look forward to working with and getting to know these folks.

In addition to Valentine's Day, we will be producing two works from local Philly writer Eamon R. McIvor-- Mittens Descending, and Big Red Button.

The good times will be in view of the public on September 5th and 6th at 7pm and 10pm each night-- more production details forthcoming.

In the meantime, I look forward to getting back to work on a short piece I have alot of affection for and to continuing to get to know and work with more Philly artists.


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ROMERO

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

More MILKY WAY Photos

The good folks of The Cardboard Box Collaborative recently sent me photos from our September 2007 production of my play, The Milky Way Cabaret. These photos (taken by Paola Nogueras) capture the fantastic worlds we created and is a great reminder of the wonderful work done on that production.

Kudos again to all.




Cherie A. Roberts as "Travlin' Alice". Design work by Stephen P. Hungerford (set, lighting), Andrew J. Merkel (lighting) and Jamie Grace-Duff (costumes)





Charlotte (Katy O'Leary), Lorraine (Brittany Brazill), Travlin' Alice (Cherie A. Roberts), and Amazin' Arnie (Daniel Higbee). Design work by Stephen P. Hungerford (set, lighting), Andrew J. Merkel (lighting) and Jamie Grace-Duff (costumes).



Buzz (Steven Wright), Charlotte (Katy O'Leary), and Travlin' Alice (Cherie A. Roberts). Design work by Stephen P. Hungerford (set, lighting), Andrew J. Merkel (lighting) and Jamie Grace-Duff (costumes)


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ROMERO

Sunday, June 01, 2008

SHOVEL to be presented on June 3rd

My short piece, Shovel, will share a bill with three other new plays as part of Philadelphia Dramatists Center's Project, "Primary Stages: 4 x 4". The 4 x 4 project is a forum to develop new works by staging them inside of a four-foot by four-foot space.

The work I'm developing, Shovel, is a 10-15 minute solo performance-piece about a woman who tries to dig up pieces of her memories in between moments of blacking-out. Her story is told through script and Butoh-based movement, all confined to 16 square feet.

The rehearsals have been fruitful and challenging, and director Andrew Merkel and performer Cherie A. Roberts are really doing brave work. After Saturday night's rehearsal, I am very eager to see how this project lands on an audience.

The work will be presented at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 3rd, in the Meeting House Theater at the Community Education Center (CEC) in West Philadelphia (3500 Lancaster Ave).

You can find more information about the event at PDC.


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ROMERO