Friday, August 14, 2009

Production Dates Announced for THE MILKY WAY CABARET

My full-length play, THE MILKY WAY CABARET, will go into production with Audacity Theatre Lab from November 11-21, 2009, in Dallas, Texas.

HECK YEAH.

Travlin' Alice (Cherie A. Roberts) will take another journey through the Milky Way Cabaret.


Originally commissioned by The Cardboard Box Collaborative (Philadelphia), this will be the play's second production, and the second leg of the "3P/3Y Collaboration".

The production will be directed by ATL's Artistic Director, Brad McEntire, and be performed in the black box theater of Teatro Dallas.

Big thank yous to the gang at the Cardboard Box for commissioning me to write the play, to the creative team from the original 2007 Philly Fringe production, and to Brad McEntire and Jeff Swearingen at Audacity for taking an interest in continuing the play's life.

This is a work that I am really proud of, and I am thrilled to be working on it again, and sharing it again with an audience.

rock on,

ROMERO

Friday, August 07, 2009

GOODB(EYE) In the Sky

"For one week in the middle of the summer a giant eye appears in the sky over the city. At the end of seven days it disappears as suddenly as it had originally materialized..."


As part of Audacity Theatre Lab's radio theatre project, Eye in the Sky, my short work, GOODB(EYE), is now playing as part of the project's second episode.

Audacity Theatre Lab hand-selected a number of playwrights from around the country to take part in this innovative collaboration. The short blurb above served as the launching point for the playwrights to create one to three page scenes, monologues, letters, songs, newspaper clippings, thoughts, etc.

There's an eye in the sky. How has it effected those on the ground? What does it mean? Where did it come from?

From the contributions of the playwrights, Audacity has launched a large-scale project to that will stretch on for the entire first half of 2009. 6-7 episodes, each featuring three radio pieces will be engineered and posted on this website. By the end of the summer, we plan to have the whole series up online.

To listen to GOODB(EYE) as part the three-play episode (featuring additional plays by Erin Courtney and Daniel Talbott), visit the ATL website.

Thank you to Artistic Director Brad McEntire for inviting me into the project, and performers Jeffrey Schmidt and Lydia Mackay (who both, amazingly, appeared in one of my very first plays ten years ago...I love this big small world).

rock on,

ROMERO

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Your Three Dollars is Four Months of My Writing

Dear Friends,


As I near the end of my time as the Resident Writer of the ArtsEdge Residency (which I have totally loved), I am full of ideas on how to continue finding support for my creative work. Because I am determined to stay committed to my writing (and to the time necessary to write as much as possible), I am not above asking for help.


So I am.


I am asking you for THREE DANG DOLLARS.


I am asking you to reach into your pocket, or your change bag, or your milk jar, and pull out three crispy (or crumpled) bills, three bucks worth of coins, three dang dollars.


Why Three?


Because three…is the magic number (yes, it is).


And because I have done the Math, and if everyone I ask throws down three dollars, I will have enough support to get me from September (when my residency ends) through the end of December.


Therefore, Three Dang Dollars = Four Dang Months.


Together we can be an awesome, grassroots Patron Collective.


But for the Math to work, I need help from everybody (and feel free to give more, just in case!).


So why should you give me three dang dollars?


1. Because it’s a generous gift, without being burdensome. Those three dollars will probably come back to you next time you have a beer with me.


2. Because your three dollars will allow me time and space to work on the following awesome projects:


A: The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard. I am collaborating with Austin-based composer Mike Vernusky in a slammin’ new production featuring his electronic music composition (which sounds INCREDIBLE). Our target date for production is the 2010 Philly Fringe Festival.


B: Completion of the first draft of The Babel Project. “Babel” is another collaboration with Vernusky—an “electro-theater” event that is cracking open our understanding of language and sound (audible and non). It is our biggest, most ambitious project to date. Our early work on it has us ridiculously excited. We are creating the project for full production in the Fall of 2011.


C: Continued work and production of Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich. I am developing this 15-20 minute piece for production with two additional Zombie-themed plays written by Philadelphia artists. We are targeting a brain-eating, Fall/Winter 2009 or early 2010 production.


D: Fall/Winter production of The Milky Way Cabaret. This full-length play is going into a November production with the cool cats of Dallas-based group, Audacity Theatre Lab. I am working on the script in preparation for what is its second production (it premiered in the 2007 Philly Fringe Festival).


E: Continued work on The Travel Plays: An American Potlatch Roadtrip. Many of you have already helped on this project (and thank you!). I am in conversation with a New York theater company about a potential Fall/Winter workshop in the Apple (we are going to bust it open!).


F: International, multi-city staging of The Marco Polo Project. I am organizing a worldwide event, which will perform this site-specific piece about cowboys, clowns, world explorers, and loss, in bathrooms all over the globe.


G: The live project, Thirty-Three, which will be performed on January 1, 2010 (01/01/10 = 3). This public performance will be based completely on your response to THIS fundraising letter. (Yes, you read that right...you are participating in a performance possibility at this very moment.)


And that should be enough work to do for the next four months. :)


BUT!!—to make all of this work come to life, I need your THREE DANG DOLLARS (or more!) for the necessary time and space to create and complete these projects.


Very simply, without your help this work cannot be done.


And to thank you for your support, I offer these gifts in return:


  1. I will acknowledge you on my website on the page “Awesome People”. I am happy to hyper-link your name to your personal, business, or favorite web address.

  1. In every script I create from now until the end of December 2009, I will include your name under the heading, “The following work was made possible by the support and awesomeness of the following Awesome People”.

  1. A beer or coffee (or cupcake) when you and I hang out again.

  1. For gifts larger than $ 33 (2 dang 3s, plus that's how old I am), I will perform ANYTHING you ask me to, for up to three minutes. Send me a piece of writing, a challenge, a piece of music, a dream, an object, a demand, a question, an impossible task, and I will perform it, somehow, on January 1, 2010. For serious. Make it something awesome. Dare me. I will perform anything and everything asked of me as part of the performance, Thirty-Three. (I will archive these offerings here).


So let’s do it!!!


THREE DANG DOLLARS!!!


And if you are feeling more generous (and want me to perform something for up to three minutes!):


  • 36 dang dollars gets me through a day
  • 250 dang dollars gets me through a week
  • 1,000 dang dollars gets me through a month
  • 4,000 dang dollars gets me through the end of the year


The best, quickest way to send your gift is to PayPal me at the email address: gregoryromero@yahoo.com


Otherwise, you can mail your gifts to:


Greg Romero

322 N 39th St

Philadelphia PA 19104


THANK YOU for helping me create live performance!!


Have an awesome dang day!!


Sincerely,

ROMERO


Thirty-Three

In a recent fund-raising pitch, I have offered a special gift to the generous folks who offer a gift of Thirty-Three dollars or more.

The offer:

For gifts larger than $ 33 (2 dang 3s, plus that's how old I am), I will perform ANYTHING you ask me to, for up to three minutes. Send me a piece of writing, a challenge, a piece of music, a dream, an object, a demand, a question, a drawing, an impossible task, and I will perform it, somehow, on January 1, 2010. For serious. Make it something awesome. Dare me. I will perform anything and everything asked of me as part of the performance, Thirty-Three.

I will list the donors on this page, as well as what they are asking me to perform. I will also keep this page updated with any other specific performance information.

I look forward to it!

Gift-Givers (and their gift to be performed)
--------------------------------------------
1. Jodi Alonzo (TBA)
2. Alexandra Bassett (Family of 9 at the dinner table. And you're all 9 of em. And oh shucks Benoit just spilled the gay).
3. Ilana Brownstein (TBA)
4. The Burn Ward Theater Company (TBA)
5. Hugh Craig (a monologue about birthdays: 13, 23, and 33)
6. Deena Gerson (TBA)
7. GerRee Hinshaw (Father visits the aquarium on Mondays and the arcade on Thursdays)
8. Kate Houlihan (a monologue from Hideki Matsui's perspective about Game 6 of the World Series)
9. Deven MacNair/Fire! (a project involving wrestling)
10. Nancy Mouton and Chester Forest (my birthday)
11. Dustin Puryear (something re: mou shu pork)
12. Wanda, Doyle, and Kristi Reeves (TBA)
13. Pat and Johnie Romero (TBA)
14. Sean Kendall Schneyer (Something in Outer Space, no Zombies allowed)
15. Hank Schwemmer ("Moonpies" by Hank Schwemmer)
16. Heidi Taylor (A dream about pear trees)
17. Angela Turner (a bit from Wind and the Willows as Mr. Toad)
18. Jeff Williams (The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and Abu Graib torture photos)

--------------------------------------------
To donate your Thirty-Three Dollars, you can PayPal me at gregoryromero@yahoo.com

Or mail me at:

Greg Romero
322 N 39th St
Philadelphia PA 19104

To read the entire fund-raising letter, go here.

Thank you!!

sincerely,

ROMERO

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Awesome People

My creative work is made possible by the support and awesomeness of the following Awesome People (who rule):

(to become an awesome person, go here)

Jodi Alonzo
Alexandra Bassett
Chuck Bradford/Dr. Brad Chuckly
Ilana Brownstein
The Burn Ward Theater Company
Gregory Scott Campbell
Molly Casey
Central Dollars Gang and Sxxxy Chocolate (Jodi Alonzo, Jeff Carpenter, Erena Messina, and Bryan Nelson)
Bella Bear Coyne
David Coyne
Hugh Craig
Betsy Currie
Rob Cutler
John D'Alonzo
Kimberly Dilts
Rebecca Ennen
Beca Fried
Amparo Garcia-Crow
Deena Gerson
Lucy Gillespie
Jenae Yerger Glanton
Steve Gleich
Megan Gogerty
Lisa Grande
Jennifer Haley
Stacey Hardke
Rand, Barb, Mae Mae, and Precious Harmon
Anna Hebden
GerRee Hinshaw
Kate Houlihan
Cameron Ingram
Richard Jensen
Tim Johnson
Greg Kalleres
Spring Karlo
Danielle Kindt
Richard Kotulski and LiteraryManager.org
Lindsay Krieg
Robby Lambert/Earthquake McGoon
Daniel LeBlanc
Larry Loebell
Deven MacNair/Fire!
Eve Harrington Scholarship Winner Taylor Maddux
Jennifer Maisel
Eddie Manes
Jamie Marchi
Elizabeth McDonnell (to raise money to fight breast cancer, go here)
Brad McEntire
Jennifer Meisinger
Andrew J. Merkel
Christiana Molldrem
Christi Moore
Dawson Moore
Nancy Mouton and Chester Forest
Erica S. Nagel
Patti Neff
Osric Publishing
Jen (the Hen) Patureau
"The Nature Boy" Randy Pease (Woooooo!)
Misty Pelas
Sean Petrie
Sarah Pitre/Powder Blue
Ted Powell
Abby Pudlewski
Dustin Puryear
Joe Rawley
Wanda, Doyle, and Kristi Reeves
Cherie A. Roberts
Francisco Rodriguez
Will Rogers
William Rolleri
Chantel Rome
Pat and Johnie Romero
Genevieve and Aaron Saenz
Eric Sanders
April Feld Sandor
KC Scharnberg
Robert Schenkkan
Sean Kendall Schneyer
Hank Schwemmer
Jeffrey Skinner
Don Slater
Megan Slater
Fraser Snowden
Vanessa L. Sparling
Ms. Such
Jules Tasca
Heidi Taylor
Angela Turner
Mike Vernusky
Lucy Walters
Skipper Chong Warson
Miriam White
Allison Whittinghill
Jeff Williams
Gavin Witt
Rachel Wood
Abe Louise Young
Wally Zialcita
Lauren Zinn


THANK YOU!

Sincerely,

ROMERO

The Hawk Never Dies

I just received word that I will be returning to my teaching position at Saint Joseph's University (Philadelphia). I had a wonderful time at SJU last year and am thrilled to continue my position as Adjunct Faculty, teaching the course "American Theater" in the Fine and Performing Arts Department (to read about the awesome final projects from last semester's "Intro the Theater" class, go here).

Thank you to all my students for such a great experience, and to Renee Dobson for the opportunity to teach, and for her continued support of my work in the classroom.


I look forward to the year ahead--to meeting new students, to continuing the relationships with last year's group, to our continued journeys through "space" together, and to my own continued journey through teaching/learning and how to explore/explode dynamic, imaginative, creative ways of engaging with people and information. I look forward to continue helping people learn, including myself.

It will be fun to see what objects we stand on, how we change the space of the room, how we surprise each other, how we connect huge ideas, how we look through the lens of live art to view our country and our lives, how we rip it up, and how we transform each other by deepening our own understanding of self.

It should be a fun time! Cheers to a good year ahead of us.

GO HAWKS!

rock on,

ROMERO