Rehearsing/Experimenting/Baking with the 787 Collective

On Thursday night, November 9, 2017, the 787 Collective will present a staged reading of 4 new plays by Austin playwrights Elizabeth Doss, Sarah Saltwick, Megan Tabaque, and me.

The presentation begins at 7:00 pm in the Hicks House at Austin Presbyterian Seminary.

The project is curated by Austin playwright Martha Lynn Coon as part of her community and congregation-building work through Austin Presbyterian Seminary. A kind of experiment, the event poses questions about how communities can engage in positive ways through acts of creativity.

photos by Annie McCain Engman

For this event, Coon supplied a list of ingredients that each playwright had to "bake" into a 10-minute play.  The ingredients included:

Salt
Light
Water
Revelation
a Weather phenomenon
a character's experience of life in their 20s
and a choice of three compelling passages from Ecclesiastes

Each writer had a week to complete the play.

All four of the plays are highly theatrical, a little bit wild, and express some fun surprises.  I am in much admiration of my fellow writers on this project.

Each play was rehearsed for roughly an hour, and is being brought to life through the great work by actors Katie Bender, Cristina Flores, Patrick Hill II, and Megan Todd.

For more information, you can visit the event's Eventbrite posting, or visit the Seminary website.

ROMERO

FOXING Makes the Long List

In addition to producing 10 short plays a year, Pint-Sized Theatre in London, England, creates a "long list" of 100 writers whom they endorse and offer developmental support.  This year, my play Foxing made the long list.

Foxing was originally written for the Play in a Day project, produced by Cumberland County College in New Jersey.

Pint-Sized Theatre has an excellent mission, and I am encouraged by their interest, selecting my play to be among 100 of their favorites out of the 1,237 plays (!) that were sent to them for their consideration.  To describe their work, here are their own words:

"Pint-Sized is here for you, whoever you are. We're a new-writing company, dedicated to more representative theatre. That means supporting and creating opportunities for writers and directors of every background, and discovering the best in emerging talent."

As for the play itself, this is what's shakin':

A young couple, Aaron and Charlie, exhaust themselves through strange exercises and energetic dances, interrupting the unique relationship-counseling session led by a human who is also a fox. They drink water, do burpees, transform into wild animals, and unfold the pieces of paper the fox keeps handing them, confronting the most difficult conversation they keep trying to bury.

I look forward to my relationship with Pint-Sized Theatre and happy to be closer to my goal of having my writing produced in the United Kingdom.

Here is the full Long List and a nice message from the company.

Big thank yous to Pint-Sized, and continued thank yous to Deborah Bradshaw and Chris Totora, whose invitations to participate in Play in a Day continue to lead to further opportunities.  Thank you also to Kendall Lynch, who was a very awesome writing partner during this play's creation.

much love,

ROMERO

THREE and FOUR Play the One-Minute Play Festival

On August 29th and 30th, 2017, and despite Hurricane Harvey, I participated in Austin's 4th Annual One Minute Play Festival, creating and sharing two works: Three and Four.

As a "social barometer" experiment, The One-Minute Play Festival was full of fun observations of the present time and place.  As a large-scale community event, it was an excellent opportunity to work with old friends as well as meet new collaborators.

I am happy to have participated and grateful for the excellent work by directors Jess Shoemaker (who directed Four) and Patti Neff-Tiven (who directed Three).  Big thank yous to the ensemble of actors who bravely stepped into these two, strange, experimental works.

Thank you also to my friends who joined me in attendance, and congratulations to all the artists involved on a really engaging program.

Much love,

ROMERO

P.S.  Continued best wishes to everyone dealing with the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, and to those in the path of Hurricane Irma.  Take care of each other, everyone.

THE ELEPHANT AND THE LIGHT IN CLAIRE'S SUITCASE, Homer

The good news continues for my ten-minute play, The Elephant and the Light in Claire's Suitcase.  The play will be presented as a staged reading by Pier One Theatre in Homer, Alaska, as part of their program, "Highlights of the Last Frontier Theatre Conference".

This program runs from August 3-5, 2017, and features short works from writers who participated in this year's Conference.  I am very happy to continue relationships with the wonderful artists I met in Alaska this summer, and very happy to continue to share this play.

The readings will take place in Pier One's space "on the spit" in Homer, surrounded by the Kachemak Bay.  The Elephant and the Light in Claire's Suitcase will be read on August 5th.

Big thank yous to Kate Rich for organizing this event and for including Claire, Aldo/a, and Bruce.  Continued thanks to Deborah Bradshaw an Chris Totora for originally bringing this work to life through the Play in a Day project.

THE ELEPHANT AND THE LIGHT IN CLAIRE'S SUITCASE, Heideman Award Finalist

Inside the envelope from Actors Theatre of Louisville:

"We're delighted to inform you that your play, The Elephant and the Light in Claire's Suitcase, has been selected as one of 60 finalists for the 2017 Heideman Award."

HELL YEAH!

From memory, I believe ATL receives at least 500-600 entries a year for this award, so this is quite an honor already.

The Heideman Award winner will be announced in February 2018, and all finalists' scripts will be considered for production opportunities during ATL's 2017-2018 Season.

The Victor Jory Theatre, inside of Actors Theatre of Louisville.

If this play is selected for production, that will be awesome.  And it will be the first time one of my plays is presented in ATL since that time we did my play in their bathrooms (remember that, Rand Harmon and Specific Gravity Ensemble?).

Huge thank yous, again, to Chris Totora, Deborah Bradshaw, and the Play in a Day project that instigated this play.

much love on this exciting day,

ROMERO

PLASTIC THINGS, Anchorage

I am so happy that the journey continues for Of Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings.  My all-ages play will live in production, once again, this time presented by a group of young performers in Alaska.

The production will be part of TBA Theatre's (Anchorage, Alaska) summer programming, and will be worked on by students, ages 8 - 18, as part of the "Actor's Academy".

Performances will take place at TBA's outdoor amphitheater from July 28 - 30, 2017.  I am so excited to think about this play, expressed through the excellent imaginations of young performers, surrounded by the mountains of the Last Frontier.

Big thank yous to Shane Mitchell for his interest in this play, to Alexis Jade Colon (who is directing), and to the awesome students who are bringing Sam the Plastic Water Bottle, Reginald the Blue Crab, Billie the Parrot, The Oldest Sea Turtle Who Ever Lived, and all the other fun characters to life. 

Big thanks as well to the Last Frontier Theater Conference for creating the possibility for this relationship. 

(My love for Alaska grows).

Thank yous also to YouthPLAYS for publishing the play and for its help with licensing this production.

And continued thanks to Chris Totora, Josh Totora, and Little Fish Theatre for originally commissioning me to write this work 5 years ago; to Cara Blouin and the awesome Drexel University students who helped me create it; to the wonderful actors and creative team of the original production.  I never imagined this work would have such a long and adventurous life, and I am so grateful for it.


Much love,

ROMERO

THE ELEPHANT AND THE LIGHT IN CLAIRE'S SUITCASE in New York

From June 14-18, 2017, my 10-minute play, The Elephant and the Light in Claire's Suitcase, was presented in full production as part of Stay Awake! Theatre's Prism Festival.

The performances were at The Bridge Theatre in Shetler Studios, in Manhattan, New York City.

Big thank yous to Maryanne Olson, Jeanne-Marie Brown, and the good folks of Stay Awake! for selecting this script (out of roughly 300 open submissions) and for all the care they put into exploring and presenting it.

Continued thank yous to Deborah Bradshaw and Chris Totora, who originally invited me to write this play as part of the Play in a Day project at Cumberland County College in 2016.

Much love,

ROMERO

DOOR TO BALLOON/The Last Frontier Theater Conference in Alaska

I recently returned from Valdez, Alaska, where my play, Door to Balloon, was presented at The Last Frontier Theater Conference.

The experience was easily one of the most enjoyable, most fruitful ones of my life and I feel so grateful for having had the opportunity to participate, to explore and share my work, to meet so many excellent people, and to get a taste of Alaska.

Photo by Annie McCain Engman

It was very hard to leave and I hope, very much, to return.

Big thank yous to all the people-- and there are so many-- who made this possible.

much love,

ROMERO

THE SHADES OF ORCUS

On February 4th, 2017, I will be performing in a workshop presentation/staged reading of the new play The Shades of Orcus by Missoula theatre artist Joshua Kelly.  The performance is at 7:00 pm at The Public House in downtown Missoula.

I am playing Thomas Warren, an art critic who has made himself infamous for his major work—a collection of reviews detailing the art, beauty, and performative nature of suicides.  So yes, this play is kind of dark.

The play is asking some fascinating questions and I look forward to stepping inside of these worlds and exploring them with some very smart, talented people.


Big thank yous to playwright Joshua Kelly and director Thaine Bertin for including me in this process.

much love,

ROMERO

Thank You to Cone Man Running

Big thank yous to Cone Man Running Productions in Houston, Texas, for their inclusion of my short play, Goodb(eye), as part of their very fun 5 Minute-Mile project during November of 2016.

As they describe:

"32 plays are selected for the production.  Eight are scheduled to perform each night.  The next six are drawn at random at the start of the show.  The last six are voted on by the audience based on the title, descriptions and the actors involved!  It’s a different line up every single night!"

Whitney Zangarine (Madeleine) and Bryan Maynard (John) in Goodb(eye); Houston TX.

My own play was concisely described as:  "A man and woman, a secret romance, static electricity passes through the phone wires, as a giant eye inexplicably hovers over the city."

I was very happy to have my work included in this project, and grateful for the extra effort Cone Man Running made to send me a video of the play, taken during the final dress rehearsal:

My thanks to Bryan Maynard and Whitney Zangarine for their performances, and to Michael Weems for organizing the project.

Thank you also to Brad McEntire and Audacity Theatre Lab for originally commissioning me to create this work for their Eye in the Sky project (originally featuring actors Lydia Mackay and Jeffrey Schmidt), which began way back in 2009.

much love,

ROMERO

BIG IRON FIRES at Montana Rep

On Sunday, October 9th, 2016, my short play, Big Iron Fires, will be presented by Montana Repertory Theatre as part of the year-long project, "5 on 5 Play Slam".

In the fall of this year, Montana Rep selected 18 local writers to participate in this project, whereby we would receive a prompt, then have exactly one week to write a 15-minute play in response.  5 of these plays are then selected for a presentation, each play receiving two hours of rehearsal.

This process is endeavored 5 times from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2017.

I am very interested in many aspects of this project: what kind of plays will be created?  What overlap is there between the plays that are written? What information (creative, cultural, structural) can be gathered from the writing as a whole?  How might the individual and collective writing evolve during the process?  What prompts are most fruitful, and why?  What kind of community will develop among the project's writers and contributing artists, and audience?  What experiments are possible?  There are a lot of fun things to discover.

For this particular iteration, our prompt was "Guns", and I very much look forward to the responses from the other participant writers.

For my own work, Big Iron Fires is a bit of an experiment that I am very excited about, partly because I don't know what will happen.

Big thank yous to Montana Repertory Theatre and Greg Johnson (who is also directing my play) for organizing this project, and for including me in the journey.

And best of luck to all the participant writers!

For additional reading about the project, check out the Broadway World press release.

Much love,

ROMERO

GOODB(EYE) in Houston

From November 9 - 19, 2016, my short play Goodb(eye) will be playing at the Obsidian Theatre in Houston, Texas, as part of Cone Man Running Productions experimental project, The Five Minute Mile Play Festival.

Five Minute Mile selected 32 five-minute plays (out of 389 submissions), with each performance presenting 20 of them.  But they don't know which 20.  In fact, no one will know which 20 plays will be performed on a given night, until the show begins.  Each night, Cone Man will present 8 plays already decided upon, 6 plays will be voted on by the audience when they arrive, and 6 plays will be selected at random. 

It sounds like a totally fun experiment, and I'm very happy to have one of my plays participating in the chance randomness of it all.

Big thank yous to Cone Man Running for selecting this work and for Audacity Theatre Lab for originally commissioning me to write this piece as part of the Eye in the Sky project (and thank you for your voices Lydia Mackay and Jeffrey Schmidt).

Much love,

ROMERO

THE GREAT ONE in Sarasota

On November 19 & 20, 2016, my short play, The Great One, will be presented by The Players Follies as part of their annual Play Reading Festival in Sarasota, Florida.

The play is one of 11 short plays selected for this event, showcasing works that express the theme "The Fabric of Our Lives", a poignant exploration for a theater group made up of members all 50 years of age and older.

This particular work came very early in my own writing development, and is one of my very first plays.  Inspired, like many of my plays, by elephants and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, The Great One was originally presented in Austin, Texas 15 years ago, delivered by Ann Taylor.  The play had another showing, roughly a year later, with Audacity Theatre Lab in Dallas, Texas, performed by Rasa Hollender, directed by Brad McEntire.

I am very happy that this work will step into performance again, and very grateful for the good folks of The Players Follies for bringing it back to life.

You can read the Follies announcement here.

Much love,

ROMERO

TWO BUBBLES, Eight Years in Print

On August 12, 2016, my ten-minute play, Two Bubbles, achieved its eighth year in print, thanks to the good folks of Playscripts, Inc.

Brendan Ahearn, Tiffany Feng, Brad McEntire, Laurie Farris, Jeff Hernandez, and Shannon Marie in Two Bubbles, Audacity Productions / Rover Dramawerks, Plano, Texas (2002). Photo: Carol Rice.

Originally written in a few hours (from roughly midnight until about 6 am) as part of Rover Dramawerks' and Audacity Theatre's "One (More) Day Only" project in 2002-- a 24-hour new play festival-- it has been in production in Plano and Austin, Texas, and Wilmington, Delaware, with some of my very favorite people (you know who you are, and thank you).

It was my first play to be published, and it makes me very happy to know that, because of this printing, my work is out there, independent of me, engaging with people and places (for example, I know that it sits on one of the shelves of The Drama Book Shop in New York City, as they have been a frequent purchaser of this title).

And while this publication hasn't made me rich (my average annual royalties are less than $ 15) or famous (ironically, there have been no productions, that I know of, since it's publication), its accomplishments are more personal and important than that to me.

The more important numbers to me are that this title has sold over 1,300 copies, and now my own written words live in these 14 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States.

Big thank yous to all the awesome people that have engaged with and helped create this play, you have born and sustained the life of a work for almost 15 years now.

Much love,

ROMERO

P.S. If you don't already have a copy and would like one, it would be so awesome for you to go HERE.

The Trigger Gene closes

On Saturday, May 28, 2016, we closed the 5-performance run of Rita Kneiss Barkey's The Trigger Gene, to an energetic, full audience at The Crystal Theatre in Missoula.

I feel very lucky to have had this experience, working with a strong, caring group of talented people, almost all of whom I just met (and all of whom I hope to continue working with).  It was a great first theatrical experience in Missoula, and I am very thankful to this group of artists for trusting me and gently demanding the most from me.  I am very proud of the collective work we all did together, and I think the production was a success in many ways.

Sarah (Robin Rose) and Terry (Greg Romero) in The Trigger Gene; Missoula MT.  Photo by Michael Stafford).

Acting in this new play was a really important experience for me personally, forcing me to confront some vulnerabilities I had been able to avoid for some time.  Taking a break from acting for so long, I was surprised to discover how hard it was (all the layers and worlds and intentions and sensitivities involved in a single moment), much harder than I remember, making me wonder if, in previous roles, I'd ever fully appreciated all of the detail and possibilities involved in creating a performance.

I am very happy to have put back in touch with these creative muscles I'd let atrophy a little.  Now exercised, I am curious to keep using them, open again, for the first time in a while, to an expanded view of possibilities.

Big thank yous to the whole Trigger Gene team-- Diane, Diego, Howard, Nathan, Rita, Robin, Shaun, and everyone else who contributed and participated.

--ROMERO

The Trigger Gene

Later this month I will be performing in The Trigger Gene, a new play by Missoula playwright Rita Kneiss Barkey.

This is the first substantial role I've had in a full theatrical production in quite some time-- certainly my most involved performance since my project, Thirty-Three, which was nearly 7 years ago, and one of only a handful of performances in the past 15 years since I graduated college.  This experience has stretched me and humbled me in many ways already, for which I am really grateful. 

 
With help from the good folks of Third Ear Productions, we go into performance at Missoula's Crystal Theater from May 19-21, 27-28, and I am very much looking forward to the continued work on this part, and sharing the play with an audience.

Many thanks to those who are working on this project with me, it has been a very rewarding journey so far.

For more information on the performances, please visit here.

much love,

ROMERO

PLASTIC THINGS in Kingston, Jamaica

It makes me so happy that Of Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings continues to live on, most recently finding new audiences in the excellent waters of the Caribbean.

 Reginald the Blue Crab and Sam the Plastic Water Bottle (Edna Manley College; Kingston, Jamaica).

From March 11-21, 2016, this young audiences play was presented by the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts at the Dennis Scott Studio Theatre, in Kingston, Jamaica.  I was unable to attend the performances, but the show's director, Pierre LeMaire, tells me that his students had a good experience working on the play, the school audiences enjoyed it, and that it was quite interesting to talk with the students after the show about pollution and recycling.  This is all excellent, and a huge gift.

The Gyres (Edna Manley College; Kingston, Jamaica).

This play is well-journeyed, having been in performance in Philadelphia (with the workshop at Drexel, the Philly Fringe production by Little Fish Theatre Collaborative), several schools in New Jersey (as part of Little Fish Theatre's touring production), Phoenix (thanks to the good folks at Space 55), and internationally in Victoria, British Columbia (Kate Rubin Studio Theatre), and now, Jamaica.  I'm so very grateful for all of these experiences, and continue to be humbled by them.

Reginald, Sam, and Billie the Parrot (Edna Manley College; Kingston, Jamaica).

 

Big thank yous to the Edna Manley College and Pierre LeMaire, and continued thanks to: Cara Blouin and the original, wonderful Drexel ensemble; Chris and Josh Totora of Little Fish for believing in me and commissioning the play; to the wonderful actors in the Fringe production and tour; and to Jon Dorf and YouthPLAYS for publishing the script.

Much love,

ROMERO

PLASTIC THINGS and DELAWARE MUDTUB now up on Amazon

My two published young audiences works, Of Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings and Delaware Mudtub and the Mighty Wampum, are now posted on the Amazon.com website.

Published by YouthPLAYS (and also for sale or licensing options through their website), this additional listing on the market giant Amazon will hopefully extend each of these play's lives in exciting ways, while making it easier to find for those who are looking for them.

For a quick link to the plays on Amazon:

Of Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings

Delaware Mudtub and the Mighty Wampum

Big continued thank yous to YouthPLAYS and to all of the amazing artists and people who originally brought these works to life.

much love,

ROMERO

LULLABY/Goodbye to Drexel

On Wednesday, May 27th, 2015,  three of my students and I shared The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard at Drexel University as an open rehearsal/studio presentation.

This intimate presentation (staged in the dressing room of the URBN Annex Black Box Theatre) was a satisfying way to conclude my six-plus years of teaching and creating at Drexel.  Grateful for the experience to work with these talented, bright students for one final project, we approached this short process (we met for 5 times for a total of 12 hours) as an exercise, exploring the play and its challenges as best we could with the time and space we had to work in.

The Man (Alex Cummiskey), The Narrator (Laura Allan) and The Woman (Lexi Pozonsky).  URBN Annex Green Room, Drexel University; Philadelphia PA.  Photo by John VanZelst.

The process was highly enjoyable, as performers Laura Allan ("The Narrator"), Alex Cummiskey ("The Man"), and Lexi Pozonsky ("The Woman") all proved to be brave, creative, and enthusiastic in their exploration of the play's darker content, in it's non-linear structure, and in it's demanding physicality.  Their bold choices, openness to explore, and thoughtful questions led to further discoveries in a play that I have been working on for over 10 years and through at least half a dozen presentations.  The experience was so enjoyable that I regret only that there wasn't more time available to explore the play further together.

I was also happy to have shared this work with a small, intimate audience of Drexel students, staff, and friends.  It was wonderful to witness the ongoing support these students have for one another, and to share this work with a handful of my own students who I have become very close to.

The Narrator (Laura Allan) and The Woman (Lexi Pozonsky).  Photo by John VanZelst.

Big thank yous to Alex, Laura, and Lexi for their excellent work and the gifts of their time and talent and to all the wonderful spirits who have breathed into this play over the past ten years.  Thank you as well to all the good folks at Drexel, and to all the students whose intelligence, creativity, and sincerity continually inspire me to be the best version of myself.

Much love,

ROMERO

EYE IN THE SKY on YouTube

A few years ago, the wily artists at Audacity Theatre Lab created a project-- an experimental epistolary radio theatre project-- in which they commissioned playwrights around the country to create a radio play based on the following shared prompt:

"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 originally materialized."

Gathering a wealth of work, and through collaboration with a number of multi-disciplinary artists, Audacity put together several episodes of recordings of these plays.  I feel lucky to have been one of the commissioned playwrights, and to share Episode Two with cool cat Daniel Talbott.

My short work, Goodb(eye) appears roughly four and half minutes into this recording, with some fine voice work by Jeffrey Schmidt and Lydia Mackay.

You can listen to Episode Two HERE.

Big thank yous to the folks at Audacity TheatreLab for putting this project together and for continuing to share our work.

Much love,

ROMERO