I was interviewed recently for the Live Arts & Philly Fringe Festival Blog. The profile is now posted on the Festival website, with several fun photos. To read the entire article, go HERE.
Big thank yous to Jennifer Hannan for taking the time and interest in interviewing me, and for the lovely write-up.
==========
ROMERO
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Returning to the National Theater Institute
I am THRILLED that I am asked to return this summer to The National Theater Institute. I will return as the core playwriting faculty, working with the students of the TheaterMakers Summer Intensive Program. Housed on the campus of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, the NTI program is one of the most prestigious and exciting training programs in the country.
I taught at NTI last summer and loved every minute of it. The students were talented, brave, smart, dedicated, and showed a lot of guts by testing themselves in the 7-day a week (no kidding), 6 week program. For 42 days straight, the NTI students push it to the max, and I will be there doing my best to stoke their creative fires, to continue to learn from them, and to help all of us explode the thing wide open.
I also look forward to rejoining several talented teaching artists, including Yuriy Kordonsky (Wesleyan University) and Broadway performer (Passing Strange) Colman Domingo, among others. My work at NTI last summer undoubtedly made me a better teacher, more aware of ways to embody the teaching/learning process, and more dynamic and bold in my own use of space. Because of and motivated by the talent that will surround me, I see this teaching opportunity as a way to challenge own skills as an educator, and to push against my own teaching expectations.
As an added benefit, the summer training will be in session during the National Music Theater Conference, as well as the National Playwrights Conference, and there are lots of fun overlaps betweens these programs as well as a lot of high-quality work to witness.
It is a TRULY exciting place to be during the summer, and I can't wait to get started. We are still sorting through some of the details, but it is likely I will be in residence for the entire six-week program, beginning June 14th through July 27th.
Big thank yous to Jeff Janisheski for re-hiring me this year, and to Nick Roesler for being so radical and mystical. And thank yous again to all of the 2008 crew-- the students and staff-- for such a memorable summer last year.
FORT GRISWOLD OR BUST!!
===============
ROMERO
I taught at NTI last summer and loved every minute of it. The students were talented, brave, smart, dedicated, and showed a lot of guts by testing themselves in the 7-day a week (no kidding), 6 week program. For 42 days straight, the NTI students push it to the max, and I will be there doing my best to stoke their creative fires, to continue to learn from them, and to help all of us explode the thing wide open.
I also look forward to rejoining several talented teaching artists, including Yuriy Kordonsky (Wesleyan University) and Broadway performer (Passing Strange) Colman Domingo, among others. My work at NTI last summer undoubtedly made me a better teacher, more aware of ways to embody the teaching/learning process, and more dynamic and bold in my own use of space. Because of and motivated by the talent that will surround me, I see this teaching opportunity as a way to challenge own skills as an educator, and to push against my own teaching expectations.
As an added benefit, the summer training will be in session during the National Music Theater Conference, as well as the National Playwrights Conference, and there are lots of fun overlaps betweens these programs as well as a lot of high-quality work to witness.
It is a TRULY exciting place to be during the summer, and I can't wait to get started. We are still sorting through some of the details, but it is likely I will be in residence for the entire six-week program, beginning June 14th through July 27th.
Big thank yous to Jeff Janisheski for re-hiring me this year, and to Nick Roesler for being so radical and mystical. And thank yous again to all of the 2008 crew-- the students and staff-- for such a memorable summer last year.
FORT GRISWOLD OR BUST!!
===============
ROMERO
Friday, May 15, 2009
DANDELION MOMMA Covered in the Live Arts and Fringe Festival Blog
My play, DANDELION MOMMA, got a nice story in Monday's Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival Blog.
Brenna Schiman as "Delores"
Thank you again to The Kelly Writers House, to the wonderful artists who worked on the project, and to Jennifer Hannan for taking the time to come to the event and share her experience with others.
To read the article, go HERE.
=======
ROMERO
Brenna Schiman as "Delores"Thank you again to The Kelly Writers House, to the wonderful artists who worked on the project, and to Jennifer Hannan for taking the time to come to the event and share her experience with others.
To read the article, go HERE.
=======
ROMERO
Monday, May 11, 2009
Two Plays to Open in Austin
From May 14-16, Austin performance group, Debutantes and Vagabonds presents ARE YOU ALIVE?, an evening of short, macabre performance pieces confronting the audience's awareness of whether they are really alive.
The live theatrical performances will be coupled with live music from a different Austin band each night (how Austin!).
Two of my plays, Doctor Helix and Keggy the Keg and Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich, will be part of the line-up.
Doctor Helix was written as a Christmas gift for a brother in law (the title character is based on him-- the doctor, not the anthromorphic beer keg). Zombie was written as part of a city-wide "Bake-Off" project I organized in Philadelphia in February. Both are dark and funny and strange (both plays involve people/things being tied up and abused), and are being fully produced for the first time (Zombie was read out loud during Philadelphia's New Play Initiative Conference).
I unfortunately will not be in attendance for this production, as I am always looking for an excuse to go down to Austin and see good friends and take in the wonderful Austin air. It is my hope that friends still in A-Town will go out and check out the show in my stead.
Big thank yous to Frank Rodriguez for asking me to send him some plays to consider for this project, and to him and Amanda Garfield for selecting these plays and putting so much work into them.
The show funs May 14-16 in the Rollins Theater in The Long Center for the Performing Arts (701 W Riverside).
Here is the info from the producers....
===========================
DOUBLE STEREO and DEBUTANTES & VAGABONDS have co-produced three (3) nights of theater and live music at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on May 14th – 16th with White Ghost Shivers, The Georgian Company, and Scott H. Biram.
Directed by Amanda Garfield and Paula Russell, "Are You Alive" presents an evening of twisted theatre (macabre vignettes written by Hunter Davis, Aimee Gonzalez, Fred Jones IV, Francisco Rodriguez, Greg Romero, and Sarah Saltwick) that will leave the audience wondering what it really means to be alive. Each performance will feature live music from a different Austin band.
* Thursday, May 14th - White Ghost Shivers *
* Friday, May 15th - The Georgian Company *
* Saturday, May 16th - Scott H. Biram *
After each show, the Tiniest Bar in Texas will host a party with complimentary beer and alcohol.
**Performances begin at 8PM and tickets are $15. For tickets or more information, please visit www.dnvtheatre.com.**
==========================
If you are on Facebook, go to event page, HERE.
Rock on,
ROMERO
The live theatrical performances will be coupled with live music from a different Austin band each night (how Austin!).
Two of my plays, Doctor Helix and Keggy the Keg and Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich, will be part of the line-up.
Doctor Helix was written as a Christmas gift for a brother in law (the title character is based on him-- the doctor, not the anthromorphic beer keg). Zombie was written as part of a city-wide "Bake-Off" project I organized in Philadelphia in February. Both are dark and funny and strange (both plays involve people/things being tied up and abused), and are being fully produced for the first time (Zombie was read out loud during Philadelphia's New Play Initiative Conference).
I unfortunately will not be in attendance for this production, as I am always looking for an excuse to go down to Austin and see good friends and take in the wonderful Austin air. It is my hope that friends still in A-Town will go out and check out the show in my stead.
Big thank yous to Frank Rodriguez for asking me to send him some plays to consider for this project, and to him and Amanda Garfield for selecting these plays and putting so much work into them.
The show funs May 14-16 in the Rollins Theater in The Long Center for the Performing Arts (701 W Riverside).
Here is the info from the producers....
===========================
DOUBLE STEREO and DEBUTANTES & VAGABONDS have co-produced three (3) nights of theater and live music at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on May 14th – 16th with White Ghost Shivers, The Georgian Company, and Scott H. Biram.
Directed by Amanda Garfield and Paula Russell, "Are You Alive" presents an evening of twisted theatre (macabre vignettes written by Hunter Davis, Aimee Gonzalez, Fred Jones IV, Francisco Rodriguez, Greg Romero, and Sarah Saltwick) that will leave the audience wondering what it really means to be alive. Each performance will feature live music from a different Austin band.
* Thursday, May 14th - White Ghost Shivers *
* Friday, May 15th - The Georgian Company *
* Saturday, May 16th - Scott H. Biram *
After each show, the Tiniest Bar in Texas will host a party with complimentary beer and alcohol.
**Performances begin at 8PM and tickets are $15. For tickets or more information, please visit www.dnvtheatre.com.**
==========================
If you are on Facebook, go to event page, HERE.
Rock on,
ROMERO
Friday, May 08, 2009
Saint Joseph's Students ROCK Their Final Projects
On Thursday, May 7th, students of the "Introduction to Theater" course at Saint Joseph's University presented their final projects before an audience of their supportive and enthusiastic classmates (and me).
Their final projects were to take at least three of the (nine) plays we've read over the course of the semester, to smash them together in some way, and create a performance out of their collision. The rest of the details were up to them.
The biggest expectations I impressed upon them was to make use of what they'd learned over the course of the semester about the plays they've read, their understanding of the uniquely theatrical elements ("what is theater?"), their observations made from witnessing live events, and their in-class experiences with performance, somehow creatively expressing all of this semester-long learning in a 15-20 minute original work of live performance.
But most importantly, I just wanted them to have fun engaging their own creativity.
I deeply believed in all of them, yet the class still exceeded my expectations.
And because I am so thrilled with the projects they came up with and presented to each other on Thursday, I wanted to share them publicly.
Project One was an episode of "Celebrity Jeopardy", hosted by Alex Trebek, with contestants Romeo, Georges Seurat, and Willy Loman. They answered questions from categories like "Plays by Stephen Sondheim", "Shakespearian Tragedies", humorously expressing the tragic flaws of all three of these leading men. Loman wins the final, decisive round, as Romeo and Seurat (bursting into song) both answer incorrectly the question, "what is theatre?". Loman is thrilled that he can now support his family and tell his boss to stick it.
Project Two was a parallel telling of three plays-- Crimes of the Heart, Romeo and Juliet, and Oedipus Rex, as Mafia/crime family adaptations. Re-imagining the McGrath sisters as "three incompetent New Jersey brothers who eagerly await the return of their father from prison", Crimes of the Cannoli was a five-minute play exploring the "main themes of family, loyalty and misfortune". Group Two's second play re-visioned the opening moment of Romeo and Juliet with servants Sampson and Gregory and Montague kinsman Benvolio instead as two warring mafia families (the Lucianos and Costellos), with "Vinnie"/Benvolio as an associate from the Luciano family. A fight breaks out (instigated by "Frankie"/Tybalt), prompting the head of the Gambino family (Prince Escalus as "Nicky Gambino") to threaten the warring families into peace with each other. Their third adaptation was the moment in which Tiresius (as wise "Dr. Milano") reveals the prophecy to Oedipus/"Vinnie Bruno" about his doomed fate as his wife/mother Jocasta/"Concetta Bruno" attempts to console him.
Project Three presented two short plays-- a smashing together of two plays each. The first, Romeo & Juliet: The Seven Year Itch, transformed the final moment of A Doll's House, expressing the Ibsen's Torvald and Nora through Shakespeare's young lovers, thirteen years after their re-imagined union in the Elizabethan tragedy. Juliet tells Romeo she's leaving, that she knows of his affair with Rosalind, and that the young lovers have grown older and distant. She exits amidst Torvald/Romeo's protests, slamming the door in his face. The group's second piece places Crimes of the Heart's Babe (McGrath) Botrelle in a therapy session with Equus's Martin Dysart, in which they both continue to question and come to an understanding about healing and passion and "normal" behavior.
Project Four, titled: Attrition, imagines Babe Botrelle again, this time during her fifth year of institutionalization in Whitfield Asylum. She's visited by Dora Strang, five years after the final curtain of Equus (and now separated from her husband) on a soul-saving mission to the mental hospital. The students took a lot of inspiration from Shaffer's use of space, creating in the classroom an encircled playing area in which the two live actors were divided by a single partition (a piano bench). The third performer (a member of the SJU Softball team and out of town at a tournament) was summoned via an Ipod and narrated the emotional action through the character of Tartuffe's Elmire Pernelle (and in ryhming couplets!). As Babe and Dora gained emotional closeness, the actors invisibly crept forward in their rolling chairs, expressing their emotional distance physically (they also changed time and space during sections of the play by adjusting themselves differently in their chairs and directly addressing the audience with their inner thoughts).
Project Five was a couples group therapy session led by Equus's Martin Dysart. The play opens with Dysart questioning his ability to counsel while the four couples all sit on stage, much like the chorus/horses in Shaffer's drama. Dysart attempts to counsel the Helmers (Nora and Torvald), the Lomans (Willy and Linda), the Maxsons (Troy and Rose from August Wilson's Fences), and Georges Seurat and his pregnant mistress, Dot. The couples find places of intersection and disconnect (even within themselves-- Willy continues searching for his brother Ben, Georges at one point places a cardboard cut-out of himself while he leaves to "finish the hat"), eventually resisting Dysart's counsel and exit, leaving the psychiatrist to contine questioning himself alone on stage.
In short, the students did wonderful work digging into their creative reservoirs and birthing new ways to inhabit and present these plays. They tapped into their creativity in ways that surprised them, and expressed themselves in ways they thought impossible. And more thrilling, it was evident that were really ENJOYING it, evidenced by their hard work, attention to detail, and the sparkle in which they presented themselves.
As an additional assignment, I asked the students to reflect upon their experience working on these creative projects, and I was thrilled with their personal discoveries. Of these, I wanted to share a couple:
"After about 20 minutes into writing, we began to have a great time with the script. We were coming up with new, fresh ideas and the project did not seem to be a burden at all. The problem of not being able to write enough quickly turned into a problem of writing too much and having to edit many parts out to be conscious of time. We became so engulfed in our work that if we were permitted to, would have continued to write an entire script because we were having so much fun with it. Never did I imagine I would have this much fun with the project and so much curiosity would be sparked in me. I learned many things from this project. The main thing I learned was to approach all things with an open mind. Secondly, I learned that I had a creative side of me that I never really thought I had."
"Overall, throughout the length of the semester, I learned how theater in and of itself is a continued experience of the creative journey; and I have a much deeper appreciation for theatrical works. While I learned a great deal, I am well aware that the learning process will only continue long into the future."
These reflections from my students are the highest reward they can offer their instructor, because it demonstrates that they have been transformed by their experiences, and feel more alive because of them. Witnessing their revelations teaches me to continue to search for my own, and to continue finding the joy inside my own creative expression and teaching.
For them, it is my hope that they continue and deepen their dance with this awareness and with their creative selves, as it is clear to me that they all became brave, curious, and joyful learners, open and engaged and full of light.
Thank you again, HAWKS, for a lovely semester.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Their final projects were to take at least three of the (nine) plays we've read over the course of the semester, to smash them together in some way, and create a performance out of their collision. The rest of the details were up to them.
The biggest expectations I impressed upon them was to make use of what they'd learned over the course of the semester about the plays they've read, their understanding of the uniquely theatrical elements ("what is theater?"), their observations made from witnessing live events, and their in-class experiences with performance, somehow creatively expressing all of this semester-long learning in a 15-20 minute original work of live performance.
But most importantly, I just wanted them to have fun engaging their own creativity.
I deeply believed in all of them, yet the class still exceeded my expectations.
And because I am so thrilled with the projects they came up with and presented to each other on Thursday, I wanted to share them publicly.
Project One was an episode of "Celebrity Jeopardy", hosted by Alex Trebek, with contestants Romeo, Georges Seurat, and Willy Loman. They answered questions from categories like "Plays by Stephen Sondheim", "Shakespearian Tragedies", humorously expressing the tragic flaws of all three of these leading men. Loman wins the final, decisive round, as Romeo and Seurat (bursting into song) both answer incorrectly the question, "what is theatre?". Loman is thrilled that he can now support his family and tell his boss to stick it.
Project Two was a parallel telling of three plays-- Crimes of the Heart, Romeo and Juliet, and Oedipus Rex, as Mafia/crime family adaptations. Re-imagining the McGrath sisters as "three incompetent New Jersey brothers who eagerly await the return of their father from prison", Crimes of the Cannoli was a five-minute play exploring the "main themes of family, loyalty and misfortune". Group Two's second play re-visioned the opening moment of Romeo and Juliet with servants Sampson and Gregory and Montague kinsman Benvolio instead as two warring mafia families (the Lucianos and Costellos), with "Vinnie"/Benvolio as an associate from the Luciano family. A fight breaks out (instigated by "Frankie"/Tybalt), prompting the head of the Gambino family (Prince Escalus as "Nicky Gambino") to threaten the warring families into peace with each other. Their third adaptation was the moment in which Tiresius (as wise "Dr. Milano") reveals the prophecy to Oedipus/"Vinnie Bruno" about his doomed fate as his wife/mother Jocasta/"Concetta Bruno" attempts to console him.
Project Three presented two short plays-- a smashing together of two plays each. The first, Romeo & Juliet: The Seven Year Itch, transformed the final moment of A Doll's House, expressing the Ibsen's Torvald and Nora through Shakespeare's young lovers, thirteen years after their re-imagined union in the Elizabethan tragedy. Juliet tells Romeo she's leaving, that she knows of his affair with Rosalind, and that the young lovers have grown older and distant. She exits amidst Torvald/Romeo's protests, slamming the door in his face. The group's second piece places Crimes of the Heart's Babe (McGrath) Botrelle in a therapy session with Equus's Martin Dysart, in which they both continue to question and come to an understanding about healing and passion and "normal" behavior.
Project Four, titled: Attrition, imagines Babe Botrelle again, this time during her fifth year of institutionalization in Whitfield Asylum. She's visited by Dora Strang, five years after the final curtain of Equus (and now separated from her husband) on a soul-saving mission to the mental hospital. The students took a lot of inspiration from Shaffer's use of space, creating in the classroom an encircled playing area in which the two live actors were divided by a single partition (a piano bench). The third performer (a member of the SJU Softball team and out of town at a tournament) was summoned via an Ipod and narrated the emotional action through the character of Tartuffe's Elmire Pernelle (and in ryhming couplets!). As Babe and Dora gained emotional closeness, the actors invisibly crept forward in their rolling chairs, expressing their emotional distance physically (they also changed time and space during sections of the play by adjusting themselves differently in their chairs and directly addressing the audience with their inner thoughts).
Project Five was a couples group therapy session led by Equus's Martin Dysart. The play opens with Dysart questioning his ability to counsel while the four couples all sit on stage, much like the chorus/horses in Shaffer's drama. Dysart attempts to counsel the Helmers (Nora and Torvald), the Lomans (Willy and Linda), the Maxsons (Troy and Rose from August Wilson's Fences), and Georges Seurat and his pregnant mistress, Dot. The couples find places of intersection and disconnect (even within themselves-- Willy continues searching for his brother Ben, Georges at one point places a cardboard cut-out of himself while he leaves to "finish the hat"), eventually resisting Dysart's counsel and exit, leaving the psychiatrist to contine questioning himself alone on stage.
In short, the students did wonderful work digging into their creative reservoirs and birthing new ways to inhabit and present these plays. They tapped into their creativity in ways that surprised them, and expressed themselves in ways they thought impossible. And more thrilling, it was evident that were really ENJOYING it, evidenced by their hard work, attention to detail, and the sparkle in which they presented themselves.
As an additional assignment, I asked the students to reflect upon their experience working on these creative projects, and I was thrilled with their personal discoveries. Of these, I wanted to share a couple:
"After about 20 minutes into writing, we began to have a great time with the script. We were coming up with new, fresh ideas and the project did not seem to be a burden at all. The problem of not being able to write enough quickly turned into a problem of writing too much and having to edit many parts out to be conscious of time. We became so engulfed in our work that if we were permitted to, would have continued to write an entire script because we were having so much fun with it. Never did I imagine I would have this much fun with the project and so much curiosity would be sparked in me. I learned many things from this project. The main thing I learned was to approach all things with an open mind. Secondly, I learned that I had a creative side of me that I never really thought I had."
"Overall, throughout the length of the semester, I learned how theater in and of itself is a continued experience of the creative journey; and I have a much deeper appreciation for theatrical works. While I learned a great deal, I am well aware that the learning process will only continue long into the future."
These reflections from my students are the highest reward they can offer their instructor, because it demonstrates that they have been transformed by their experiences, and feel more alive because of them. Witnessing their revelations teaches me to continue to search for my own, and to continue finding the joy inside my own creative expression and teaching.
For them, it is my hope that they continue and deepen their dance with this awareness and with their creative selves, as it is clear to me that they all became brave, curious, and joyful learners, open and engaged and full of light.
Thank you again, HAWKS, for a lovely semester.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Sending Hugs to Wesleyan
Because of an unfortunate campus tragedy at Wesleyan University on Wednesday, the production of VALENTINE'S DAY is canceled.
The bigger concerns are with the students and University community as they deal with a strange and traumatic event. I send you all my love and hugs, and hope that you are safe and surrounded by good people.
Thank you again Ben Smolen and Emily Vallillo for all that you have given me, I wish I could offer you more right now than just my play.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
The bigger concerns are with the students and University community as they deal with a strange and traumatic event. I send you all my love and hugs, and hope that you are safe and surrounded by good people.
Thank you again Ben Smolen and Emily Vallillo for all that you have given me, I wish I could offer you more right now than just my play.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
VALENTINE'S DAY at Wesleyan
My solo-performance piece, VALENTINE'S DAY, goes up at Wesleyan University on Friday and Saturday, May 8th and 9th.
The piece is one that is dear to me, originally written for a friend in February 2007. Since that first production (produced by RedHouse Arts in Austin, Texas), the play has gone up once more at the Philly Fringe (September 2008, by The Burn Ward Theater Company) and I am thrilled that it continues its life.
The play is about Opal (who is one of my favorite characters I've ever written) who decides every Valentine's Day if she's going to kill herself. She makes lists, she makes pizzas, she rollerskates, and she's afraid of hula-hoops.
The project is being directed by a former student of mine from The National Theater Institute, Ben Smolen, and I trust with his talent and passion that he and actress (and fellow Wesleyan student) Emily Vallillo are doing excellent work. With the generous support of the University, I plan to Amtrack up on Saturday to Middletown to see the work they are doing, and to offer my thanks and encouragement and to continue to learn the play through them.
Thank you Ben and Emily.
===========
ROMERO
The piece is one that is dear to me, originally written for a friend in February 2007. Since that first production (produced by RedHouse Arts in Austin, Texas), the play has gone up once more at the Philly Fringe (September 2008, by The Burn Ward Theater Company) and I am thrilled that it continues its life.The play is about Opal (who is one of my favorite characters I've ever written) who decides every Valentine's Day if she's going to kill herself. She makes lists, she makes pizzas, she rollerskates, and she's afraid of hula-hoops.
The project is being directed by a former student of mine from The National Theater Institute, Ben Smolen, and I trust with his talent and passion that he and actress (and fellow Wesleyan student) Emily Vallillo are doing excellent work. With the generous support of the University, I plan to Amtrack up on Saturday to Middletown to see the work they are doing, and to offer my thanks and encouragement and to continue to learn the play through them.
Thank you Ben and Emily.
===========
ROMERO
Saturday, May 02, 2009
The Riot is The Goal
I was invited recently by the Theater Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to apply for its F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theater Artist.
This is a huge honor, and one that I am not taking lightly. In general, I am not a huge fan of awards, but the Haas Award is one I believe in because its aims seem well-visioned, and because its history of winners, finalists, and semi-finalists are some of the more talented theater workers in the city of Philadelphia. It is my hope to become part of this group of honorees.
As part of the application, they asked the artists to write a 1-2 page letter to the committee, an artist's statement that tells the committee a little about ourselves and our work (which I have copied below).
Big thanks to the Theater Alliance for inviting me to apply, and for all the folks that continue to make my creative journeys so full of fun and rewards.
==============================
Dear F. Otto Haas Award Committee:
I participated recently in a riot.
On October 28th, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. We celebrated by running through the streets, turning over cars, setting dumpsters on fire, ripping out our souls and throwing them into the flames, screaming and beating our chests, and breaking bottles over our heads, turning the fresh blood into war paint. It was a bestial, untamed expression of human exuberance— a triumphant, barbaric yawp shattering the body through our collective vibrating voice screaming as loudly as possible. That night we were a feral animal expressing itself through a sentient mind. This is the beauty of being human—the glory of being both wild and introspective.
That night changed me. And it keeps me thinking about my own art and its ability to move and transform people, leading me to this missive:
If it creates anything less than a riot (internally or externally), the play is a failure.
The riot becomes the goal— for the process, the performance, and the aftermath; a transformative, dangerous event, uncontainable, uniquely alive, exhilarating, and life-changing: a razor-edged rite of passage for the soul.
With this introduction, it is with great pleasure that I write to you about myself, my body of work, and my goals for the future. I thank you for nominating me for the F. Otto Haas Award and am humbled by my inclusion to an impressive roster of Philadelphia artists whose work I greatly respect.
As for myself, I have worked in many different ways in the professional theater, but I apply to you foremost as a playwright.
I have been fully dedicated to writing for the theater since 2003, completing seven full-length plays: The Shelter (2002), The Mishumaa (2003), The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard (2005), Dandelion Momma (2006), The Milky Way Cabaret (2007), Belize’s Place (2008) and The Travel Plays: An American Potlatch Road-trip (2009).
These plays, along with a number of one-act and shorter works, have been produced off-off Broadway by City Attic Theatre and Working Man’s Clothes Productions, as well as across the country by Salvage Vanguard Theater, Rude Mechanicals Theatre Collective, and Theater In My Basement, among others.
My work explores memory, imagination, pain, dreams, rites of passage, the overlapping of time, and the flawed and fascinating guts and souls of human beings. My characters are troubled, resilient, scarred, searching, trapped, tied to chairs, historical icons, lovers, killers, magicians, ghosts, beauty queens, animals, musicians, children, time travelers, dreamers—all bravely taking on impossible, necessary journeys. They speak to each other through time, dimension, ocean waves, black holes, gesture, lines in their bodies, holes in their chests, silences, holograms, and their deepest regrets. Inspired and haunted by space, I have created work performed in theaters, elevators, porches, warehouses, loft apartments, punk stages, museums, sidewalks, hotels, basement crawl spaces, and public bathrooms.
I believe in cross-disciplinary collaboration, and have worked several times with electronic music composer/sound artist Mike Vernusky on live performance projects including The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting (with choreographer Ray Eliot Schwarz, 2004), The Eulogy Project (with opera-trained performer Jorge Sermini, 2005), and currently, Radio Ghosts, in a form we are calling “electro-theater”, a performance limbus between written text, recorded electronic sound, and live performance.
Since 2003, my work has been recognized with commissions from The Cardboard Box Collaborative, Austin Script Works, and Audacity Theatre Lab, and has been honored as a finalist for the Heideman Award, and a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award.
After living for several years in Austin, I moved to Philadelphia in the summer of 2007 to take on the professional challenge of creating work in a bigger, tougher, more explosive environment, while taking on the personal challenge of living in a new city in a new part of the country (I was born and raised in the Southern United States).
In short— I moved to a city that riots over baseball championships, but also to a city that I feel is ready and willing to riot over transcendent theater. With the help of other talented Philadelphia artists, it is my goal to tap into that same vein that bulges from the flushed forehead of Edwin Forrest, creating an Astor Place riot of the soul, quaking the city’s creative culture into an even louder roaring animal.
I have been working to stoke my own creative fires during my two years in Philadelphia, enjoying local productions with The Cardboard Box Collaborative, Philadelphia Dramatists Center, and The Burn Ward Theater Company, as well as developmental projects with Plays & Players, and The Kelly Writers House. Most recently, I was selected as the first-ever Resident Writer of the ArtsEdge Residency, created by The Kelly Writers House and The University of Pennsylvania—a one-year residency awarded to an emerging Philadelphia writer to support the creation and sharing of new work and to build bridges between the artistic communities of the University of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia at-large.
During the past two years, I have also continued to stay active on the national level, guiding my plays into productions with Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Specific Gravity Ensemble (Louisville), Audacity Theatre Lab (Dallas), Cisne Negro Productions (Austin) and City Theater Company (Wilmington, Delaware) and through development with The Dramatists Guild of America and City Attic Theatre in New York City.
My creative work also extends into the classroom, where I have taught at The Wilma Theater, The University of Pennsylvania, The University of the Arts, and Saint Joseph’s University, as well as the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater. My goals in the classroom are the same as in my creative projects—to provoke, to challenge, to learn, to listen, to enjoy being in a shared space as completely as possible with other engaged and interested humans as we dig as deeply and as actively as we can into our own guts.
And while I am active as a teacher, the artistic body of work I am creating has been possible due to my long-standing commitment to seeking no more than part-time employment. I scrap out a living (and sometimes I don’t), giving myself the continual challenge of hustling for work, living simply, eschewing routine, and staying creatively hungry. This commitment has borne itself out in a number of rewarding ways—with the creation of many new projects, with the development of numerous new professional relationships, with the time to dedicate to the advancement of my art and myself as a human, with the continual surprises that come with a creative lifestyle—all of which help me keep pushing against the edge of expectation until it topples over and something new and incredible busts out of the broken pieces.
The generous support provided by the F. Otto Haas Award would afford me to continue this commitment for at least a full calendar year, while offering the invaluable resource of time. These resources would allow my full attention to the completion of multiple projects already in progress (Radio Ghosts, and The Journey), the further development of recently completed works (The Travel Plays, Belize’s Place, and Dandelion Momma) and the presentation of live productions (an electro-theater version of The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard, a Philadelphia production of Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich, and a second production for The Milky Way Cabaret in Dallas). A continued year of full-time creative work will also, undoubtedly, lead me to find even more creative opportunities for the following, successive years.
Lastly, in addition to the financial, temporal and motivational resources the Haas Award provides, it will offer me the immeasurable opportunity, as an emerging artist, to introduce myself more fully to the artists, theater workers, and audience in this city whom I don’t know, and who don’t know my work yet. The Haas Award will challenge me to a higher standard of working, and put me in conversation with Philadelphia’s most talented, most dedicated artists, helping me find fellow conspirators willing to inspire one another to find the place in us where the riots live, the ways in which to unleash these riots into performance, and the means to incite them in our audience, who will carry the transformation with them, euphoric and changed, into the Philadelphia streets.
I thank you in advance for considering me for this award, and I look forward to hearing from you. I wish you all the best of luck with this project, and I thank you again for the opportunity to share my work with you.
Sincerely,
Monday, April 27, 2009
THE RIDE at Saint Joseph's University
My one-act play, The Ride, will play Friday, May 1st at 7:30 pm at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. The production is part of "Senior Projects in Performing Arts", a public forum for senior fine and performing arts majors to showcase their work.
The play is directed by SJU senior Edwin Lashley, and is performed by Lashley and fellow fine and performing arts major Reid Smith.
This work is one of my first plays-- completed eight years ago in 2001-- and has played to audiences in Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, and Marietta, Ohio. It is based on the 1984 capital murder trial of Calvin Burdine, in which his court-appointed attorney fell asleep while defending him. Calvin, who pled "not guilty", is still in prison and will be for the remainder of his life.
The writing of this work was made possible by Mr. Burdine himself, as well as his new attorney, Robert McGlasson. I thank them again for their guidance and help and bravery.
I am happy that this story will be told again before an audience, and I look forward to continuing to learn the play through the choices made by these young artists.
Thank you to Renee Dobson, head of the Fine and Performing Arts Department, for requesting my plays for the students to work on, and big thank yous to Edwin and Reid for the work they've put into the project.
For those of you in Philadelphia, I'd love for you to attend the event. It will be free, and, as always, it is nice to see friendly faces in the audience. You can check out the rest of the details on the Facebook event page.
ROMERO
The play is directed by SJU senior Edwin Lashley, and is performed by Lashley and fellow fine and performing arts major Reid Smith.
This work is one of my first plays-- completed eight years ago in 2001-- and has played to audiences in Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, and Marietta, Ohio. It is based on the 1984 capital murder trial of Calvin Burdine, in which his court-appointed attorney fell asleep while defending him. Calvin, who pled "not guilty", is still in prison and will be for the remainder of his life.
The writing of this work was made possible by Mr. Burdine himself, as well as his new attorney, Robert McGlasson. I thank them again for their guidance and help and bravery.
I am happy that this story will be told again before an audience, and I look forward to continuing to learn the play through the choices made by these young artists.
Thank you to Renee Dobson, head of the Fine and Performing Arts Department, for requesting my plays for the students to work on, and big thank yous to Edwin and Reid for the work they've put into the project.
For those of you in Philadelphia, I'd love for you to attend the event. It will be free, and, as always, it is nice to see friendly faces in the audience. You can check out the rest of the details on the Facebook event page.
ROMERO
Thursday, March 19, 2009
DANDELION MOMMA to play at the Kelly Writers House
On Monday April 20th, I am presenting a staging of Dandelion Momma, a play written during the summer of 2006. While in Austin, I worked on this play previously with Yellow Tape Construction Company (you can read an interview of the process), and have been looking for opportunity to get back to the play for the past three years. The ArtsEdge Residency provides me a wonderful opportunity to step back into this play, to continue to learn what its worlds are, and to listen to what these characters need.
The April staging will take place outdoors in the garden of the Kelly Writers House (Philadelphia) and will be directed by Wally Zialcita.
The play's action takes place all on the same porch in the southern United States, but told through three different sets of characters over three different time periods. It is also largely my second attempt at a "great depression" play.
I have always liked Dandelion Momma (the young character, Delores, has always been one of my favorites), but have not taken enough time to fully develop it. I look forward to the work ahead on it, and to sharing it with another audience.
A short description of the play:
An eight year-old girl takes care of wayward dandelions and sees the lights inside of people. A farm girl and a writer search for life inside of each other while planting seeds in the hardened soil of the Great Depression. A one-hundred year-old woman reflects back on her life through broken pieces of memory. The ground becomes harder, the girl becomes tired, the air becomes heavier, and something new must be born.
More details will be posted as they come. In the meantime, feel free to check out the event page on the KWH website.
(Big thank yous to Jessica Lowenthal and Erin Gautsche.)
===============
ROMERO
Director Julianna Taylor and actress Faith Taylor (as Delores) in the 2006 workshop presentation (Yellow Tape Construction Company; Austin TX. Photo by Wylie Maercklein)
The April staging will take place outdoors in the garden of the Kelly Writers House (Philadelphia) and will be directed by Wally Zialcita.
The play's action takes place all on the same porch in the southern United States, but told through three different sets of characters over three different time periods. It is also largely my second attempt at a "great depression" play.
I have always liked Dandelion Momma (the young character, Delores, has always been one of my favorites), but have not taken enough time to fully develop it. I look forward to the work ahead on it, and to sharing it with another audience.
A short description of the play:
An eight year-old girl takes care of wayward dandelions and sees the lights inside of people. A farm girl and a writer search for life inside of each other while planting seeds in the hardened soil of the Great Depression. A one-hundred year-old woman reflects back on her life through broken pieces of memory. The ground becomes harder, the girl becomes tired, the air becomes heavier, and something new must be born.
More details will be posted as they come. In the meantime, feel free to check out the event page on the KWH website.
(Big thank yous to Jessica Lowenthal and Erin Gautsche.)
===============
ROMERO
Sunday, March 08, 2009
The First Complete Journey of THE TRAVEL PLAYS
Last night, Saturday March 7, 2009, I finished the short play, "Schuylkill River", the 37th and final "travel play" in a series of works that journey from the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia, through both the mythical and real Ozona, Texas, and back to the "Cradle of Liberty".
Along the way, the plays move through Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and back through Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. All tolled, the trip covers over 4,000 miles, traveling through 32 cities in ten different states.
During the trip, we meet: Walt Whitman, Two Orioles, A Faceless Man, Martha Washington, Hercules, Robert E. Lee, a Giant Elephant, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Ted DiBiase, Ted DiBiase Jr, aTrumpeter, Willie Nelson, Jimmie Rodgers, Howlin' Wolf, Bjork, the Statue and Ghost of Davy Crockett, the Statue and Ghost of Elizabeth Crockett, identical-twin political scientists, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, Andy Kaufman dressed as Elvis Presley, Dr. Martin Luther King disguised as Jerry Lawler, General Lafayette, Jimmy Winkfield and his horse, Joni Mitchell and her smokes, Terry Funk, a one-armed Stonewall Jackson, Wilt Chamberlain, two thousand giant bears, conjoined twins, a Blue Whale, Hiawatha, George Washington, a deer, the ghosts of two first-graders, and the SS United States (and others).
And the best part is that all 37 plays were inspired by and made possible by gifts from 37 different friends (or groups of friends).
I have been writing these plays since the summer of 2008 and have enjoyed every minute of it.
This first completed collection will always be, foremost, a gift. And now, secondly, a possibility, in whose continued life the gift will keep on giving.
In January 2009, a team of collaborators and I began the first three-dimensional exploration of these plays. With the help and support of The Kelly Writers House and Philadelphia Dramatists Center, we staged the first 14 plays and read the remaining 12 that were written at that time. We learned a great deal about these impossible plays and the impossible amount of imagination they require to fully come to life. Because these plays were never intended to be staged-- they were always intended to exist only as gifts-- there was never any attempt on my part to observe some of the normal constrictions that theatrical writing insists upon. The result is that we are faced with a seemingly unachievable and glorious challenge of imagining how to present and express these impossible works/gifts. A challenge that will require the full strength of our imagination, which is exactly what I could have hoped for.
As they stand now, the 37 plays are a dream-like journey through American history, geography, people, and possibility, exploring time and place and gift-giving. It is my hope that, through continued work and development, they will become even more.
I look forward to the journeys ahead for these plays, and thank everyone again for their gift. It is my hope that this return offering is worthy.
The full sojourn of The Travel Plays's first leg:
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Along the way, the plays move through Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and back through Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. All tolled, the trip covers over 4,000 miles, traveling through 32 cities in ten different states.
During the trip, we meet: Walt Whitman, Two Orioles, A Faceless Man, Martha Washington, Hercules, Robert E. Lee, a Giant Elephant, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Ted DiBiase, Ted DiBiase Jr, aTrumpeter, Willie Nelson, Jimmie Rodgers, Howlin' Wolf, Bjork, the Statue and Ghost of Davy Crockett, the Statue and Ghost of Elizabeth Crockett, identical-twin political scientists, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, Andy Kaufman dressed as Elvis Presley, Dr. Martin Luther King disguised as Jerry Lawler, General Lafayette, Jimmy Winkfield and his horse, Joni Mitchell and her smokes, Terry Funk, a one-armed Stonewall Jackson, Wilt Chamberlain, two thousand giant bears, conjoined twins, a Blue Whale, Hiawatha, George Washington, a deer, the ghosts of two first-graders, and the SS United States (and others).
And the best part is that all 37 plays were inspired by and made possible by gifts from 37 different friends (or groups of friends).
I have been writing these plays since the summer of 2008 and have enjoyed every minute of it.
This first completed collection will always be, foremost, a gift. And now, secondly, a possibility, in whose continued life the gift will keep on giving.
In January 2009, a team of collaborators and I began the first three-dimensional exploration of these plays. With the help and support of The Kelly Writers House and Philadelphia Dramatists Center, we staged the first 14 plays and read the remaining 12 that were written at that time. We learned a great deal about these impossible plays and the impossible amount of imagination they require to fully come to life. Because these plays were never intended to be staged-- they were always intended to exist only as gifts-- there was never any attempt on my part to observe some of the normal constrictions that theatrical writing insists upon. The result is that we are faced with a seemingly unachievable and glorious challenge of imagining how to present and express these impossible works/gifts. A challenge that will require the full strength of our imagination, which is exactly what I could have hoped for.
As they stand now, the 37 plays are a dream-like journey through American history, geography, people, and possibility, exploring time and place and gift-giving. It is my hope that, through continued work and development, they will become even more.
I look forward to the journeys ahead for these plays, and thank everyone again for their gift. It is my hope that this return offering is worthy.
The full sojourn of The Travel Plays's first leg:
The Plays and The Gift-Givers:
1. Walt Whitman Bridge, for Sarah Bowden
2. George C. Platt Memorial Bridge, for Christiana Molldrem
3. Abingdon, for Brian and Jamie Grace-Duff
4. Crossville, for Marshall "Spaz" Richard
5. Huntsville, for Gigi Naglak
6. Guntown, for Joy Cutler
7. Lake Lamar Bruce, for Eve Tulbert
8. Fellowship and Oak, for Kristin Leahey
9. W.K. Webb Sportsplex, for Jason Tremblay
10. Tupelo, for Stephen Colella
11. Starkville, for Ruth Engel
12. Jackson, for Tim Fawkes
13. Clinton, for Kristy Chouiniere
14. New Orleans, for Rand, Barb, and Mae Harmon, and Paul Carney
15. Austin, for Shelby, Jess, and J.P Goggin (and their awesome pets)
16. Kerrville, for Lee Pucklis
17. Ozona, for Wally Zialcita
18. Barnhart, for Jessica McMichael
19. Granbury, for Robin Rodriguez
20. Dallas, for Dianna Marino
21. Sulphur Springs, for Ilana Brownstein
22. Memphis, for Jeff Williams
23. Horse Cave, for Nancy Mouton
24. Versailles, for Andrew J. Merkel
25. Chilesburg, for Cherie A. Roberts
26. Weston, for Larry McGonigal
27. Morgantown, for Tim Long
28. Paw Paw, for Tim Errickson
29. Funkstown, for Genevieve Saenz
30. Chantilly, for Mark Jude Sulllivan
31. New Freedom, for Tom Tirney
32. Hershey, for Timothy Verret
33. Deena Museum of Art, for Deena Gerson
34. Reading, for Megan Breen
35. Plymouth Meeting, for Leah Walton
36. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, for Paula Diehl
37. Schuylkill River, for Richard Kotulski
1. Walt Whitman Bridge, for Sarah Bowden
2. George C. Platt Memorial Bridge, for Christiana Molldrem
3. Abingdon, for Brian and Jamie Grace-Duff
4. Crossville, for Marshall "Spaz" Richard
5. Huntsville, for Gigi Naglak
6. Guntown, for Joy Cutler
7. Lake Lamar Bruce, for Eve Tulbert
8. Fellowship and Oak, for Kristin Leahey
9. W.K. Webb Sportsplex, for Jason Tremblay
10. Tupelo, for Stephen Colella
11. Starkville, for Ruth Engel
12. Jackson, for Tim Fawkes
13. Clinton, for Kristy Chouiniere
14. New Orleans, for Rand, Barb, and Mae Harmon, and Paul Carney
15. Austin, for Shelby, Jess, and J.P Goggin (and their awesome pets)
16. Kerrville, for Lee Pucklis
17. Ozona, for Wally Zialcita
18. Barnhart, for Jessica McMichael
19. Granbury, for Robin Rodriguez
20. Dallas, for Dianna Marino
21. Sulphur Springs, for Ilana Brownstein
22. Memphis, for Jeff Williams
23. Horse Cave, for Nancy Mouton
24. Versailles, for Andrew J. Merkel
25. Chilesburg, for Cherie A. Roberts
26. Weston, for Larry McGonigal
27. Morgantown, for Tim Long
28. Paw Paw, for Tim Errickson
29. Funkstown, for Genevieve Saenz
30. Chantilly, for Mark Jude Sulllivan
31. New Freedom, for Tom Tirney
32. Hershey, for Timothy Verret
33. Deena Museum of Art, for Deena Gerson
34. Reading, for Megan Breen
35. Plymouth Meeting, for Leah Walton
36. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, for Paula Diehl
37. Schuylkill River, for Richard Kotulski
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich
As part of the Inaugural Conference of Philadelphia's New Play Initiative, I collaborated (under the auspices of Philadelphia Dramatists Center) with Plays & Players to curate a "Bake-Off" event.
The Bake-Off was created partly to provide a generative/creative event to the conference, and partly to honor the conference's keynote guest, Paula Vogel. Philadelphia playwrights had from Thursday, January 12th until Sunday, January 15th to bake a totally new play (of any length), using the following ingredients (offered by Bob Jude Ferrante, Seth Rozin, and Dan Student) :
1. A zombie must, in some way, appear.
2. A chicken salad sandwich must be involved, preferably in a sexual, fetishistic or politically compromising situation. The sandwich can have capers on it, but they are optional.
3. He/she was abused, as a child, by a trusted neighbor.
The event yielded almost TWENTY new plays (including mine, Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich), and we had an incredibly fun time reading as many of them as possible that Sunday afternoon.
Three of the plays were selected for inclusion in Plays & Players's upcoming Mmmmm Brains New Play Festival (March 20 & 27), and it is my hope that the other plays created that weekend will all live on as well (because they were all so good!). It was a really encouraging, fun event, full of discovery, surprises, and many new friendships.
Fuck yeah, new plays.
Rock on,
ROMERO
The Bake-Off was created partly to provide a generative/creative event to the conference, and partly to honor the conference's keynote guest, Paula Vogel. Philadelphia playwrights had from Thursday, January 12th until Sunday, January 15th to bake a totally new play (of any length), using the following ingredients (offered by Bob Jude Ferrante, Seth Rozin, and Dan Student) :
1. A zombie must, in some way, appear.
2. A chicken salad sandwich must be involved, preferably in a sexual, fetishistic or politically compromising situation. The sandwich can have capers on it, but they are optional.
3. He/she was abused, as a child, by a trusted neighbor.
The event yielded almost TWENTY new plays (including mine, Zombie Heart Salad Sandwich), and we had an incredibly fun time reading as many of them as possible that Sunday afternoon.
Three of the plays were selected for inclusion in Plays & Players's upcoming Mmmmm Brains New Play Festival (March 20 & 27), and it is my hope that the other plays created that weekend will all live on as well (because they were all so good!). It was a really encouraging, fun event, full of discovery, surprises, and many new friendships.
Fuck yeah, new plays.
Rock on,
ROMERO
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
9 Assumptions about Writing Plays
To end the year 2008, I'm posting an in-class assignment I gave myself and my UArts students. In response to Jose Rivera's "36 Assumptions about Writing Plays", each of us came up with nine of our own. I offer mine (and would love to know yours):
1. The play must be impossible to exist in any other form.
2. The play must make us all experience pain in some kind of satisfying, delightful, intense and memorable way.
3. It should have an elephant in it.
4. People who see it should revisit the play in their dreams.
5. If it creates anything less than a riot (internally or externally) the play is a failure.
6. Every play should risk everything.
7. It should be written free of embarrassment, but instead, a proclaiming of everything the writer is ashamed of loving deeply.
8. It is not a play if there is no death or birth.
9. The form of the play follows the content, which obeys the characters-- a chambered nautilus, ever expansive, working itself from the inside out.
ROMERO
1. The play must be impossible to exist in any other form.
2. The play must make us all experience pain in some kind of satisfying, delightful, intense and memorable way.
3. It should have an elephant in it.
4. People who see it should revisit the play in their dreams.
5. If it creates anything less than a riot (internally or externally) the play is a failure.
6. Every play should risk everything.
7. It should be written free of embarrassment, but instead, a proclaiming of everything the writer is ashamed of loving deeply.
8. It is not a play if there is no death or birth.
9. The form of the play follows the content, which obeys the characters-- a chambered nautilus, ever expansive, working itself from the inside out.
ROMERO
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thank You to UArts
I have decided not to return to The University of the Arts for the spring 2009 semester.
I have already told my current students the news, which was a difficult moment. By and large, the University of the Arts students are bright, creative, talented, hard-working, sincere, and highly fun young people. Affectionately called "The Space Cadets", I have loved my students dearly and will miss them like crazy. It is because of them more than anything that I almost talked myself out of this decision numerous times.
I've also continually been impressed with the level of talent among the faculty, and sincerely believe in the school's president, Sean Buffington. The University of the Arts is a quality institution and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to teach there. I regret that there wasn't more opportunity for me within the university.
Thank you to Gene Terruso for hiring me, and thank you to Charlie Gilbert for keeping me aboard once he took over as Director of the School of Theater. I appreciate the risk each took on such a young teacher.
My experience as UArts has undoubtedly made me a better teacher and a better artist. I appreciate the opportunity and space that UArts gave me to explore teaching as a creative activity, and to apply my own ideas of art and live performance into the classroom. On a good day, the classroom felt more like a playground, which continued to be a fun discovery.
A moment in "Survey of Theater Arts", December 2008
I thank all of my students for making the experience fun, for answering the challenges we gave each other, for continuing to surprise me with their creativity, for their energy, for the willingness to learn, for their trust, and for a number of truly purposeful moments that I will always remember. It was a privilege to work with them and learn from them.
It is my hope to continue friendships with the people I've met through The University of the Arts because UArts is a place full of talented, engaging people. I feel fortunate to have participated and contributed to such a vital, energetic, educational atmosphere.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
I have already told my current students the news, which was a difficult moment. By and large, the University of the Arts students are bright, creative, talented, hard-working, sincere, and highly fun young people. Affectionately called "The Space Cadets", I have loved my students dearly and will miss them like crazy. It is because of them more than anything that I almost talked myself out of this decision numerous times.
I've also continually been impressed with the level of talent among the faculty, and sincerely believe in the school's president, Sean Buffington. The University of the Arts is a quality institution and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to teach there. I regret that there wasn't more opportunity for me within the university.
Thank you to Gene Terruso for hiring me, and thank you to Charlie Gilbert for keeping me aboard once he took over as Director of the School of Theater. I appreciate the risk each took on such a young teacher.
My experience as UArts has undoubtedly made me a better teacher and a better artist. I appreciate the opportunity and space that UArts gave me to explore teaching as a creative activity, and to apply my own ideas of art and live performance into the classroom. On a good day, the classroom felt more like a playground, which continued to be a fun discovery.
A moment in "Survey of Theater Arts", December 2008I thank all of my students for making the experience fun, for answering the challenges we gave each other, for continuing to surprise me with their creativity, for their energy, for the willingness to learn, for their trust, and for a number of truly purposeful moments that I will always remember. It was a privilege to work with them and learn from them.
It is my hope to continue friendships with the people I've met through The University of the Arts because UArts is a place full of talented, engaging people. I feel fortunate to have participated and contributed to such a vital, energetic, educational atmosphere.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
Monday, December 15, 2008
THE TRAVEL PLAYS Journey to The Kelly Writers House
In the season of gift-giving, it is a fitting time to announce that my project, The Travel Plays, will be presented in January 2009, at The Kelly Writers House.
Hot!
In the spring of 2008, I was raising money to travel to Dallas, Texas for the production of my play, The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard (produced by Audacity Theater Lab). I approached a number of friends and told them if they donated money, I would re-pay their gift by writing a play just for them.
31 generous friends responded, giving me the task of writing 31 custom-made plays.
And because I wanted to honor the theme of traveling, I figured out a process by which these plays themselves could travel through the country. I did the math, figuring out how much money I needed to get to Dallas, and then calculated how many miles a dollar could earn (one dollar equaled five miles). Then I mapped out gifts chronologically by receipt date, and figured out which cities these gifts landed on. I determined I would write a play for that particular donor about the particular place their gift traveled me to.
For example, the first gifts I got were two single dollar bills in an envelope, a dollar each from Philadelphia theater artists Sarah Bowden and Christiana Molldrem. Mapping out the first five miles from my house got me to the Walt Whitman Bridge, which became the setting for Sarah's play. Five miles beyond that, Christiana's gift traveled me to The George C. Platt Memorial Bridge.
And so on.
At the time of this blog, I've written 16 of the 31 plays, and have had an extraordinarily fun time with them. It has my pleasure to create these theatrical gifts for friends, and I am thrilled that they will be presented to the public (which is another gift-exchange).
It is my hope that we have a full audience, and I hope the audience is full of as many of the 31 folks for whom this project is inspired by.
I am collaborating with two organizations on this project-- The Kelly Writers House, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center, who will act as co-producers.
The plays, as a collection, have become a really fun journey through place and time and American history.
The project will be as much of an exploration as it will be a presentation (we have no idea what form some of these plays will take), and is being directed by Wally Zialcita.
Wally and I are currently putting together an ensemble of brave actors to play roles such as Walt Whitman, An Oriole, A Faceless Man, Robert E. Lee, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ulysses Grant, Ted DiBiase, Willlie Nelson, Martha Washington, Hercules, Jimmie Rodgers, Howlin' Wolf, Alexander Pope, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Bjork, and a Giant Elephant.
We are performing at the following time and place:
Thursday, January 22nd. 7:30 pm
The Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, 19104
The event is FREE and there will be snacks!!
Big thank yous again to all of the gift-givers:
Sarah Bowden, Megan Breen, Ilana Brownstein, Kristy Chouiniere, Stephen Collela, Joy Cutler, Ruth Engel, Tim Errickson, Tim Fawkes, Shelby, Jessica and J.P. Goggin, Jamie and Brian Grace-Duff, Richard Kotulski, Kristin Leahey, Tim Long, Larry McGonigal, Jess McMichael, Andy Merkel, Christiana Molldrem, Nancy Mouton, Gigi Naglak, Lee Pucklis, Marshall "Spaz" Richard, Cherie A. Roberts, Robin Rodriguez, Genevieve Saenz, Jason Tremblay, Eve Tulbert, Timothy Verret, Leah Walton, Jeff Williams, and Wally Zialcita.
And thank you to The Kelly Writers House for their continued support of my work.
rock on,
ROMERO
Hot!In the spring of 2008, I was raising money to travel to Dallas, Texas for the production of my play, The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard (produced by Audacity Theater Lab). I approached a number of friends and told them if they donated money, I would re-pay their gift by writing a play just for them.
31 generous friends responded, giving me the task of writing 31 custom-made plays.
And because I wanted to honor the theme of traveling, I figured out a process by which these plays themselves could travel through the country. I did the math, figuring out how much money I needed to get to Dallas, and then calculated how many miles a dollar could earn (one dollar equaled five miles). Then I mapped out gifts chronologically by receipt date, and figured out which cities these gifts landed on. I determined I would write a play for that particular donor about the particular place their gift traveled me to.
For example, the first gifts I got were two single dollar bills in an envelope, a dollar each from Philadelphia theater artists Sarah Bowden and Christiana Molldrem. Mapping out the first five miles from my house got me to the Walt Whitman Bridge, which became the setting for Sarah's play. Five miles beyond that, Christiana's gift traveled me to The George C. Platt Memorial Bridge.
And so on.
At the time of this blog, I've written 16 of the 31 plays, and have had an extraordinarily fun time with them. It has my pleasure to create these theatrical gifts for friends, and I am thrilled that they will be presented to the public (which is another gift-exchange).
It is my hope that we have a full audience, and I hope the audience is full of as many of the 31 folks for whom this project is inspired by.
I am collaborating with two organizations on this project-- The Kelly Writers House, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center, who will act as co-producers.
The plays, as a collection, have become a really fun journey through place and time and American history.
The project will be as much of an exploration as it will be a presentation (we have no idea what form some of these plays will take), and is being directed by Wally Zialcita.
Wally and I are currently putting together an ensemble of brave actors to play roles such as Walt Whitman, An Oriole, A Faceless Man, Robert E. Lee, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ulysses Grant, Ted DiBiase, Willlie Nelson, Martha Washington, Hercules, Jimmie Rodgers, Howlin' Wolf, Alexander Pope, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Bjork, and a Giant Elephant.
We are performing at the following time and place:
Thursday, January 22nd. 7:30 pm
The Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, 19104
The event is FREE and there will be snacks!!
Big thank yous again to all of the gift-givers:
Sarah Bowden, Megan Breen, Ilana Brownstein, Kristy Chouiniere, Stephen Collela, Joy Cutler, Ruth Engel, Tim Errickson, Tim Fawkes, Shelby, Jessica and J.P. Goggin, Jamie and Brian Grace-Duff, Richard Kotulski, Kristin Leahey, Tim Long, Larry McGonigal, Jess McMichael, Andy Merkel, Christiana Molldrem, Nancy Mouton, Gigi Naglak, Lee Pucklis, Marshall "Spaz" Richard, Cherie A. Roberts, Robin Rodriguez, Genevieve Saenz, Jason Tremblay, Eve Tulbert, Timothy Verret, Leah Walton, Jeff Williams, and Wally Zialcita.
And thank you to The Kelly Writers House for their continued support of my work.
rock on,
ROMERO
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
TWO BUBBLES Tops the Century
This week my ten-minute play, TWO BUBBLES, went over the century-mark for sales through Playscripts, Inc.
Hot!
I have no idea if this is a high figure or not, but the 104 copies have be sold beginning August 12th when the anthology, Great Short Comedies: Volume 3, went on the market.
If you buy a copy, you'll be giving at least ELEVEN holiday gifts all at once (you, me, and the other nine writers of the anthology).
So do it!
And Happy Holidays!
rock on,
ROMERO
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.
Hot!
I have no idea if this is a high figure or not, but the 104 copies have be sold beginning August 12th when the anthology, Great Short Comedies: Volume 3, went on the market.
If you buy a copy, you'll be giving at least ELEVEN holiday gifts all at once (you, me, and the other nine writers of the anthology).
So do it!
And Happy Holidays!
rock on,
ROMERO
Thursday, November 06, 2008
SHOVEL to play in New Orleans
Just on the heels of its recent September production in the Philly Fringe, my piece SHOVEL will be performed in New Orleans in November, 2008.
Hot!
SHOVEL will be part of a production called "The Top Secret Play Project: Something for Odile" as it was originally written as part of a series of commissioned works specifically for performer Odile Del Giudice as a birthday present.
The piece is being produced by Del Giudice and Briana McKeague of Cisne Negro Productions, based in Austin, Texas, as part of the New Orleans Fringe Festival. I am thrilled that this piece will continue its life, especially through the performance of the actress it was originally created for.
McKeague and Del Giudice of Cisne Negro Productions
I'm also thrilled that this is one of the few times my work has gone up in my home state of Louisiana (and the first time my work will be seen in New Orleans!), which means some of my family might be able to see my work in production, and that makes me happy.
The show will perform three times at the Hi-Ho Lounge, a live music venue on St. Claude Ave:
Thursday, November 13 @ 8:30 pm
Saturday, November 15 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 16 @ 5:00 pm
You can check out more information about the project, by clicking on the New Orleans Fringe Festival, the Top Secret Play Project, or the complete show listings in the festival.
Big thank yous to Odile and Briana for their work!
rock on,
ROMERO
Hot!
SHOVEL will be part of a production called "The Top Secret Play Project: Something for Odile" as it was originally written as part of a series of commissioned works specifically for performer Odile Del Giudice as a birthday present.
The piece is being produced by Del Giudice and Briana McKeague of Cisne Negro Productions, based in Austin, Texas, as part of the New Orleans Fringe Festival. I am thrilled that this piece will continue its life, especially through the performance of the actress it was originally created for.
McKeague and Del Giudice of Cisne Negro ProductionsI'm also thrilled that this is one of the few times my work has gone up in my home state of Louisiana (and the first time my work will be seen in New Orleans!), which means some of my family might be able to see my work in production, and that makes me happy.
The show will perform three times at the Hi-Ho Lounge, a live music venue on St. Claude Ave:
Thursday, November 13 @ 8:30 pm
Saturday, November 15 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 16 @ 5:00 pm
You can check out more information about the project, by clicking on the New Orleans Fringe Festival, the Top Secret Play Project, or the complete show listings in the festival.
Big thank yous to Odile and Briana for their work!
rock on,
ROMERO
Friday, October 24, 2008
I Will Be Teaching Quakers
Beginning in January, 2009, I will begin teaching in the Creative Writing program at The University of Pennsylvania. I am STOKED about this, and hope to make my creative writing class as creative as possible.
My class is called, "Creative Writing: Space, Place, and Character in Playwriting and Fiction" and has the following course description:
This course will take a close look at the relationships of space, place and character in the effort to illuminate, appreciate, and explore the differences and similarities in Playwriting and Fiction. Weekly writing exercises will allow you to look as three-dimensionally and as actively as possible at various physical spaces, using them as a ground to form your short plays and short fiction. Through writing assignments, we’ll ask what is a "theater" space? How do different uses of space change the writing, and vice versa? What kinds of writing/language do specific spaces inspire? What kinds of character?
Coursework will also involve readings of plays, short fiction, and articles/manifestos/dialogues about writing and space. Through in-class and out-of-class assignments, students will generate a large volume of work, turning in a 20-25-page portfolio of their own short plays and fiction at the end of the semester.
...........................
If anyone reading this (or has a friend who) is a student at UPenn, you should totally take this class. You can go to the departmental page here.
Thank you to Jessica Lowenthal, Director of Kelly Writers House; and Greg Djankian, Director of the Creative Writing Program, for making me part of the team. I am totally looking forward to it.
Rock on,
ROMERO
My class is called, "Creative Writing: Space, Place, and Character in Playwriting and Fiction" and has the following course description:
This course will take a close look at the relationships of space, place and character in the effort to illuminate, appreciate, and explore the differences and similarities in Playwriting and Fiction. Weekly writing exercises will allow you to look as three-dimensionally and as actively as possible at various physical spaces, using them as a ground to form your short plays and short fiction. Through writing assignments, we’ll ask what is a "theater" space? How do different uses of space change the writing, and vice versa? What kinds of writing/language do specific spaces inspire? What kinds of character?
Coursework will also involve readings of plays, short fiction, and articles/manifestos/dialogues about writing and space. Through in-class and out-of-class assignments, students will generate a large volume of work, turning in a 20-25-page portfolio of their own short plays and fiction at the end of the semester.
...........................
If anyone reading this (or has a friend who) is a student at UPenn, you should totally take this class. You can go to the departmental page here.
Thank you to Jessica Lowenthal, Director of Kelly Writers House; and Greg Djankian, Director of the Creative Writing Program, for making me part of the team. I am totally looking forward to it.
Rock on,
ROMERO
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
On the Board
In late September, I was elected to the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Dramatists Center. I am very thankul for this opportunity and look forward to continuing to contribute to this organization now from a leadership position.
This year's board has an exciting task-- to develop and create the organization's new strategic plan. This new plan will reflect the organization's goals to expand and offer increased and varied services for the playwrights in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
As for my part, it is my goal to contribute by organizing a least one new forum (in addition to the ones already in place) for playwrights to develop and explore their plays (a Writer's Laboratory, modeled in part on the "Monday Night Lab" I helped organize at The University of Texas); to help create and manage a National Advisory Board; to foster relationships between PDC and local producing companies and organizations (such as The Kelly Writers House), and to continue to identify and recruit new, talented member writers and theater artists to the organization.
I am thrilled to be part of this work, and look forward to continuing to help the organization grow and to continue to help Philadelphia find its legs as a "new play" culture.
Big thank yous to Richard Kotulski for asking me to submit my name for consideration, and to the organization's members for voting me in.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
This year's board has an exciting task-- to develop and create the organization's new strategic plan. This new plan will reflect the organization's goals to expand and offer increased and varied services for the playwrights in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
As for my part, it is my goal to contribute by organizing a least one new forum (in addition to the ones already in place) for playwrights to develop and explore their plays (a Writer's Laboratory, modeled in part on the "Monday Night Lab" I helped organize at The University of Texas); to help create and manage a National Advisory Board; to foster relationships between PDC and local producing companies and organizations (such as The Kelly Writers House), and to continue to identify and recruit new, talented member writers and theater artists to the organization.
I am thrilled to be part of this work, and look forward to continuing to help the organization grow and to continue to help Philadelphia find its legs as a "new play" culture.
Big thank yous to Richard Kotulski for asking me to submit my name for consideration, and to the organization's members for voting me in.
Sincerely,
ROMERO
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