RADIO GHOSTS a Semi-Finalist for National Playwrights Conference

It is with much enthusiasm that I learned Radio Ghosts has made the first cut for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Of the typical 800 - 1,000 scripts submitted annually through their open submission policy, roughly 20 - 25 % make it to the semi-final stages of deliberation. From this number, 20 - 25 % become finalists, with usually 5 - 8 scripts selected from the finalist's pool for inclusion to the Conference.

So yes, these are long odds. But the first cut is the deepest.

And while this achievement is not the goal, it is welcome encouragement, especially since the script was selected before the re-writes of Boomerang Theater Company's "First Flight" staged reading in November, and before the major revision that resulted from the intensive workshop at The Painted Bride Art Center's "Bridal Salon" in January.

I am thrilled that upon giving us the good news, the National Playwrights Conference also allowed us to send an updated draft of the script, which expresses much stronger work thanks to the awesome team of people put together by Boomerang in NYC and to the outstanding group of artists that exploded the hell out of this thing for the Painted Bride in Philadelphia.

Big congratulations to Mike Vernusky, whose electronic music composition and whose friendship and deep listening and questioning all continue to inspire our work together.

As we wait to learn our fate with The O'Neill (and the half-dozen other opportunities we've applied for), Mike and I are already hard at work with the fantastic people of New Leaf Theatre in Chicago in preparation for their "Treehouse Reading Series" in March, to continue learning from this project, to continue to rip things open, to continue working to make this thing the best version of itself possible, and to generally enjoy sharing as much creativity together as we can.

Big hugs,

ROMERO

CHALK Selected for Solstice Play Festival

My play, Chalk, will join nine other ten-minute works as part of Luna Theater Company's inaugural Solstice Play Festival.

The festival, exploring the theme "identity", will open in late May 2012 and run through early June at The Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia.


This short play was originally written in two days as a "bake off" event, sponsored by Austin Scriptworks, way back in 2006. After a lovely presentation of Chalk by RedHouse Arts in Austin (thank you Chris Humphreys and Chris Doubek for your work on this) in 2007, the play didn't gather any attention again until the past few months, where it has been presented as staged readings in Philadelphia and New York ("staged readings" are interesting for this play, as there are no words spoken in it) and selected as a runner-up for the InspiraTO Festival in Canada.

I am thrilled that the play will go into full production this summer, and for the opportunity to continue working on it, learning from it, and sharing it with more people. And I'm happy to be working with Luna Theater Company, and sharing a bill with several playwrights I know and like very much.

Big thank yous to Austin Scriptworks for the three original ingredients needed to write the play, and to all the wonderful artists who have worked on Chalk in previous processes: Philly's Primary Stages (directed by Ren Manley with performers Dan Higbee and Lee Minora); and New York City's Adaptive Arts Theatre Company (benefit performance produced by Marielle Duke; directed by Olivia Harris, with performers Christina Kosyla and Neimah Djourabchi).

And big thank yous to all the good folks at Luna, for making this opportunity possible.

For more information about the festival, and the complete line-up of plays and playwrights, visit Luna Theater's Festival page.

rock on,

ROMERO

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POST-SCRIPT: On March 14, 2012, Artistic Director Gregory Scott Campbell removed CHALK from the Festival.

RADIO GHOSTS Experience at the Painted Bride

On Wednesday, January 25th, 2012, collaborators Mike Vernusky (electronic music composition), Cara Blouin (director) and I presented Radio Ghosts at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia.

In what was supposed to be a "staged reading", I am proud to say we created and shared something much bigger, much more memorable than that. We created an event, fed by a wonderful process, that was one of the more satisfying creative experiences I've worked on in some time.

Photo from the back of the Painted Bride Gallery. Breaking bread and making an ocean.

To describe it, I borrow some words from a letter I wrote recently to a dear friend:

...........................................................


Radio Ghosts was quite an experience.

Cara and I (and then later Mike joined us) worked very hard for weeks, meeting regularly (and at some point, nightly) where I would share new pages, we'd explore them, ask hard questions, etc., and then I would keep writing.

The result was that the script is something I am now much happier with than I was when we started. The stories all connect with much more resonance, the challenges that all of the characters are facing are much more real and compelling, and the theatricality of the play was heightened in really satisfying ways. In short, I think I found the guts and the art of the play, though I know there is still work ahead.

As for the presentation, it was something I was really proud of as well. We did our best to really make it an event, not just a something that people show up to watch and then leave. This is a passion that Cara and I share and worked hard to make present in this event-- to create something personal, something purposeful and intimate for everyone who was there, a gift that would last forever.

So we made choices like: sending out personal invitations only, asking people to write or record us a personal story of someone or something they've lost. We received about 20 of these in response, all incredibly moving, all better than any play I could write. And then we took these stories and added them into the composition, layering stories all through the play, finding moments in which some of them could be heard clearly. But they were always present, always, at the very least, inspiring all of us working on the performance.

We also asked people to bring objects with them-- personal items that contained memories. The objects could simply accompany the audience member, or we could also find a way for the objects to work their way into the performance, thereby allowing it to hold new memories if it wanted (or to offer their memories a new place to roam).

And then we asked the producers, Painted Bride Art Center, if they would waive their $ 5 admission fee, which they graciously did in favor of "passing the hat" instead.

And, of course, we and Painted Bride (who were wonderful hosts and I love them for that) made food and brought wine and mingled with guests afterward (instead of doing a "talkback", which I loathe).

It was one of the more satisfying experiences I've worked on in some time, and for many reasons. The work was rigorous and personal, we all took big risks, we were all demanding but loving toward each other, and we actively expressed a lot of care for the audience. It was a gift-exchange in countless ways, and I think everyone involved grew in some way because of the experience.

And the people involved local professionals as well as a handful of my Drexel students, who were all wonderful in their contributions to the work.

We also made choices to seat Lorna in the same space as the audience; to have Lucy pull string from the hole in her chest, threading it through the audience, creating an ocean out of it; and they, the audience, also responded well to William Tell's lecture, participating in all ways that he asked.

So our performance was pretty memorable. It was quality material (and I haven't even mentioned all the excellent work that Mike did on the composition), it was generous, it was intimate and personal, it was challenging, it was unfamiliar but inviting, it was full of lots of people's naked souls, and I think it was really moving.

The play ended with me, as Tell, trying to hold everything together, turning to a blank page on the drawing pad, taking a deep breath. And then walking out of the gallery space.

I remember waiting behind the door for people to begin applauding so I could step out with the other actors to take a bow, but nothing happened. Everything was silent. Everyone was silent for minutes. Eventually people began clapping and we took a bow and thanked everyone, and then me, Mike, Cara, and Theresa (the actor playing Lucy) had a few drinks to celebrate what we all felt was really satisfying work.

So I don't know what the future holds for Radio Ghosts, other than Mike and I have one more shot at working on it and presenting it in Chicago in March. Beyond that, we don't know. But I will be satisfied knowing that we will always have what we created and shared on that night at the Painted Bride. And that night is why I live the way I do.

much love,

ROMERO

RADIO GHOSTS, New York City, and Boomerangs

On Sunday November 20th, collaborator Mike Vernusky (electronic music composition) and I presented an in-progress staging our theatrical project, RADIO GHOSTS, as part of Boomerang Theatre Company's "First Flight New Play Reading Series".

Mike Vernusky and I drinking mystery drinks at Boomerang Theatre's
"Flights of Fancy" event (Nov 19, 2011).

Mike and I have been at work on this project since 2006, putting up early, unfinished versions of the work in various forms in several cities. However, our collaboration with Boomerang in New York marked the first presentation of the completed script, which I finished at the end of 2010 after stepping away from the project for three years.

After spending a highly enjoyable and productive few days with Mike, director Marielle Duke, and our wonderful group of actors, I feel encouraged by the response to the material (both from my collaborators and from audience) but also aware of the considerable amount of work ahead of me. I am proud of what's there, but unsatisfied with what's missing.

I look forward to upcoming opportunities to get inside the work again-- first with director Cara Blouin who is directing Radio Ghosts for The Painted Bride Art Center's "Bridal Salon" in January 2012 (in Philadelphia), and then with the good folks of New Leaf Theatre in Chicago later in March, as part of their "Treehouse Reading Series".

In the meantime, I am hugely grateful to Tim Errickson and Boomerang Theatre Company for their continued interest in my work and for their big-time generosity of spirit and enjoyable companionship (and for the good times at "Flights of Fancy!"). Big thank yous to the Radio Ghosts/Boomerang team of director Marielle Duke and actors August Schulenberg, Cotton Wright, Jon Dysktra, Kate Kertez, John Greenleaf, Michael Mraz, and Max Burrough-- you all taught me a lot and in lots of fun ways.

Performers August Shulenberg (William Tell), Kate Kertez (Lucy Walters),
John Greenleaf (Dr. Abernathy), and Jon Dykstra (Henry Mondarma).

Big thanks yous to the friends who came out to the event, especially the ones who traveled all the way from Philly (you know who you are!)

Huge thank yous as well to Daniel Maldonado (and Jen!) for giving me and Mike a floor to sleep on for three nights, and lots of fun art-sharing and conversation (and spider soup).

rock on,

ROMERO

DALLAS at The Shipley School

Even the earnest and sincere high-schoolers out in Bryn Mawr couldn't save President Kennedy. But from November 11th - 13th, 2011, they did an excellent job trying.

The wonderful students of The Shipley School, led by teacher and director Emma Gibson, took on the brave challenge of performing the ten-minute "electro-theater" collaboration, DALLAS, and I was totally moved by their work, getting goosebumps during the final theatrical image with which they ended their performance.

The students of The Shipley School (Bryn Mawr, Nov 13, 2011).

The Shipley production made some wonderful additions to my and electronic music composer Mike Vernusky's work-- adding a couple extra patrons in the diner, some mood/world-shifting lighting choices, and some breath-taking video work to bookend the performance. All of these choices expanded the piece even further, all while staying true to their own personal discovery of the play's heart. I was impressed by the quality of their work, and moved by their enthusiasm and commitment to putting up a theatrical piece so unfamiliar to them-- both in form and content-- making their performance achievements, their imaginative and emotional ownership of this piece, that much more remarkable.

I never imagined this piece could be performed (and so well) by high school students, so I thank them all for expanding my imagination in that way as well.

Big thank yous to The Shipley School, Emma Gibson, and to my collaborator Mike Vernusky. Thank yous also to Cody R. Kirk and Michael Kranes (whose voices continue to come through the walls of the diner), and Dianna Schoenborn-Marino, for whom the play was originally written. Thanks also to Wally Zialcita and Theresa Epp, who road-tripped out to Bryn Mawr with me, and Tom Tansey who joined us for pumpkin pie.

Rock on,

ROMERO

DALLAS Lives Undead

Saturday, September 17, 2011, marked the closing performance of DALLAS, as part of THE UNDEAD project at the Philly Fringe Festival.

I feel very satisfied with this experience, proud of all the work done on this piece, and with the multiple layers of discovery found during the process and performance. I am humbled by the excellent work done on this project by the artists who brought it to life.

John F. Kennedy (Jonathon Phipps), Jacqueline Kennedy (Angela Smith), and Clinton J. Hill (Tom Tansey). Photo by Aaron Oster.

This work, created in collaboration with electronic music composer Mike Vernusky, has now performed in three separate incarnations (in four different venues) in Philadelphia, as well as one in New York City. And while I have loved all of them, this particular one, the Undead/Philly Fringe version, may be my favorite for a number of reasons.

Of Dallas's productions, this version was the only one with an extended run, as it played for eight performances in the "Playground" space of Philadelphia's Adrienne Theater on Sansom Street. This run allowed me to bear witness to the growth possible within the run of this work, borne out through the expressive bodies, faces, and gestural choices made by the five wonderful actors performing the work (as some of you know, there is no live dialogue in Dallas, all of the live performance is through gesture and movement exploring dynamics of speed, shape, and memory). With each performance, the actors grew more confident, lived more deeply inside the unfamiliar demands of piece, expressed their stories more fully through their entire bodies. Dallas, delivered by the performers, continued becoming more of itself.

This process made me aware of another truth of this production-- that the performance actually takes us through something. As audience, we arrive someplace different than where we were when we sat down in the seats of the Adrienne. As someone obsessed with rites of passage, with journeys, with relationships between performance and audience, I'm thrilled by this discovery, as I feel offering the audience a journey, especially a difficult one, is one of the most generous gifts imaginable.

Man Behind the Counter (Ryan Ruggles), Waitress (Lynnia Shanley), and Jacqueline Kennedy (Angela Smith). Photo by Aaron Oster.

Creating this experience were six collaborators who were new to me, and with whom I sincerely hope to keep working (this was another of my favorite parts of this particular production-- my introduction to new collaborators who I like a lot). The group, as a whole, was thrilling and really enjoyable to work with.

Director Theresa Epp lead us through a wonderful process, one that was full of creative moments, of deep listening, of generosity, of graceful willingness to take risks. Terri's approach to this piece opened up even more layers of complexity, creating and illuminating even more worlds than I thought were present. Actors Jonathon Phipps (John F. Kennedy), Ryan Ruggles (Man Behind the Counter), Lynnia Shanley (Waitress) Angela Smith (Jacqueline Kennedy), and Tom Tansey (Clinton J. Hill) proved to be a talented, thoughtful, brave, and lovely ensemble, full of exciting choices, rigorous attention to detail, and willingness to live fully in multiple time-spaces at once.

Completing the experience was the participation of long-time collaborator Mike Vernusky, whose work on this piece excites me every time I listen to his haunting, brilliant composition. Visiting Philadelphia from Austin in early September, Mike was able, for the first time ever, to see our collaboration work with live artists. During a rehearsal near the end of our process, Mike was able to experience of how Dallas collides in multiple dimensions, and to contribute his thoughts to how the work can move through space.

Clinton J. Hill (Tom Tansey). Photo by Aaron Oster.

One of the culminations of this work was the opportunity to share it with eight audiences, the last two performances packing the house of the Adrienne Theater. I'm thrilled that I got to share this piece with so many people, and I hope they all (collaborators and audience) enjoyed it as much as I did.

Big thank yous to all the collaborating artists in Dallas, as well as all the other Undead offerings (which I enjoyed sharing company with), including the hot live music of Up Your Cherry. Special thanks to Wally Zialcita, who produced this project with lots of generosity and sensitivity.

Continued thanks to actors Cody R. Kirk and Michael Kranes, whose voices continue to come through the walls of the 24-hour diner, and to Dianna Schoenborn-Marino, for whom the script was originally written.

Rock on,

ROMERO

TWO BUBBLES Three Years in Print

An August 12, 2008, my 10-minute play, TWO BUBBLES, made it to print through Playscripts, Inc. Included with 9 other plays in "Great Short Comedies, Volume 3", my play shares a volume with wonderful writers Steven Dietz, Sheri Wilner, and Rolin Jones.

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.

In the past three years, copies of this volume have been sold in over 40 of the United States as well as to countries Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, India, Japan, New Zealand, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The play has been produced in three different cities, and was a Finalist for the Heideman Award.

HOT.

Not bad for a play that I originally wrote in a few hours, overnight, as part of a 24-Hour theater festival.

It is my hope that the play continues to live on, but for now, the journey has definitely been fun.

If you're interested in reading or buying it, you can go HERE.

Thank you to all the good people that have made this possible-- Audacity Theater Lab and Rover Dramawerks for producing the One (More) Day Only Festival, and to all the artists who have breathed life into this 10-minute, all-night epic.

rock on,

ROMERO

Awesome ICE HOLES photos

Now playing (through July 2nd) as part of Source Festival in Washington DC, some OUTSTANDING photos are surfacing of my 10-minute play, Ice Holes.

Admiral Robert Peary and Erik the Red

Awesome work by C. Stanley Photography.

There have been three performances already of the 10-minute program, "Heroes & Villains", of which Ice Holes is included. Two performances remain-- Saturday June 25th at 1:00 pm, and Saturday, July 2nd at 4:00 pm

Admiral Peary, Erik the Red, Ponce de Leon, and Sir Francis Drake

I will be in attendance for the closing performance, these photos make me even more excited to see the slammin' work going on.

Ponce de Leon (background) and Erik the Red

Big thank yous to the good folks at Source Festival!

rock on,

ROMERO

DALLAS selected for Deep Wireless Festival and CD Compilation

My collaborative project with Mike Vernusky, Dallas, continues to get lots of wonderful attention (which is awesome).

Most recently, the 11-minute electro-theater collaboration was selected to be part of New Adventures in Sound Art's (NAISA) annual Deep Wireless Festival of Radio and Transmission Art. As part of the Toronto-based festival, the recording of Dallas is also published on their website and included in a CD compilation with other selected works.


You can listen to the recording HERE, and learn more about the CD compilation HERE.

I am thrilled to be able to continue sharing this project in many different forms and for many different audiences (and in many different countries!).

Big thank yous to Mike Vernusky (for continuing to be so awesome), to actors Cody R. Kirk, Michael Kranes, and T. Lynn Mikeska, whose voices continue coming through the walls of the diner/memory, and to Dianna Marino, for whom the piece was originally written (as part of American Potlatch Road-trip: The Travel Plays).

rock on,

ROMERO

Podcast of DANDELION MOMMA from New Leaf Theatre in Chicago

The awesome people of New Leaf Theatre (Chicago) have posted a podcast of the plays from their play development program, "The Treehouse Reading Series". Included in this series is my play, Dandelion Momma, which is presented beautifully by this talented and sensitive creative team.


You can go HERE to listen to the play in a high-quality podcast of the reading from March 30, 2011 at Chicago's Lincoln Park Cultural Center.

Big thank you to director Jessica Hutchinson, dramaturg Josh Sobel, and performers Lona Livingston, Claire Kander, Gabe Franken (whose voice sounds eeirly like my own), and Mary Winn Heider.

rock on,

ROMERO

UNDER MY COAT to be Revealed in New York City

My short play, Under My Coat is the Truth, will play for one night in New York City, at 7:00 pm on Sunday, March 20th, 2011. Produced as part of the One-Minute Play Festival by Adaptive Arts Theater Company, the piece will go up at the IRT in the West Village, along with 32 other one-minute works.

The play is directed by Adaptive Arts's Artistic Director, Marielle Duke, who I worked with previously as part of Boomerang Theatre Company's crazy awesome workshop production of The Travel Plays (October 2009).

I'm thrilled that this short play is now in its third production (and will go up in a fourth during April in Philadelphia), originally produced as part of Specific Gravity Ensemble's Elevator Plays and, most recently, as part of the Don't Blink Short Play Marathon produced by Three Wise Moose in Anchorage, Alaska (October 2010).

This New York presentation will be unique in that it is the first to cast two females (instead of two males) in the roles of "John" and "Harrison".

Big thank you to Marielle Duke, and the good folks of Adaptive Arts Theater Company (an off-off Broadway Theater company dedicated to raising awareness of Autism) for the opportunity to share my work again in the Big Apple.

For more information about the event, please click here.

rock on,

ROMERO

DALLAS at the Annenberg Center

On Saturday night, March 12th 2011, my collaboration with electronic music composer Mike Vernusky, DALLAS, took the stage of the Montgomery Theater in the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

Aaron Oster (Clinton Hill) and John VanZelst (Man Behind the Counter). Photo by Jules Victor.

As part of the MERGE program produced by the Annenberg, me and Mike's 10-minute electro-theater piece shared the stage with six other short works, most of them created by Philadelphia artists. The "merge" theme comes from producer Brian Grace-Duff's interest in creating an evening of theater that collides local professional work with student-driven work as well.

With DALLAS, we even "merged" within our project, as it was performed by a mix of Philadelphia-area professionals Darin J. Dunston, Haley McCormick, and Aaron Oster with Drexel University students Laurel Hostak and John VanZelst.

John VanZelst (Man Behind the Counter), Darin J. Dunston (John F. Kennedy) and Haley McCormick (Jacqueline Kennedy). Photo by Jules Victor.

The event as a whole was a success in many ways-- the performances played to a near sold-out house of 110 seats, with each of the 7 events showcasing strong, original work. The event was well organized, enthusiastically received, and offered the opportunity for new friendships among artists of the seven different groups who merged together for one night.

Aaron Oster (Clinton Hill), John VanZelst (Man Behind the Counter), and Laurel Hostak (Waitress). Photo by Jules Victor.

The DALLAS project itself was its own reward. This was the piece's first full-production, and it was, as always, a gift to see the work come to life through the creative choices made by brave, talented actors. This process, though a short one (we rehearsed for a total of 10 hours over 4 meetings), was committed, creative, and full of discovery. Also the director of the piece, it was completely satisfying to work with such a smart, thoughtful, and enjoyable group of artists.

Haley McCormick (Jacqueline Kennedy) and Darin J. Dunston (John F. Kennedy). Photo by Jules Victor.

Big thank yous to Brian Grace-Duff for organizing, producing, and inviting me to participate in this event; to Drexel University for its continued generosity (especially Nick Anselmo who picked up the tab for a caravan of supportive Drexel students to attend the performance and then helped me carry two 3 foot by 3 foot tables across West Philadelphia after the event!); to the Dragons who showed up to support their classmates; to Michael Kranes and Cody Kirk whose voices (as Arlen Specter and Clinton J. Hill) continue to come through the walls; and to Dianna Marino, for whom the play was originally written.

Aaron Oster (Clinton Hill), John VanZelst (Man Behind the Counter) and Laurel Hostak (Waitress)

HUGE thank yous as well to Jules Victor, for all of the amazing photographs.

rock on,

ROMERO

THE BABEL PROJECT at Drexel

Sunday evening, March 6th 2011, seven Drexel University students and I shared the discoveries we made during our 8-week laboratory workshop on THE BABEL PROJECT.

Emily Kleimo (Worker 4) and JuliAna Nawn (Worker 3). Photo by Jules Victor.

Staged in the Filbert Space/URBN Center Annex, and presented as an "open rehearsal", the performers and I were greeted by a supportive and friendly group of 40-45 fellow students, friends, and family for this hour-long event, which included scenes/moments from the play colliding with live music/rhythms created by the actors, colliding with structured interruptions/activities and electronic music. Together, we experienced the first-ever public viewing of this particular collaboration between me (script, direction) and Mike Vernusky (electronic music composition).

Allison Brobst (Office Worker 1), Emily Kleimo, JuliAna Nawn, and Grace Buttery (Office Worker 2). Photo by Jules Victor.

It was a wonderfully fun learning experience for all of us, and it was incredibly enjoyable to be with these talented, creative, enthusiastic young actors for roughly 40 hours of rehearsal time. A true ensemble project/process, the actors all contributed considerably to creation of the work, and to all elements of production and design. I am very proud of all of them for the commitment, bravery, sense of humor, and willingness to explore the unknown, and feel privileged to have worked with all of them.

Katie Lynch (Worker 5), Laura Calderone (Worker 6), and Nikki Zusman (Bartender). Photo by Jules Victor.

Big thank yous to Nick Anselmo and the entire Drexel University family for their continued support of my creative projects, and to all the lovely people who participated in this evening of discovery.

rock on,

ROMERO

BELIZE'S PLACE Rehearsal Photos, Day One

Currently directing BELIZE'S PLACE by Tav Keyinde, I am working with an exceptionally creative and brave ensemble of actors who are blowing this play up.

Belize (Jerry Rudasill) cuts up meat (Jim Jackson) with a cleaver. While a cigar (Jake Blouch) hides in the corner.

In development of the play, and in preparation to share this work with a small audience at The Painted Bride Art Center on Wednesday, December 15th, the actors and I (and dramaturgs Wally Zialcita and Jason Tremblay) are attempting to learn the play by rehearsing it (rather than by reading it).

Our goals include staging as many of the impossible moments of the play we can, to see how the play can move most theatrically through space, and to see what kind of wild creativity the play inspires.

So far we are learning a lot, and I, for one, am having an incredibly fun time witnessing the deeply powerful imagination of this ensemble.

Belize (Jerry Rudasill), Rollergirl (Samantha Tower) and a Cigar (Jake Blouch)

Dubkid (Mary Tuomanen) gets a horrible idea (Jerry Rudasill, Jake Blouch, and Jim Jackson)

To see more of this work, please join us at the Painted Bride Art Center (230 Vine Street; Philadelphia PA) on Wednesday, December 15th at 7:30 pm.

rock on,

ROMERO

Romero Plays (in photos from) Alaska

On October 8th and 9th (2010), Three Wise Moose and TBA Theatre staged two of my works, Under My Coat is the Truth and New Orleans, in the frozen tundra of Anchorage, Alaska.

Brett Gillam as "The Trumpeter" in New Orleans

Unable to make the performance, the good folks of Three Wise Moose and TBA Theatre generously sent me some lovely photos from the production, Don't Blink One-Page Play Marathon, which gives me an idea of some of the nice work they did with the plays.

All photos taken by Jamie Lang Photography (thank you, Jamie!).

Jaron Carlson and Billy Worthy in Under My Coat is the Truth

Billy Worthy and Jaron Carlson (Under My Coat is the Truth),
directed by Ryan Buen

Brett Gillam in New Orleans, directed by Erin Dagon Mitchell

Big thank yous to all the artists who worked on this project and to Dawson Moore for asking me to send the Moose some of my work to consider for production.

rock on,

ROMERO

Statement of Disaster

In celebration of my recent selection as one of three playwrights chosen for the inaugural PDC/Plays and Players Playwriting Residency, I'm posting the statement of purpose I wrote for my original application.

I re-post it here also to become my reminder and watchdog for those days when I don't live up to my own pronouncements.

Big thank yous to the selection committee of Wally Zialcita, Daniel Student, and Rebecca Wright for their trust, and to Philadelphia Dramatists Center and Plays & Players Theater for offering their vision and the opportunity to grow.

===========================================

PDC Playwright-in-Residence at Plays & Players

Statement of Purpose

Greg Romero

My goal is to ignite an explosion of possibility for at least the next 100 years.

To explain—I ask:

What is more exciting than a disaster on stage?

I don’t know, so my plan is to continue to create the possibility for them, knowing that disaster is often a doorway to the profound.

And maybe the disaster becomes more interesting if we remove (take the stage away) or re-move (shift where our idea of the stage is) it? Is the disaster is more glorious if the audience participates? How many languages does a good disaster consume? How is this danger theatrical? And how can I make these disasters go from the live event into your bones?

And is this a play?

These are only a few of the questions that haunt me.

For the past ten years I have worked tirelessly as a playwright, creating live works that explore memory, imagination, pain, dreams, rites of passage, transformation, transportation, 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. I have created work performed in theaters, elevators, porches, warehouses, loft apartments, punk stages, museums, sidewalks, hotels, basement crawl spaces, and public bathrooms in New York, Philadelphia, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Louisville, as well as in Toronto and Zurich.

I have worked many times with electronic music composer 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), Radio Ghosts (2008), and, currently, The Babel Project, in a form we are calling “electro-theater”, a performance limbus between written text, recorded electronic sound, and live performance.

My work has been honored as a finalist for the Heideman Award, a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and a nomination for the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theater Artist in Philadelphia. In 2008, I was selected as the first-ever Resident Writer for ArtsEdge, a year-long residency created by The Kelly Writers House and the University of Pennsylvania.

However, I have now reached a place in my creative development where I’m trying to further explode the framework of what I call a play, and to create something that more deeply blurs the boundaries between what is real and what is make-believe, what is performance and what is experience, what is a gift, and what is the point. I am searching the flashpoint for the most dynamic, most powerful, deepest- cutting performance vessel for humans to connect to one another and to themselves—or, to borrow from Zeami, I want to create live events that help us all awaken the flower.

For these reasons, I am applying to be the PDC Playwright-in-Residence at Plays & Players.

Specifically, these two stated gifts offer me seeds for the fire:

· The providing of a safe space for experimentation

· The focus of this program is artist development, not the development of an individual work.

It is through these offerings that I intend to continue to explore the ideas of performance as gift-exchange, the depth of expression without using words, the impression and intimacy of memory (individual and shared), the complexities within the creative use of space and place, the volume of a gunshot, the limits of transformation, a further (and with your help, an assisted) self-education into artists I am inspired by (Meyerhold, Artaud, Grotowksi, Foreman, Oliveros, Bausch, Wilson) and deeper exploration into forms I am seduced by but not completely familiar with (Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku, Kathakali, and the Circus).

Specifically, I would use the 13-month residency to continue work on at least three boundary-stretching projects already in-progress (The Babel Project: a collaboration with an electronic music composer exploring language through the real-time construction of a present-day Tower of Babel made up of words, quarry stones, gestures, and lost memories; Tugboat Headache: a non-narrative about a Mermaid’s journey through loss, bodily voids, and 10,000 flying arrows while traveling up The Traum River; and the on-going development of Material v. Memory: a site-specific performance experience in which audience walks through a gauntlet of perishable writing events, each of which is non-replicable, intentionally ephemeral, and disappears while being viewed) all while exploring things I love but don’t fully understand, risking everything all the time, as well as beginning work on whatever new obsessions consume my listening process.

In short, I expect to use the next year (and beyond) having as much fun as possible creating the most exciting live projects imaginable, all while deepening my skills, understanding, awareness, and sensitivities as an artist. It is my hope that I will be able to have fun listening, growing and creating with you.

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ROMERO

Romero Plays Alaska

Two of my short works, Under My Coat is the Truth and New Orleans, go up in performance on October 8th and 9th in Anchorage, Alaska as part of TBA Theater and Three Wise Moose's annual project, The Don't Blink One-Page Play Marathon.

The only thing that would make this event even more awesome is if I had the means to travel there and party with the moose (wise or not), elk, caribou, and foxes of Anchorage.

Big thank yous to Dawson Moore for inviting me to send in my work, and for all the fun people who make Don't Blink an annual, fun event.

rock on,

ROMERO

Transported

Last night I walked through:

A birthday memory on an airplane; an exhausting of Kelly Writers House; a shared memory of water, chalk, and bodies; an offering of grapes; a continual search for family and trains; a stranger picking up a cougar; a dream-filled trolley with the best martinis on the beach; a message written in pennies/wishes, stolen from a bridge; a cigarette-filled rant full of gods; a candle-lit dance in the gravel and under the stars; and a message written in sand, leading to wine underneath my feet.

Thank you, Material v. Memory artists, for transporting me.

And thank you for those of you who took the journey with me.

I hope we can all travel again together.

sincerely,

ROMERO

Material v. Memory

Which is more real?

Me and 13 other artists challenge this question by creating 11 short events/experiences that are, by purpose, completely ephemeral, non-replicable, and unique to the group of people who live through them on Tuesday, September 28th.

There will be no material residue of this experience, only our individual and collective memory of it.

Is memory located in your brain? In your muscles?
Inside of place? Inside of an event?

Will we remember it?

Is memory stronger than material? Does memory become material?

And what do artists create when confronted with these questions?

The full details from co-producers Kelly Writers House and Philadelphia Dramatists Center:

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MATERIAL V. MEMORY
a walk through 11 perishable events

with GREG ROMERO

Tuesday, September 28, at 6:34 PM in the Arts Café
Kelly Writers House | 3805 Locust Walk
No registration required - this event is free & open to the public

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Organized by playwright and former ArtsEdge Resident, GREG ROMERO, MATERIAL V. MEMORY is a guided walk through eleven perishable writing events, each designed to be experienced by a unique traveling audience for three to five minutes, and then to disappear forever. Site-specific, un-replicable projects created by playwrights, poets, dancers, architects, fiction writers, designers, musicians, and performance artists explore questions of space, place, birth, loss, and our infinite/intimate relationship with memory.

Creative Artists include:

MIKE AGRESTA
BRIGHT LIGHT THEATRE COMPANY
BIDISHA DASGUPTA
PAULA DIEHL
NICOLE GARMAN
BRIAN GRACE-DUFF and WALLY ZIALCITA
CLIFFORD HALL
SHANE HANSON and ALICIA RODRIGUEZ
GREG ROMERO
JEFFREY A. STANLEY
MICHELLE TARANSKY

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Big thank yous to the wonderful group of artists collaborating on this project, The Kelly Writers House, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center.

rock on,

ROMERO