Publication: Canyon Voices Issue 27

I have two works and an interview published in the latest issue of Canyon Voices.

Included is a monologue titled “Fledglings,” which is included in the full length play of the same name as well as the film adaptation of my short play “Protect & Serve,” which was adapted and directed by Kate Jopson.

Canyon Voices is an online literary magazine that features the works of emerging writers and artists. Founded in spring 2010, Canyon Voices is supported by students and faculty of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies at ASU’s New College.

Click here to read the digital publication.

Returning to Door Kinetic Arts Festival Sept. 18-23

I had the great honor and pleasure to attend Door Kinetic Arts Festival in 2022 with my play The Patient. That play, which was my grad school thesis, holds a special place in my heart so I was overjoyed to spend a week workshopping it with some immensely talented folks. This year I will be returning to the festival with my play The Call List, a solo play I will be workshopping with Eva Nimmer who was in The Patient at DKAF last year.

The Call List was originally inspired by a brief moment from the podcast S Town, created by Brian Reed. When I listened to S Town, I was obsessed with a part of it where the town clerk was tasked with calling a list of people to tell them John B. McLemore, the subject of the podcast, died. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this work assignment could make a person feel so I created a fictional circumstance to explore it. This work in progress is the result. Here is a synopsis of the play:

A dispirited legal assistant is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come a worse time, as they are dealing with their own life/work existential crisis while their mother and sister badger them via text message. Wanting to connect with their estranged father, it's a few kind words from a stranger that might give them what they ultimately need.

Visit DoorKinetic.com for information about the festival and/or send me an email if you’re interested in this solo play.

The Subtext LIVE at The Understudy in Chicago

THE SUBTEXT PODCAST LIVE

August 21 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

CLICK HERE to Reserve Your Seat

From AMERICAN THEATRE magazine, a podcast where playwrights talk to playwrights about the things usually left unsaid. In a conversation that dives into life’s muck, we learn what irks, agitates, motivates, inspires and—ultimately—what makes writers tick.

Join host Brian James Polak and guest Nancy García Loza for a live recording of an episode of the pod.

Doors open at 7PM. Taping begins at 7:30 PM. The Understudy cafe will be open for refreshments before the event.

Nancy García Loza is a pocha playwright rooted in Chicago, Illinois and Jalisco, México. She is a two-time alum of the national Fornés Playwriting Workshop. Her commissioned work includes Ascent: the eighth wonder (Steppenwolf Theatre); Bull: a love story (in development with Paramount Theatre; Chicago Dramatists Tutterow Fellowship); Rust (Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit); Los Lakeview ’92 (Make-Believe Association); and Wave (Teatro Leyden). Her audio drama, Brava: a folktale con música (Make-Believe Association) is available on all podcast platforms. A self-taught writer, García Loza draws from instinct, plays by ear and is determined to bring the pocha experience in all its complexity, rawness, and lyricism to American stages. She is Mexican American, no hyphen.

Publication Announcement: AN EPIDEMIC OF TEMPORARY LUNACY

My time travel/family drama AN EPIDEMIC OF TEMPORARY LUNACY was published by Next Stage Press on May 1. Copies of the script can be purchased here at this link. All licensing for performances are managed by the publisher.

Play description: If you could go back and change your life, would you? – – – A fledgling scientific genius and his little sister grow tired of being teased and neglected by their overprotective mother and deadbeat uncle. When the boy witnesses what he thinks is his uncle’s nefarious deed, he decides to devote himself to creating a miraculous invention that will save him and his sister from their miserable life.

  • Cast Size: 2M 2W

  • Running Time: 90+ minutes

  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

Shake Rag Alley Stage Reading Series: NEWS FOR THE DEAF MAN

I have been invited to present my play NEWS FOR THE DEAF MAN in the Shake Rag Alley Stage Reading Series in Mineral Point, WI on July 29th.

Once each month from Spring to Fall, Shake Rag Alley presents plays on their outdoor stage. Following the reading folks can stay for a talkback and reception on the Art Cafe patio featuring live music, complimentary food, and a cash bar. The reading begins at 4pm. Click this link for tickets.

Featured on PRESENT PROCESS Podcast

I was invited on PRESENT PROCESS to discuss my writing and the process around creating my play THE GRAVEDIGGERS UNION.

In THE GRAVEDIGGERS UNION a group of people work at a cemetery in the fictional Ashworth, New Hampshire... some wishing they were elsewhere, others perfectly happy to be miserable where they are. Ronnie used to be married to Bobby, who is unhappily married to Ricky. Mike plays drums in a wedding band on the weekend and can't stop talking about how incredible the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is. Johnny shows up at the cemetery surreptitiously recording a podcast called "AshTown." They all work together digging holes and passing the time. When the WalMart of cemeteries opens across the street everybody begins to worry about losing their jobs. So they plan to put on a play to raise money to buy the cemetery themselves. The only problem is nobody goes to plays anymore...

If you want to get to know more about me and my play, give a listen here at this link.


Playwright-in-Residence at Centre Stage in Greenvile, SC

Centre Stage in Greenville, SC has invited me to be their playwright-in-residence for the 21st Annual New Play Festival in November, 2023. I will be spending a week in Greenville working with the festival playwrights, selecting a winner, and presenting new work of my own. It’s an incredible honor to be invited to be part of this festival and I can’t wait to spend the week in beautiful and historic Greenville.

More details about the festival can be found at this link.

Monologue Published in Smith & Kraus Anthology

I could not be more proud to have a monologue from Welcome to Keene, NH included in the anthology: WE/US: Monologues for the Gender Minority published by Smith & Kraus.

The play hasn't been produced yet (hello to all the theatre decision makers out there), but I am happy this bit of writing will live on in the publication alongside so many playwrights I love and admire. You can pick up a copy at this link... or ask your local bookstore to order it for you and avoid sending $ to Bezos.

To add an even bigger point of pride: One of my heroes, Gary Garrison, mentioned me and this piece in the forward he wrote for the book. I never thought such a thing would happen, especially from somebody I admire so much.

UT Austin's Harry Ransom Center Theatre 2020 Collection

Shortly after theatre (and the world) came to a screeching halt in 2020, The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin undertook a project to document this particular moment in time. As they desribe on their website:

“The global closure of theatres due to the COVID-19 pandemic is without precedent in modern times. This also has been a year of reckoning with longstanding racial injustices highlighted by movements like Black Lives Matter and #WeSeeYouWAT. Theatres are closing permanently. Others are reimagining how they safely engage with audiences. Countless theatre professionals have found themselves suddenly unemployed.

The theatre industry is already radically different than it was at the beginning of 2020, and historians looking back at this moment will want to understand the many ways it has changed. The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, a major research center for the study of the history of theatre and performance, has launched a new collecting initiative aiming to document this moment.”

At the time I was creating my own archive of the moment by reaching out to playwrights through my podcast, The Subtext. I was collecting their stories and memorializing plays that had been canceled due to the pandemic (one of them being my own Welcome to Keene, NH). When I saw the Harry Ransom Center’s call for contributions, I reached out to contribute my podcast episodes.

Later I participated in their oral history series alongside many other playwrights and folks associated with the theater. Eric Colleary, Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts for The Harry Ransom Center, and I spoke over zoom for an hour about the abrupt change to our lives.

Eric Colleary and The Harry Ransom Center have done a great service for future researchers investigating this time in history and how it impacted theatre makers throughout the United States.