New Play Festival - Playwright-in-Residence - at Centre Stage in Greenville, SC

This coming week I will be in Greenville, SC as the playwright-in-residence at Centre Stage's annual new play festival. I have been looking forward to this week for a very long time and am both excited and scared to death because I will be presenting a new play on the last night of the festival. Why is that scary? I literally just finished writing the play moments prior to rehearsal. I am sure what I'm writing is a complete mess. People will hate it. They will question my sanity. They will wonder if I am actually a playwright or con artist pretending to be one for the free trip to SC. All of this is normal. If you have a playwright in your life they are likely feeling all these things at some point. We all have our processes for writing new work and sharing it with folks. My process usually includes a great deal of time which I don't have in this case so I am trusting collaborators I have never met to tap into the weird, dark thing I'm creating and helping translate it for an audience. That's the exciting part. It's an incredible leap of faith to have my play arrive before me to be read and rehearsed as I cross all the fingers and toes that what I am trying to say about human connection lands with people. That is, in essence, what I am trying to do with every play I write.

This is all a very long way of saying if you're in the Greenville, SC area on November 9th, I would love to see you at Centre Stage.

Publication Announcement: THE ERGONOMIC PERFECTION OF THE ROTARY PHONE

"The Ergonomic Perfection of the Rotary Phone" has been published by Smith & Kraus in their 2023 anthology of best ten-minute plays. My play is included alongside 49 other plays by some of the best playwrights in the country, curated by the wonderful playwright Deborah Lamedman for Smith & Kraus publishers. Click here to purchase a copy.

Big thank yous to Lizzie Lovelady, Kim Boler, and Michael-Ellen Walden for bringing this play to life and to Broken Nose Theatre in Chicago for producing it last year. My name might be attached to the title of this play, but it only exists because of everybody who worked to bring it life on stage.

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.