Purging demons.

This pandemic, amirite? Boy oh boy. It’s been a minute since we chatted and JEEZ LOUISE a lot has gone down. Dunno about you but I’ve been having trouble writing/focusing/dressing/etc.  I’ve been trying to purge the demons by playing Beat Saber til I drop and building weird things out of wood and staying off Zoom as much as possible.

BUT ALSO. I’ve been making a book. With two theater pals. Which is like, the best demon-purger ever. I don’t wanna say too much because we have no official drop date, but so far we have a digital proof and a cover design and are in the process of editing. So.

Also? You might be in it. If not, you probably know someone who is. Go peek at the list of contributors if you’re curious. The book is like 350 pages and includes illustrations, photographs, poems, scenes, sheet music, typographical art… it’s kind of like a jumbled snapshot of how we were all feeling roughly two months after our profession disappeared. It took major guts for these artists to figure out how to distill their feelings to a single 5×8 page, and the result is astonishing and moving and truly badass.

More soon, hopefully. But for now, here’s the cover (kind of says it all):

Book cover.

Making books.

Ok so I suppose this goes on the list of problematic time-consuming hobbies I take on when I become paralyzed with fear about writing or not-writing or writing badly, but I started a publishing company. I’m doing a super-slow roll-out because it’s just me and I’m learning as I go, but for now here’s the inaugural book/play:

You can buy it here, although you might be one of the lucky ones to receive a copy without a title on the spine. I’m fixing that. In the meantime, you can do like I did and personalize your copy:

Eventually I will have other titles by other people, though I have to make a mess of my own stuff first before I can feel good about inviting other writers in. Also, this seems like a totally impossible endeavor, so who knows how it will actually pan out. But it’s definitely been an interesting process so far. Stay tuned…

Not homesick at all.

No I won’t bore you with how much I adore being back in NYC in the fall, or how last week the weather was the perfect mix of rain and warmth specifically designed to tear a hole in me, or how my final evening there was spent wandering from karaoke bar to karaoke bar singing my own greatest hits until 4am, or how amazed/excited I am that the play I’m writing seems to *actually* be working. Instead (and apologies to folks who get this via email without images) here are some pictures from my week in the city followed by a gif of me falling off a mechanical bull because YOU DESERVE IT and YES I AM TOTALLY FINE and YOU ARE VERY WELCOME…

Enter at your own peril.
She is a warrior.
A page from my play that mentions genitalia.
Bowl of beans + man-bun = emoji hearts.
A consternated mosaic.
I own many Rothy’s.
She likes The Lion King.
A $43 cup of wine I purchased at Slave Play on Broadway without asking the price first. Lesson learned. ☹️
He matters.
You matter.
…your kindness during this challenging time is greatly appreciated…