I’ve been a member of the Riverside Writer’s Group since 2013. Two of my plays, A Question of Color and The Eclipse, won first place in two one-act playwriting festivals. The Eclipse has been produced in Virginia and Brooklyn Heights, New York. Other productions in Virginia have included Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the Dreamscape and Daniel in the Lion’s Den for the children’s musical theatre camps at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg and the Reformation Lutheran Church in Culpeper. In February 2018, I wrote and directed Untold Stories for black history month which was presented at the United Methodist Church, St. George’s Episcopal Church and Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site).
Catch A Vision…
I would love to connect with other playwrights and aspiring playwrights, actors, and actresses of all ages. Theater is a revolution. A way to tell and show stories of impact.
Imagine a group—meeting in person (or maybe even virtually)— to develop a playwrights’ community for encouragement and critique sessions. Perhaps we could even produce our plays or conduct staged readings.
Building Community Now…
At this time, I’m blogging about aspects of playwriting and seeking to connect with others interested in networking, learning, and preparing. Send a message and let’s start chatting about ideas and possibilities. I’d love to encourage and build a team of inspired writers and performers!
COVID – Our Lives on Hold…
By February, the production of Untold Stories 2020 was underway. I had written three vignettes to be presented in March at two downtown churches and an old courthouse. Since this was the 100th anniversary of American women’s right to vote, we (a local civic group The Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and area churches) decided to focus the one-act plays on women. “Give Us the Vote,” set in 1916, explores Virginia women’s fight for the right to vote. “Love on Trial,” dramatizes Richard and Mildred Loving’s Supreme Court case in 1967, which struck down laws denying inter-racial couples the right to marry. In the final vignette, “Going Home,” our hearts go out to a young female nurse who travels from Wisconsin to Virginia as a medical aide to locate her missing brothers. Union soldiers from the Iron Brigade who had just fought in the Wilderness Battle, their sister aims to bring them back to their farm before an illness takes their father to his heavenly home.
A hard working team, we had secured venues, actors, costumes and props by the last few weeks before the production date and then – WHAM! COVID struck and we were told by the diocese of St. George’s the church would be closed until further notice. Our community was on lockdown.
We will start production again, once COVID has been defeated. Let’s all do our part and wear mask, social distance and practice hand hygiene.
