Thanks to Toronto’s largest play festival, InspiraTO, for producing my play “Chain Link” these past few weeks! And a big thanks to director Lagan Maheshwari, cast members Shakila Fernando and Aaron Clapperton (pictured below), and everyone involved in making this festival happen!
My play “The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!” opens in Orlando this week, and great reviews are already coming in:
“Super Variety Match Bonus Round, which playwright Deb Hiett premiered in Los Angeles, comes to the Orlando Fringe with a first-rate cast, pitch-perfect projections and set pieces by Samuel Finken and Tori Oakes, and fast-paced direction by Tara Kromer. This surreal stew is overstuffed with a surfeit of subjects, including anti-immigrant racism, grammar-induced orgasms, contaminated tap water, mental health treatment and much more. Improbably, it somehow all solidifies into a satisfying whole. By using the trappings of a wacky, campy fantasy, this play addresses sensitive real-life issues with more empathy than many so-called serious shows, and manages to inject a surprising amount of heart along the way.” — Orlando Weekly
“The loving treatment of the generation divide makes this one the whole Fringe family can connect to (provided the whole family doesn’t mind a couple poignant cuss words). “ — Orlando Sentinel
Huge congrats to director Tara Kromer, and wonderful cast Elizabeth T. Murff, Rod Cathey, Douglas Warren Jensen, and Maria Flores Ragen. So grateful Tara found my play on the New Play Exchange!
Playwrights Union “First Peek” Reading Series presents the first reading of my new play “Call Time” on Sunday May 19 at 4:30. Tickets are free but reservations recommended (click here).
Synopsis: A group of misfit drama kids break into their abandoned high school auditorium in search of one last night of connection, hope, rhymes, and Fritos.
Starring (in order of appearance):
NEWT: Sam Christian
GAGE: William Smith Walker
KAI: Crescent Hurley
TATTS: Seth Meriwether
DEX: Samantha Mendoza
LEX: Evie Nootenboom
GUNNER: Jason Caceres
LILA: Natasha Tina Liu
Thanks to Playwrights Union and all who support brand new theater!
Photo Credit: Armen Berenson
“The Clearing in the Jacoby” is a Finalist for The 2019 Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival!
In this rollicking comedy, set in an ancient Australian forest famous for being an international destination for committing suicide, five very different people find themselves in need of answers, each other, and a government employee named Sharon.
Located in Burbank, Garry Marshall Theatre is interested in new work that is uniquely theatrical, authentically voiced, and has a strong point of view. The New Works Festival presents five new plays in staged readings to help the development process of the playwright, and will take place June 2-4, 2019.
This year, they received over 200 submissions, so being chosen in the top 8 plays is an honor all by itself. Thank you to the selection team at Garry Marshall Theatre for this distinction!
So thrilled and proud that my new play “The Clearing in the Jacoby” is a Finalist for The 2019-2020 Reva Shiner Comedy Award!
In this play, set in an ancient Australian forest famous for being an international destination for committing suicide, five very different people find themselves in need of answers, each other, and a government employee named Sharon.
The Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) is the only professional theatre in the entire state of Indiana dedicated solely to new plays. They select ten finalists and produce the winner’s play. I’m so lucky to have been a Finalist for this award three different times now.
Thanks to everyone at The Bloomington Playwrights Project for choosing my play as one of the ten funniest of 2019!
Thrilled that my play “Miss Keller Has No Second Book” will be part of the Writers Theatre of New Jersey “Soundings Reading Series” on January 5, 2019, directed by James Glossman.
The reading will feature Tony-winning actress Maryann Plunkett, Maureen Silliman, Mackenzie Astin, Clark Carmichael, and Hannah Mae Sturges. Ms. Silliman and Ms. Sturges are reprising the roles they created in the World Premiere production at Gulfshore Playhouse earlier this year.
The Soundings Reading Series is designed to test a fairly well-developed play in front of an audience. Authors have five hours of rehearsal with professional actors and a director, and a public reading of the play with guided feedback from the audience. All readings are followed by a discussion with the author, director, and Artistic Director John Pietrowski.
These readings permit Writers Theatre to connect with its community of patrons and artists to:
gain audience insight into the play
continue the exposure of the audience to the creative process
give our audience experiences with diverse narrative forms.
For tickets, click here. Writers Theatre of NJ is at 28 Walnut St, Madison, NJ 07940, and showtime is 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. See you there!
My play "The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!" was part of Rogue Machine Theatre's 2016-2017 season which received the Ovation award for "Best Season." I was excited to be interviewed about it for Dramatists Guild's "Season in Review" magazine edition, which is available now. Big thanks to Larry Dean Harris for reaching out to me for the article, as well as my director Cameron Watson, and Rogue Machine's Artistic Director John Perrin Flynn for believing in my play.
