I’ll be Skyping in for a reading of my play “The Escape Thingy” on Sunday Sept 15 at 11 am for 5th Wall Productions’ “Matinees & Mimosas Reading Series” in Charleston, South Carolina! A Q&A will follow the free reading, which will also offer free snacks (and mimosas, of course).

Please support this wonderful production company, which has literally battled hurricanes to make this series happen! It’ll take place at South Of Broadway Theatre Co. in Park Circle. (1080 E Montague Ave, North Charleston, SC) New plays need readings and audiences, and this series is invaluable in the development process. Please come check it out!

In this comedy, two very different couples meet in an "Escape Room" game night, each needing very different types of escape. The clock is literally ticking as they attempt to solve the puzzles, decide what reality to believe, and weigh the risks of unlocking the door to the dangerous world outside. The play was a Finalist for the 2018 Reva Shiner Comedy Award; Semifinalist, 2018 Ashland New Play Festival, 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and the 2018 Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival.

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

Get your tickets now!

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!

I’ll be in Seattle for the live tapings of the NPR radio quiz/comedy show “Says You!” this Friday 4/5 and Saturday 4/6. Shows are at the University of Washington’s Kane Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets and more info available here.

SO MUCH FUN to banter and play with such an esteemed gaggle (cluster? murder? pride? hmmm) of smart and witty folks such as Tony Award winner Murray Horwitz, culture critic Carolyn Faye Fox, and Erin McKean, founder of online dictionary Wordnik.com. All hosted by the inimitable (though we will certainly attempt an imitation or two) Gregg Porter, the Seattle radio superstar.

I’ll post the air dates of the shows later, in case you can’t be there in person!

Either I’m applauding ourselves or measuring a small invisible animal.