Godmother of Punk sings 'O Holy Night'

Uh, Alvin, you were a little flat

Masha, Masha, Masha!

BPT alum Masha Obolensky has been selected by the Huntington Theatre Company as a member of its 2010 class of Playwriting Fellows.

This honor caps off an exciting year for Masha: Her 10-minute ‘Girls Play’ won the 2010 KCACTF National Ten-Minute Play Award, and was performed in the Boston Theater Marathon and at The Source Festival in D.C. The full-length version of the script, The Girl Problem, was awarded a 2010 WordBRIDGE fellowship. Earlier this year, Masha received the 2010 PEN New England Discovery Award, and her play Not Enough Air was produced by the Nora Theatre in Cambridge.

Masha joins the long list of BPT alums selected to participate in this prestigious program: Lydia Diamond, John Kuntz, Melinda Lopez, Ronan Noone, John Shea, Kate Snodgrass, Sinan Unel, and Joyce Van Dyke.

Through the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program, the Huntington fosters relationships with talented local playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging talents to established professionals, and encourages and facilitates conversations among Boston's playwriting community. Fellows are awarded two-year residencies during which they are provided a modest honorarium, participate in a bi-weekly writers' collective, and benefit from access to the artistic staff and to the resources of the Huntington. The 2010 class of Huntington Fellows was selected from among 65 applicants; the group also includes playwrights Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Miranda Craigwell, and Lawrence Goodman.

Congratulations, Masha – we’ll be watching to see what amazing things await you in 2011!

Just too creepy not to post

A Child's Christmas in Wales ---> GO

I’ll be honest: I’m not a Christmas person so much. Now I’m not offended by the holiday, and I don’t think you’ll hear anyone calling me “Ebenezer Grinch” behind my back – I’m not that bad – it’s just not my favorite. So I'm not one to rhapsodize on all things Christmas.

But I have to say, after seeing it last weekend, there is probably not a more heartwarming way to start the season than by taking in a performance of BPT’s co-production (with Boston Children’s Theatre) of the Dylan Thomas classic A Child’s Christmas in Wales. The production, beautifully adapted and directed by BCT Artistic Director Burgess Clark, is sweet, full of great performances…and you can’t help but see yourself (and those you love) in the family antics onstage. What resonated most for me? The uncles with cigars and the boisterous aunts are my father’s family all over. I couldn’t help but laugh and smile.

Click here for full performance and ticket information

And to get you primed for the play, here is a story that appeared on NPR several years ago (which also includes audio links to Dylan Thomas himself reading A Child’s Christmas...). Turns out the story behind the story is pretty good, too; that we have it at all is thanks to the tenacity of two young entrepreneurs, Barbara Holdridge and Marianne Roney.

Founders of Caedmon Records, the duo – then freshly-minted college graduates – in 1952 sought (well, kind of stalked) Dylan Thomas, in hopes he would allow them to record him reading some of his poems. When the day of the recording session arrived, Thomas showed up with some material, but not enough to fill a long-playing record (remember those, kids?). To fill the space, the poet suggested a short Christmas story he’d had published in Harper’s Bazaar years before, but that had gone otherwise unnoted. Guess what it was?

The story of the beginnings of Caedmon Records (not to mention the beginnings of the audio books industry) and how this classic story came to be recorded is a Christmas treat unto itself. Even for semi-grinchy crusts like me.

P.S. And listen to the “extended version” of the interview, too, to hear the story about Holdridge, Ezra Pound, and the salami!

Nicky O

Do you know Nicholas?

If you have visited the theatre in the past and spotted a small white dog you know Nicholas.

Quite a stylish little pooch, Nicholas enjoys hanging out in the green room and timidly running away from visitors.

The cold weather allows him access to a full wardrobe of classy duds including the "blue snowflake" or what look like something Doctor Who might have worn circa 1975.

Around the holidays he can be seen trotting behind technical director Marc Olivere at the donor party in his smartest bow tie and, well, fluffy whites.

The next time you visit the theatre be sure to catch him before he scampers away, ever shy of the glaring public.

See Boston productions of 2 BPT alums in 2 weeks!

Two grads from the MFA Playwriting program at BPT, Cliff Odle ('07) and Brian Tuttle ('07), have productions of their own plays happening right now in Boston.

Cliff Odle's play, Running the Bulls, will be presented alongside Jonathan Dent's world premiere, Mr. Glass, at the New Urban Theatre Lab in a joint production called Running on Glass. The plays both explore identity and racism post-Obama's presidential election. Cliff Odle directs his play, Running the Bulls. You can catch the show through Sunday, December 5th at the Julie Ince Thompson Theatre/ Dance Complex in Cambridge. Click here for details.


The world premiere of Brian Tuttle's play, Her Red Umbrella, opens Friday, December 10th at 11:11 Theatre Company, located at the Factory Theatre in Boston's South End. A romantic story, Her Red Umbrella "is sure to warm the soul in the heart of winter." For more information, including dates and ticket sales, Click here.

Support local writers and smaller theatre companies. They are the spice of the Boston theatre scene. These productions are affordable, new, artistic, and socially relevant. Check them out!

Something fun in Vancouver

When I'm in the audience I love mixed media (film loops, effects, etc. on the stage), but when I'm writing I walk a narrower path.  Am I a liberal viewer and a conservative maker?  

Is this mix a new art?  Are the seams between the two kinds of art always going to be so obvious that it can only be used successfully to comment on itself or its subjects in a recursive style?    I want to know! 

Publish Post

Too many fish in the sea

It's a good thing most rejection letters
aren't this blunt!

With the holidays here, many, many submissions deadlines for festivals and development opportunities are behind us (Fall’s a big time for that, huh?). It’s time to relax, write, eat lots of good food, catch up with folks we haven’t seen in ages…and look forward to the next wave of deadlines in the new year.



And, as these cycles go, acceptances from submissions made earlier in the year are starting to roll in. But you know, for every acceptance, there’s going to be a rejection. Or, maybe more like fifty rejections.  Not that I’m bitter. Really.  After all, The Marvelettes taught us, “into each heart, some tears must fall.” Side note: In fact, that’s a song chock full of life lessons (not to mention really great 1960s hair), so here it is:

The Marvelettes singing 'Too Many Fish in the Sea.'

What I’m actually getting around to (in the newspaper world this is called “backing into a story”; in the regular world, it is called “rambling”) is sharing an excellent blog post about rejection by someone who regularly spends time on both sides of the submissions fence, NYC-based playwright Kathleen Warnock.

On a personal note, I meticulously record every submission (and related communications) I make to a theatre, and then make a point of forgetting all of it. No kidding. I don’t make a calendar; I don’t obsessively track what-theatre’s-going-to-be-getting-back-to-people-when kind of stuff. Honest. Oh, I’ll check in with my submissions list every so often, just to see where things are, but that’s it. This way, anything that works out really feels like a gift. How do you handle rejection? Add a comment…

[And when you get good news, alums, do let us know about it.]