Lots of people have died recently.
I want to do my best to keep this page about my writing and productions (I'm not a blog fan), but I do think I need to address some of the deaths - celebrity and personal - that have affected me recently.
I can't say too much about John Ritter. I'm sorry the guy's gone - he was funny, and seemed like a really nice fellow - but I can't say I've ever been a big fan of anything he's actually done. If I have to watch "Three's Company," it's usually in sort of a stunned silence. Hey, but then some people like mushrooms, too.
I do mourn Johnny Cash the Legend - he's what legends are made of, and I wouldn't be too surprised to learn he really did shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. But I can't say his music had too much of an impact on me. What strikes me about his voice and his writing is that it was intensely personal. His voice could convey the deepest emotions possible, but they were clearly Johnny's emotions, and I feel like they weren't necessarily meant for my ears. I wouldn't be surprised, though, to find myself listening to him a lot in my future, and I'll probably understand more and more what he's been trying to say.
The celebrity death that hit me the hardest was Warren Zevon's. If Johnny Cash was the epitome of a legend, Warren was one of us. Warren was one of my songwriting and singing heroes since I first heard "Excitable Boy" as a young child. The song gave me nightmares, but something went "sproing!" in my head, and I bought as much Zevon as I could. Those songs are insanely good. All of 'em. Even when he misfired or just got silly, he managed to strike a nerve. And I love that mortality was a constant theme in his work - he could be tender about it ("Veracruz") or silly ("Hit Somebody!") or any degree in-between. And there was something in that deep, cigarette voice that felt so welcoming and accessible. I'd play his record, and it felt like my friend was singing to me. I still haven't summoned the courage to purchase "The Wind," his farewell disc, because I know it's going to contain emotions so heavy that I'm not sure I can carry them yet. But I'll get there. So long, Mr. Zevon, and thank you.
On a personal front, I've had to attend way too many funerals in the past year. Just a few days ago I lost my great-grandmother, Gaetana Moriello Recine. She was almost 103. My last visit with her was wonderful. It's hard to feel sad for the death of a 103-year-old woman with a large, loving family, so instead I'll mourn the end of a family era. It occurred to me during the funeral that someday (hopefully) my cousins and I will be among the family elders. What a strange thought.
Anyway, on to the plays...
My plays that have been published by Playscripts are doing well. I've sold a ton of "Curtain Call" scripts, and three theaters are producing it. "Lives in the Wind" is getting more hits, and finally a production. "Yes, Mamet" isn't doing as well, but it looks like Playscripts caters to a school crowd, and I'm guessing they're going to stay away from a short play that uses the word "cocksucker" three times. So on the whole, I'm thrilled with Playscripts!
"The Book of Job, Part II: Job Strikes Back" is getting a New York Run with the Emerging Artists Theatre in November. I'm not sure of the production dates, but I'm talking with potential directors now. I hooked up with these folks through someone I met from the New York 15-Minute Play Festival earlier this year, and everyone I've talked to has been great. Hopefully a reviewer or two will show up!
The Newark, Delaware production of "Lives in the Wind" is almost here! Kristyn Robinson is doing a terrific job with a great cast. Of course, if it wins the Chapel Street One-Acts, it will go to States, where it will compete against itself. But hey, that's not a bad problem for a struggling playwright, eh?
Y'all be good to each other…I've gotta go hunker down from Hurricane Isabel. So far, she's all hype, at least here in Delaware…
Stay alive,
Matt