“Getting Betta” in Austin, 24 Jan – 4 March
Posted by: donfried on: December 31, 2011
Michael is a technologically challenged senior living in a retirement home. One day he’s sitting in his living room throwing remote controls as his TV/DVR when Betta, an anthropomorphic computer program appears. As she continually gets unwanted technology upgrades, things spiral out of control.
Getting Betta premiered simultaneously in Colorado and California in March, 2011. There are two runs in Austin; the first is at the Blue Theater as part of the FronteraFest Long Fringe, and the second is at the Howson Hall Theater. Take a look at the following posters.
I hope to see you there.
Why is TIVO trying to turn me into a Cultural Wasteland?
Posted by: donfried on: March 31, 2011
It wasn’t one of the reasons I subscribed to TIVO, but I always thought it was an interesting feature that it would monitor my TV-watching habits and automatically record shows similar to those I watch.
At first, of course, I would program the box to record things I thought would impress it – the grand production of Aida from Cairo, PBS specials on the plight of the Brazilian rain forest, that sort of thing — even though I had no intention of ever watching them. Eventually, though, I reverted to my preferred diet of old movies on TCM with an occasional UT Longhorns football game thrown in for variety.
But TIVO is constantly trying to dumb me down. It records dozens of moronic reality shows about New Jersey divorcees and people in jail for driving without licenses. Last night, I delete nine, count-em, nine Universal Fighting Championship shows! Japanese anime cartoons for 5 year olds? I’ve got them by the dozen. Spanish language soap operas? How in heaven’s name did TIVO conclude that I would be interested in them?
The worst part is that, unless I specify “Keep until I delete” for everything I intentionally record, TIVO will delete it to record 50 Most Embarrassing TV Moments. Give me a break, TIVO, and stop trying to turn my brain into porridge.
To be fair, though, TIVO does occasionally blunder on something worthwhile. I mean, how else would I have chanced on the special on Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue?
Rave Review of “Getting Betta” in San Juan Capistrano
Posted by: donfried on: March 22, 2011
The San Juan Capistrano Patch gave a rave review of last weekend’s opening of Getting Betta at the Camino Real Playhouse in San Juan Capistrano.
Click the picture or here to follow the link to the review.
“Senior Moments” Wins 2 More Awards
Posted by: donfried on: March 13, 2011
On Saturday, March 12th, Senior Moments was given a special award for Playwriting at the American Association of Community Theater Region 7 finals at the Bas Bleu Theater in Fort Collins, Colorado. The play’s lead actor, Timothy Englert, won the Best Actor Award for the festival.
Senior Moments was presented at the festival by Coal Creek Community Theater of Louisville, Colorado, having placed in the Colorado state AACT competition last August.
Congratulations to Tim, and thank you to Lynn Fleming and all the other wonderful folks at Coal Creek for having faith in the play and doing all that was required to make this happen.
On Monday, March 14th, I’m off to San Juan Capistrano, California for the opening of Getting Betta at the Camino Real Playhouse.
Lots of Good Playwriting News
Posted by: donfried on: December 15, 2010
1. Senior Moments is going to be presented at the FronteraFest Long Fringe in Austin, Texas, January 22nd – 30th. Tim Englert, who has been the male role in all the U.S. productions of Senor Moments so far and who recently moved to Austin, will be joined by fantastic Austin-based actor Lana Dieterich. The production is being directed by long-time Austin actor/director, Douglas Taylor.
Senior Moments will be presented at the AACT (American Association of Community Theaters) Regional Finals at the Bas Bleu Theatre, Fort Collins, Colorado, March 11th or 12th.
Senior Moments is being published by ArtAge, a publisher that specializes in plays suitable for senior actors and audiences. It will be available in the next few months.
2. Getting Betta will be premiering at the Theater Company of Lafayette (Colorado), March 4th – 26th. It will be performed in repertory with Robots Like Us (6 new plays commissioned by TCL) in the Machines Like Us play festival.
Getting Betta will be performed March 18th – 27th at the Camino Real Playhouse in San Juan Capistrano, California.
3. Bodice Ripper will have a public reading at the Theater Company of Lafayette April 8th. The play will be produced by the Second Skin Theatre Company in London, England, some time during 2011. I’ll be moving to London this summer to work on Bodice Ripper and productions of other of my plays in which Second Skin is interested. If things work out, I could be there for a couple of years.
Two years ago I couldn’t get anyone to read the scripts of my plays. (Not even my wife, Rhonda!) Life just keeps getting betta and betta.
“Senior Moments” to be Performed in British Columbia
Posted by: donfried on: September 11, 2010
Senior Moments is going to be performed November 19th and 20th at Reviving the Spirit, the community theater of the remote district of Hudson’s Hope in northeast British Columbia, Canada. The district has 1,157 people in 358 square miles. They learned about the play on the Coal Creek Community Theater website.
I love the Internet!
“Senior Moments” Wins More Awards, to be Performed at Boulder Fringe
Posted by: donfried on: August 5, 2010
Senior Moments was presented 3 weeks ago as Coal Creek Community Theater’s entry in the Colorado Community Theater Coalition Festival at the Nomad Theater in Boulder. The production took 3rd Best Production, and Tim Englert won the Best Actor prize. That’s not bad for a show with 2 actors, a table and 2 chairs; we were up against productions with up to 40 actors and full-stage sets!
Senior Moments will have 6 performances between August 19th and 28th at the Boulder International Fringe Festival. I’d love to see you there if you can make it.
“Young Mr. Hoover” in G-Men in G-Strings
Posted by: donfried on: July 15, 2010
“Young Mr. Hoover,” my short play about 12 year old Johnny Hoover, who already displaying the behavior that he’ll take with him to adulthood, will be featured in G-Men in G-Strings: The J. Edgar Hoover Follies, 9 all new, all comic short plays inspired by America’s unlikeliest cross-dresser. It will be performed July 30th – August 7th at the Theater Company of Lafayette.
I’ll be running lights and sound, and singing from the tech booth. Yes, it’s a truly zany show.
“Seascape” Coming Up At TCL
Posted by: donfried on: May 21, 2010
Seascape, the Pulitzer Prize Winning play by Edward Albee, will be appearing at the Theater Company of Lafayette, Colorado, June 4th – 26th. (OK, so it’s not a play that I wrote, but it’s just as good!)
Annoyed and Ready to Write
Posted by: donfried on: April 4, 2010
Each time I finish a play, especially a full length one, I become more or less catatonic. I can’t bear even the thought of writing anything else; a state that lasts for anywhere from two to four months.
Then, one day, I realize that I’m seeing things, and starting to get annoyed. Not that I’m not annoyed a good deal of the time every day. It’s just that now, I find I’m getting annoyed and wanting to tell people about it. And that’s when I know I’m ready to write again.
I finished the script of “Getting Betta” in mid February. Fortunately, in this case my catatonia (sounds like a province in northern Spain, doesn’t it?) corresponded with 2 productions of Shakespeare Incorporated, one of Postville, and a gig of Senior Moments. So at least I appeared to have an excuse for not being productive.
But this past weekend I went to see 3 plays. One of them had gotten a great review in a local newspaper, and another had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Frankly, the only one I thought was a particularly good script was the third one, which was presented by a group of recent CU grads I’d taken classes with over the past several years.
But the thing that got me going was the fact that all 3 plays used the same dramatic device — the characters taking turns stepping out of the action of the play and addressing the audience. I think that device was wonderful for the Stage Manager in Our Town, but that was 80 years ago. Has it become the hallmark for every worthy contemporary piece of drama?
While I was taking a walk this morning, I started thinking about that and all the other things that annoy me about the playwriting business. And Whammo!, a play emerged. (Actually, it happens in the other direction first, so I guess it “inmerged”.) The working title for the play is “Catharsis,” and it’s about overuse of hackneyed dramatic devices, people who tell you how to rewrite your plays, writing to formulae for commercial success, not being recognized for your true genius, …. You get the idea.
“Catharsis” is going to be no more than 10 pages, so it should be finished in a couple of days.
Watch out, world. I’m annoyed and ready to write!
