The Craft

I was very pleased to learn that my short play ‘The Craft’ has been selected as one of three finalists for the 14th annual National One-Act Play Competition at FirstStage, in Los Angeles. The finalists will be presented in staged readings at The Missing Piece Theatre next Monday.

This is a sort of homecoming for me, as FirstStage was indeed my first stage as a playwright. The very first time I ever saw actors on a stage performing something I’d written in front of actual living, breathing human beings was at FirstStage, almost 10 years ago now. A lot has changed since then, of course, not least of which is the fact that I now longer live in LA. But you always remember your first time, right? And oh, good grief, the fear, panic, nausea, and sheer frustration with myself for thinking that I could write something that people would actually find interesting or entertaining. I thought I’d be laughed out of the building. But they didn’t laugh. Well, they did…but in the right places.

Another good thing about this development is that ‘The Craft’ is one of ‘The Meta Plays’ collection that I just recently completed, so hopefully this bodes well for the entire project. In this one the actors are performing in a play within the play, but the words they speak are those of the inner dialogues they are having with themselves whilst performing – so from the audience’s perspective, it’s rather like being a fly on the wall in their minds. Neither of them can stand the other, and both are less than thrilled with the material they are working with…but on they go. It’s a little homage to those brave and fearless creatures who tread the boards, often under very challenging circumstances, and often with little or no compensation other than the opportunity to practice their craft.