Hanks Thanks Follow Up

I was so touched by Hanks Thanks that I thought I'd do my own 24. Here we go.

Coffee
Gchat
Puffy coats when it's cold
Supportive Parents
Good Roommates
Living in New York City
Fun things to do on the weekends
Brunch
Headphones
Youngblood
My band, Half Day
#serials at the Flea
My job
Upstate in the fall and summer
Living near a taco truck (sometimes not thankful for that)
Health insurance
Pumpkin Ale
60 degree weather
Living nearby friends
My bed
The news
Shows in grimy illegal spaces
WNYC
Star Wars

xo,
cs

THE CLOUDY MINDS OF LUCY GILLESPIE & DYLAN DAWSON

Recently, new Youngbloodians Lucy Gillespie & Dylan Dawson met for a drink to interview one another, half of which was accomplished.

After a drink or three, they decided to record each other talking about their typical writing day. It was an unfortunate affair.

Upon reading the transcript of this discussion in the sober light of day, it was decided that no good could come from posting said responses. So instead, Dylan & Lucy entered their transcribed responses into a Word Cloud apparatus in hopes to more honorably (and accurately) illustrate their processes.

Here are the results. Guess who had more to drink.

LUCY'S TYPICAL WRITING DAY

DYLAN'S TYPICAL WRITING DAY

Leonard Lopate

Youngblood's Robert Askins will be on the Leonard Lopate Show today at 12:30pm, joined by Steven Boyer and Geneva Carr.

I'd listen if I were you.

Ryan Dowler Presents The ESTeen Youngerblog: Wisdom on Life, Love, and the Theatre from My Junior High Diary

Part Two: On Being The Best And Still Not Succeeding

I found my Junior High diary.

This is what's in it:

1-17-96

Here's a story about a boy named Ryan and the game he loved.

In May of Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Four, Ryan Dowler opened his last present. It was the 18th, his 12th birthday. He wasn't surprised, he had been anticipating and expecting this final gift.

But when he opened this gift, he opened the game of basketball. He opened an escape from his problems, a getaway from the modern world. He had opened his cherished dreams. His finest memoirs. From this day on, two sounds kept him going, "Bam, Swish," like the tick of a clock. Off the backboard and through the net. The backboard was the key to Ryan's game. Well, that and his growing ["fury to win" is crossed out] enthusiasium in the game.

He attended two basketball camps that summer. That combined with watching his favorite superstars battle it out on the courts of the NBA, Ryan learned and later perfected strategic basketball. Ryan never played to win, excluding those occasional friendly bets, he played to play. Ryan wasn't one for aggressive play, but he could block.

He played and played, "Bam, Swish", "Bam, Swish," until the glorious day came. 7th Grade B-ball tryouts.

Ryan showed up ready for basketball.

But his schoolmates weren't playing basketball.

They were playing "who-can-grab-the-ball-first-under-any-circumstances-and-throw-it-toward-the-goal-the-fastest." Surrounded in a whirlpool of fouling and illegal procedure, he stands there confused. These cheating slackers were stealing away his game. They were stealing away his basketball. Yes, basketball was his. He and every other honest player are the one's who own the game. By stealing his game, they were stealing his confidence, his hopes, his dreams.

That day Ryan went home, but today he didn't lace up, he didn't escape or get away. He sat down, turned on the television and sulked in his problems. He didn't watch a basketball game that night. In his eyes it was the game that had betrayed him.

The End. Goodnight.

I AM THANKFUL FOR JEN SILVERMAN

It's the Monday after Thanksgiving and I feel awful. Thankfully there's brand new Youngblood-er Jen Silverman to cheer me up!

What is the Halloween costume you are most proud of?

The Halloween costume I'm most proud of is also the one I should be least proud of, and none of you would still be friends with me if I talked about it (rightfully so), so we'll just leave that one to the dark mists of history. But I can tell you that after seeing all the slutty cats and slutty fairies and slutty vampires last [Halloween], I've decided that next year I want to embrace my geographic milieu & the zeitgeist of general sluttiness and be a slutty street-cart vendor. OR a slutty Times Square Tourist. I'll walk REALLY........REALLY..........SLOWLY. And show lots of skin above my belt-pack.

Was life harder at 13 or 23?

Thirteen. Definitely. I had just moved back to the US from Finland, and had started at a public high school in Connecticut, after having been home-schooled my whole life. I was home-schooled because we traveled too much for me to be in school (by 15 months old I was living in Tokyo, and my family managed to hit up Asia, Europe, and Scandinavia before high school). Also, because my parents were deeply discerning individuals who thought the American educational system was designed to drain all creativity/ individuality/ zest for life out of kids before they were even old enough to fight back. I have to say that generally I agree with them. Anyway, I went to high school mostly because I was curious about American Culture, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by Americans. Teenage Americans. They were very loud. It was a culture shock for me & everyone around me. I've never regretted that I did it, but I'm still grateful that year 13 is over.

Tell me something crazy about Iowa

There's this tornado siren that goes off at regular intervals during the summer/ spring, but also just kind of whenever Iowa feels like it. It sounds like a cross between UFOs landing and The Whole World Ending. It elicited this Pavlovian reaction from me of abject terror that had nothing to do with tornadoes. Other than that, it is a calm, sane, beautiful place, and I did a lot of writing & teaching instead of hustling & scrambling (which is what I guess I'm doing now). Also, I could bike from one end of town to the other in ten minutes.

Where did you grow up or where is home?

I grew up in France Japan Finland New Zealand Germany Italy Sweden Canada...and Connecticut. (With a dash of Arizona thrown in.) Home is Connecticut because my parents are still there, Iowa because my mentors are still there, Osaka and Okayama (Japan) because my little family of nomad compatriots is/ used to be there, Providence because I went to undergrad there, Boston because I used to live there with a friend who runs a scientific & artistic salon out of her dining room, and now New York.

Was there ever a time when you gave up or considered giving up writing?

Never.

What is the optimum amount of time to go between showers?

I shower every morning on days when I have to be coherent and functional, because I can't wake up otherwise. But in backpacking/traveling/ I'm-in-a-jungle-and-the-water-has-tiny-worms-in-it situations, I've gone for a week at a time.

Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys?

I'm sorry to be misanthropic, but I hate them both. They are both cultural symbols of an enforced femininity/ masculinity that I don't believe in, and a kind of desperate, rabid optimism that makes me queasy. I KNOW I KNOW I'm taking this too seriously. But it's true.

Where is your favorite place to write?

My favorite place in the world to write was in my kitchen in Iowa City, which got the most amazing light. I had a big round hardwood table that was the only piece of furniture I ever spent real money on, and I would use the radiator as a chair. I loved that table more than anything. Pretty much every play I wrote in Iowa was written on it. When I left Iowa City, I promised to sell it to my neighbor along with the rest of my furniture, and then at the last possible second I couldn't do it. I sent him this really lame email where I apologized a few hundred times and offered him my first-born child instead. He was very nice about it all, and the table is living with my brother now. Someday when I am living in places for more than nine months at a time, I'll put it somewhere with a lot of light and love it with all my heart. However in my current table-less state, I roam sadly from cafe to cafe looking for a home. Please email me with your favorite writing spots: jenseptcinq@gmail.com.

New Member Interviews: Willie Orbison interviews Tony Meneses

So Tony, where were you born?
Guadalajara, Mexico. Which if you’re now wondering if I’m legal, the answer is yes.

What was your childhood like?
I’m the baby in my family by a pretty decent gap, so I remember craning my neck back a lot to look up at everyone. To this day, I still don’t know what to do around people shorter than me.

What made you want to pursue playwriting?
I started to notice I liked storytelling in general when I was still playing with toys up to an age that by all accounts would be embarrassing. Once I Toy Story 3’d my childhood, I turned to the page.

What is your workspace like?
I write on the floor actually, and have for a while, which I think has affected how I sit in chairs now. Doesn’t feel right anymore.

What distinguishes a play by Tony Meneses?
I’m actively trying to get the audience to care more. I am interested in stories, with people and realities sometimes unlike our own, that still get the audience to connect to and see themselves in. This can sometimes veer toward the sentimental, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with showing people a humanity worth caring about. Maybe it can then translate into how we move through the world and how we treat others.

Who are your heroes, theatrical or otherwise?
Love me some Thornton Wilder, Caryl Churchill, and Samuel Beckett. Add Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to that literary mix, and we got a party. A special shout out to Oni Faida Lampley for gifting me the most moving experience I’ve ever had at the theatre.

What turns you on/off about theater?
Here are some of my loves: suspension of disbelief, plays with big ambitions, ensemble writing, diversity on stage (preferably a healthy mix of all kinds of identities.)

Bored with: the opposite of what I just listed.

What would your middle school self say about you?
“I see you haven’t gained any weight...”

Where do see yourself in ten years?
I really don’t make long-term plans for fear of mighty hubris striking me down. Ideally though, I’d like to be more stable economically, teaching, writing. Two or three kids would be nice.

If the apocalypse was tomorrow, what would you do tonight?
Dance party.

What are you working on now?
I spent Halloween weekend this year writing a ghost story. Next on the horizon is reading a lot in preparation for a play that I know now is going to require time and thoughtful crafting. Trying to do some homework before and cultivate and broaden my own sense of what literature and theatre could be.

Anything else you want to mention?
A plug of sorts. I have a play being produced through the DCA in Chicago this Spring. Should be a good time. Here’s some info.

HanksThanks!

So:

there are many people/groups of people/things/ideas/places/activities I am thankful for.

Here are 24 of them (24 because Thanksgiving shall be celebrated on the 24th. What?):

My family
My very best friends
My friends
NSD 2010
Youngblood
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Graeme Gillis
RJ Tolan
Ryan Dowler's Junior High Diary
My sexy ass bike!
My apartment
Garza (high school drama teacher)
Cheryl Odom (college advisor and professor)
Tacos
India Pale Ale
Pinot Noir
A proper dance party
Haruki Murakami
Punchy Elderly Folks
All 5 senses
Running
Hugs
Feminism
My grandfather, Lincoln Hanks III (November 11, 1923- October 5, 2010)

I encourage you all to create your own list of 24.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ryan Dowler Presents The ESTeen Youngerblog: Wisdom on Life, Love, and the Theatre from My Junior High Diary

Part One: On Making The First Move

I found my Junior High diary.

This is what's in it:

4-4-96

Guess what? Theo told me last week that Katie H. (who I like) likes me! He said she has a boyfriend named Jesse. But she, I actually have a chance at. This is GREAT! ! ! ! I'm pretty tired.

4-7-96

I can't wait to see Katie tommorro. I don't know if I should talk to her or smile at her or what? We always pass each other in the hall or see each other in the cafeteria and we catch each other looking at each other, but we don't smile, we don't frown, but we don't smile. I should smile, but it's like I'm caught in a daze and I can't smile or make any reaction. Tommorro I'm going to smile. I'm going to do it!

4-8-96

I didn't see Katie today. Well, I saw her but our eyes didn't meet. My life is very HAPPY right now. I feel like I have a chance with Katie, but I don't need anyone. Just cause I'm not dating anyone doesn't mean that I'm not good looking. I mean I'm not bragging but 3 or 4 people like me right now and I have self-confidence. LL COOL J SUCKS! ! !

4-17-96

Theo told Katie to talk to me but she said she didn't know what to say and that she wants me to talk to her. Tommorro is my last chance to talk to her (before the dance). I better not get nervous like last time. When I heard Theo telling her to talk to me I got scared and ran into the bathroom. I really wish we could go out. That would rule! ! ! !

4-19-96

The dance was great! ! ! The headbanging was awesome, as usual! ! ! ! It ROCKED! The last dance I asked Katie if she wanted to dance. She said no. I'm kidding! ! ! ! She said "sure" and we started dancing (slow song). She had her arms around me and I felt so comfortable. She said "Your hands are hot" and I said "Yeah." And then she was talking to her friend who was standing right there. Then later I said "I was at the Toadies concert" actually referring to the "hot hands" comment but it was too late for her to realize the connection.

Interviewed! Blogged!

The great Adam Syzmkowicz had nothing better to do than interview me. Check it out! Other YB past and present playwrights featured too!

A generally great blog for all interested in the beauty and pain of playwriting:

http://aszym.blogspot.com/

Hand to God: Now Even Handsier!

Hand to God by Mr. Robert Askins is a bona-fide hit! And we here at the Youngblog are proud to say: we told you so. We are even prouder to say that the production has been extended through December 18th! Is there any better way to celebrate the holiday season than to see a play about a devilish hand puppet? No. There isn't. Please don't argue with me. I know from whence I speak. Also this time I have backup. Dig this:

"Satan, the great tempter of men’s souls, takes deceptively innocuous form in the frisky new comedy 'Hand to God,' by Robert Askins, at the Ensemble Studio Theater.... Mr. Askins possesses a perfect ear for teenage voices and the aggressive jostling for position among troubled or misfit adolescents. He is just as good at the characterizations of Margery and Pastor Greg, whose earnest professions of love for Margery cause her to wince in pity and fear. [Geneva] Carr captures with a piercing poignancy the discomfort Margery feels at these unwanted advances.... Under the direction of Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the cast is wonderful across the board, although first honors must go to [Steven] Boyer, who truly gives two distinct performances — one all bewildered innocence, the other pure beastly vulgarity — as Jason and Tyrone."
--Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

Yeah, that's right. The New York Times. Heard of it?

So the show now runs through December 18th, like this:
Wednesday - Monday @ 7pm, Saturdays @ 2pm & Sundays @ 5pm
Sunday December 18 @ 2pm & 7pm

Tickets: $35
Youngblood Special: $25 for anyone under 30, at the door with ID
Student Tickets: $15 at the door with ID, the box office opens one hour before showtime.

Get to it. Get back to it. Whatever you've got to do.

New Member Interviews: Willie Orbison

Why 'Willie' and not William, Will, Bill, or Billy?

It's always been Willie. I mean, legally, it's William, but it's always been Willie. I.E. not Y. I remember my parents were adamant about that when I was younger. Don't know why. I tried 'Will' at a summer abroad program once in high school but that made me feel like an asshole. So, I have a feeling it's going to be Willie forever. Which is kind of unfortunate because, to be completely honest, I'm not crazy about the name. I actually tend to mumble it when I say it out loud and people think my name is 'Louie.' Which I like better, but I don't think I'm earthy enough to pull it off.

How does a new play usually start for you? An image? A concept? A title?

Honestly, new plays usually start for me with a bad mood. I'll find myself feeling crappy about something in my life, I won't know what to do about it, and that's where a play will start. Or at least those are the times when I'm like 'Fuck, why aren't I writing something right now.' And then a play will start, and whatever malaisey things are trailing me around will, hopefully, get worked out in the writing. But in terms of getting a draft together, I do find myself working towards, or off of, a theatrical moment that I can see quite clearly in my head before any words are on the page. But titles, as a rule, always come last.

Have you ever written someone in your life into a character in one of your plays? If so, who?

All the time. Not like people's identities, but speech patterns, characteristics, stories, definitely. I think you have to. I went to a talk that John Guare was giving once, and he said something like 'playwrights are scavengers.' That stuck with me. Like squirrels. But yeah, if something about somebody strikes me, I'll try to make a little mental note, and hopefully it will stick long enough to find its way into my writing. I have zero qualms about that.

What is the quickest amount of time you've written a play in? The longest?

I'm slow, Tony. Painfully slow. The quickest I've written a play, other than some I've done for 24-hour festivals, is probably like a month. I have serious issues bringing myself to that blank page sometimes. I wish I could bang em out like Adam Rapp -- or you, Mr. Halloween Weekend -- but no, I am the tortoise, Tony. I am the tortoise. So, the longest it's taken me? Sheeit, I'm coming up on two years now for one of them. But, to be fair, I've never had a full-on production or had anything published, so I'm still writing every play I've ever written -- right?

When is the best time of day for your writing?

10pm to 4am, no question. I've had trouble getting to sleep all my life.

Do you have any recurring dreams?

Ironically, when I do sleep, yes. Two. And I've been having them as long as I can remember. The first is about three hamsters -- one holstein spotted, one tawny, and one without any hair -- who live on the rim of a washing machine. Without getting super Jungian about it, I have a feeling it has something to do with me and my two brothers. I don't know exactly what it means; however, I'm pretty sure I'm the one without any hair. The second dream is an anxiety dream I tend to get when the going gets tough in my awake life, and it's always this: I'm about to play my first game at second base for the Yankees, and we're about to go out on the field, but I can't find my glove. I'll be freaking out and freaking out, and then someone will lend me a glove and I'll go out on the field. Then -- and I think this has to do with a particularly scarring error I made when I was actually playing baseball -- someone on the other team will hit a high pop-up to me, and whatever I try to do, I can't catch the ball. Sometimes my legs will sink into the dirt and sometimes the ball never falls out of the sky, but I'll never catch that f'ing pop up. And I'll wake up tangled in sheets.

What movie do you find yourself quoting a lot?

I was a misguided adolescent. I thought it was 'cool' to be able to quote movies in regular conversation. In fact, for a while in middle school, this was the primary source of my sense of humor. So, there are a number of movies I have committed to memory, and, for reasons totally beyond my control, might still be heard quoting from time to time. Among them, The Sandlot, Sgt. Bilko (the Steve Martin one), and, of course (forgive me) The Big Lebowski.

What play did you read and hate in high school but love now?

I'm embarrassed about this, but Waiting For Godot. People would make fun of it for being so boring and about nothing, so I jumped on the bandwagon (again, misguided adolescence). But now, I'm happy to say, I fully appreciate its genius.

What is the most embarrassing song in your itunes?

Probably something by The String Cheese Incident. Shoot me.

What is the last stupid thing you've done?

The last stupid thing. Hmm, so much to choose from. Perhaps having that punch at the Asking for Trouble closing night party. I was, indeed, Asking for ... well, you know.

Besides New York, any other geographies calling your name at some point?

Yes. Always. I have a tendency to over-sentimentalize things, so most of my fondest memories are tied to a certain geography -- the Green Mountains in Vermont, farms and vineyards in Sonoma County, beaches up and down the Eastern Seaboard, Caribbean islands, freaking all of Paris, and those places call to me. And then there are places I haven't even been yet that I know I have to visit, like India, Japan, Spain, Vietnam, Peru, Argentina, China, the Philippines, New Zealand -- my grandmother, who's somewhat of a spirit guide for me, travelled all over the world and always stresses the importance of seeing new places and new people, so it's definitely a life goal for me to see the world. But, it's funny, having grown up in New York City, whenever I leave for an extended period of time, I start to miss the subway.

Are there any recurring ideas or themes in your work?

Someone once said any writer worth their salt is always in some way writing about love and death. I think that's true for me, too. Not that I'm worth all that much salt, but when I sit down to write something, I do feel a sense of existential urgency that nudges me toward tackling the big stuff. It's the 'if I was hit by a bus tomorrow, would I be proud of what I was working on' question. And, for me at least, I would want to be, in my way, swinging for the fences. Life is short, Tony. Shit happens, as my grandfather used to say, and I don't want to be caught with my proverbial pants around my ankles, putting the finishing touches on some half-hearted story that doesn't really move me. That's not to say every play needs to be Hedda fucking Gabler, but I truly believe that my task as a playwright is to add my little vision of existence to the pile before time runs out. And the way I see it, the way we understand love and the way we understand death has a profound effect on every single impulse we have as people walking around from day to day. So, when I'm writing a play, when I'm thinking about characters and what they want and why they want it and the way they interact with the world around them, yeah -- for me, it all boils down to love and death. I mean, when you think about it, what else is there, really?

Hilarious.

It's Monday, so it's time for funny internet videos. These are seriously some of the funniest fucking things I've seen in a long time. Watch this one first and then go nuts.

Herman Cain - A BLR Sound Bite

Plays/Bands at Cake Shop Tonight

Dear Internet,

Are you enjoying your fall? Is it a little too chilly, or just right for sweater weather? Are you listening to the crooners on WNYC with a hot cup of coffee? Mmm, I hope so.

Tonight my company Pony Show Presents is throwing our next plays and bands show, this time in the lower east side's Cake Shop. Our goal as always is to bring indie rock audiences to indie theatre audiences and vice versa. Sometimes when people here this on the music side, a well justified look of skepticism crosses their faces. "Short plays? Eh..." The initial thought of someone who doesn't regularly attend new theatre is that these pieces are either going to be corny, boring, or laughably avant-garde. More often though, people are psyched because they get to see new plays by young writers with similar sensibilities and senses of humor to them, and get to see three killer bands they'd be seeing on a Saturday night anyway. All for 7 bucks. By the end of the night we've surprised and converted the skeptics.

New York theatre's ever existing problem, attracting young audiences, comes from people not knowing what to see, where to see it, and if they do they're too broke. That's old news. So just fucking put it in front of them and do it. We like to think it's easier done than said.

Tonight we have three shorts by Youngblood alum and recently wed, BEN ROSENTHAL, with "For the Love of Brandon." A group of friends is hosting an intervention for their friend Brandon, concerning certain distractions to the group's activities. Orgies. It also features EST favorites Megan Tusing, Will Harper, Dave Gelles, Risa Sarachan, Youngblood member Alex Borinsky, and Erica Lutz. Now imagine them all having sex with each other.

Current Youngblooder Leah Nanako Winkler's Asking For Trouble hit, "I Don't Want to Read Your Blog" returns, taking on a problem everyone has, internet stalkers.

And Brian Otano has "Henley" about Fleetwood Mac's crisis on the night "Rumours" hits Billboard's number 1. Lots of cocaine and women who do it with Don Henley.

and the bands...


SLOW ANIMAL --> http://slowanimal.bandcamp.com/

HEAVEN'S GATE --> http://heavensgate.bandcamp.com/

PERFECT TEETH --> http://tinyurl.com/44alo8g

Doors are at 8, Leah kicks it off at 9.
$7 Cake Shop 152 Ludlow Street


See. You. There.

Love,
Chris/PSP

Physics of a Pie-angle

1. Attend Death of American Centaur at Ars Nova featuring Youngblood luminary Alex Borinsky. 
2. Do not leave the theater when an actor announces that he will pay you back for your ticket if you’d prefer to take a walk outside.
3. Enjoy the scene where the company uses two whipped cream pies to induce tension into a heart to heart between Biff & Happy (seriously, the other brother in Death of a Salesman is named Happy?). Realize that every play could probably be better with two actors standing by with pies waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
4. At intermission, when the actors lay down a tarp and announce that the audience is welcome to pie actors or each other, turn to RJ Tolan and newly minted YBer Clare Barron and nod in unison. Attempt to convince Meghan Deans. Fail.
5. Clamber onto that tarp and stand in a rough triangle.

6. On the count of three, smash that pie into your assigned person’s face.

7. Realize that the whipped cream is actually shaving cream when you accidentally taste some.
8. Try to clean your face. Fail.
9. Turn back to see Meghan Deans from her pie-free seat in the audience with a Cheshire cat grin and an absurdly clean face.
10. Watch the rest of the play knowing that this evening was well worth that crumpled ten dollar bill.

Meet Leah Nanako Winkler

Photo by Chase Voorhees

Questions by illustrious new member Mary Hamilton! To learn more about Leah and her writing, you can visit her website or everywheretheatre.org.

What was the first thing you remember getting in trouble for as a kid?

When I was about five, I hid from my mom while she was using the bathroom at a Daiei in Kamakura (which is a sort of like a Japanese Target). I remember getting really happy seeing her look for me and then getting really sad when I lost track of her. I started roaming around for what seemed like hours until a woman grabbed me by the hand and took me to my mom who was super angry and frightened. I still remember the horrible look on her face.

What is the worst job you've ever had or done?

I can't go into the worst job due to legal reasons but the second worst job I've ever had or done is the time I worked as an auto-show model for a well known car company. I traveled to different cities every month with a team of girls and literally stood next to cars for six hours at a time. Sometimes I had to stand on a rotating platform and talk about the said cars, which was really embarrassing and especially awful because I am terrified of cars and driving. Most of my coworkers were ex-beauty queens (literally- I worked with a former Miss Teen USA) which I was first excited about, but the atmosphere ended up being stereotypically catty, despite some truly nice people I met. Although there were a lot of glamorous aspects like staying in nice hotels and free make-up, I thought it was a pretty degrading job, which is saying a lot considering all the awful places I've worked at. Also, I was fired.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a roommate?

Passive aggressive notes.

If you had to describe your writing to my grandma in three sentences or less, what would you say?

Dear Mary's Grandma,
I write from my heart and try to stay as true as possible. That’s all I can say.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
Once I was working background as a fake prostitute on the movie "Fighting" for a week starring Oscar nominee Terrance Howard.  Oscar nominee Terrance Howard would always hit on all the fake prostitute girls in between bouts of crying and looking really high. One night, he came up to me and asked me what my nationality was. I replied, "half-Japanese, how about you?" and he said "I'm Terry" and then told me that I would have to give him my phone number if he rolled snake eyes over the poker table. He then magically rolled a snake eyes over the poker table . I gave him my number. He then called me while I was on the shuttle back to Chinatown and asked me to come over for sex. When I said "I'm not like that", he said "hey I was just playin' girl" and told me to call him when I got home. I did. He didn't pick up. We never spoke again. I hope he reads this because he made me feel kind of special.

What would you be if you couldn't be a writer?
I have no idea.

Any plugs?

Yes a few! This Saturday 11/5 at 9 pm @ Cake Shop, my short play "I Don’t Want To Read Your Blog" ( written originally for A4T ) will be a part of Slow Animal + Heaven's Gate + Perfect Teeth + 3 Short Plays. Some text I wrote will also be a part of Forth, A Live Rock N Roll Radio Documentary Theater Experiment arranged by Tommy Smith at Magic FutureBox from Nov 9-12 ( tickets) Also, my theater company, Everywhere Theatre Group, has a show called FLYING SNAKES IN 3D! (Text by leah winkler and teddy nicholas until teddy nicholas left the proeject and then leah took it over and then they got into a fight about credit) at the Ars Nova Ant Fest on November 16th at 8 pm ( one night only). It's a play about a theater company that tries to make an impossible play to stage about mutant flying snakes engineered by two scientists and the heroes that fight them to save the world. Not only is it going to be hilarious, it will touch on several uncomfortable topics about the state of next generation theater in America such as class division and it's relationship with cinema. Check out the trailer here.



Lastly, if you are in Florida, a play of mine called Death For Sydney Black, will be produced by Thinking Cap Theater at the Empire Stage in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from Nov 10-26. Purchase tickets online at http://thinkingcaptheatre.com Cash only at door.

Sad Playwright

In case you're wondering what Youngblood does on retreat, it looks a lot like this.