Write Life

Big thanks and big love to Susan --

Susan and I both share a love for healthy tasty food and compelling stories 
Get to know Susan through her blog
She's pure gold.

Oct. 1st is Lucy Wang day at Write Life!
http://www.susanmarque.com/SusanMarque/Write_Life_Blog/Write_Life_Blog.html

DOWN THERE, SLUT Festival

We've been having an extremely rough year, so I relish good news when it comes my way.  

Some of you know that I've been researching language, the power of words, in particular as it relates to our body, our selves.  The process of asking people what the name is for certain body parts has been fascinating.  The looks I get.  The responses.  And then the epiphany.  It has been enlightening for both parties, to say the least.  

Believe me, each time I ask and I've had to ask total strangers as far away as Vietnam, I feel weird.  Like I'm a pervert.  So I do my best to explain without giving it all away, for fear of affecting the answers.  No one has ever responded without asking why.  No one. 

Why do you want to know how to say these "nasty" parts in my native tongue? 

I wanted the slang and the clinical terms, of which I learned there is so much slang.  In every language.  No shortage!

My face turns into a permanent state of red. 

Some friends who did not know asked me to educate them once I had the answers.  My parents didn't tell me either, they said.  One said it was only through me that she learned her parents lied, made up the words.   We only discovered this because I tried to verify what she told me with native speakers and the Internet.  They furrowed their brows and said,  Uh no we've never heard of those words.  Why did her parents do that to her?

It makes me laugh because like most Asian Americans,  I had three career choices:  Doctor, Physician, M.D.  That's it.  And yet, if I had dared to ask my parents how do you say penis, balls, vagina, fallopian tubes, clitoris in Chinese, they would've smacked me across the face.  No questions asked.  Oh yes, my father beat me until the day I decided I would not return home ever again.   And my mother left when we were teens.  So there you go.

Language is powerful.  Words are powerful.  I've performed my monologue at a few readings, people come up to me and say I remind them of George Carlin.  This makes me very happy.  George Carlin was a genius.

And please, if you are willing to help me in my ongoing research, help me with the slang and clinical terms for male and female anatomy, drop me a line.

This is paraphrased, but based on a  real conversation I had with my MALE breast surgeon.

DR:  You have a lump in your right breast the size of a Meyer Lemon!  How could you let this happen?  Don't you touch yourself?

ME:  (Of course I was embarrassed, ashamed)  Good Chinese Girls Don't Touch Themselves.  We study.

DR:  What about your husband?  Didn't he notice?

ME:  We're married.  Long time married.

DR:  You have to start giving yourself breast exams.

ME:  Oh, I'm good with homework.  I like to pass tests.

I was really lucky.  That lump was benign.  But it has only become more challenging as I try to stay fit, and on top of my health care.  I try to remember what Dr. Oz says, there is no embarrassing question.  But that's not really true.  I still have trouble, but at least I'm fighting it.  Both in real life and in my writing.  I'm happy to announce that my monologue DOWN THERE -- which may be part of a longer work entitled CHINESE GIRLS DON'T SWEAR -- will be showcased at SLUT Festival in WDC.

There's a lot more to the story, my story, but I cannot give it all away!  

Dear Ms. Wang:

Your play, Down There, is pertinent and funny, and makes a great point about the power of sexism in language. In other words, we love it and we would be delighted and honored to include it in our SLUT staged reading festival!

Please confirm that you would still like to have Down There included in SLUT, and we will follow up soon with more details. We very much look forward to showcasing your work!

Sincerely yours,

The Disreps Lit Team

The Disreputables

www.disreputables.org

Catch us next at SLUT, a festival of short works inspired by the War on Women - part of the UNmute! staged reading series

Tues 10/22 & Wed 10/23, 7:30-10:30 pm @ Arlington Arts Center

All That's Fit On Top of a Desk

Barnes & Noble In Our Own Voices

In Our Own Voices

Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights’ (ALAP) longest-running program returns on July 7 and 8!

In Our Own Voices, which began in 1994, gives members 10-minute slots to read from their work. The reading can be a 10-minute play or an excerpt from a longer piece, and writers may bring up to 4 actors to help. The two rules are (1) no piece can be longer than 10 minutes, and (2) the playwright must be one of the readers – hence the title In Our Own Voices.

The July 7 program is at Barnes & Noble Glendale, where the scheduled readers are Roy Battocchio, Dan Berkowitz, Thomas Cook, Charles Domokos, Julius Galacki, Henry Holden, Leigh Kennicott, Kres Mersky, and Lucy Wang. 

WHEN & WHERESaturday, July 7 @ 2:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, 210 Americana Way
Glendale 91210
2-hour validated free parking with purchase

ALAP's Book Fair at Barnes & Noble kicks off this Saturday, July 7, and continues through Thursday, July 12 -- almost everything you buy at any Barnes & Noble store, or at Barnes & Noble online, can benefit Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights!

Here's how it works:

Visit any B&N store from Saturday through next Thursday, and make your purchase. When you check out, tell the cashier you're part of Book Fair # 10785764, benefiting ALAP. If you prefer to shop online, enter the Book Fair ID number at checkout. A portion of all sales will be donated to ALAP at the end of the Book Fair!

There are exceptions to what's eligible -- gift cards, B&N memberships, magazine subscriptions, and a few more things. But almost everything else in the store or online works, and ALAP can really use the money -- so please do your shopping at B&N this coming week, and tell your friends to do the same (and give them the Book Fair number!) If you're afraid you'll copy the number incorrectly, click here to download the Book Fair flyer -- it's also available on the ALAP website -- which gives all the details. Print it out, stick it in your pocket or purse, and you're all set.

Cooking Lessons

You might have noticed I'm Asian American.  Most of my friends say I'm as American as Apple Pie, and in spite of this, there are people who will say "You speak English very well."   I should hope so!

And then there are people who do know me, some quite well, and for some reason they assume I cook and eat Chinese food exclusively.  I find this surprising, hilarious and shocking.  How is this possible?

Most people find it shocking that I rarely cook Chinese.   Almost never.   This time, it is they who ask, How is this possible?

For many reasons:
Too labor intensive.  I live in a metropolitan area where it's relatively easy and economical to get really great Chinese/Asian food.  I figure, why compete?

I once taught Chinese gourmet cooking in Austin Texas thinking if you cook it, they (chefs, restaurants)  will come.  They did.  But before that happened, my roommate had to drive me to Houston to buy "special" ingredients.

Then I remembered.  Long ago I used to cook Chinese food every single day.  In Akron Ohio where "special" ingredients were hard to come by.  Required weekend trips to Toronto.   While cleaning up my office, I found an essay I wrote for ChefShop in Seattle.  It was for Mother's Day, Food Memories of Mom, 2000.  This probably best explains why I gave up Chinese food.

I cannot cook Chinese food without thinking about my mother.  She's probably the reason I stopped cooking Chinese for several years, why there are some dishes that are still too painful to make.  My mother was a gourmet cook with a chef's license from Hong Kong.  David Bouley was impressed.  You know how difficult it is to qualify for a chef's license in Hong Kong?  One of the hardest.  So imagine, if you can, a teenager being forced to recreate her mom's sumptuous dishes night after night, after school, after homework.  What dooms a tomboy to such folly?

My parents had a most volatile marriage.  Since my father used to bark, my house, my rules, it was always my mother who picked up and left.  For a week.  A month.  A whole summer.  Then one day, she never came back.  Never.  So it became permanent -- my responsibility to cook and clean for my family.

I missed my mother terribly; my life was wrecked, but somehow the act of preparing meals compelled me to collect my wits quickly and focus.  Since my most vivid memories of my mother revolve around her in the kitchen, she was always there when I struggled to compose a menu.  Her voice lingered in the air.  Delicious with garlic and black bean sauce.  Slit fish to insert scallions and ginger.  Peel broccoli.  When I felt overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, she urged me to mash that potato.  Boil that carrot.  Pound that tenderloin.

Unfortunately, my father was not so supportive of my culinary innovations.  He was too accustomed to tradition, served promptly at 6 PM.  One evening, I planned to surprise the family with steak au poivre, haricots verts and chocolate mousse.  Instead my father surprised me by dumping his dinner in the garbage.  How dare I serve him a huge hunk of meat!  We fought bitterly over whose cuisine reigned supreme.  French or Chinese.

Naturally I hated cooking.  I cursed my mother for leaving me with him.  For bequeathing me the legacy of  Bird's Nest Soup (a play published by JAC Publishing).  The last time we cooked together, mom likened us to those poor swallows that have so little food they must regurgitate their insides to build their own nests to survive.  That these nests, as unappetizing as they sound, are actually sublime delicacies that command thousands and thousands of dollars.  Which means, of course, she assured me, that one day, she and I, we'd, be valued and prized.  I couldn't understand any of this.  Why can't you stay forever like other moms?  She seemed stunned.  Haven't you learned anything from cooking?  All those times I was away?  Indeed.  Too much.

Huntington Library

Some of you know that my work is archived at the Huntington Library, but I often go there for the gardens as well.  There's inspiration and splendor everywhere.  My friend Jeff wanted to see the renovated Japanese garden.  We asked someone in the herb garden if they'd take a photo of us, and luckily she took a good one.

Bridge in the Japanese Garden

Jeff loves bamboo even though it's invasive.

We saw a mother and her duckling.  We tried to get closer, but didn't want mother to think we were endangering (corrupting!) the young.

I love succulents.  It's also one of my favorite words.  With water such a scarce resource in CA, most of my front yard is drought resistant and succulents.

I'd love to have cactus, but worry about the thorns tearing into my skin, or friendly neighbors.   So I have to get my cactus fix at the Desert Garden.

More Kindle to the Fire!

Happy to report more of my plays are available on Kindle!

Just in time for your Summer Reading!

And it's true, you don't even have to own a Kindle to read my plays.  You can download the Kindle App, and read it on your iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, and so on.

Isn't technology great fun?  Horizon-expanding?

Titles Available on Kindle:

BIG RED & LITTLE TIGER, JAC Publishing
BIRD'S NEST SOUP, JAC Publishing
CONCERTO FOR ORGAN IN B-SHARP, JAC Publishing
GOOD MOURNING, AMERICA, Original Works Publishing
JUNK BONDS, Original Works Publishing

Double Feature -- Broadway Stars & LTPW

Had miserable weather in Chicago.  Hail, the size of golf balls, forced O'Hare to shut down.  We were stuck in Rockford, IL for hours.  Got into Chicago 1:30 AM.  


Even Bill Clinton was delayed, his flight diverted to Gary, IN.


But one bright spot, a double feature in Broadway Stars and League of Professional Theater Women!


lptw30blog.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/lucy-wang

Save the Date! The Tao of Fruit

Hooray!  

Happy to report Pam Forrest is on board to direct.

THE TAO OF FRUIT.  You may have notice how often food is a metaphor.  Food and me, we're enablers.

THE TAO OF FRUIT is inspired by a full-length play of mine, NUMBER ONE SON, that placed as a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger competition.  My first play, really.  Received a lot of traction, but then was "upstaged" by Ang Lee's WEDDING BANQUET.  It's not quite the same, but Hollywood execs said the market cannot bear TWO Asian American gay male leads.  TWO!  That's "two" many!  

So I moved on.  I tried to sell a pilot about three unrelated unconventional couples.  In NUMBER ONE SON, Lyndon and his lover KEVIN adopt a girl MIRANDA from China.  Lyndon has only a father, CHARLIE -- his mother and sister died in a skiing accident.  This relationship, to me, represented the mandatory "Bachelor Society," enforced by immigrations laws.  Now we have MODERN FAMILY, so it took a while for me to find my way back to NUMBER ONE SON.

My recent research in how language affects/determines culture, attitudes to say, hey, I've been interested in this for quite a while.  I still find this interesting.  Therefore, I'm going to take another look at NUMBER ONE SON, and see what I can come up with.

THE TAO OF FRUIT.

You'll laugh.  And never look at a piece of fruit quite the same way.

The Judges have turned in their scores, and we're happy to announce the plays chosen for the 4th ALAP/ City of West Hollywood Gay Play Reading Festival!

The short plays, to receive rehearsed readings on Monday, June 18, at 7:30 PM, are:

The Skanky Ho and Her Half-Wit Brother by Dan Berkowitz

Flight by Joe Godfrey

Significant Others by Susan C. Hunter

Coffee and Paul by B. V. Marshall

Date’N’Switch by Felix Racelis

Moon Dancers by Mary Steelsmith

The Tao of Fruit by Lucy Wang

The full-length play, to be read on Saturday, June 23, at 11:00 AM is In the Name of the Son by Brian Raine.

Both programs will be held at the Celebration Theatre, and are free and open to the public. ALAP thanks the City of West Hollywood's Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission and Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board for their generosity in making the Festival possible.

Thanks and congratulations to all the playwrights who submitted to the Festival!

LA Magazine Debut! And a round of applause

Thank all of you for attending my final reading/public performance at the Annenberg Community Beach House last night.

It's very scary to read work-in-progress.  It can feel like indecent exposure.  Like you're being judged.  All sorts of butterflies jumping in your stomach.

Pulitzer prize winner Jennifer Egan said she writes as many as 50-60 drafts per novel.  Ethan Canin once shared he wrote so many drafts he couldn't remember if his character was still epileptic, or not.  Philip Roth said he often has to write a hundred pages or more before there's a paragraph that's alive.

It takes a special community to go on this journey with you.  Thank you, Beach Culture.  Annnenberg Beach House & Marion Davies Guest House Supporters.  Thank you, Dear Husband.  Thank you, Santa Monica.

A friend who hasn't seen me in a long time found the LA Magazine article, and sent me an email.  "Is this you?"

"It is."

Enjoy.

xoxo

A Chapter at the Annenberg Beach House

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!  Then join me at the Marion Davies Guest House Monday March 19th!


It'll be a perfect day for bananafishing!


David Colgan, Staff Assistant to L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, writes:


://zev.lacounty.gov/communities/westside/writing-a-new-chapter-at-the-beach.

Press Release! Online Version!

For those of you who asked when the feature was going to appear....
the online version is here....
March April 2012 issue
Career change | The University of Chicago Magazine

Dance Ten, Looks Too....

One of my visitors to the Annenberg brought the following article to my attention:


http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/advocates-ask-why-do-asian-americans-go-uncast-in-new-york-theater/?smid=tw-nytimesarts&seid=auto

BrickBat Revue

We spend so much time at our computers, online, social media that sometimes we forget how wonderful it is to read/perform live.  To unplug, and be present.  With people.

Tuesday night was Mardi Gras.  The evening of 99% Guerrilla Literature at BrickBat Revue in the wonderful Brewery Art Colony.  What a cool space, cool place to read.  The Brewery Art Colony now provides loft housing to artists, but it was once the home of Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery.

Bronwyn Mauldin, a talented writer and founder of Guerrilla Reads, kicked the evening off with stellar footage from the Occupy LA Movement.  Robert Stuart Lowden's photographs are stunning and transports you there.  Mathew Timmons chorale work will change the way you read your junk mail forever.  Thank you, Tika, for inviting us into BrickBat Revue.

I's important to support your independent publishers, independent voices.   Support works that provoke, inspire, entertain, push, pull, stretch.  It's the only way we grow, change, evolve.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Power of Stories

In case you missed me, I've been blogging at the Annenberg Beach House as their writer in residence.  I can't believe how busy I've been, how fast time flies, and how powerful story circles are.

Feel blessed for all the press requests.  I was thrilled when Jason Kehe, a journalist from LA Magazine, came down Saturday to interview me before my second story circle, a tribute to Marion Davies, her gift of comedy, "Be Revolutionary:  Stand Up and Laugh."

There were about 25 people, with a few latecomers, occupying the Sand & Surf room over the pool.  It was so much fun, bursting with love and laughter.  We shared embarrassing moments, worst dates/Valentines, favorite comics, and stories of how humor enabled us to overcome.  

Is comedy = tragedy + time?

Comedy that left turn?  That kink in your plans?

Participants thanked me for creating a safe space where we can connect, remember who we were, who we are, and where we want to be.

Sharing stories is like swapping spit, kissing.  Creates an intimacy and a longing that you never want to end.  So, as the clock struck 4, R & R invited everyone to their home in Topanga Canyon at a future date to be determined to continue our love and laughter.  Just like the first story circle, history repeated itself.  Independently, too.  R & R did not know that after the first story circle, E & S invited us to their home.

Behold the power of your stories.  Our stories.

Be there, Tuesday night, for 99% Guerrilla Literature, 100% Fun
 http://youtu.be/Da_8c2OVHt4

Hi, My Name is Lucy, I Live on the Second Floor

Couldn't help humming to Suzanne Vega when I saw this photograph of me, writing on the second floor of the Marion Davies Guest House.

Adding a Life

It's the journey, not the destination, they quip.  But you can't ignore the numbers.  The IRS won't let you.  Either will your doctor.

So, this morning when a journalist said her editor wanted to know how many plays?  How many published?  How many unpublished?  What other works?  I fueled up on some coffee and did the math, fingers crossed the numbers wouldn't depress me.

23 TOTAL PLAYS + 8 PUBLISHED MONOLOGUES + 1 SOLD TV PILOT (COMEDY) + 2 SHORT FILMS + 1 NOVEL + 1 SCREENPLAY + 2 PUBLISHED SHORT STORIES

The Published List:
8 PUBLISHED MONOLOGUES, JAC “innerJACtions:  Monologues At the Heart of Human 
Nature 

GOOD MOURNING, AMERICA by Original Works Publishing

JUNK BONDS by Original Works Publishing

ART OF BULLFIGHTING, University of CA at Santa Barbara teaches this 
collection of FIVE (5) short plays (CINDERELLA'S BAWL, HOW NOW BROWN COUCH, 
TRAYF, BULLFIGHTING, (IN)SECURITY) published by JAC Publishing

CONCERTO FOR ORGAN IN B-SHARP, JAC Publishing

BIG RED, LITTLE TIGHER, JAC Publishing

BIRD'S NEST SOUP, JAC Publishing

SCENES FROM A CHINESE RESTAURANT, collection of THREE (3) short plays 
-- THE FAMISHED, SENSUOUS GOURMET & THE SICHUAN PEPPERCORN & SCENES FROM A 
CHINESE RESTAURANT

1 SOLD TV PILOT COMEDY 

1 SCREENPLAY entitled YOUNG AMERICANS
(L.A. residency requirement !) 

2 SHORT STORIES

PEKING DUCK
PROPHET & LOSS

5 UNPUBLISHED PLAYS + 5 COMMISSIONED/WRITER FOR HIRE 

TEEN MOGUL, a new play, adapted from my unpublished young adult novel
DOWN UNDER
NUMBER ONE SON
MOO GOO GAI PAN ASIAN, play in progress
MELTING, inspired by OTHELLO

THREE (3) PLAYS I WROTE FOR HIRE, FOR AN ORTHODOX JEWISH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, they needed material

TWO PLAYS (2) COMMISSIONED FOR LA STORYTELLERS, TAPER FORUM/ L.A. MUSIC CENTER

1 UNPUBLISHED NOVEL, TEEN MOGUL


2 SHORT FILMS
MIKE GRAVEL, THE WORD, a collaboration w/Italian animation director, entry for a 
political ad contest, on youtube
THE PERFECT NIGHT, an homage to Bill Murray, live action short, on youtube

JUNK BONDS & GUERRILLA READS

The Occupy Movement energizing our country has brought renewed attention to my play JUNK BONDS.  Last October I was delighted when an American Studies class at Smith College in Northampton, MA studied my play, and then flew me out to discuss.


Paraphrased from the Wall Street Letter:  JUNK BONDS portrays a woman fighting for a chance to thrive on Wall Street -- only to find the man who gives her a chance and to whom she reports to is deceiving the firm.


Theme sound familiar?  It should.  It begs the question who can you trust?  Facebook?  Your investment adviser?  Google?  Bank of America? The Government?


The postcard for the original production at HOME:  Tapir, Inc., dares you to play a fast-paced game of  liar's poker as a young Asian American woman fights her way into the clubby, 
high rolling world of Wall Street.  Immense wealth, glamorous careers, and 
intoxicating power are at stake in pursuit of a fat slice of American pie.

Bill Maher says when his parents drove him to the rich neighborhoods, they never imagined they could afford it.  But their son, Bill Maher, can certainly afford to live in the toniest of neighborhoods.  Suze Orman said people don't necessarily dream about owning a home anymore, they just want a roof over their heads.  I remember when my parents drove us through rich neighborhoods, we definitely envied those houses.  My parents dreamt of owning a huge mansion, for sure.  My cousins in Arcadia and Monterey Park, one of the first questions they asked me, Is your living space over 2,000 square feet?


No.


The disappointment on their faces, heartbreaking.  Their judgments searing.  What a waste to come to America!


Yes.  It's true my family came to America to be rich, and I have failed them. Miserably.  Not even close.

Saw Mike Daisey on Bill Maher today.  Listening to Mike, following his journey -- it all gives me hope that our voice matters.  That we can change the world.  We now know.  Gloria Steinem says once you know, it's what you do with it.





That's why when yesterday a journalist asked me to do "logline" my own play, which I've always hated because it sounds so reductionist.  But this is what I came up with:

JUNK BONDS is about bluff and betrayal, trust and testosterone, about getting 
what you want and dealing with the consequences once you do.  



Now you know.  Whatcha gonna do?

Year of the Dragon

So yesterday I kicked off NewYear's Eve of the Dragon with Sichuan Mary.  I needed something to wash out the old -- bad news delivered Saturday night during my wine tasting party -- and ring in the new.  Something spicy, hot to cleanse the body and soul.

Today I learned that Colin Newton's article on me appeared, and hard copies will be available tomorrow

http://www.smdp.com/Articles-local-news-c-2012-01-22-73342.113116-Playwright-Lucy-Wang-begins-beach-house-artist-residency.html Also, my play WIDOW'S PEAK is a semi-finalist in the 8th Annual Lakeshore Players Ten-Minute Play Contest.  From 350 to 40.  Fingers crossed.  I like to win, but then again, who doesn't? Train Your Dragon :-)

99% Guerilla Lit

Save the Date!
Feb 21st!
99% Guerrilla Lit
Be there, or Be square!

Scenes From A Chinese Restaurant

Food & Writing.

Goes together like love & marriage.

Inside this collection, you can feast upon three plays.

SENSUOUS GOURMET & THE SICHUAN PEPPERCORN
    This play was conceived in Boulder, Colorado while conducting a private workshop with friends in a private residence.  I wanted to marry our senses to our creative muses.   I gathered an array of differing scents.  Vanilla.  Sichuan Peppercorns.  Lavender.  Mint.   Orange.  Olive oil.  Cinnamon.  Each writer sniffed inhaled breathed deeply and let the aroma speak to our soul.  Our inner voices.  Then, we wrote.
And shared, like a meal, family-style.

THE FAMISHED
   Hunger can transport us to places we've never been, to places we never imagined, to places outside ourselves.  That's what this play explores, how two people meet up and need each other.  This play was inspired by a true request from a total stranger that I cook for him, for hire, in my home.

SCENES FROM A CHINESE RESTAURANT
  This play is inspired by all my friends in the dating world, and all my friends who love to eat.  How does our relationship to food affect our relationship to each other.  Many of my omnivore buddies won't date vegans.  Adventurous eaters versus meat and potatoes.  Food is more than meets the eye.

This collection of plays can be purchased from JAC Publishing, and is available on Amazon.com

Bon Appetit!

Occupy This! Junk Bonds & Good Mourning, America

Before I became a writer, I traded mortgage-backed securities on Wall Street and served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor Barry Sullivan during the Dinkins Administration.  When Mayor Dinkins lost to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, most of us at City Hall found ourselves unemployed, and depressed.  It's not fun facing the holidays without work.  I wrote as I searched for gainful employment to chase the blues away.

Had no intention of writing professionally when I graduated armed with an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago.   Grew up too poor, as immigrants, and like Gatsby, I believed in the green light.

JUNK BONDS won the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center and Best New Play from the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation.  With Occupy L.A., Occupy NYC, Occupy Movements everywhere, the themes and issues in JUNK BONDS feels more relevant, more urgent than ever.  Was invited to speak at Smith College, Northampton, MA, last October, and the students all read and got JUNK BONDS.  Was graciously invited to read some of my work at an event downtown Los Angeles 99% Guerrilla Literature.  Save the date Feb 21.  Details to follow.

GOOD MOURNING, AMERICA is the bookend to JUNK BONDS.  I was in NYC for 9/11, having flown in the night before.  Saw it happen from the balcony of my friend's penthouse.  Lost former colleagues and friends.  It was so awful.  I can still remember the acrid smells and smoke, the losses, the nonstop tears.  Eric Bogosian convinced me I had to write this play inspired by my experiences and vantage points.  So I did.  And it poured and roared.  A mixture of comedy is sprinkled in with the pathos.

Both plays are published by Original Works Publishing, available on their website, on Amazon, on Kindle, Google.