Colourblind

An interesting article about UK TV casting on the Guardian, featuring my sci-fi goddess Freema Agyeman:

Why the Dickens shouldn't costume dramas be ethnically diverse? (The Guardian, May 7, 2008)

Chickens and Roosters

Last October, when I went to the Pansy Division concert, I mentioned that they played two totally new songs "Twinkie Little Star" and "20 Years of Cock." Well, here they are! Apparently, PD set up a YouTube page for our viewing pleasure. AWESOME!!!

Twinkie Little Star, Pansy Division

This is actually a rehearsal vid, so the song itself starts at 3:50 if you want to skip ahead.

20 Years of Cock, Pansy Division

Once again, a rehearsal vid. So the song sort of starts at 1:00, but then they botch it up and start again at 1:35. Also, if you listen earlier Reeder says something about a fake ending -- in performance this song just kept on going. Basically, it was all about saying cock as many times as possible within about a 3 - 4 minutes span.

Awesome.

You can find PD's YouTube page here. You'll also find some info about the upcoming documentary about them. I know it's played in California, and I can only imagine it'll play in NYC during NewFest or some similar indie film fest. I can't wait!

These Are The Lyrics to a Pop Song

Which is why you really, really, really have got to get your hands on James' new album Hey Ma. No joke.

Bubbles

Take an axe to your past
To your family tree
Carve a face from the wood
An effigy

Make wings from the leaves
Hide from the bark
Kindling
for the hair
Rose for his heart

Someone to draw you right
Someone to catch the light

Draw the blue from the skies
into his eyes
Carve the lines on his face
A map of the race

Juice from the root of a beet for his skin
Set the tides
of the blood
with the pulse of the drum

Someone to draw you right
Someone to catch the light
I’m alive
I’m alive

Wash the boy in the stream
So tenderly
Press his lips to your lips
Give him your breath
He awakes with the weight
of the vision he holds
Sees the rent in time
through which he must fold

Someone to draw you right
Someone to catch the light
I’m alive
I’m alive...

Stir the heart with a drum
Kiss smoke in his mouth
Show him signs of a life
That’s a whole lot better

And he calls down the rain
Tornadoes & hurricanes
There’s a world in his veins
That’s a whole lot better
I’m alive
I’m alive...

Fingers raised to the sky
A snake for a spine
He’s drunk on a life
That’s a whole lot better

Teach him songs of the bees
Double helix and honey comb
Play him wind through the leaves
That’s a whole lot better
Alive, I’m alive...

© 2008, Chrysalis Music Ltd & Copyright Control; all rights reserved.

PURE at LabFest 2008 Tonight!!!

Get all the info at my original post here.

Reserve tickets here.

It's a free reading, but reservations are highly recommended as SPACE IS LIMITED.

I'm off to rehearsal now, and hopefully I'll see you tonight!

LabFest 2008 Starts Tonight!!!

With a play by Vampire Cowboy Qui Nguyen. GO! GO! GO!

Details here.

And for info on my reading, April 29 @ 7PM check out this post from last week.

Who Doesn't Loove the Ood?

And Catherine Tate, too.

Okay, so Planet of the Ood was one awesome episode of Doctor Who. I loved it thematically and I was totally grossed out by the transformation at the end -- which I won't go into so as not to spoil anything (no, the Doctor didn't regenerate, something else happened).

More than anything, though, I've got to say that on the subject of Catherine Tate as the new companion: I'm now totally sold. She is a lot of fun! She is still brash and sassy, but she has a lot more dimension here than she did in the Christmas episode. I also like the no sexual tension in the TARDIS-ness of her relationship with the Doctor. I do wonder, though, when we're going to land on a planet/time when someone falls for her or vice versa. You know it's got to be coming.

I was worried, as many were, that her personality was too big and strong to share a screen with the Doctor or that I would never be able to take her seriously. But she's one talented lady and has done a great job carving out her own style of companion-ness.

It's Officially Official and Junk

Okay, remember how I hinted about something here and here that I couldn't tell you about till it was all set and official and stuff? WELL NOW IT IS!!! Check it out here:

Pulitzer Winner Letts to Be O'Neill Artist in Residence; Playwrights Conference Announced (Playbill, April 17, 2008)

I'm so glad no one figured it out with the little pic of Eugene O'Neill I slipped into this blog entry, heh heh heh. It was sneaky and kind of cheating, but I couldn't help myself.

AHHHHHH!!! I've graduated from diapers to Pull-Up Pants! I'm a big kid now! And I'm going to be in such prestigious company. EEK! I'll have to be on my best behavior.

As you can tell, I couldn't be happier. I'm also excited beyond measure that the play that made it through was the gender-bendy, multi-cultural, non-realistic, adventure romance. It totally makes me feel like I don't have to compromise in terms of the stories/themes I like to explore and the way I like to explore them. There is room for a little dose of America's diversity in the American theatre.

AHHHHHHH!!!

Pure in Ma-Yi's 2008 LabFest

Those of you who missed Pure the first time around, when it was workshopped at Ensemble Studio Theatre, can now catch a reading presented by Ma-Yi Theatre Company. As you know, I'm a resident playwright in their writer's lab, and this is our 2008 presentation of works in progress from the Lab.

There are plenty of plays to see and the Lab is chock full of talented, adventurous, and hilarious playwrights. You can view the full schedule of readings here. Information specifically about Pure is listed below.

If you did see the E.S.T. reading and are thinking about it making out to this one, I'll be posting later today about the work I've been doing on the script. That'll help to inform your decision.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Pure
By A. Rey Pamatmat
Directed by Carlos Armesto

With moments to decide, Alan Turing -- inventor of the computer, war hero, and convicted homosexual -- must choose between a top secret life restrained by post-WWII English society or the chance to complete his life's work somewhere beyond life itself.

With Ean Sheehy as Alan Turing, Steve Boyer, Julie Fitzpatrick, Jacob Knoll, and Anne O'Sullivan

Tuesday, April 29 at 7:00PM

Ma-Yi Theatre Company presents
LabFest 2008
at Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 West 36th Street at 8th Avenue

FREE ADMISSION
Reservations are suggested, as seating is limited. To reserve your seats now, click here.