Beckett’s Babies

Hey listeners, we’re starting something new and exciting. If you’ve been enjoying our show -- be sure to sign-up for our new monthly newsletter. Visit our website at www.beckettsbabies.com to sign up for our newsletter today. 

This week’s episode is a “PLAYBACK” episode with our interview with Sean David DeMers. 

Sean David DeMers is a playwright with New England and New York City roots. Plays include FACULTY PORTRAIT, produced at IRT Theatre in New York City, the musical JULES VERNE'S FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON with FringeNYC, LITTLE BLUE PILL read at the Last Frontier Conference in 2019, and ENCAPSULATED produced by The Navigators as part of their one-act sci-fi play festival. Sean has two short plays published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, OFF TACKLE GLIDE and FOUR MOVEMENTS. Sean is a graduate of the Iowa MFA Playwright's Workshop and recently picked up a project started there with the play FAYE by translating and adapting the existing Ancient Greek plays, starting with the most obscure.

Keep listening to find out why you should throw away your first ten plays! We loved talking to Sean, who is incredibly cheerful and funny, probably because he takes so many naps. You won’t be disappointed!

End of this year, we’ll play old favorites from the year. Thanks for listening!

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on  Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.

Hello listeners! This week, we had such an incredible time chatting with the one and only Dr. Lisa Quoresimo! In this episode, Lisa tells us all about the voice and how it’s shaped by bodily practices. You don’t want to miss our interview! Lisa is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Southern Utah University, and co-founder and director of Catalyst: a Theatre Think Tank. Her work as a performer and composer has been seen recently in the SF Bay Area at Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, and many more. Her theatrical research has been published in major journals including Theatre Topics and Frontiers, and she has been invited to present her research on voice and gender at the Voice and Speech Teachers' Association, Performance Studies International, and the National Conference on Women’s Studies. 

To learn more about Lisa and all her incredible research, visit her at Website - quoresimo.com/index.html Catalyst, a Theatre Think Tank - catalyst3t.com/ 

GLISTENS: 

Sam - Bald Rock Mountain / apple-picking

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode with your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you!

We return to our Playwright Series where we look at a single playwright and their large body of work. In this episode, we discuss the life and work of NAOMI WALLACE. We read the three plays: In the Heart of America (1994), Slaughter City (1996), and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (1998) to share our thoughts on Naomi Wallace's craft in playwriting. We hope you will check these plays out and listen in to our conversation!

NAOMI WALLACE'S PLAYS:

GLISTENS:

Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Hello listeners! This week, we chat with Artistic Producer and resident playwright of Theatre in the Dark, Mack Gordon. He is the co-adapter and performer of “A War of the Worlds”, which will be playing this October 15th until November 21st. Be sure to check out the links below to learn more about the show and how you can get tickets. You're not going to want to miss this incredibly unique audio drama!

THEATRE IN THE DARK creates stories through sound.

To follow Mack Gordon and see what he's up to, be sure to follow him!

GLISTENS:

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

Hello listeners! This week, we chat with playwright, actor, producer and director Katrina D. RiChard. Katrina digs deep into playwriting by sharing her thoughts, experience, and encouragement to write. Her new play “Call for the Wailing Women” will premiere as part of Black Lives Black Words International Project, ‘Plays for the People’, an online play season celebrating the diversity of the African-American and African experience in today’s world. Be sure to check it out!

Katrina D. RiChard has performed on stages across the city of Chicago and the Chicagoland area as well as worked behind the scenes as a writer, producer, and director.   She was born and bred on the South Side of Chicago. The city continues to hold a special place in her heart and is one of the primary places she writes about. Katrina served Chicago Public Schools for over a decade teaching High School Social Science, and she uses her history background in her writing as well.  She is working on her MFA in Dramatic Writing at the University of Southern California (USC) where she was recently awarded the Joan Beber Playwriting Award. Her mission is to illuminate marginalized voices, tell stories that have never been told before, and tell classic stories with a fresh perspective.

Learn more about Black Lives Black Words, be sure to visit the website:

For tickets to Katrina's "Call for the Wailing Woman" (Oct. 22-25, 2020)

To learn more about Katrina and her work, be sure to follow her on Instagram:

GLISTENS:

Sarah -  Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock's monologue / "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @beckettsbabies

As part of our monthly play series, we pick a play to discuss and this month’s play is "Ballyturk" by Enda Walsh. The play was recommended to us by one of our listeners Meredith Bartmon for this month. We discuss what we noticed, what we liked, and questions that came up while reading the play. Note: There are some spoiler alerts! We highly recommend you read the play before listening to this episode!

About BALLYTURK:

Two unnamed male characters live in a single-room dwelling and discuss an imaginary town in Ireland called Ballyturk.

Born in Dublin, Enda Walsh is an Irish Playwright. A multi-award-winning Irish playwright, his work has been translated into over twenty languages and has been performed internationally since 1998. He won Tony Award in 2012 for writing the book for the musical "Once", which went on to play on Broadway, in the West End, and a US tour. He current lives in London with his family.

RELATED LINKS:

"Review: A Fantasy Town Builds a Wall Against Time in ‘Ballyturk’" by By Ben Brantley (New York Times, Jan. 14, 2018)

GLISTENS:

Sarah - Ora Organic's "You're a Knockout" Natural Sleep Aid Supplement

Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.

Hello listeners! This week, we chat with Oakland-based playwright JONATHAN SPECTOR and learn about his remarkable journey into theater. We dig deep into his play "Eureka Day" as he shares his thoughts on playwriting. Be sure to read "Eureka Day" when it becomes available! We're so excited for you to listen to this episode. Check it out!

Jonathan Spector is a playwright based in Oakland, California. His play "Eureka Day" was a New York Times 'Critics’ Pick' and received all of the San Francisco Bay Area’s new play Awards: Glickman Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre Bay Area Award, and Rella Lossy Award. This and other plays including "This Much I Know", "What Comes Next", and "Siesta Key" have been produced and developed across the country. He is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Core Writer at Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, and a recipient of South Coast Rep's Elizabeth George Commission. In October, his audio drama "The Flats" (co-written with Lauren Gunderson and Cleavon Smith) will premiere with Aurora Theater.

To learn more about Jonathan and his work, be sure to check out his website www.jonathanspector.org/ or follow him on Twitter twitter.com/spectorjon

Jonathan also shared with us his favorite playwriting exercise. Be sure to check out our website to find out what it is and start writing today!

GLISTENS:

Sam - Documentary film "Gunda"

Jonathan - Enjoying the air outside since the fires / Netflix's Cobra Kai

Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.

Hello listeners! We are so excited for you to listen to this new episode of Beckett's Babies! We had an amazing conversation discussing all-things theater and directing new work with the one and only MARINA J. BERGENSTOCK!

Marina J. Bergenstock (she/her) is a director, dramaturg, performer, and educator. She holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Iowa. She formerly was on faculty at Beloit College in Wisconsin. She starts her Ph.D. studies at Stanford University in Theatre and Performance Studies, specializing in Arab Theatre.  To learn more about Marina and her work, be sure to check out her website at www.marinabergenstock.com

GLISTENS:

Sam - Nina Morrison's reading of Hearts on Fire / Gabrielle Calvocoressi reading with Grinnell/Prairie Lights

Marina - Netflix's The Babysitter's Club / Google Map Add-On Stanford Gleaning Project / Helpful Advice from Ph.D. Orientation

Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.

This episode is all about receiving and providing notes on our plays. What the heck do you do with  all the feedback? What are some best practices when receiving notes? When is it useful? When is it not? Can notes be too prescriptive? Or could it be more prescriptive? We attempt to discuss by sharing our own experiences as note givers and takers to shed some light on best practices.

GLISTENS

RELATED LINKS:

Scriptnotes Podcast

Howlround - “Notes to the Note-Givers; or, Embracing the Paradox” essay by Catherine Trieschman

How to Organize Writing Feedback so You Can Rewrite With Confidence by David Safford

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Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.

Hello listeners! We are so excited for you to listen to this new episode of Beckett's Babies! We had an amazing conversation discussing all-things playwriting with fellow Iowa playwright DEBORAH YARCHUN!

Deborah Yarchun’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at the Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, the 2020 Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, an EST/Sloan Commission, the Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, and the Kernodle New Play Award. She’s been a playwright-in-residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts and a member of the Civilians’ R&D Group. Deborah’s a graduate of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.

GLISTENS:

To learn more about Deborah and her work, be sure to check out the following websites:

Be sure to check out Deborah's article "Staying Focused in the Time of COVID: 22 Tips and Strategies to Finding Focus" on the Playwright Center website:

Deborah also shared with us her favorite playwriting exercise. Check out our website www.beckettsbabies.com to learn more!

Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies

And as always, we would love to hear from you!

Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it in our next episode.