So, I made this New Year's resolution to do a better job of updating my various blogs and websites (I have too many to count). But here it is, more than a week into February, and I'm just getting around to posting something. Oh well, I guess that's life.

I guess it also comes down to getting swamped right at the beginning of the year. I've had three new play commissions in the past month and a half and this Wednesday I just send off the first draft for the last of them. It's great, I love the fact that I'm getting paid to write play for different organizations, that I'm getting paid to write plays that I'm not directing or in some way self-promoting and publishing. That's really exciting. But it's certainly been a bit of a marathon.

First there was the adaptation of Mark Twain's "Extracts from Adam's Diary" and "Eve's Diary" for Taproot Theatre. The resultant piece - "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" - has turned out quite nicely, I must say. I'm really proud of the piece and it's exciting that Taproot will be able to get my name out to groups and organizations I would otherwise have no way of reaching. The play's totally finished now and touring Washington. If you want to book it, check out taproottheatre.org.

I went with the Players to King's Junior High and High School a few weeks ago where we performed our high school touring play, "Missing People." The junior high drama teacher loved the production and asked me to write a full length play for her advanced drama class. So, "The Reluctant Rustler" was born. It's a melodrama and will work nicely for her students, and has substantial roles for all twenty-one of her students. It was a task to say the least. Two weeks (full of unexpected trips and unforeseen computer errors) to get it done and the result is a lot of fun, I have to say. I've done some slight rewrites here and there for it and will continue to do so until they perform it on March 22 and 23 (if you're in town, check it out). I really want to take another pass at it without some of the restrictions I faced in writing it for a very specific purpose. I'd like to try and make it a piece that adults could perform - changing the soda shop to a saloon, not worrying about only having six male actors to work with... that kind of thing.

The final commission came from Westmont College down in Santa Barbara, CA. The play I wrote for Players last year was entitled "Perfect" and dealt with the idea of self-acceptance. One of the characters also dealt with an eating disorder. Well, the play received great feedback from audiences and the administration at SPU, and it was featured in a couple of the campus publications which are sent out all over the country. The woman in charge of the eating disorder clinic at Westmont read about the play and contacted me to see if they might be able to perform "Perfect" there for a series of events about healthy eating and healthy body image. We've been emailing back and forth since September to see if it was feasible, but in the end there weren't performers and they were looking for something a little more specifically focused on disordered eating and body image. So... I offered to write a new play for them that would meet their needs. I received the commission on Friday (2/2), right as I was finishing up "The Reluctant Rustler." I started actually writing on Monday (2/5) and emailed the first draft to the director on Wednesday (2/7). I have to say, for a rough first draft, I'm really proud of this piece. It's called "The (dis)Ordered Life" and focuses on two characters who are continually facing pressures from the culture, their friends, and themselves to have everything together and perfect. I still have quite a few rewrites to do on this one, but I'm happy with the direction it's taking.

So, it's been a whirlwind, but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.