How Excited Am I?

I've been asked to direct The Glass Menagerie at The Old Globe in San Diego next year. It's a dream project: it's one of my favorite plays, if not my very favorite, and working at The Old Globe is heaven.

Below Mr. Williams looking very writer like.

Nest, Name changes, and Helen Hayes

I was down at Signature Theatre in Virginia doing auditions for my next project, Nest, by Bathsheba Doran. Wait til you see this play. The minute I read the first 15 pages I knew that I had to direct it, and after meeting Bash (as we call her), I feel a deep artistic love affair coming on. I love auditions-- it's the first time I usually get to hear the play, and subsequently I start to "see" it.

Also the piece I wrote for Signature in the schools opened last night. It is called Eve of Destruction, but I already know that I am changing the title. After watching rehearsals and seeing what Marcia, the director, is doing with it, the new title just came to me: Salat. Salat are the five daily ritual prayers Muslims offer to Allah. The word comes from the root Saad-Lam-Waw and has the following meanings: prayer, supplication, petition, oration, eulogy, benediction, commendation, blessing, honor, magnify, bring forth, follow closely, walk or follow behind closely, to remain attached, to contact or to be in contact with. Its core underlying meaning relevant to all its usage in the Qur'an is to go or turn towards. The great thing about the SIS program for me as a writer is that for the past two years I have writtten something that I didn't direct for the very first time. I never got to see the piece I wrote last year- My Vacation in Paris- because of other work, so watching Salat was pretty overwhelming. Marcia and the cast did an unbelievable job and they were all so committed to this story about young people grappling with questions in a world plagued by war.
Here is a picture of Marcia in rehearsal

Here is a picture of Maria Wilson who plays Rasha, an Iraqi girl who idolizes the American's coming to save her country only to end up becoming a suicide bomber. She is extraordinary, daring, young, actress AND just got accepted to NYU Tisch!

Below is Ray Ficca playing, a father who fought in Desert Storm and came back blind. His son is played by Graham Hooper.

Below are Maria and Jamil Garner who is one of the dancers who beautifully re-enact scens from the Lugalbanda tale.

The show ended and we had a fantastic talk back with the audience and then stepped out to the lobby for a lovely reception. Someone walked up to me and said congrats. I thought they were talking about the show, but they were actually congratulating me on the Helen Hayes Awards. Assassins received 7 nominations (Best Musical, Best Director, Best Musical Director, Best Actor in a musical -Will Gartshore, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical - Donna Migliaccio, and two for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical-- Andy Brownstein and Mika Duncan). Needless to say there was a lot to celebrate!

And then....! I saw that my sister Renee received a nomination -- the Charles McCarthur Award for best new play for her play Short Order Stories which I got to direct at Charter Theatre over the summer.
Chris Stezin and Kerrie Seymour

Andy Brownstein and Lee Mikeska Gardner

Overall not a bad day! LOL