This is long overdue. I guess I was hoping to have my entire year figured out, but perhaps I just need to realize that adjustments and additions will happen throughout the year, i.e. more query letters will be added as I identify theatres to reach out to. So this is a living document. A work plan to help guide my work. And you’ll already see check marks indicating what goals have already been met.

2013 Playwriting Plan
“Luck is the residue of design.” -Branch Rickey

The purpose of this plan is to articulate my playwriting goals for this year. Goals are divided into two categories.

Writing Goals [W]
Specific writing goals and deadlines that will help me finish plays, make progress with rewrites and generate new work.

Professional/Business Goals [PB]
The majority of these goals are meant to help me send my work out to festivals, theatres and essentially get my work out and in front of more people in the theatre community.

Overall Goals
Writing Goals for the entire year:

• Write at least 3 blog posts a week
• Work on playwriting projects at least three evenings a week
• Read at least one play a month
• Finish Wolf at the Door.
• Write and finish Alcira

Professional/business goals for the entire year:

• Go to at least 1 plays a month
• Submit Heart Shaped Nebula to developmental / playwriting festivals and competitions
• Submit query letters to theatres for Heart Shaped Nebula
• Re-subscribe to American Theatre magazine
• Become a member of the Dramatist Guild
• Develop and launch a new website that incorporates my blog (would love for blog and its archive to transfer to new website)

Monthly Goals Calendar
January
1/02 Yes, I Said Feminist Gala call for 10 Minute plays–Submit Her Story ✓
1/14 Leah Ryan’s Fund for Emerging Women Writers [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula ✓
1/14 NALAC fellowship [PB]–Submit application ✓
1/15 Ashland New Play Festival [PB]–Submit The River Bride ✓
1/30 SF Playhouse call for plays about women and immigration [PB]–Submit Woman on Fire ✓

February
2/10 Mixed Blood Theatre [PB]–Submit 10 page query Woman on Fire ✓
2/10 eSe Teatro‘s Multicultural Playwrights Festival [PB]–Submit Woman on Fire ✓
2/15 South Coast Rep [PB]–Submit 10 pages query Heart Shaped Nebula [in progress]
2/15 SF Playhouse [PB]–Submit 10 page query Heart Shaped Nebula [in progress]
2/17 Miracle Theatre [PB]–Sent email to AD (rec from O.S.) to introduce self. Attached The River Bride and Heart Shaped Nebula. ✓ [good news, they will read both plays]
2/27 Berkeley Rep [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula[in progress (they accept unsolicited scripts from Bay Area playwrights)]
2/27 Wolf at the Door rewrite [W]–Rewrite should be underway [in progress]

March
3/7 Inkwell 2013–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula[in progress]
3/10 Orland Shakespeare Theater PlayFest [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula
3/15 Princess Grace Foundation Playwriting Award [PB]–Submit either Woman on Fire or Heart Shaped Nebula
3/15 Urban Theater Company [PB]–Submit inquiry for American Triage
3/25 Wolf at the Door rewrite [W]–Rewrite should be almost done on 2nd draft

April
4/1 Playwrights Horizons [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula
4/13 AlterLab retreat [W]–Wolf at the Door 2nd draft

May
5/1 Reportorio Español’s MetLife Nuestras Voces [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula
5/15 Wolf at the Door rewrites [W]–Based off of table reading at AlterLab retreat
5/25 Alcira [W]–Finish a rough draft. No matter how rough.

June
6/6-6/8 TCG National Conference [PB]–Try to go and network
6/15 Alcira table reading [W]–Informal gathering with friends

July
7/15 Alcira rewrites [W]–Informed by last months table reading
?? AlterLab retreat [W]–Alcira 2nd draft.

August
8/15 Yale Drama Series [PB]–Determine if you have anything to submit.
8/15 PlayPenn conference [PB]–Check website re 2014 submission guidelines.

September
9/1 HotCity Theatre GreenHouse New Play Festival [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula

December
12/15 National Latino Playwriting Award [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula

My metaphorical theatre dance card that is.

Friday
Tonight I’m seeing Word for Word‘s You Know When the Men Are Gone. My friends Marilet and Chad are both in the show and get this: Word for Word is taking the show to France. That means they’re taking the actors in the show to France. France! That’s a pretty phenomenal opportunity and it’s the one time I have to say I wish I was an actor. But I digress. Tonight I go see my friends and hopefully grab a drink afterward to catch up.

That’s Marilet on the left in a blonde wig and Chad riding what looks like a piece of luggage on the right.

Saturday
I’m going to ACT’s Costume Shop to catch a reading of Exit Wounds by my friend and fellow playwright Tim Bauer. I saw a reading of this play a while back (and so happens Chad was in it playing a very naughty Jack Kennedy). I’m looking forward to seeing what Tim’s done with the play and checking out the Costume Shop (this will be my first visit there).

Sunday
In the morning I head to the Yeah, I Said Feminist Theatre Salon’s fifth salon. There will be brunch and good conversation. Which reminds me, I need to figure out what dish I’m bringing along.

In the afternoon I’m headed to an Oscar party and fundraiser for 2by4 theatre, a new Bay Area theatre with some exciting people behind it.

And that’s it. That’s enough. That’s four theatre events in three days.

I’m sure some sort of massive post about the weekend will be in order next week.

More soon,
M

I usually don’t take breaks from blogging unless I’m traveling. Which I haven’t been. Hmm….perhaps it’s that I started journaling. I haven’t been very good about keeping a diary, but thought I’d start with 2013 to write down all that I don’t write here. You know, the personal stuff.

So what’s happened since I last blogged? Let’s see…

• I saw Warm Bodies.
• I had an amazing Buelleresque day complete with brunch, a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and a visit to Fisherman’s Wharf to play skeeball.
• I finished the prologue to Alcira.
• I submitted a query letter to a theatre.
• I worked on other query letters/submission packets.
• I emailed an A.D. at a theatre in Portland on the recommendation of a friend and fellow playwright, sending them my work. Good news, I got a nice reply and they’re gonna read my work when they get a chance.
• I saw Se Llama Cristina by Octavio Solis at the Magic. (And if you haven’t seen it, do so immediately.)
• I ate bacon poutine.
• I rode on the back of a motorcycle (and I’m improving in my passenger-riding abilities).
• I cleaned my house.
• I got my work out routine going again.
• I pretty much finished outlining my work plan (I’ll post that later this week).

Oh, an my garden of tulips is growing despite the fact that I didn’t plant new bulbs or dig up and replant the old ones. I take it as a sign. A fortuitous sign.

More soon,
M

When I left my casita yesterday morning I had intended to come home after work, cook dinner and go to bed early.

I’m happy to report that by lunch time my plans had changed. I was invited by my friend Hugo (who recently stepped into the role of Luther) to go see Boxcar Theatre‘s current production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

I jumped at the chance.

And I’m so glad I did.

I left the theatre elated. And while I love the movie version of Hedwig, the immediacy of having performers slide down a fireman / stripper pole to dance on your table and the stirring vocals vibrating through the air was so emotionally satisfying. Several times I found myself wiping tears from my eyes.

So if you are here in the Bay Area I’m telling you now: Do not miss this show.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go straight to Boxcar’s website and get yourself a ticket and bring your friends for an evening of fantastic theatre.

After the show I joined Hugo and other members of the cast and crew at a near by bar for one drink before hopping on the back of a motorcycle to head home. Pulling off the helmet all my hair was tangled at the ends by the wind. And I went inside my casita, happy as a clam and running my fingers through the ends of my hair.

-M

Not in any particular order, but I’d like to do the vast majority of these things this weekend.

• Finish my 2013 Playwriting Work Plan
• Laundry
• See best friend perform (she’s belly dancing at the Rickshaw Stop)
• Figure when I’m going to see Word For Word’s current show (friends in the cast) and Se Llama Cristina (because Octavio Solis–of course!)
• See a reading of Blue God Countdown by Geetha Reddy (my dramaturg is working on it and actually it’s at the beginning of next week)
• Make this delicious number for the Super Bowl party I’m going to on Sunday
• Go to the library
• Clean house (literally)
• Clean the garden (also literal)
• Write

-M

Turns out doing rewrites while flying is something that I can do. Quite productively, in fact. Thankfully JetBlue has plenty of leg room for me to juggle my binder and journal–the binder holding the fragments I’ve already written for Alcira and the journal with clean pages ready for my writing. Side note: I am one of those writers that likes writing journals sans lines.

I did two rewrites. One on my flight to Texas and one on the flight back (this morning). Both concentrated on the opening prologue for Alcira. And the latest rewrite I did this morning is really exciting (for me). I can’t wait to share it at AlterLab.

As for the discoveries I made about the play. One wasn’t really a discovery, one was a question that led to a discovery.

So on Saturday, as I tried to explain to a friend what I was working on, I was reminded yet again that I don’t have a concise way to describe Alcira. No elevator pitch, as it were. And I began to worry. Is it too convoluted? That is, that Alcira is a witch from the times of the Aztecs. That she learned her craft from her mistress Malinalxóchitl, a powerful sorceress and sister to the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli, Hummingbird on the Left, is the reason why Alcira turns her victims into hummingbirds as a way of paying tribute.

Hummingbirds have become a central image in the play.

Are you confused. You may well be. There’s a lot of family tree stuff happening up in that paragraph. So I began to wonder if I should cut Alcira and make the play’s antagonist Malinalxóchitl, the sorceress.

Searching for more information on Malinalxóchitl online I came across something new. I mean, I had already learned that the Mexicas (Aztecs) abandoned her in the middle of the night to get away from her because she was a tyrant. The new discovery (new for me) is that when abandoned Malinalxóchitl led her loyal followers to found the city of Malinalco

Malinalco is considered a magical place because supposedly Malinalxóchitl taught the people there magic.

Learning this made me very happy. I feel like I can keep Alcira (and I very much wanted to) as my antagonist. She is one of those loyal followers who went with Malinalxóchitl to found Malinalco. I feel more grounded in the actual folklore, something that gives me roots for my narrative. What’s that saying? That to make a lie believable you include some truths.

Not that I think playwriting is lying. But it is a form of fabrication. And sometimes we need that footing in reality to help us tell our stories.

-M

It’s been kinda crazy since last weekend. And while today I have a momentary respite I go back through the gauntlet again starting tomorrow.

So this post will be a recap of all that’s transpired.

AlterLab Retreat

This past weekend kicked off my AlterLab residency. I and three other writers: Ann Brebner, Larissa FastHorse and Denmo Ibrahim.

Ann was in AlterLab with me last year and she is such an amazing woman with a wonderfully interesting life story. I thought she couldn’t possibly make my jaw drop again, again as in she had already made my jaw drop once last year (first time: she tells us that she got to read a first draft of Star Wars…Star. Wars. Because George wanted her opinion on it. second time: this morning when finding her IMDB page and seeing that she did the casting for Harold and Maude—one of my favorite movies). But if you read that parenthetical, you’ll understand why she made it drop yet again.

You can pick your jaws up off the floor.

We were back at Ann’s lovely home on Sunday. I love that house. It reminds me of the kind of home I want to own some day. Like this:

I have a thing for bungalow style houses.

Denmo is an performer and writer I’ve known of here in the Bay Area but didn’t actually meet until this past weekend. She is one of the founders of Mugwumpin here in San Francisco. And thanks to Denmo I got a ride—a ride! A glorious ride!—to San Rafael. And on that second morning Denmo shared with me her most recent dream from the night before—I loved it. It was imaginative, dark and weird at times—just like my dreams. Now she’s exploring dreams as part of her AlterLab work—cool!

That last paragraph had a lot of em-dashes.

Just wanted to acknowledge that.

Denmo also shared her piece Baba with us. It’s truly fantastic and she’s a gifted performer. Last thing I’ll say about Denmo, I really love her tactical mind. She’s going to make me a more ambitious and productive playwright.

Larissa is the one playwright who is from out of town. While she’s based in L.A. she spends months on the road as a playwright.Hearing how she juggles multiple commissions and makes a living as a playwright is both inspiring and daunting (so much travel and time on the road). I know that I’ll definitely learn a lot from her as well.

The Grant App
For the past two months or so I’ve been working on a fellowship application, or rather a grant application to fund a fellowship. It’s with NALAC, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures. It’s my first time writing a grant application and I’m learning a lot.<

I've had lots of support from Jeanette at AlterTheater, but we took a few weeks off because of the winter holidays. And well, it’s due tonight at midnight EST. But no worries, I’m done. I finished it all last night. The narrative, the budget, the sample, the letters of support. All done and submitted. And I am celebrating with a Peet’s hot cocoa.

More to Come
This weekend will be equally busy as I’m on the Alumni Council for my alma mater. I know, I know. All work and no play. But I am making plans (in my head) to go see some plays with friends or just hang out with my friends—whom I miss!

Oh, and on Monday the “Yeah, I said Feminist” Theatre Salon is meeting. So I have that to look forward to.

More later,
M

This weekend kicks off my AlterTheater‘s 2013 AlterLab residency. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had much time to mentally prepare myself. Note to self: I also need to go buy a new journal for all my 2013 AlterLab workshop meetings.

If you’ll recall I participated in AlterLab’s inaugural year last season. It was at our first retreat that I mentioned this play idea about a fairy tale set in Brazil, but I hadn’t intended to write that play during my residency. Of course the characters, well, they had other plans and I wrote The River Bride in record time (my own writing standards).

This year the plan is for me to finish the other two plays in my fairy tale cycle: Wolf at the Door and Alcira.

Wolf at the Door has a first draft that needs rewriting. And it’s been stalling for some time because a) I turned my attention to The River Bride and b) I have an outline for it and outlines stifle my writing for some reason.

Alcira needs a first draft, it’s currently a few scenes here and there–though I do really like the prologue. So I have my work cut out for me.

My residency goal this year is to finish those two plays. It’s a tall order. Believe me, I know. But I really, really want to do it. I can do. I know I can. It’s just going to take every ounce of me as a writer to do it.

Look out 2013, here I come.

-M

Braided Sorrow, my first play, the play that convinced me to transition from poetry to playwriting, the play that’s won awards and opened doors for me is part of Poetic Theater Production’s 2013 Poetic License festival of new poetic theatre’s 6@6 Reading Series.

So if you’re in NYC on January 21-27th check out the Poetic License festival schedule. And if you’re interested in checking out the first play I ever wrote, the reading of Braided Sorrow is January 25th at 6pm.

-M

• finished an application for a play prize
• finished a theatre festival application
• thought about writing
• saw Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen (thank you, Castro Theatre)
• phone interview about gender parity in theatre
• did my laundry
• cooked one amazing steak
• video chat with collaborators
• almost finished my 2013 playwriting work plan (I swear, I’ll finish it soon!)
• got a flu shot
• realized my January calendar is practically full

-M