“Sex, Love, Death, and Other Improbabilities” – Benefit for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens on May 27th 2021

Very pleased to say that eight of my short one-acts plays are going to be presented by an amazing cast and director as an online table read on Thursday, May 27th 2021 at 6:30 pm Pacific time. It’s all being done as a benefit for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, a truly wonderful organization with a vitally important mission.

The evening is being produced as part of Actor Trade’s Virtual Table Read series and the cast includes Maryann Plunkett, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chad Morgan, Roger Guenveur Smith, Ajay Naidu, Amber Crawford, G. Smokey Campbell, Reshma Rajan, Robin Gott, Ally Cleveland, Becki Hayes, Daniela Dakich, Antoine Hall, and Nina Decker. The entire production is produced and directed by Robert Galinksy.

Tickets for the reading are free via Eventbrite, but donations are encouraged at the Literacy for Incarcerated Teens web site.

Many of the performers participating are actors whose work I’ve known and admired for years now, others are new faces whose performances I know I will be seeing for years to come. Thanks to the inimitable Robert Galinksy for putting this all together, and I very much encourage everybody who can to attend the performance and donate if you can…

Commercial for AT&T Business

Very happy to say that I can be seen at the 0:18 mark of this clever AT&T Business spot directed by Adam Berg of Smuggler for BBDO Worldwide. Thanks to Jodi Sonnenburg for bringing me in for the audition, the ever-wonderful Sid Levin for submitting me, and fellow board members Sarah Chaney, Ravi Naidu, and Giannina Toaxen for a fun day of work together.

And since we’re in a time when unions and the right to bargain collectively are increasingly under attack, it also feels appropriate to mention all those in and at SAG-AFTRA who work to expand the reach of union jobs and ensure fair compensation, and the companies mentioned above who are doing the right thing, creatively and otherwise, by hiring professional performers. #actorslife #sagaftra #AdsGoUNION

Video Highlights From The Incheon Festival

This short but really nicely done video gives an overview of the Incheon festival last year, with glimpses of all the plays included in the production – includes clips from both the drizzly dress rehearsal and all three days of performances, and gives some idea of the creativity and inventiveness of everyone involved. Thanks as always to producer Gunyoung Kuon for sharing this…

A Honeymoon (With Theater) In Korea

Robyn and I are now back in L.A., returned from our beautiful and very special honeymoon in Korea, which also included the chance to see seven of my one-act plays being produced in Korean translations in a production at the Incheon Arts Platform.

Besides the time with our new theater friends in Incheon, we criss-crossed the country by high-speed rail and express bus to see the spectacular natural sites in Seoraksan National Park, saw ancient burial mounds, temples, and shrines in Gyeongju, and visited the mountain-top Seokguram Grotto where monks were leading a service in front of a centuries-old statue of the Buddha.

We also had a too-brief overnight stay in Seoul, where we saw the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung Palace, visited artisanal workshops in the Bukchon Hanok Village, strolled along the stream-side Cheong-gye-cheon promenade, and, much to Robyn’s enjoyment and my mild chagrin, visited a cat café with actual cats on Insa-dong Street.

We can’t say enough to thank extraordinarily tireless and resourceful theater producer Gunyoung Kuon, who extended the invitation for us to come and was so gracious and friendly to us throughout. Special thanks also to our patient translators Jina and Edi, and to all the directors, actors, and stage crew who came together over three days at the Incheon Arts Platform to create some truly magical theater – as a writer, these are the kind of imaginative, creative, and skilled performances you always want your work to receive, in any language.

Tom Negrino Memorial Fund

Dori Smith is a wonderful writer and IT specialist and not incidentally someone who was a high school friend of mine in the Southern California beach community where we both grew up. Having lost track of each other for decades, we reconnected at long-distance last year through the routine magic of social media.

Dori’s husband Tom Negrino, an author and Mac authority and someone whose work I had been reading years ago without realizing that he was married to my long-ago high school friend, passed away last week. I never met Tom and haven’t seen Dori in decades, but from reading blog posts such as this and following Dori on Facebook and Twitter, it seems that the two of them faced his illness together with uncommon courage, candor, love, and wit.

Dori is suggesting that donations be made in Tom’s name to App Camp for Girls, which has the mission of introducing middle-school aged girls to software development. Especially in these times, it seems a particularly appropriate and meaningful cause to be supporting in honor of both of them…