What an awesome ride it has been! She’s Not There, my new comedy closes this weekend and I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on this remarkable summer.

The experience of working on a new play is often a stressful one. Not to offend my friends who are mothers, but in some microcosmic way, it’s like giving birth. You gestate for months and months, and then there is this furious rush to get it done. It’s painful and glorious and frightening and in the end you have this new thing stumbling around, finding its feet, engaging with others and seeing the world. Ok, so maybe its more like giving birth to a horse.

Anyway, now that the obligatory artist cliche’s are covered, I have to say this has ben one of the most positive theatre experiences I have ever had in my life. Shana Gozansky my director, Rich, Leah and Barrie the actors, all the designers and staff, we just had a great time brining this sucker into the world. And though I hope it will go on to see more productions and  many stages in the future, I think it will always be Brown/Trinity Playwright’s Rep’s baby. Or baby horse. You know what I mean.

Back to Winnipeg in a week.

The first round of She’s Not There at the Brown/Trinity Playwright’s Rep is now completed, and it was a fantastic run! We had very nice houses of enthusiastic audiences and great feedback. There will be two more shows on festival weekend, July 29 at 8pm and July 30 at 1pm. You can find out about how to get tickets here.

In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the next show The Killing of Michael X: A New Film by Celia Wallace by Cory Hinkle and the one after that, My New Best Friend by Brooke Berman.

Well, let it never be said that you can’t go home again.

After eight years away, I am back in Providence for the summer, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thayer Street, the main drag at Brown University, is a mix of the startlingly familiar and just startling…East Side Pockets still nestled into its fragrant little corner of the world- now across the street from a trendy sushi restaurant. The dingy CVS still competing with an even dingier Store 24 (changed only in name to the bewildering Todeschi Food Mart) yet,  my favourite coffee shop, Oceans, is now replaced by a Thai restaurant. It’s hardly the town that time forgot, but there still remains a lot to remember, to reminisce about and to rekindle my love affair with this little college town of my youth.

And the play? The play is pretty good, if I do say so myself. With the incredible input of a fabulous director (Shana Gozansky – HIRE HER) and three pretty remarkable MFA candidate actors (Barrie Kreinik, Lean Anderson and the now graduated Rich Williams – HIRE THEM TOO) the play has already come leaps and bounds in just the first week. It’s such an amazing process to see it come to life in the hands of these very skilled theatre practitioners, and though Shana and I have been working on rewrites since March, that tweaking and shaping that gets done once the actors are on their feet really feels like the finishing touches.

In general I have spent the last week at rehearsals and reconnecting with this amazing little gem of a city- remembering with alternating laughter and cringes the rich and (mostly) happy years I lived here. Ah Providence. Good to be back.

Hey friends! It’s been a very busy time up here in Winnipeg…and I am looking forward to upcoming summer!

Speaking of, this summer I will be in Providence RI for most of it working on my new-ish play She’s Not There. It is a comedy that appeared as a one-act at the Fringe in 2009, and now it will be a two-act with a brand new cast, an awesome director and a nice full 0n production.

The dates of the show are July 6-9 at 8pm, and then July 29 ay 8pm and July 30 at 1pm. You can find out all the details at the website: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Theatre/btprep/If you’ve never been in Providence over the summer, its really beautiful!

I will keep you posted on all the happenings of the summer.