Seven Deadly Plays

(Love this picture, but can't take credit for it. Lifted it from the lovely and wonderful The Rant.)

Hello, Friends,

I haven't posted in so long because I'm a dork. I changed the template and in the process somehow eliminated a sign-in link. I locked myself out of my own blog! I'm not exactly sure how I got in, so I figure I better post something while I can.

What's happening?

I recently wrapped up participating in a playwrighting competition for Fine Print Theatre Company. Didn't win, but we made it to the finals. It's a rock musical called Senioritis that I am writing with Pete Ficht, a friend of mine from college. The competition turned out to be a great way to kick us into gear.

For July, I will continue to work on that and today I am going to take a crack at a script for Deathscribe. I love horror, but I find it very difficult to write. The problems I run into are similar to problems many people run into with writing comedy. Everything's already been done. How can I make this interesting and scary? It also must be written for radio, which comes with its own set of challenges. A common mistake people make is creating a dialogue heavy piece. As in stage and film, a ton of dialogue and little action runs the risk of being very boring. Radio is a visual medium. It's about painting vivid pictures in people's heads that tell a story. I have half a kernel of an idea that I will see if I still like by the end of the day.

The next big thing is... Seven Deadly Plays. Don Hall and I have had many conversation about how to follow-up 365 Sketches and 50 Plays. I have fallen in love with tight deadlines and wanted to emulate many of the 24-Hour projects I have participated in. I also wanted to challenge myself on where I write and see how environment can affect content. Thus, Seven Deadly Plays. Each ten minute play will be written in a day by me on my iPad in a potentially dangerous location. Some spots we've tossed around are the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, a sewage treatment plant, the shark tank at Shedd, on a street corner in Englewood, observation deck at Sears Tower. If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments section. Would love to have a bigger list to whittle down. Each short play will also use that location for its setting.

We open Thursday, August 23rd on the mainstage (air conditioned!) of The Strawdog Theatre. Eight days out, I will start writing the first play. That means the first group will have a week to put their play together and the last brave group will have the day of opening night. As in many of the 50 Plays, the director and cast for each play will be predetermined and I will be writing a piece for them.

We also might be doing a latenight series that week in Hugen Hall. If we're able to do something, it will either be drawing from monologues from 365 and 50 or more workshopping of Seniroitis. Or both.

I'll keep you updated, assuming I don't lock myself out of my blog, again. Hope you can make it to the shows.

A Perfect Flower

A perfect flower, in the world of botany, has both stamens and carpels.

The stamen is the pollen-bearing organ of a flower, also known as the male part.

A carpel is a simple pistil, the female part.

A perfect flower has both male and female parts.

 

A perfect flower can go fuck itself.

Kidnapping My Best Friend

This is a story I told recently at This Much Is True. A great storytelling event held at the Hopleaf once a month. Get there early, it fills up fast and is often standing room only. The night I was there was no different. There were even people seated behind the storytellers, thus the reference to my bottom. Enjoy.

Pretty From A Distance

Robot vs. Dinosaur's new show opens TONIGHT!

The RvD writers (clockwise from left) Nat Topping, Me, Susie Gutowski, Becca Levine, Greg Wendling, Chris Othic and Rammel Chan   Robot vs. Dinosaur Presents: PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE The cast of Pretty from a Distance (l-r) Mike Johnson, Nat Topping, Torian Miller, Susie Gutowski, Rammel Chan and Becca Levine   Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30pm March 23-April 7 Luna Central 3914 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60613 $15 www.teatroluna.org  Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance on-line by clicking HERE   Like the Horsehead Nebula poised over Orion’s nether-regions, Robot vs. Dinosaur’s latest sketch show, Pretty from a Distance, is a beacon to souls lost in the universe. Directed by RvD veteran Chris Othic, the 75-minute show addresses big questions about our place in the universe and the rituals of life. Unlike a lot of sketch comedy, it's got a lot of heart and minimal dick jokes. We think you'll like it and leave the theater chanting ""Not insignificant, but insignif-I-CAN!" Starring: Rammel Chan Susie Gutowski Mike Johnson Becca Levine Torian Miller Nat Topping Directed by Chris Othic    This is a remount of sorts of the sold out show we did at Sketchfest this year. So, if you missed that, come see this! If you saw that, come see this! We added 20-30 minutes of new material and two new actors. Mike Johnson, an old friend of RvD's, is back playing with us and making his debut with us is Torian Miller. The show also features two pieces I wrote that I also regard as two of my favorites. There's Dolphin Encounter featuring Nat Topping as a disgruntled dolphin people pay to "swim" with and Boris vs. Nature featuring Mike as the husband of a small family having a stare down with a giraffe at the zoo. That piece first appeared in 365 Sketches and I re-wrote it for this show. I'm very proud of this show and hope you check it out. Everyone is operating at the top of their game. This may just be our best show from the top-notch writing to the excellent comic acting to Chris's confident direction.

What The What

Howdy!

Been a long time since I updated the ol' blog, so here's a bit of a round-up of what I have been up to.

- I have two shows opening this week! One is a very funny Writing 6 show I directed Fridays at 7:30pm in the de MAAT at Second City. It's called Ground Control To Planet Keith. You can get info on it by clicking HERE. Chicago Sketchfest starts this week. You can see me in a show I co-wrote, Robot vs. Dinosaur's Pretty From A Distance. It's this coming Saturday at 7pm in the Thrust Theater. One show only. You can get ticket info HERE.

- I just got back from a two-week vacation where my girlfriend and I logged over 3400 miles driving. We visited a lot of family and friends. We went from Chicago to Clarksville, Tennessee to Nashville to Orlando to Lake Worth, Florida to Elkin, North Carolina to Scranton, Pennsylvania to Streetsboro, Ohio to Port Clinton, Ohio back to Chicago. Aside from meeting many great people and reconnecting with family, highlights included spending a day at Disneyworld and park hopping - Disney Hollywood to Epcot to The Magic Kingdom. And while it sucked to have our drive disrupted by snow and ice, we did spend the night in the Presidential Suite of a Holiday Inn Express in Streetsboro, Ohio. It was the first time I got to use my AARP discount! The hot tub in the bedroom was worth the extra dollars. Best night of sleep I had our whole trip. Stopping in Elkin was also an added bonus. We stayed at a friend's mother's house. It was gorgeous. They fed us well, too, and turned us on to a local winery where we bought some Booger Swamp White wine. How could we not buy that? The absolute best thing about the trip, though, is that my girlfriend and I still love each other. In spite of my occassional donning of grumpypants after some long hauls on the road.

- I have another 10-Minute Play class starting this Saturday at 1pm at The Second City Training Center. There are still a few slots left. You can get more info by clicking HERE.

- I have been busy writing a one-act play for a cool WNEP project that will be in the spring and the wheels are turning for another 365 Sketches/50 Plays type of event for June.

- With all the writing projects I have, I just don't update this ol' blog as much anymore. For more consistent info from me, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, joejanes1065, or subscribe to my Facebook page.

- Happy New Year. May it be full of health, happiness and all kinds of blow jobs - emotional and physical.

Writng The 10-Minute Play with Joe Janes

WRITING THE 10-MINUTE PLAY

with Joe Janes

Classes start THIS Saturday (October 29th) and there are still slots left.

What is the difference between a 5-minute sketch and a 10-minute play?  That extra four minutes means everything in this course that will explore character, story and subtext. 

During this 8 week course, students will...

- complete and revise 3-5 10-minute plays that will be ready for submitting to contests or festivals

- experience writing for a director and cast in the same manner used to develop "50 Plays"

- see their work performed before an audience in a staged reading by experienced actors

$340/$310 early registration, 8 weeks, 3 hours

Prerequisite: Writing 6 or Approval by Instructor

To register, call the training center at 312-664-3959 or click HERE

To request approval for admission, e-mail me at jjanes@secondcity.com

I Believe...

...that the biggest issue facing our country right now is doing what it takes to put Americans to work and restoring the middle class. As long as politicians can be bought by corporations, that's not likely to happen.

...that, while the idea that one should set aside a day for rest resides primarily in superstitions and myth, it's still a pretty freakin' good idea. (Straight from the AWG. I wholeheartedly agree. I take Sundays off.)

...that threats of physical violence are worthless and when, on that rare occasion carried out, are weak.

...that shit gets real when teenagers are shot in one's neighborhood a few blocks from where one lives.

...that one should question what one believes. Did you earn that belief or did you buy (swallow) it without question? Question everything. Even yourself.