Loosely inspired by Rudyard Kipling's 1917 short story of the same name, this is the story of a young man who has put Freemasonry behind him as a bitter tasting memory. He long ago left disillusioned on the eve of his father not becoming Master of the Lodge, and who would also leave to die broken. Now, after meeting an old bookseller who shelters a life-changing secret, the man finds himself unexpectedly attending lodge again. He reluctantly is forced to face his father's death and the question of what it means to be a Mason. This is the first play by a Maine Mason that uses Masonry as its central theme, takes place in the present day, discusses contemporary issues of lodge life both good and bad, and can be performed for the public, versus the usual theme of historical events or teaching Masonic virtues.
Includes the one act plays:
Not My Legacy
Godhead, Apathy And Brad Paisley
These two plays are unique additions to the world of Masonic and Eastern Star theater. 'Not My Legacy' is a debate on making a legacy in light of famous Masons and Eastern Star sisters of the past. 'Godhead, Apathy And Brad Paisley' looks at Masons in contemporary rock music, while touching on rap, country music, segregation, Prince Hall and even the Illuminati. Each show features two performers and can be performed by Masons and Eastern Star. They can be performed for the public, but are also a perfect length for lodge meetings.
Not My Legacy
Godhead, Apathy And Brad Paisley
These two plays are unique additions to the world of Masonic and Eastern Star theater. 'Not My Legacy' is a debate on making a legacy in light of famous Masons and Eastern Star sisters of the past. 'Godhead, Apathy And Brad Paisley' looks at Masons in contemporary rock music, while touching on rap, country music, segregation, Prince Hall and even the Illuminati. Each show features two performers and can be performed by Masons and Eastern Star. They can be performed for the public, but are also a perfect length for lodge meetings.
Includes the one act monologues:
Brother Harry Truman
White Gloves
Outside The Door
Inside The Heart
These four monologues look at different approaches to defining what makes a Mason. "Brother Harry Truman", the only potential dual character piece, looks at the timelessness of Masonry from the point of view of the former U.S. President. "White Gloves" compares the meaning of Lodge gloves to the gloves of the speaker's alcoholic fisherman father. "Outside The Door" is about how Masonry motivates one to step out of themselves to do difficult things. "Inside The Heart" looks at how a group of soldiers kept Masonry alive while stationed abroad. They can be performed for the public, but are also a perfect length for lodge meetings.
Brother Harry Truman
White Gloves
Outside The Door
Inside The Heart
These four monologues look at different approaches to defining what makes a Mason. "Brother Harry Truman", the only potential dual character piece, looks at the timelessness of Masonry from the point of view of the former U.S. President. "White Gloves" compares the meaning of Lodge gloves to the gloves of the speaker's alcoholic fisherman father. "Outside The Door" is about how Masonry motivates one to step out of themselves to do difficult things. "Inside The Heart" looks at how a group of soldiers kept Masonry alive while stationed abroad. They can be performed for the public, but are also a perfect length for lodge meetings.
Includes the one act plays:
Enlightenment Welcome
Broken By Buddha
You Have Your Lebanon & I Have Mine
The theme of change and personal development is the them there. Two pieces deal with change within the context of Buddhism, including change in the face of depression and dreams unrealized. The third drama, loosely based on the writing of Kahil Gabrain, explores change in terms of social strife. These dramas also explore resolution, as seen in the cover which includes three faces of change, plus a fourth that represents resolution. This is my only collection of non-Masonic plays published. None of these shows were performed.
OUT OF PRINT
Enlightenment Welcome
Broken By Buddha
You Have Your Lebanon & I Have Mine
The theme of change and personal development is the them there. Two pieces deal with change within the context of Buddhism, including change in the face of depression and dreams unrealized. The third drama, loosely based on the writing of Kahil Gabrain, explores change in terms of social strife. These dramas also explore resolution, as seen in the cover which includes three faces of change, plus a fourth that represents resolution. This is my only collection of non-Masonic plays published. None of these shows were performed.
OUT OF PRINT
Before rehearsals the playwright passed this script to me to edit. I removed pages to tighten it up, and broke up long unrealistic monologues, which every character seemed to always say. Jud passed away before rehearsals started. I left the show a month before it was set to open, due to difficulties in vision with his widow. Another director was brought in to finish, who had been brought in by the widow to critique me. I was told he burned the cast by making more edits and explaining the show to the audience in case they couldn't understand it. I hate treating audiences as dumb. I did not see the final production, which was presented by the Morningside Players at Manhattan's Morningside Gardens. The cast included Brandon DeSpain (pictured with Alexandria Kargin), whose TV and movie credits include the movie 'Frankenstein Vs The Mummy'.
NOT PUBLISHED
NOT PUBLISHED
This was the final show written by Jud Levin, completed just before his death. His dying wish was that I direct a reading. It was decided to bring in actors from past shows he had done. We did two rehearsals and after the first one numerous performers quit as the play was impossible to read with extensive exponential dialogue. I spent hours chopping off 15 pages of the 45 to keep the show happening. It received a reading in summer 2008 by the Morningside Players at Manhattan's Morningside Gardens. The cast included well-known local actor Larry Gutman (pictured on left) in the lead role.
NOT PUBLISHED
NOT PUBLISHED
I was invited to a rehearsal and asked for my thoughts. When the director never came back I was given the job. The play was about the trial of Socrates. Interestingly, though not deliberately, I had at least one person think we had done it as a criticism of U.S.-Soviet Union relations. That person was acclaimed playwright Laurence Holder who I would go on to direct plays with and form a weekly reading group with. I had a small part in it as the jailer, but also edited it for performance removing a massive amount of material, given Socrates final monologue took the actor almost 30 minutes to say in rehearsals. The cast include Brandon DeSpain and Larry Gutman as Socrates, and me as his jailer (in photo with Larry Gutman). It was performed by the Morningside Players at Manhattan's Morningside Gardens.
NOT PUBLISHED
NOT PUBLISHED
Former Newsweek writer Penelope Karageorge had written screenplay of a Greek-American woman who goes to Greece looking for love. She brought it the theater group I was directing in. I offered to mount it as a play with the goal of getting interest to turn it into a movie. I offered to do it as a reading, but she wanted a full production. I said this required a re-write, as it had countless scenes, often lasting for only a minute, had a huge cast including one line roles, and would needed narration along with many other changes to work with the confines of the theater. She okayed the re-write. I consolidated locations and dramatically shrunk the cast. I couldn't justify finding an unpaid cast of 50 where some would be on stage for a minute with either no lines or a few words or just in a crowd, particularly as our stage couldn't fit more than 6 comfortably. In a reading the script would have been better, but not as a full fledged play. Sadly, she felt I had ruined the play, as she didn't understand how a movie flows versus a stage production, that a camera angle can't be duplicated on stage, amongst other disagreements. As it was, I never understood why she called it a romantic comedy, so we were never quite on the same page, so I don't blame her for saying I ruined it. I cancelled it. She later staged it as a reading elsewhere, which I didn't see.
NOT PUBLISHED
NOT PUBLISHED
Bellingham Is ... A Celebration!
Playwright (book), co-producer, co-creator, & choir
1999 With director Jim Lortz, jazz pianist Bill MacDonough and community activist Judy Buchanan as my co-producers, the four of us were brought together to create a new years production featuring local history and talent to honor the millennium. It was sponsored by the Bellingham Arts Commission of Bellingham, Washington, who covered all costs. We had a cast of over 100 and an audience of 1100 in our one night only performance at the Mt. Baker Theater. The music was drawn from Broadway, while I wrote the narration and outline of the show, plus did auditions, worked the rehearsals, dealt with production duties, plus sang as part of the choir and worked on crew. We each won a Mayor's Arts Award Letter of Commendation for it. The show would be continued as an annual talent show organized by Judy, after the group disbanded coming together for a second year, with additional producer in singer Loren Lundholm. I had watched Bill locally play piano with his then spouse Rane Nogules, so to work with him was delightful. Jim Lortz was my favorite actor/director in town, and a mentor, so to work with him was a dream (pictured here).
NOT PUBLISHED |
With Australian Paul "Sari-Chan" Sully, the owner of FrenZ Bar in Osaka, Japan - which can claim a still largely unknown Lady Gaga as a guest performer - we created the first LGBTQ production by foreigners for the public. It was done at the Covent Gardens Bar in Osaka. It was an evening of crass jokes, drag and other things as corny as could be. Sari-Chan would later appear on TV and lead the first Pride Parade in Japan. I was a regular at FrenZ, and can claim to be the first person to stay through closing, which is 4 am in Japan. Today this bar is famous and called the FrenZ-FrenZY Rainbow Haven, expanding beyond the small cramped bar I knew it as. Sari-Chan and Lady Gaga pictured here, long after he expanded to a bigger bar and became famous but before she had become an international icon. I'd long before left Japan, so I can't say I met Gaga.
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NOT PUBLISHED
My first writing gig was also my first directing gig. I was taking a class at the Charlotte Childrens' Theatre of Charlotte, North Carolina, where I spent many years learning theater and which drastically changed my life. For the final performance I was asked to assemble a group of fellow students, write and direct a show. I have no idea what skills I showed in this department for the teacher to ask. I chose a half dozen performers and outlined the story of a murder mystery in the house of a wealthy couple with servants. I gave them scenes, the plot, and let them mostly ad-lib.
NOT PUBLISHED
NOT PUBLISHED
This only lists my work as a writer, but I have over 200 theater productions that include director, co-producer, actor (including a Summerstock musical Shakespeare), improve, founding a weekly theater reading group in Harlem the River View Players, and extensive technical work (crew, lighting, sound, stage management, set construction). I haven't done any theater since 2017, but would be interested in return with the right opportunity.
I haven't done any TV or movie work ... but I'll confess to having a dream of being in a horror and/or sci-fi movie just to see the cools sets and special effects.
I haven't done any TV or movie work ... but I'll confess to having a dream of being in a horror and/or sci-fi movie just to see the cools sets and special effects.