One advantage of having a little time off is the chance to do more writing.  As some of you know I have written about two dozen plays that have received more than 100 productions, readings or awards in twenty four states.  I am not earning a living from writing, far from it, it actually costs me more than I earn, so it is very much a hobby at this point.  While I would love to make money doing it, I enjoy it so much that I keep at it anyway.

The last several years have been very stressful at work and consumed a tremendous amount of energy and time.  Even when I took a vacation I spent several days during the trip working remotely as there was no one else to do certain tasks.  I did some writing but far less than I wanted.

For at least the next several weeks you will find me often at libraries, parks and other places around New York writing as much as I can.  Indeed, one of the reasons I rebooted this blog is to require me to write a little each day to grease the wheels.  This blog is intended to jump start my play writing.  Wish me luck.

As always you can find more at http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes

Yesterday I received the following:

Congratulations to Walter Thinnes whose play “Always With Me” is the week one winner of the 7^thannual Players Theatre Short Play and Musical Festival – NYC 2017!  This wonderful production was directed by Pamela Wilson with assistant director Chelsea Robinson.  The talented cast included: Max Hanau as John, Kasey Moorhouse as Ellen and Sophie Larin as Susan.

In the recently completed festival the audience receives a ballot with their program and chooses two shows from the slate they see that night.  Many audience members are there because they know a writer or cast member and they can be counted on voting for that show.  In theory the second vote balances that factor.  We had very few people we knew at the program which means we had a great preponderance of those second votes.  And no wonder.  Pamela and Chelsea did an amazing job and these actors are supremely talented.  I am very proud of this production.

Soon I will catch up with very late commentary on the recent Tony Awards.  Good thing I am only a blogger and not a journalist with a deadline!

As always you can find more at http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @WalterThinnes

My short play ALWAYS WITH ME opened last night for a weekend run at the Short Play and Musical Festival at the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village. Tickets are on sale at http://www.shortplaynyc.com/ for $30.  If you use the discount code CAST you save $10 each.  Reservations are recommended.  We are the first weekend of a three week festival.  There are three other plays in our weekend and the audience casts ballots each night on best play with the winner for each weekend receiving a $100 prize.

The Players Theatre puts on three self-produced festivals each year and the theme of this one is “Only In New York.”  ALWAYS WITH ME is my “9/11” play and this is the first full production of it.  It has had several developmental workshops and readings.  I must say that I am absolutely thrilled with this production.  All credit goes to:

Max Hanau as John
Kasey Moorhouse as Ellen
Sophie Larin as Susan
Directed by Pamela Wilson
Assistant Director Chelsea Robinson

These good people, working together, have mined new insights in the work and provided it with thrilling vitality.  As a team works over a play, we know the ending.  We know things the audience cannot ever know.  It is very easy to toss off or overplay a playwright’s adumbration (yeah, cool word I recently learned – look it up, it is worth knowing and I realized this is very much the job of a playwright) An easy homework assignment really as most systems allow you to capture and look up the word just as you read it.  The subtlety is reflected in the “umbra” at the base of the word.  Cool.

Anyway, we had some friends who attend lots of theater at the show last night.  We did not explain anything before so they saw it cold.  They experienced it exactly as I wanted. There is a bit of confusion and uneasiness at first and when the “reveal” happens they immediately spooled back and catalogued the oddities they observed, fitting perfectly into their new understanding.  It is all I can ask of a short play and this cast and the directors did a brilliant job.  Can’t wait for the rest of the run.

Sophie, Kasey and Max taking their well deserved bows….

As always you can find more at http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @WalterThinnes