Photos of Kiss The Twins from June 2011

Scott Welty sent me the dress rehearsal photos he took of my play in the Playwrights Platform Festival this summer. I'm so busy with preparations for the Precious Bane rehearsal on monday that I can't properly label and edit these, but I'm going to post them now and fix them later: otherwise I may just lose track of them!

Monday, Tuesday... I must be printing, collating, stapling...

Yesterday beyond the not-so-bad of the dentist and the lovely-but-I'm distracted visit of the utterly charming Martha Rose was the final prep for an ensemble rehearsal at Miriam's for the read-through of Precious Bane. David took some photos but I'm too tired to post any! Discovered discrepancies in both music and script! Yuck! Spent today at Miriam's fixing them. most email or hand-deliver the corrected scripts and sheet music to the cast ASAP. But I think tomorrow's the As Possible. I think the last thing I'm going to be able to do tonight is take my shoes off, lie on the sofa and skim through the Globe....

I'm mostly working on organization for the Precious Bane reading

I'm mostly working on organization for the Precious Bane reading, which is a secretarial/scheduling/proofreading/PR work of the kind I dread most, calling up demons of dyslexia I thought I'd mostly banished from my life.

This is so unpleasant that it makes other drudgery attractive by contrast. Yesterday I alternated it with particularly yukky household chores, like tending the compost bin and scrubbing the shower stall. Today, when lightning knocked out our cable I couldn't email or post, I finally got around to editing the notes I took at the Dramatists Guild's 1st National Conference in DC June 9-12th.

Here's the first installment:

The first session I went to, 4 pm Thursday, was the National Songwriter/ Bookwriter Exchange, run by Roland Tec. To actively participate a member had to pre-register and send in a bio and work samples, which were distributed to the others in the group. Those of us who hadn't got our act together in advance were permitted to be there as observers as long as there were some left-over handouts from people who had signed up but didn't show up. There were some major travel snafus this particular day, which might account for there being enough for room us, the handful of observers. It was very interesting to see the variety of people at work and looking for collaborators. There was an undergraduate fresh from working with a hip hop ensemble, and several veterans with decades of production credits. In the material they provided for the handouts they talked about their ideal collaborative conditions and the makeshift conditions under which they had managed to survive. People went around the room, putting their faces to the names in the handout and saying a few words about themselves. After the go-round, there was a period where people could mingle and make connections with potential collaborators whose handouts sounded compatible. This is a good event, as is the similar event NOMTI sponsors in Boston. I'm delighted with my present composer, but still eager to hear about other combos' projects and processes. I'd eagerly attend another. Good start!

The new musical I've been working on for the last 4 years

Precious Bane, a new musical by Miriam Raiken-Kolb (music, lyrics) and G.L. Horton (book, lyrics), will have its first full sing-through at Boston Playwrights Theatre at the end of August. The professional cast includes singers Shannon Muhs, Steven Murray, Bob DeVivo, Kaja Fickes, Charles Taylor, Jeremiah Alto, Jonas Budris, Renee Miller, Pamela Wolfe, and Abby Cordell, many of whom have been part of the musical's development process in the New Opera/Music Theatre Initiative's Advanced Workshop at Berklee.

Precious Bane is adapted from the celebrated novel by Mary Webb. It tells the sweeping dramatic story of Prue Sarn, born in 1800 with the "Devil's Mark" of a harelip, in Shropshire, England . Convinced by her brother Gideon that no man could ever love her, Prue agrees to join him in his obsessive quest for wealth and power. However, Kester the Weaver sees beyond her flawed face to the inner woman who should be his life's Companion. Now Prue must find the strength to believe in love and break free of the downward spiral set in motion by Gideon's ruthless choices.

Precious Bane is a classic large scale musical with soaring melodies and vivid characters. More information and six songs from the show are on the musical's Web Site.