I'm a writer (screenwriter, novelist, non-fiction), and have placed in multiple screenwriting competitions, including Scriptapalooza and Cinestory.
"Bold In My Breeches" (a Thelma and Louise on the high seas female pirate buddy story) was a Catalyst Literary Selection in 2022, and the musical film/stage play version was a finalist at Moondance. It’s inspired by the true story of real-life pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Initially my writing explored choices of females who want more than society accepts.
When I discovered the published letters of cousin Emily Dickinson, I created the most accurate portrait possible of someone who told slanted truths (Emily Dickinson/"My Letter to the World").
Upon learning ballroom dancing, I wrote a valentine for middle-aged women who dance, (Marge/"Ballroom Bliss").
On the gentler side, I created rebels of different ages – both the submitted piece of "Pollination Partners" as well as "Journey of the First Direction" in which 11 year-old Sophia uses myth animals to transcend being bullied.
More recently, I’ve developed a tv series "No Angels Need Apply" which integrates reincarnation, my own past-life memories, and temporal relativity into something that’s tonally a cross between "Everything Everywhere All At Once", "It’s A Wonderful Life", and "Game of Thrones". It showcases one soul/5 different lives/genders/historical times over 5 seasons (gladiator, nun, torturer, freedom fighter, artist), exploring how a soul transcends human reincarnation to become an angel.
I have written, produced/presented 4 short documentaries on subjects from green building to health care to a local Wal-Mart expose (a Media Matters finalist). Activist work includes community organizing/lobbying for education, health care and environment and running for office representing Greens. All this attempts to answer the question: How can we make it easier to be human and live on – and preserve - planet earth?
In my ongoing learning, I’ve taken dozens of courses at the Loft, FilmNorth, Playwrights Center, Hamline University, Screenwriting U. and joined Catalyst Institute. Screenwriters Workshop is/was a regular part of my writing development, and I’ve been individual mentored, as needed.
I’m also have an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and am a certified coach and wrote The Concise Coaching Handbook: How to Coach Yourself and Others to Get Business Results.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading this!
Unique traits: Competitive ballroom dancer, English accents
Pollination Partners Budget: $0 - $100K | Romance A free-spirited older woman and a lonely widower meet by chance at a butterfly garden at summer’s end and must decide whether their personalities make them ideal ‘pollination partners’ for a future in a warmer climate.
Gridlock'd
(
Film
by Vondie Curtis-Hall
Admissions Gridlock'd is a 1997 American black comedy crime film written and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall and starring Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, Lucy Liu, and Thandie Newton. (And yup, I'm in the trailer...)
Bold In My Breeches, Catalyst Official Literary Selection
(2022)
Ballroom Bliss, Semi-finalist, Missouri Film Competition
(2021)
Rebirth, Top 25%, Page International Screenwriting
(2009)
Bold in Their Breeches (screenplay/libretto/lyrics) Final 2, Moondance International Film Festival
(2009)
Always Low (documentary short script and film) Finalist, Media Matters
(2004)
My Letter to the World Best of Fest, Minnesota Fringe Festival (performance), 2001-2003
(2003)
Journey of the First Direction Semi-finalist, Scriptapalooza
(2001)
Journey of the First Direction Semi-finalist, Cinestory
(2001)
Adler Graduate School
(2010-2011)
Lesley University
(1987-1989)
Cambridge University
(1979-1983)
University of Delaware
(1978-1979)