George Talaszek: Playwright in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York.

i agree! Let's talk...

I seem to recall "32" has a procedure for this. we should check into it and talk again. My E-mail is bigcityslicl@verizon.net - I'll give you my phone number and we can really talk.

Good advice George. Another thing you might do Cherie is go see a number of plays to get the "feel" of the stage and audience, which sometimes is different, often more personally involved than a movie audience. The "feel" of the stage play should certainly include the restrictions and limits of the confined spaces and scenes and the more extensive use of dialogue and character introspection, rather than use of mostly visual storytelling. Read some famous plays too, just as you would screenplays to learn the format. From one who has acted in many stage plays, musicals and operas, I don't believe you can write a play before experiencing many, at least from the audience. Go for it and "break a leg" Cherie, as we say in theatre!

If you've been involved in screenwriting, I'm guessing you have a program for that. Most of the leading software programs for screenwriting also include something resembling standard professional format for stage plays -- this is substantially different from the format used in published plays -- either within the program or as a free add-on. If you don't have that, playwriting format is easy to do with Word or any similar program. And unlike what happens in Hollywood, literary managers and artistic directors of theatres are reasonably forgiving on format for stage plays, though some new play contests are annoyingly specific on their format demands. There's a whole section on stage play format in Playwriting Seminars 2.0 and similar handbooks. Here's the link to the Samuel French format guidelines (more than a few ADs and Lit Mgrs might raise an eyebrow or two at the placement of character stage directions, but it would be rare for any of these folks to toss a script because of that): http://www.samuelfrench.com/content/files/upload/General%20SFI%20Formatt...

Thanks guys. Every bit of advice helps. I have seen a few theatre productions over the years and will be seeing one next month. So I'm not new to its enjoyment. Actually it'll be my third this year. (and I'm not talking musicals) I am currently reading Oscar Wilde's 'The importance of being Earnest'. I own a book of his complete works including plays. I haven't been able to find any play writing contests here in Australia. It's a smaller world than in the US. Thanks for the link too.

I have a play to make into a film and looking for someone local to work with. I have not listed this on the jobs forum, prefer to start local. If interested, contact me... let me know your CV....possibly update your profile?

I am a union sag-aftra actor so I could only work on your film if it was a union project. Thanks, Jeff

Eugene Debs

I contacted Jim Clark andgot his permission for you to make contact. He has been involved in the Peace movement since its inception and has been a founder of Credit unions. He has hourded documents with the intention of granting them to Columbia. His background includes:STduied forthe priesthood - Green Beret - College Professer - father of6 kids and a tom more. We are in Staten ISland NY. If you are looking for background or Character development - either way, I think you'll find him interesting. Let me know and I'll make the introduction.

Hmm, this was posted several months ago -- and then James Meehan stopped posting. I'm guessing this went into the void.

James, hello please visit my site: http://dreamartsproductions.com/what-have-we-done.html 'Talk to the Hand', 'Come Again' and 'That Irish Thing' are ready to be staged. 'Talk to the Hand' will gets its first staging in NJ around 6 months from now. Let me know if you want to read the full script of any of these. Ciao Brenda Iovino

My name is Ruth K Brown and I am proud to say I am the President of Aim for Applause, www.aimforapplause.com As a short introduction to me, I am an award-winning actor and director having started in my home state of Michigan and continuing in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey since moving to the Mid-Atlantic area in 1997. I am also currently serving as Treasurer of the Delaware Theatre Association (DTA) and Secretary of the Eastern States Theatre Association (ESTA), comprised of DE, MD, PA and NY. I have long dreamt about being in a position to support original playwrighting and the subsequent production of original works. J&G has given me that ability and for that I am very grateful. Working with J&G Unlimited, LLC has rekindled and supported my long held belief that the linking between playwrights and production venues is difficult at best. What exists online seems to tend toward the larger venues and highly ambitious playwrights . When J&G approached me to work with them on their design for Aim for Applause (AFA), I jumped onboard because the design is geared to support theatres in our communities ... the first function being developed is to help community authors to market and community theatres to find original scripts they might have no other way of finding and performing. AFA has been under design and upgrade for months and now it is available to accept new members and new scripts. During this crucial preparation stage, people reached out to J&G asking about using AFA. This email is my Welcome Aboard!! to you and my offer to assist you with joining AFA as a member and loading any/all original and copyright/registered scripts into this online tool. AFA is in the beginning stages and the more scripts that are available online the more quickly outreach efforts to venues and theatrical decision makers will begin to result in productions. As President I am knowledgeable about the functionality and operation of AFA and will work with you to accomplish whatever you want to do with AFA. Please give me a call or email me (business card attached) and we can get started together. Thank you for your interest in AFA. I am looking forward to speaking and working with each and every one of you. After all, theatre success is directly dependent upon your creativity!

Understood, Mate. I knew when I sent it; I had my doubts about it. All I can say is I'm new at this after being away from the arts for many years to raise a family. Thanks for in the insight. I learned a valuable lesson from your feed back. Because of your precious feedback; I'm going to be more alert for what is really wanted. I guess I wasn't prepared because you were the first person to ask for a log line. Everybody else I just PDF'd the script to. So I guess it goes without saying; you don't want to read the play. I guess it all comes down to karma.

Coming soon - ME! As soon as I get control ofStage 32, I'll be making some of my work available.... An Irish play written by a pollack?

Hey George! That sounds like an interesting idea; an Irish play written by a POLLACK.

don't know ifthis for me. I write for the stage and have a book of poems ready for publishing. I'll be creating a website with all this plus travel logs I've written. I am looking for venues. I've been told my style and work reads like screen writing, but that is a medium that doesn't interest me. It will take some time to figure this out but I am willing to give it a shot (if it works, it will be great).

Hey George. First off, welcome aboard. Second, we have authors, poets, screenwriters, playwrights and other writers here on 32. Think you'll fit right in.