John E Repa's Lounge Discussions

Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for Literature! But practitioners of the Dark Arts have known and emulated his talent for centuries before he was even born. Come Mayors, Councilmen, please call the roll for they’ve called for the vote; you’ve bartered your soul; and those who abstain will be swallowed whole. There's a battle inside and it’s raging. It'll drive you to madness for that was its goal: for the time’s come for the Changing. Robert Allen, Blood Creek Eulogy, verse 3, The Great Pie Contest of 1923; available for free thru Saturday on Amazon Kindle.

To help set the Halloween mood, I am offering up some free creepiness and dark comedy. Starting Wednesday for 4 days I am giving away copies of my zombie horror book Blood Creek Eulogy: The Great Pie Contest of 1923. It is a pending zombie apocalypse told from the point of view of the zombies; all of them; one by one. So in a way it's a book of zombie poetry. This section takes place during a part of their city day celebration. It is available through Amazon Kindle.

I understand the marketing appeal of branding myself as a writer, but it never sits well with me. I've trained as a playwright- a form I still work in on a weekly basis with a playwrighting group. But with Stage 32 I press myself further, harder. Today I pitch both a TV series and a film because these were the forms that these stories needed to be told in (although the TV series could still work as a series of novels). I encourage everyone to be aware of how you can pitch yourself and your work to others, but don't let that thumbnail restrict you in what you do. Write On!

So I'm taking a break from one acting gig to work with a different company. Already outside the comfort zone; to do Shakespeare (12th Night). Love the Bard but you never know what you're getting into if you don't know the company well- and I don't. I can see myself as Aguecheek or possibly Malvolio. I don't see myself as Sir Toby Belch. I'm not big enough, in any sense of the word. But I was feeling stale. Do you know what I mean? Does this happen to anyone else? It's kind of scary- but good scary? If that makes any sense.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. As a female performer and also a fierce believer of equality in the workplace, I have always introduced my profession as being an "actor." More and more I am "corrected" by the people that I am talking to with "I think you mean 'actress'". It was my understanding that the term "actress" was outdated, and now it was more politically correct to say "female actor," "male actor." Personally, I prefer the latter. I feel that by using the same word to describe us all it puts us on an equal playing field; the word "actress" just sounds less professional and serious to me--as if I'm still the little girl I was when I was 3 dreaming of being a big performer one day (not that there was anything wrong with that). I'm curious to know: Females: what do you introduce your profession as? What else have people heard the most?

I have access to a superb little theater venue in the Agoura Hills area (covering West Valley, Westlake, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks etc.) and I'm looking for new and unpublished plays to present to an eager, hungry local community. Anything from one-acts to full length plays, we want to become THE place to see new and fresh work from exciting playwrights. I'd like to produce our first show in the next 2 months so I'm keen to get started as soon as possible. I look forward to your messages! Feel free to contact me for more info!! Thanks so much!

I are a writer, as Harlan Ellison once said. I've made my living as a character actor for the past dozen years, but what the #1 passion is- it's for the words. Since the story dictates the form, I write short stories, novels, stage plays, radio plays and screenplays. I was invited to join a playwrights group at Theater Conspiracy in SW Florida and this year three of the shows I've written there are being looked at by theaters in Boston and Chicago. I don't consider myself arrogant but one of the plays started out with the concept of writing a sort of Edward Albees' The Zoo Story for women: just two women at a bus stop. Another is my attempt at George Bernard Shaw. You know, strong women and deep ideas. It's also my take on Dracula from the point of view of Mina receiving the journal of her husband after he's admitted to the care of a sanitarium (Vampires? My Jonathan has lost his mind). I've even written my own one-act Shakespeare, in iambic pentameter, and turn Hamlet on its ear in the process. That one is a very serious, tight little drama. I'm very proud of it. I also turned Romeo and Juliet into a children's story with cats. It stays amazingly close to the original without horrifying the kids by the end. I LOVE the Bard. I've also motivated Christmas Carol. I've teched a half dozen different versions over the years; each lamer than the previous. To save my own sanity, I wrote a version where everyone really has reasons to put up with Scrooge. And by the end, you not only empathize with Scrooge being a scrooge, but you realize that this 'Happy Ending' comes with a price and Scrooge is taking a big risk. I like characters to have reasons and risks for the actions they take. That's why a big part of my heart is in theatre. There, you can't cover bad writing with big effects or a car chase (chandeliers and helicopters aside). But I also love the intimacy of television and film. Truly brilliant acting can shine and can be seen by a greater audience and will last over time; which should up the standards for everybody. So here I am. Thanks for your time, I look forward to listening to, talking to, and working with you.