G.L.Horton's Stage Page

On a sunny Sunday in October, the International Centre for Women Playwrights' Board Secretary, Jan Watts of Birmingham England, was in Boston visiting family. She had a few hours free to meet with Geralyn and, after a walking tour of Boston's Emerald Necklace, Back Bay, and the Common, to record an interview about her theatrical adventures and her plans for a cooperative project between ICWP and the New Plays programme of the Birmingham Rep.

On the way home from the ICWP Summer Retreat, G.L. recorded a conversation she had with Professor Alan Woods. They started out talking about the retreat, then moved on to more generic theatrical topics. That conversation is followed by my reading of a monolog from G.l.Horton's Stage Page Web Site, from the mouth-offs page.

Several of the playwrights got together toward the end of the Retreat and discussed the what, why and how as they enjoyed it.

G.L. talks about the imminent I.C.W.P. Retreat she is about to attend at OSU. Oh, and I read another monolog!

G.L. talks with Regina Eliot-Ramsey about the upcoming S.W.A.N. Day presentation - 2 PM, Saturday, 28 March, Boston Playwrights' Theater.

Geralyn reads the short play she will be reading at the S.W.A.N. Day presentation, Saturday, the 28th of March, at the Boston Playwright's Theater.

In this interview, Regina Eliot-Ramsey speaks with Geralyn about the Our Voices Together showcase, the ICWP, Playwright's Platform and the Platform's showcase, and Geralyn's experience Off Broadway with Martha Mitchell.

This past Sunday I announced that Geralyn will be performing Martha Mitchell just Off-Broadway in a bit over a week. Actually, did I even give the date? And I got the name of the theater wrong. It's the West End Theater, 263 West 86th Street, NYC - that's an easy walk from the corner of Broadway and West End Ave. April 19th, at 8 PM or April 20th at 3 PM.

Hope you can make it.

Geralyn will be taking Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfarro's musical Martha Mitchell, in Mostly Her Own Words to the West End Theater in New York City April 19th.

G.L. had another reading of her play Best Practice. She has decided to have both a 10-minute, 2-character, version - this, when trimmed - and a longer version with five characters. This is a work-in-progress, read at Playwrights' Platform by experienced actors.

We recently stopped in at the Newton Community Access Cable studios to talk with Regina Ramsey about the latest production of G.L.'s Beyond Measure, which seems to be developing unexpected legs. Written for an character in her late 50s and another in her late 30s, its recent productions have been performed by much younger actresses. What can I say ... a production is a production is a joy to behold.

I've just been told many Windows users - about 3/4 of our audience - cannot see the Chapter Art and Related Links I've been including with our shows. I thought I'd checked that, apparently not well enough. Here's a link that will lead you to a page offering a free plug-in recommended by a Podomatic.com system administrator.
3ivx
If you can already see the art change during the shows ... "never mind".

Dave

G.L. was told of a ten-minute play contest ... Must ... Enter! ... so she decided to adapt a portion of her latest play for it. Five characters were cut to two and a whole lot of scenes were removed. She brought it to her Newton Playwright's group and ... and then they discussed it. We have the reading, followed by a couple of news bits.

This episode focuses on a play G.L. has been working on for ages, held back by a lack of available research material - despite nearly 20,000 references to Susanna Centlivre in a Google search. A section of what she has written to date was read at a recent meeting of playwrights, then discussed. Send G.L. an email if you happen to have a source of Centlivre direct quotes from her political or personal writings.

G.L. had a bunch of e-mails from students and educators. We found a few to answer on the show. We found room for a monologue from Fantasia for String Trio (Jonathan Donahue), and one from Beyond Measure (Geralyn Horton), and one from Conventional Behavior (David Meyer).

This conversation took place following the Playwrights' Platform pre-season board meeting, where plans were laid for the upcoming season. Among the participants were Kelly DuMar, Chris King, Gail Phaneuf, Phylis Ritter. And, of course, G.L.Horton.

This week we are talking about e-mail G.L. has passed along. All involve either this podcast or her site, though ... no two are the same.

The second part of the late-night discussion, this part focusing on the dilemmas a playwright faces in trying to write and get produced.

Half a dozen of the ladies at the ICWP Retreat followed G.L. home about half-way through their stay ... and they talked. This is the first dozen or so minutes of the half-hour chat, more will follow next week.

While G.L. is still away, I tend to take it easy. This week we have a short interview with Jonothan Donahue followed by a reading he did with us of an excerpt from the full length play, StagePage.Info: ICWP Retreat 2007

My wife has gone off to the ICWP Retreat at OSU. We talk about that right after the reading by Jonathan Donohue.

G.L. and Lydia take a moment to sip iced coffee on our screen-porch and discuss the project near and dear to them - a one-woman show about Mumbet.

Larry wants to change the way theater is seen in Boston. Most importantly, he'd like to point many more of you towards going to the smaller theaters. The theaters that rent their spaces to companies that lack their own. He'd like help in Making it Happen.

We've had a busy week. Helping with a production in Palo Alto, California for next week - see Vagabond for the details - and finalizing a reading of G.L.'s latest in Boston at 7PM Sunday, the 8th. We'll make sure the script gets posted to Stage Page as soon as possible.

If you think you missed an episode last week, you're only partly correct. We lost our house broadband for over three painful days and couldn't have posted a show if we had on to post. We have been punished by a slight drop in our numbers. Good thing we don't rely on ad revenue, eh? G.L. and I discuss what happened this past week. The play will be up on the Stage Page site shortly after it's public reading ... if it's ready.

We celebrated the passing of our friend "Prof" Will Stackman at the Cambridge River Festival, on the banks of the Charles River, yesterday. We shared stories and read several of his short plays. We came away feeling better, which is what I believe he would have wanted. I managed to record some of it and edited the best of it down to present here.

Our friend and colleague, Will Stackman, died last Sunday. His work can still be seen at On the Aisle and there will be a celebration of his life next Saturday, June 16th, at the Cambridge River Festival on the banks of the Charles River. Anyone may attend...

Wyn Snow, G.L.'s web mistress and one of our show's early guests, returned to discuss our current status. Her earlier show - Getting On The Web - still averages a couple downloads a day. Every day, every week, every month. If your small business needs a boost on the web, call her for help.

Nearly skipped this one. It's a day for Vets like me to relax and enjoy life. Which I was doing at my son's after-the-fact birthday bash when I got a chance to record some things. Couldn't hold myself back.

Today we had a visit from Sue Brody: actress, playwright, and Yoga student. She read a pair of G.L.'s mouth-offs for us, Geralyn provided two more, and we were good! Will Stackman provided his usual "week in Boston" script.

Just a simple show this week. We start with what's happening on the Boston Theater scene with a list by Prof Will Stackman, move on to the short play in one act The Lost Prince of Paradise, then we get out. Robert Bonato and Geralyn Horton read the play.

This show, we present the short One-Act, One More Time, as read by Geralyn Horton and Noel Armstrong. Of course, we also have Will Stackman's list of shows playing in the Boston Area and another letter from G.L.'s In-Box.

This week we offer two Minute Mouthoffs and a reading of a Monologue from Autumn Leaves, a short one-act play. Katie Curlie and I read the first two, Geralyn the third. We include, of course, a quick list of what's playing in Boston this week, a list compiled for us by Will Stackman.

This week we have a conversation G.L. had with Alan Woods, one of the movers and shakers of the ICWP. They discuss the ICWP Celebration he organized in Ohio as well as other topics near and dear to the hearts of not-quite-famous playwrights the world over.
Check for the latest monologues at G.L.Horton's Stage Page.

We have another reading by E Grace Noonan, this week. She read The 12:22 Brighton from London/Victoria for us. We also have notes from Prof Will and a few words from me.

We offer you a short one-act Play, this week ... titled A Late Lunch. Katie Curley has delivered yet another excellent performance and we finally managed to get E Grace Noonan to put in an appearance. E played this same role when A Late Lunch appeared on-stage at a Playwrites' Platform Festival of One-Acts. She was excellent then, too.

Not much of a show today. Just a dozen or so minutes of Geralyn interviewing Letitia Sweitzer in O'Lunney's Irish Pub on 45th Street. Sorry about the background noise and all, couldn't really ask them all to keep it to a low roar, now, could she? We also have Will Stackman's weekly report on what's playing.

Just one real item this week: the wrap-up interview on the ICWP Celebration project. G.L. spent four days and three nights in the NYC/NJ vicinity as a playwright, actress, and over-all celebrity. She saw broadway actors in the audience - applauding her!
Check out Stage Page for details.

One more weekend until the end of the ICWP celebration - I can celebrate for myself next month. This week we have:
This Week in Boston/On the Aisle
Katie Curley reading F.E.'s monolog from Conventional Behavior
G.L. talking about getting permission to do her work.
Anabel Graetz reading a Minute Mouth-Off
and
ME, asking more questions.

We have two monologues and a short one-act this week. Katie Curley starts off with Maria, from Under Siege, followed by Perry Persoff reading The Blooming Cycles followed by the two of them reading And The Lion Shall Lie Down With .... And, of course, there's the weekly roundup of what's worth seeing in Boston.

Today we offer three readers. Anabel Graetz has been with us before, she reads a Mouth-Off about possible economic collapse. Katie Curley has also been with us before. This time she has our Featured one-act ... In the Livery of the Immortals. Perry Persoff is here for the first time. He has a background in radio and sound production, with on-air stints locally at WXRV "The River" and WZLX. He also does voiceover work, being especially fond of character voices and dialects. Originally from California, Perry has lived in Boston since 1997. But he's been a Red Sox fan for longer, so feel free to send him tickets... That said, he wanted to give Greg's Ghost Story from Cast Spell a shot, and I wanted to hear another version of it - we both got our wishes.
I got to write the calendar today, Will had the flu. He's still posting his reviews at On the Aisle, so visit him there.

Last week we celebrated Geralyn as a playwright, reading three pieces from her play, The Prophet Freeman. This week we are celebrating her organizational skills. She has spent much of the past month and change working to insure that the International Centre for Women Playwrights celebration, starting next week, is a success. We won't talk about it next week, or the week after ... bad form, and all that ... don't you know?
G.L. will post notes to her web site StagePage.Info ... IF the reviews are great. Else ...

We had Katie Curley over yesterday. She and Geralyn book-ended the long monologue read by Anonymous and snail-mailed to us on a CD. She also read a monologue from Conventional Behavior and a couple of minute-mouth-offs ... What an afternoon! Katie had to scoot, something about James and the Giant Peach opening next week at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, R.I., she's playing a ... spider? The role Susan Sarandon had in the movie? I guess if it's a big enough part for Susan, it could offer Katie room to stretch. We hope to have her back before Hollywood calls.
You can get a broader taste of the script for "Prophet" here, the whole script is available from the author - leave a comment with contact details.

This week we feature a reading of the short play In The Dark - "Two people who have been very close go on retreat at a New Age summer camp and come to a crossroads in their relationship."
We also have our This Week in Boston clip, thanks to Will Stackman and a special message from G.L. to a young man nice enough to ask to use some of her shorter plays.

This week G.L. interviews fellow Boston playwright, Kelly Dumar. Kelly had just finished taping her play "Bloom" at the Newton Community Access TV station and the interview is to be a companion piece for that show. We also have our weekly line-up of shows in and around Boston.
We are looking for actors to record some of G.L.'s ten minute plays. Should you know of anyone who will be in the Boston area and who might be interested, contact G.L.Horton at Mindspring dot com.

This week we are doing without the traditional short monologue ... we offer, instead, a long monologue. More like a One Act Play. This extended monologue is one act of the three included in G.L.'s Brighton Train trilogy, three one-acts that are set on the trains that run between London and the resort town of Brighton. They can be performed alone or together, as a night's entertainment. I've posted the link to the script with the cover art. I've also put it HERE for you.

Another monologue read by Lois, a discussion of the high barriers to entry for new plays, and an update on what's playing in and around Boston this week.

We attended the Arisia Science Fiction Convention in Boston this weekend. Great time, much to discuss, much to learn, much to catch up on, much networking to accomplish. We networked our way to several contacts and at least one interview of interest. A hallway in the middle of an active convention hotel is not a good place to attempt to record something, and I might have done better. But ... then we came home and watched the Patriots barely manage to win their game with the Chargers. It was a good weekend.

Welcome to our first show of the New Year. It's 2007 and things seem to be starting out on the right foot. Geralyn performed Martha Mitchell, in mostly her own words at our local church and was greeted by SRO crowds! And they laughed in the right places and asked intelligent questions afterwards! Geralyn spoke with Larry Stark afterwards, about the play, the personality, the times, and related topics. You can contact him at Larry @ TheaterMirror . com ... he welcomes reviews he can post to his web site.

This week we feature an interview G.L. recorded with Boston theater activist and fellow playwright Kate Snodgrass, a reading by Jeremy Cook-Williams, and the theater news for the Boston area for the coming week.
I don't know how many ways to say this, but We Want Feedback ! Comments, suggestions, disagreements, readings of G.L.'s monologues, requests to do her plays ... please send any or all to G.L.Horton at Mindspring dot com and we'll be happy to respond.

Nothing fancy, today. Just a quick over-view the the coming attractions.

This week we bring you our fifth edition of Arts Salon: Boston. This week G.L. hosts Jonathan Myers and Will Stackman for a discussion of the state of new theater in Boston today. We also have a monolog read by John M. Costa and a quick rundown of the shows you can catch this week in the Boston area. Please send any comments or suggestions to G.L.Horton (at)Mindspring (dot) Com.

May your holidays be joyful.

With this, the third and final show dedicated to G.L.'s interview at OSU, we have a role reversal - the Playwright interviews the Interviewer. We also have some after-thoughts. Mixed in with this we have three short monologues.
While we appreciate the fact you are listening, we'd also love to hear from you. Comments? Suggestions? Your own recordings of G.L.'s monologues? Stories about your use of her monologues in class or for auditions? Send them all to G.L.Horton@MindSpring.Com - we'll both be glad you did.

In this, the second part of the interview at OSU, G.L. discusses the state of feminism in "The Colonies" in the 1700s. More importantly, why this came about. She also discuses her use of music - historically "almost correct" music - in this historical play. Walter Graham book-ends the interview with readings of two of G.L.'s mouth-offs.

The purpose of G.L.'s return to OSU was to be interviewed by one of Professor Alan Woods' students. This interview was recorded an a portion of it is presented here. We also have a short scene from the play that they are discussing - Boston's Brothers in Liberty. Our thanks to Walter Graham for his assistance in his reading of the role of Reverend Dillon.

Last week Geralyn told you about the trip she was about to take. This week it's about the trip she TOOK. A discussion with OSU Professor Alan Woods about a program he is running at that university.
We will be posting monologue readings the Professor and his wife recorded to the Juke Box at Stage Page Mologues later this week. If you'd like your own recordings posted, send your recorded version of one of G.L.'s monologues to glhorton at PodOmatic dot Com - we'll use as many as we can.

Theater folk feel the love when people gush over them a bit, when the audience applauds or when folks they respect invite them to appear with them in public - a talk show, a political rally or a classroom at a respected university. G.L. spent part of the week visiting OSU after one such invitation.

The reason for this invitation - Boston's Brothers in Liberty - will be added to her web site in the near future ... Stay Tuned.

Yesterday our discussion, over a spicy holiday herbal tea for some and a smooth single-malt for others, came around to the "identity" of Boston's "theater". Or, perhaps, its LACK of identity. Larry Stark, of the Theater Mirror, Geralyn Horton of Stage Page, and Will Stackman of - among other credits - the Puppet Showplace, presented their views.

We're still waiting for people willing to read G.L.'s monologs and send us the recordings.

We didn't accomplish much, this week. We suffered a minor tragedy, instead. Geralyn's darling Alice, recently diagnosed with Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Alice passed away last Monday and was laid to rest beside a plum tree in our garden.
We have one monologue for you, this week. Local actor, composer and painter Robert Bonatto reads one of G.L.'s One Minute Mouth-Offs for us.

This week we offer a short play in one act, One Fiery Leaf, with Lida McGurr playing the daughter and Geralyn Horton playing the mother. One Fiery Leaf can be staged alone or paired with another short play in one act, Autumn Leaves. We recorded this last year, before the start of our pod cast.

Four monologues, each with a ghost of sorts. Just the thing for use just prior to the holiday. The scripts for these, and other, monologues can be found at G.L.Horton's Stage Page (dot) Info. If you like the music, tell ChAiNs yourself. Let him know where you heard it.

Today Larry Stark, of The Theater Mirror, and Geralyn Horton, of Stage Page, discuss the local production of Claire Boothe Luce's snappy play, The Women, now showing at The Speakeasy Theater in Boston. They do not content themselves with the production, though ... that would be too limiting.

Another installment of Arts Salon, Boston, this bookended by readings by Robert Bonatto and Valerie Sodano. Today's guests in the Salon are Larry Stark of the Theater Mirror and Will Stackman.

Last week we had no time for monologues, this week we have three.
Jonathan Donahue, a Boston-based actor just cast as the lead in indie film "Revolution", reads a monologue from G.L.'s one-act Fantasia for String Trio. June Lewin, who spoke with us last week about the musical Martha Mitchell in Mostly Her Own Words is reading a flashback, and John M. Costa reads a monologue from the full length play Inquest.

The people who host our podcasts - PodOmatic.com - say we can now post our shows in the more sophisticated M4A format. With art-work intact. I have a few pictures of people who have been involved in the show and decided to introduce them here. My apologies if it doesn't work properly.

This week we have but one feature: a conversation between playwright Geralyn Horton - as the actress - and actress June Lewin - as the director - about the one-woman show playwright Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro wrote for them. Martha Mitchell, in Mostly Her Own Words is a musical and a history lesson. You can find out more about the show at
Martha.

Today we have two interpretations of the same monologue - both 'right' - and an old-fashioned discussion between three artist.
The monologues are by local actors John M. Costa and Penny Benson. If you would like to join them by adding your voice to our show, record any monologue found on www.StagePage.Info and send the MP3 to GLHorton (at) PodOmatic (dot) Com - we'll try to include it in a future show. Or you could join John at the Lyric Theater where he is appearing in 1776 through October 14th.

Today's show includes readings of two of G.L.'s monologues - one by Joe Benn, the other by local actress Valerie Sodano - and a discussion G.L. had with Larry Stark (of TheaterMirror.com fame) about Political Theater. We'd like to hear your takes on G.L.'s monologues - they can be found at www.StagePage.Info - and you can contact us at glhorton (at) PodOmatic (dot) Com. Larry would also appreciate your Quick Takes on any shows you've seen recently, send your short reviews to Larry (at) TheaterMirror (dot) Com. Thanks for listening.

This week we have two of G.L.'s monologues, the first chosen and read by Ohio actress Carol J. Shelton, titled "I Don't Support the Troops", the second read by local actress and theater student Valerie Sodano, titled "Eulogy". In between G.L. tells Larry Stark about her sojourn in Ohio.

If you would like to read G.L.'s monologues, go to www.StagePage.Info, and if you would like to record one for podcast, please email GLHorton (at) PodOmatic.com, possibly sending along your recording.

Today we have three (3!) of G.L.'s monologues - none of them read by ME - plus a guided tour of the Greater Boston Area Theater Scene by Larry Stark.
If you'd like to participate in our show, all you need do is choose a monologue from the hundreds on G.L.'s web site - www,StagePage.Info - and record it. Then e-mail the file to us at GLHorton (at) Podomatic.com and we will do our best to include it in a future show. Please include a few personal details and, perhaps, a small head shot with the reading.

We start this week's show with one of G.L.'s monologues read by playwright Eliza Wyatt. We follow that with our feature, an interview with web mistress Wyn Snow who explains how to establish an effective web presence without breaking your bank. We end with me reading another monologue. I'd prefer NOT to be reading monologs. If you agree with me on that, kindly go to our site, and record one of the monologues there. e-mail the file to us at GLHorton@PodOmatic.com and you, too, can be a star.

I think we are finally ready for Prime Time!
Our first show - rather than the sound-bites we pod cast earlier - contains Geralyn reading a piece about rural New York, a talk by Larry Stark where he requests short reviews of theater you've seen, and my reading of a monologue about an annual performance review that didn't really happen.

You can send your reviews to Larry at larry@theatermirror.com and you can contact us via the link on the page. For the curious, the 'elephant' refers to "Horton, Here's a Who" - a play on the title of a Dr Seuss book.

Our good friend Larry Stark talks about his web site and some of his hopes for it. WWW.TheaterMirror.Com has been important to the Boston-area theater scene, particularly to the many smaller theaters, for about a decade now. Larry is looking for more participation ... care to write a quick review?

How (not to) win friends and influence people ... one person's annual Performance Review, the 'rehash' version.

This is one of hundreds of short monologs available on G.L.Horton's site, StagePage.Info.
This monolog details the search for a straying cat ... curiously, named Damian.