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Crazy Love – The New Show

One of my tasks for my residency at Greywood Arts in Ireland was to complete my new show entitled “Crazy Love.” The world premiere of this show will be performed by my drama group The Sun & Sand Players in December 2018 in Jeddah.

In addition to the two full-length plays I completed this week, I’m thrilled to see “Crazy Love” come together. It’s a collection of 8 dramatic sketches and one mini-musical all themed around crazy love.  The show will consist of 7 brand new pieces plus two of my award-winning sketches from other years which fit perfectly in this collection.

Yesterday, I wrote the entire script called “Bridge Watchers” which completed the show. I also finished the script “Young Love” and did some final editing on some of the other scripts as well.

Here’s the way the show is looking:

  • A Pinch of Fate, A Shot of Destiny – Best Script Award Winner – the death angel comes for Rebecca but wasn’t expecting fate to get in the way
  • The Talk – New – snippets of parents talking to their kids for the first time about the birds and bees
  • Bridge Watchers – New – seven bystanders watch a tragedy unfold from  on top of a bridge. Who will get involved?
  • Fruit Punch – New – Banana tries to setup Olive on a date with an actual Date. (yeah, it’s crazy)
  • Shame on the Moon – New – a reworking of Romeo and Juliet, every time Romero and Julia look at the moon, they fall in love
  • Young Love – New – snippets of love from the perspective of kids
  • No in Spite of Itself – Best Script Award Winner – a young man stands on a cliff having a conversation to himself, lamenting the fact that the girl he loves doesn’t love him
  • Love is Not a Straight Arrow – New – a fictionalized version of a true story about my grandmother in 1924, when she came to Pennsylvania to marry Otto Sasse
  • Crazy Love: The Musical – New – a mini-musical about a family falling apart, and a child who thinks she is to blame

I think it will be a great show! Because love is always funny and dramatic. Who can resist it?

 

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Checking in from Ireland

I’ve been in Killeagh, Ireland at Greywood Arts for a little more than two days now so I wanted to check in with everyone concerning how’s everything going. Well, in a word, great!

Greywood is a terrific venue for the arts. A renovated (and still being renovated) 18th century Georgian house specifically for promoting the arts. Here’s my amazing writing room.

2018-03-31 07.57.06

It overlooks the Dissour River, more of a stream in my mind, but has a beautiful view of  a small cascade right from the desk. I even saw a river otter! It is bright, cheery, and quiet. A perfect combination for creativity. How’s it been working? Amazingly well. On day one, I completed a play called “Embrace” which I started nearly five years ago and wondered if I would ever finish it. Well, I did. Seven hours of hard labor on that script completely revitalized it and I’m very happy with it. Unlike anything I have ever written.

Today, day two,  was spent working on a play called “For the Glory of Nat Turner.” I had started it last year with a mere 2000+ words and I hammered out the entire first act, clocking the whole thing in at around 7000 words now. Tomorrow, I’d love to finish this one too! Amazing productivity.

The village of Killeagh is small and quaint. No more than 500 souls live here. Here are a few shots.

Main street.
Thatched roof pub next door.
Typical Killeagh houses.
Greywood Arts
This says it all.
Photo from the top floor of Greywood

The weather today turned toward the nasty. Really cold and rainy. No walks and very little out and about. The forecast isn’t great, but I hope it clears a little tomorrow cause I was going to take the bus over to the seaside town of Youghal only 10 minutes away. We shall see how it looks in the morning.

I’m also hoping to take a trip into Cork for a day and check out the city. That will likely be the extent of my touring since my main focus is on writing, writing, and writing.

This is such a terrific opportunity. So relaxing and rewarding and I can’t think Greywood enough for their hospitality.

Let’s get back at it!

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Spring Break in Ireland

I’m officially three-quarters finished with my first year of teaching drama in Saudi Arabia. Spring break has arrived. It couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s been a challenging year in many respects – a good year – complete with unique challenges I had not expected. The show that I’m currently producing and directing – You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – has proved to have more downs than ups with a revolving cast and a myriad of obstacles. It’s been exhausting. I’ve never had a production like this. The show is April 18-20, so what better time than now to take a break from it and go to Ireland? The time away will do me a world of good.

I’ve never been to Ireland, so the promise of overcast, chilly temperatures coupled with the famous Irish green will be a delightful change from Jeddah’s taupe and arid make-up.

What led me to Ireland? I always wanted to have a writing residency. It sounded so idyllic – a time set aside on my own for one singular purpose – creativity. Last fall, I started searching worldwide opportunities since my job here affords me the flexibility to travel where I want at certain times of the year. Perhaps I could find something in an interesting place?

I did. I found a call for submissions from a small arts center in Killeagh, Ireland called Greywood Arts. They were selecting three individuals for their Winter Writing Residencies for poetry, play-writing, and visual arts. My submission was my full-length, yet-to-be-produced play “The Last Bastion.” One delightful November day, I received an email from Greywood that they had chosen that play to be the recipient of their residency program. That was a glorious day. When I proposed to them that I use my spring break for the purpose, it fit their schedule perfectly, so here I come!

Killeagh is a tiny village east of Cork in southwest Ireland.  It has a population of 500. It has a Catholic church, a famous thatched roof pub, a couple other pubs, a river, a convenience store, a Chinese restaurant (!?), and Greywood Arts.

Greywood hosts artists and writers throughout the year, promoting the arts in various creative ways. I’m thrilled to be a part of what they are doing.

But what will I be doing? Writing, mainly. I have tasked myself to finish two full-length plays which have been languishing for a while – one more than the other.  Several years back, I wrote an unfinished play themed on the tensions arising over the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage. It’s an interesting two character play which explores evangelical Christianity’s struggle to come to terms with the SC’s decision. I’m convinced that there’s something there in this play. It has some interesting angles, and has been difficult to write in many ways because it’s raw. Grittier than I usually like to go. But it felt needed. Until I abandoned it. But now, it’s time to resurrect it. And finish it.

The next play which I started about a year ago and haven’t got back to is a historical piece related to Nat Turner’s slave uprising in 1831.  I have quite a ways to go on this one, but hope to finish it.

I’m also working on my next ensemble show which consists of a series of similarly themed short plays which I will produce for my show in December. I am mostly finished with this show, but I’d like to spend the week editing what I have and writing any pieces which the show lacks.

Also, I want one more. I want one more brand new idea for a full-length play that I can start during my week in Ireland. I’m waiting on the idea to hit me. Perhaps my new setting will be exactly what I need.

Oh, and if you happen to be in Killeagh, Ireland on April 5, I have an event!

READING @ Greywood Arts by playwright Mark W Sasse

Hope to see you there!

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Gearing Up for Greywood Arts Residency in Ireland

I’ve found myself virtually walking main street of Killeagh, Ireland using Google Maps Street View, trying to imagine what it will be like to stroll down it in person. I won’t have to wait too long. That makes me so excited!

Through a submission of my play “The Last Bastion,” Greywood Arts – an arts residency house in Killeagh – awarded me with the Greywood Arts Winter Residency 2018 for playwriting. My reward is a one-week stint at their place to do one thing – write. Yes, it’s kind of like a dream come true. I’ll have my own room plus a writing room overlooking the Dissour River.  Right across the river is the Old Thatch Pub – a family establishment for 300 years – one of the oldest in Ireland, and I’m getting the feeling I’m going to be surrounded by Irish quaintness.

The strangest thing I’ll have to adjust to is my reasoning for being there – writing. I’ve never had a week, let a lone a day, when my only responsibility was writing. I have no other pressures, distractions, or responsibilities. Simply writing. Doesn’t that sound like bliss?

Oh, and I have a reading. Here. Look:

greywoodartsreadingannouncement

I’ll get to present excerpts of what I’ve worked on that week with the local arts community. I’ve been told there may even be some local actors willing to help me out with the reading. How cool would that be?

What will I be working on? I have a lot.  I have two full-length plays I’ve started but have not finished. I’d love to knock them out this week. One is a historical play related to the Nat Turner slave uprising in 1831. The other is a social commentary piece highlighting the conflict between the conservative Christian church in America and the issue of gay marriage.  Third, I am mostly finished with my brand new ensemble show “Crazy Love,” so I’d like to polish off those 8 short plays which comprise it. Other ideas include an embellished play of my childhood which walks through small town America in different time periods of the 20th century.  Oh, and knowing me, a new idea will pop in my brain and perhaps supersede all of these. Who’s to say?

Anyways, I head out for Greywood Arts on March 30.  I will certainly be posting photos and highlights of this week. Stay tuned.

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I Was Awarded a Writing Residency – in IRELAND!

I’m very excited to share with you this great news: Greywood Arts, in Killeagh, Ireland, awarded me with its Winter Writing Residency for play-writing.  Only one winner was chosen in each category – short stories, poems, plays – and I was selected based on the play I submitted – “The Last Bastion.”

On their blog, they write:

“It was a tremendously difficult decision to select only one work from each category – short stories, poems, and plays. It was truly a pleasure to read work by a diverse and talented pool of writers. We look forward to making the writing competition a regular opportunity to win a week-long residency.

We offer a hearty congratulations and warm welcome to:

Gráinne Daly for her poems To Lady and to Tramp, Tomb Raiders, & Slievemore Cemetary

Orla McAlinden for her short story A Sliver of the Moon

Mark W. Sasse for his play The Last Bastion

Can you tell I’m super excited? I’ll be heading to southwest Ireland on March 30 and will be working on three play-writing projects until April 7.

I want to thank Greywood Arts for this fantastic opportunity.  Please head on over to their blog and read about the good work they are doing. You can also read about the three winners, including myself.

Read their blog post HERE!