I’m thrilled to say that tickets are now on sale for my play “A Flower of the Field” at Tyler Civic Theatre Center this May!

My play won the People’s Choice Award in TCTC’s 2022 new play festival, where the audience voted it the winner from among five other finalists.

You can purchase tickets online at https://bit.ly/3KjF2bG or by calling the Box Office at 903-592-0561 during normal business hours (Monday-Friday 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm).

The show runs for one weekend only:

• Thursday May 4, 2023 7:30pm
• Friday May 5, 2023 7:30pm
• Saturday May 6, 2023 7:30pm
• Sunday May 7, 2023 2:30pm

I want to extend my congratulations to the cast of my upcoming play “A Flower of the Field”, which is premiering at Tyler Civic Theatre Center on May 4th!

The play will run from May 4th-May 7th and will be directed by David Dickerson, with whom I have had the pleasure of chatting about the piece.

The cast is as follows:

Tickets for the event will go on-sale to the general public starting April 6th!

I don’t often share comments in this regard, but I received some great commentary on my drama “A Flower of the Field” from the readers at the Austin Film Festival who judged the script within the top 10% of entries.

It’s very gratifying to see a play register with experienced, discerning readers and I very much appreciate Austin Film Festival forwarding me the comments – which always serve as a great inspiration for pushing forward with a piece.

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Concept: “The concept of this play was executed very well. With a focus on the time in the World where the Black Plague was in it is height, this was a story of how hope never dies and the way this was expressed through the continual existence of John Clyn was powerful.”

Plot: “‘A Flower of The Field’ is a play about a man who has taken the name and likeness of ‘John Clyn’ in order to continue giving hope to the many people seeking healing from the pestilence. During this time, many people enter into the abbey, some in accusatory fashion, others seeking help. The play establishes strong exposition, creates deepening conflict and tension, leading to a satisfying climax and denouement.”

Structure: “By fitting this play into one act with five separate scenes, the writer weaves a narrative which is rich with mystery and yet enough to propel the audience with clues as the story continues. The structure of this play is highlighted by the writings which end each scene. We find out ultimately, that the writer is Basilia de Meath, which shows a great use of foreshadowing in the earlier scenes when the character is not introduced and we are assuming it is John Clyn.”

Characters: “Every character shown in this play was not only important to the telling of this story, but filled with unique attributes which allowed each of them to be fully complex and developed as the play continued.”

Dialogue: “The dialogue was very strong and well written. No matter who was speaking, the dialogue of the character talking presented a unique voice with wants and needs different from the other voices on stage. The dialogue also (to a degree) felt like it was true to the time period of this story.”

Overall: “‘A Flower of the Field’ tells a powerful story of hope as translated through the continual perseverance of the John Clyn figure head. This story shows John Clyn was an array of different people who felt called to serve in the role as John Clyn to give hope and assurance during a time where death and pestilence were rampant and inevitable. The structure of the story shows the message of this play in the continuation of the existence of this main character. The concept and plot are sound. The dialogue and characters are rich with personality, wants and needs, internal struggle and decisions which propel the story to a dynamic climax. What needs work is very minimal however could prove beneficial to investigate–the action or exposition between the lines. At times, the poetic descriptions seemed to act for the characters before they would say their lines. Consider going through the exposition and lightening it as it felt more like a novel than the action descriptions within a scene.”

Today, Tyler Civic Theatre Center announced its 75th theatrical season, which features the premiere of my 14th century drama, “A Flower of Field!”

As fortune would have it, my play just happens to be given prominence of place in the title image seen in this great promotional video from TCTC.

“A Flower of the Field” won the sixth annual “People’s Choice Award” in Tyler Civic Theatre Center’s new play festival in July of this year, where excerpts from six finalist plays were read before a live audience and the audience voted their favorite play for prodcution in 2023.

I’m very excited to see “A Flower of the Field” given its big premiere, as the play in 2022 alone has been a finalist in five other contests, sponsored by such companies as FirstWorks Theatre, The Shawnee Playhouse, and American Bard Theater Company.

Here’s a line-up of TCTC’s 75th season, with lots of wonderful shows:

Stay tuned for more information about my play next year!

I learned today that my play “A Flower of the Field” was judged to be within the top 20% of scripts by the Austin Film Festival!

The Austin Film Festival (AFF) was founded in 1994 and serves 20,000+ people with year-round programming that “furthers the art and craft of storytelling by inspiring and championing the work of writers, filmmakers, and all artists who use written and visual language to tell a story.”

AFF is well-known for its annual October Austin Film Festival and Conference, which was “the first event of its kind, bringing professional and amateur screenwriters together to celebrate the role of screenplays in filmmaking and host conversations focusing on craft and on particular films and television series.”

I’m extremely proud to have my play within the top 20% of playscript entries considering that the festival is more oriented towards screenwriitng than playwriting, it receives hundreds and hundred of submissions per year, and it’s such a well-respect and well-known event.

Many thanks to Austin Film Festival – and I wish them the best for their big festival in October!

This past weekend, an excerpt from my play “A Flower of the Field” was read at The Shawnee Playhouse of Shawnee on Delaware, PA as part of their new works festival.

You can check out the 30-minute excerpt using the link below.

Many thanks to Shawnee Playhouse for this great recognition!

I’m thrilled to report that my drama “A Flower of the Field” is a finalist in a new play contest by the American Bard Theater Company!

American Bard Theater Company is based in New York that focuses on plays of dramatic, heightened language and of an artist-driven nature.

As they explain on their website:

“American Bard Theater Company approaches each play based on text analysis technique shared by the 14 individuals who studied Shakespeare together and wanted to create greater opportunities to perform. In our first few years, we presented various works by William Shakespeare in the “First Folio” text analysis style. Just like Shakespeare’s own troupe of actors, we maintain that “the play’s the thing” and root all our artistic choices back to the language in the script, with respect to the punctuation and word choice in order to guide our storytelling. By working through the lens of the playwright’s language and its structure to shape the actions on the stage, much as Shakespeare’s players did 400 years ago, we keep our rehearsals and performances targeted at creating the playwright’s unique world through cadence, intonations, and emotional energy evoked by the “music” of the script.”

Many, many thanks to American Bard for the great honor of being a finalist in their new play festival!