I’m delighted to present the new music video for the opening song “It’s The End” from the new musical “The Burning of the White House” – to which I have co-authored the book and written the lyrics.
“The Burning of the White House” is the story of the young slave Paul Jennings and his coming into freedom and manhood during the British invasion of Washington, DC during the War of 1812.
In this opening piece, we meet the young Paul Jennings for the first time and witness chaos engulf the White House as Congressmen learn the British have landed in Maryland and are making their way for Washington DC.
It’s under a week away before the reading of my play “A Flower of the Field” at Tyler Civic Theatre Center in Tyler, TX!
My play will be read alongside the other finalists from 1:00pm-5:00pm CT on Saturday, July 9th.
Those interested in attending the event may purchase tickets at $5 per seat by going online here.
Alternatively, you can call the box office (Monday-Friday 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm CT) or purchase tickets at the door of the theater beginning 12:20 PM CT on the day of the event.
The reading of my historical drama “Shadows of Men” will be available for viewing on July 14th at 1pm CT!
You can check out the play by visiting the YouTube channel of Arts Fort Worth, the producing theater group.
“Shadows of Men” was performed by Altered Shakespeare of Dallas, TX and features the talents of Eduardo Vildasol, Shawn Gann, David Ware, Araceli Radillo, Danny Lovelle, Jalitza Delgado, and Alex Moffitt.
I’m thrilled to report that my exciting new drama “A Flower of the Field” has been chosen as a finalist in a new play festival sponsored by Tyler Civic Theatre Center in Tyler, TX!
My contemporary drama “Margo Asher Died Here” was previously featured in Tyler Civic Theatre Center’s 2020 new play festival, as well, where it received its first public reading in July, 2020.
Tyler Civic Theatre Center is a great local venue in Tyler, TX that has been serving the community for almost 100 years, starting as Tyler Little Theater in the 1920’s and expanding into Tyler Civic Theatre in the 1950’s, where the theater group opened the nation’s first building to be built specifically for in-the-round presentations.
Tyler Civic Theatre has been hosting its new play festival for 14 years, during which only a handful of plays are chosen as finalists and subsequently read before an audience, after which the “audience favorite” is chosen to be slated into the following year’s production season.
All of the finalists – including my play, “A Flower of the Field” – will be read before a live audience on Saturday, July 9th.
Additionally, Tyler Civic Theatre provided me with some readers’ critiques of the play, which I am pleased to share below.
Very creative piece. Written in a manner easy to visualize.
The eternal battle between good and evil would be easily recognizable to the audience.
Timely as it deals with the first “pandemic” in recorded history.
The writing is excellent. The story was highly engaging and not at all what I expected. Very well done piece.
Characters are very well written and archetypes are clearly defined.
Kept my attention and never deviated from the path. Was immediately interested in learning where the story would lead.
Many thanks to Tyler Civic Theatre Center for this honor!
It’s not often I have the pleasure of linking off to a recording of one of my plays for people out in cyberspace to watch and (hopefully) enjoy, but Arts Forth Worth has given me such an opportunity.
My historical drama “Shadows of Men” was a finalist in Arts Forth Worth’s new play festival and was given a staged reading by the Dallas-based group Altered Shakespeare back on March 29th.
Arts Forth Worth is uploading (or depending on when you read this, *has* uploaded) all 16 of the plays featured in their new play festival to their YouTube channel, where you can view the recordings at your leisure and enjoy the great writing talent of all playwrights involved.
You will be able to access a full recording of the reading of “Shadows of Men” around mid-July (will let you know when it’s posted!).
Meanwhile, here am I doing a quick spot for the piece that was used by Arts Fort Worth to encourage traffic to their YouTube channel.
Again, thank you to Arts Forth Worth (and Jason Levya) and Altered Shakespeare for their great rendering of my play!
I learned today that my (brand) new drama “A Flower of the Field” is a finalist in a new play competition (“FirstWorks”) sponsored by the group Theatre@First!
Theatre@First is an all-volunteer community theater founded in 2003 and based in Somerville, MA, which draws untapped talent from the surrounding community and presents quality live theater across a number of different local venues.
Check out this great newspaper article about Theatre@First that spotlights their successful navigation of the COVID pandemic and the enthusiasm and the passion for the theatrical arts that they channel and encourage in their local community.
Many thanks to Theatre@First for providing “A Flower of the Field” for its first nod by a theatrical organization!
I don’t often mix my work life and my theater life, but I recently authored the following article as part of my “first career” duties that ties again lessons in the theater world and how they apply to the field of customer service / customer experience.
I also previously chatted with speaker Andrea Joy Wenburg on a similar topic in her “Voices of Influences” podcast back in August, 2020, where I discussed how navigating the theater world provides key lessons for navigating the customer experience space.
Outside my theatrical pursuits, I currently serve as CX Advisor at the company Freshworks and have spent over 12 years managing global customer experience organizations and promoting technological changemaking. Specifically, I specialize in building customer service departments from the ground-up, with a focus on scalability, infrastructural agility, product innovation, and gold-standard quality and efficiency. Previously, I served as AVP of Consumer Transactions at the event ticket marketplace TicketNetwork, the inaugural VP of Customer Experience at the food tech company Freshly, and also SVP of Customer Experience at the fintech company Albert.
I consider theater “my second job that doesn’t pay as well.”
The musical tells the story of young slave Paul Jennings and his quest for freedom and manhood set against the 1814 British invasion of Washington DC and the subsequent burning of the White House, the Capitol, and other key government buildings.
Our newest release – “Escape from the White House” – is the fast-paced finale to Act One, when the British army is approaching Washington DC and First Lady Dolley Madison and the White House staff must flee for their lives.
The song starts with some reflections from the 50-year-old version of the young slave Paul Jennings, who narrates the musical to us, reflecting back on the day when the British invaded and it seemed the very country was about to collapse.
President James Madison is leading American forces in Maryland as the British march towards the capital city – but Dolley is refusing to consider defeat and is busy organizing a fine dinner for what she believes will be her victorious husband with his victorious army… even while guns in the distance and the conspicuous absence of certain guests indicate all is not going well for the American forces.
As each character relives the scene in their mind – Dolley, the Master of Ceremonies at the White House (Jean Pierre Sioussat), Dolley’s maidservant Sukey, Madison’s friend Charles Carroll – the news arrives from different fleeing parties that the American army has been defeated, President Madison has fled the field of battle, and the British are marching in full force towards the capital city.
Taking command, Dolley organizes the evacuation of the White House, seeking to save key documents of state, as well as the famous portrait of George Washington hanging in the drawing room – but unfortunately Dolley forgets to take the President’s state papers, prompting young Paul Jennings to remain behind and rescue them… a fateful decision, indeed, as the young slave is subsequently captured by the British army.
“Escape from the White House” encompassed the entire drama of that final day in August 14, 1824 during the British invasion, encompassing the beautiful and wondrous vocal talents of Amick Bryam, Edmund Rodriguez, Tehillah Alphonso, Luc Kleiner, Lydia Elle, Dylan Gentile, Tonoccus McLaine, Lisa Vroman, and Mark Edward Smith, and vibrant, lush orchestrations by John Peter Sampson.
The reading is being presented as part of the third annual Original Works Series sponsored by Arts Forth Worth.
Arts Fort Worth is very generously hosting a number of readings this year – 8 in total – which shows their great commitment to the theater scene and emerging playwrights.
I am thrilled to announce that my historical drama “Shadows of Men” is being given a reading at Forts Worth Community Arts Center by the theatrical group Altered Shakespeare.
Forts Worth Community Arts (also known as Arts Forth Worth) is “a historic and dynamic arts complex (that) boasts seven indoor galleries, an outdoor gallery, artist and performance studios, and office suites nonprofit arts organization.” It is managed by Arts Fort Worth on behalf of the City of Fort Worth and hosts a number of artistic events throughout the year. The mission of Arts Fort Worth is “to provide a quality event, visual and performing arts venue for all of the community.”
Among the events hosted by Arts Forth Worth is their Original Works series for new plays. The series showcases a number of plays via readings over the course of a month and chooses one of the plays for a fully realized stage production in the subsequent season. The Original Works Series is now in its third year and provides a great opportunity for playwrights to have their voices heard, especially after the ravages of COVID on the theater world.
“Shadows of Men” will be presented by Altered Shakespeare, a new theater troupe in Dallas, Texas which engages in newer, more contemporary presentations of Shakespeare’s plays (although actually harnessing back to the way those plays were meant to be performed, in louder, rowdier, more raucous environments.)
Many thanks to Arts Fort Worth and Jason Levya, their Production Manager, for this great opportunity!
