Breakdown in Babel 3.0

My short play Breakdown in Babel will take part in The Network One-Act Festival.  This is the third production of this play since it was written last summer, and I’m happy that each production features the same cast and director.

This festival is in fact a competition.  The play will perform three times, and if it gets enough audience votes, will move on to the semi-finals, so check it out and vote us on to the semis!

Also, you comedy fans out there only have until March 4th to vote for The ECNY Awards.

FEARSOME performs!

FEARSOME will perform along with sketch comedy icons Kurt and Kristen and Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief in A-Side/B-side this Thursday night.   Two sketches from each group.  Check us out!

 

Thursday, February 19th – 9:30pm

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

307 W. 26^th Street

Tickets only $5!

ECNY Award Nominees Announced

This past Friday we officially announced the 2008 ECNY Award nominees.  The ECNY Awards celebrate comedy created in New York; this is the second year I have produced the awards, and the fifth year of the awards.  To see the nominees and to vote, check out www.ecnyawards.com.  You have until March 4th at midnight to register your vote.

We are also looking for financial and non-financial sponsors.  Financially, we need money to help pay for the awards.  Non-financially, we need items and products for our winner and nominee gift bags.  If you have anything of value in denominations of 14, 25 or 100, please email ecnyawards at gmail dot com.

ECNY Awards Are Back

Last year I co-produced the ECNY Awards along with Jon Friedman, Carol Hartsell, Nate Sloan and Alex Zalban.  The awards celebrate New York’s rising comedy stars.  Last year’s show was a great success, and we are pleased to return as a team to produce the show again, now in it’s fifth year.

If you or anyone you know performs stand-up, one-person shows, improv or sketch, or runs a very funny website or creates amazing videos here in New York, go to the nominations page on the website and submit them for consideration.  And yes, you can nominate yourself!  Nominations will be accepted until midnight on December 19th.  More details are on the site, including requirements for nominations, how nominees are chosen, and past winners.  Or just read this press release:

2008 ECNY AWARDS NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
AWARDS TO CELEBRATE THE COMEDIC PERFORMING ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY

New York, Nov. 18, 2008 – The ECNY Awards, New York’s original comedy awards are now open. Nominations will be accepted until Midnight on December 19, 2008. Nominees will be announced in February, 2009 and winners will be announced at the 2008 ECNY Awards ceremony, held March 9, 2009, at 8:00pm; at Comix NY; 353 West 14th St. The ceremony will be hosted for the second year in a row by Jon Friedman.

“Last year, the ECNY Awards returned to the comedy scene as a resounding success,” said ECNY producer Alex Goldberg. “In the intervening year, our winners have exploded on the national comedy scene; and now, it’s your chance to choose who from New York will explode next. What, too soon?”

Groups or individuals are eligible for nomination in fourteen different categories: Best Female Standup Comedian; Best Host; Best Improv Group; Best Male Standup Comedian; Best Musical Comedy Act (Solo or Group); Best One Person Show; Best Sketch Comedy Group; Best Technician; Best Variety Show; Emerging Comic Award; Outstanding Achievement in Flyer or Postcard Design; Best Website; and Best Performance in a Commercial or Episode of Law & Order.

In addition, The ECNYs will be giving out a Lifetime Achievement Award to one comedian/group/institution who has done the most over the course of his/her/their/its lifetime for the perpetuation and growth of New York comedy. This category will not be open for nomination. Last year’s winner was Eddie Brill (The Late Show With David Letterman).

The Awards, a mainstay of the New York comedy scene, returned in 2007 with a completely revamped production team, after an almost two year hiatus. After a sold out ceremony in January of this year, The ECNYs will continue to celebrate the comedic performing arts in New York City by honoring the best, funniest, and most creative performers, shows, and producers working in the field.

The ECNY Awards are produced by Jon Friedman (The Rejection Show), Alex Goldberg (Fearsome), Carol Hartsell (Drink at Work), Nate Sloan (The Apiary), and Alexander Zalben (Elephant Larry).

The Goldberg Variations

No, not the Bach music, but a collection of short plays by me and Bara Swain (née Goldberg).  Bara contributes three of her finest shorts, and I bring to the table Breakdown in Babel from this summer’s Instant Theatre Festival.  Plus the director and star of last summer’s I’m In Love With Your Wife reunite in the New York premiere of my one-act play The Third Date.  Check it out…but buy tickets now, as tickets are going fast (and the theater is small).

 

 

TWELVE ACTORS, FIVE PLAYS, ONE EVENT. Sticks & Stones Productions presents five short plays by authors Alex Goldberg and Bara Swain. Join us for an evening of romance, recriminations and reconciliations.

 

 

 

When:   October 15, 16, 17, 18 at 8pm

              October 19 at 2pm

 

Where:  Roy Arias Theatre Center

              300 W. 43rd Street (Corner of 8th Ave.)

              5th Floor, Payan Theater

              New York, NY 10036

  

Please visit www.sticksandstonesproductions.org or call 212-352-3101 to purchase your $18.00 tickets or take your chances at the door. Highest attended evening will gladly be donated to Community Medicine to provide for the homebound elderly!

 

 

 

New York Television Festival

This week I attended the New York Television Festival, celebrating independent TV.  Months ago I submitted The Adventures of Rick Brickman, a pilot script I wrote with Mike Pace, to the FOX Comedy Script Contest, which is part of the festival.  In mid-July we heard that out of 880 submissions, we had made the cut of 25 Finalists.   From there it would be cut to 3 “final” Finalists, and the winner would get $25,000 and a meeting with FOX.  We quickly but deliberately read and signed the contract, all scripts remain “optioned” by FOX until mid-October, in case there is any internal interest in the script if it is not selected as the winner.

Get that camera out of my face!

 

 

 

The festival was a surprisingly good time, and very informative.  As finalists, we received artist’s passes, enabling us to attend any screening, seminar or discussion.  The heart of the fest is the screening of indie pilots in comedy, drama or non-fiction categories.  I probably saw 15-20 new shows over the 5 days.  However, the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain of the fest were the panel discussions and informal industry chats.  Mike and I attended many as possible.  The amount of information I don’t know is expanding exponentially, and that’s a good thing.

 

Here are a few highlights:

 

• The Theater 2 Television Panel, discussing transitioning a career from one to the other.  Playwright Theresa Rebeck told of her days of temping FOLLOWING getting her PhD.  Kristen Johnston told about moving to L.A. because she booked the Martin Short show, only to be replaced the day before shooting was to begin.  Fortunately for her, only a month or so later she auditioned for Third Rock from the Sun.
• The amount of comedy talent onstage for the late night panel was incredible.  Writers from Conan, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Letterman and Saturday Night Live all discussed how a typical week goes for their shows.  A few interesting facts: the average top ten list on Letterman is whittled down from over 100 suggestions per topic.  Also, Jason Sudeikis, SNL cast member and panel moderator, told of the idea he pitched for the opening week of SNL.  Since urine is considered a cure for athletes foot, he wanted to do a fake commercial which bottles and sells Michael Phelp’s urine.  Called Pee-elps.  Neither Lorne Michaels or Michael Phelps were too interested.  Apparently the pitches made in the first meeting each week are rarely written; they are pitched mostly to make the other writers laugh, and then abandoned.  All writers on the panel bristled when asked why there are so few female writers on staff.  SNL currently has four, not counting cast members.  That is more than any other show.  Late Night doesn’t have any.  It was an awkward moment while they answered this question.
• Ben Silverman, co-chair of NBC, believes that the future of scripted television involves product branding, or co-sponsorship of shows by corporations with their products heavily featured in the show.  Which reminds me, keep an eye out for my new pilot script, Marty and Carol Work at the Applebees next to the Macys at the Mall of America.
• While most of the pilots screened in competition ranged from pretty good to mediocre, the quality of content in the NBC Short Cuts competition was very high.  Most of the shorts were very funny and smart.  And I’m not just saying that because the party following the screening was fully catered.  Strange Faculty, about a three high school teachers who suddenly possess very strange and extremely limited super powers, was probably the best short I saw this week.
• Most of the people I met were disappointed that there weren’t more industry around at the open bar events at the end of the night.  While I did have a few great conversations with producers and panelists, I think those who came in from out of town on their own dime were expecting a rocket ride to the career of their dreams. 

 

Alas, Rick Brickman was not a winner at this festival, but we were consoled by the tons of free drinks, occasional free meals, the swag, the knowledge learned, and the new friends made from Seattle, New Orleans, and Atlanta, to name a few places.  Plus I got a free bottle of Malibu. 

 

If anyone wants a free bottle of Malibu, let me know.

New Work Everywhere

My latest column for Backstage.com about performing in the elements is now online.  Check it out.

Also, The Pittsburgh New Works Festival is officially underway!  If you are planning to be in Pittsburgh September 25-28, check out the world premiere of my one-act play The Third Date at the Open Stage Theatre in the “Strip District.”  I look forward to checking out the show and finding out why they call it the “Strip District.”

Instant Theatre Festival

After 36 grueling hours of work, sweat, revisions, rehearsals, and some wonderfully dumb luck, I’m pleased to present my 10-minute play Breakdown in Babel as part of the Instant Theatre Festival.  Two shows remain, so check it out along with the other 6 plays created over the weekend.

Instant Theatre Festival

Monday July 28 – Wednesday, July 30, 8:00pm

The Algonquin Theater

123 East 24th Street

$10 Suggested Donation (you can suggest something else).

Tickets only available at the door.

Instant Theatre

My new 10-minute play will run July 28-30th.  Is it good?  I don’t know…I won’t start writing it until Saturday, July 26th.

 

I am as curious as anyone to see how this turns out.

If you were unable to check out FEARSOME’s sold out performance at SketchFestNYC, here are our new videos from the show.  We hope you like the new sexy genre we created, as we bring you Soft Core Corn and Two Girls, 1 Cob:

Summer Writing

Summer is here, as are two new writing opportunities:

My one-act play The Third Date will premiere in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival this fall.  More details will follow.

The last weekend in July Ten Grand Players will present the Instant Theatre Festival, where 7 playwrights (including yours truly), 7 directors and 21 actors get together and in 36 hours create an evening of short plays.  Performances will take place July 28-30 at the Algonquin Theatre.