Writing with a capital W

As you could tell from yesterday's entry, I started keeping a separate blog for my more colorful/sentimental/personal writing.

Don't worry, 

Don't get excited, it won't feature nitty-gritty livejournal type anecdotes with intriguing titles like "Dreams of Horses," or "Finding Rain".*  I am likewise, not going to be journaling all my secrets into vague poems punctuated by declarations of my current  mood as represented by small animated penguins at the bottom of each entry. **

It's just a place to get back to writer's writing.

For the most part, entries are going to double-post onto MischMash so it doesn't really matter. 

But- if you'd like to subscribe directly to a blog that will be free of promotions for my shows, a blog simply rife with obscure adjectives and the wanton use of adverbs, then go ahead and add Misch'd Connection to your Google Reader, follow me on Blogger, or put it in your bookmark list.

I am far too busy to move all my old posts over to the new blog so if you're hankering to re-read something like my ruminations on leaving Japan, you can just search MischMash using the Google powered bar across the top.

Coming soon.. a blog where I just post things and don't explain how or why I'm posting them....

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* Actual livejournal entries from freshman year of college. Yikes.

** The penguin is dancing! That means I'm excited!!

Thinly Veiled Blog Plugging

My brother, who has not shown much interest in my life since he was 5 years old and thought my Easy Bake Oven was a garage for his Micro Machines, has reminded me that I have not been updating my blog.
And here I thought only my mother and the HR department at work* were reading this site.

I've been writing, but not publishing, actually. The reason?  I haven't been happy with the jumble of nursing, comedy, show promos, personal anecdotes and travel stories that make up the content of my blog.

I'm jealous of blogs with a theme like Rachel Braidman's true-life photos and stories, or Tex's aptly named Weird Nursing Tales. Then there's Carrie Drzik, who has a number of individual blogs including one of my favorites: Carrie Draws Daily. There you'll find her artwork, but you need to travel elsewhere for her music.

I dream of having several specialized blogs one day. But until then, this is where it all comes out.
 I guess that's what makes it a MischMash.

Gorefest is over, I'm starting production for a new mainstage revue at Improv Asylum, and I have a ton of things to say about the current political situation. I've been taking photos of leaves, and I want you to know what I think of my new Netflix account. I'm back. Hold onto your butts.**

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* Dear HR, I am handing in my completed credentialing packet tomorrow by the way. Thanks for the deadline extension!
** Dear HR, that is a quote from Jurassic Park and not a threat against any real or imagined buttocks.

Updates on Writing

I owe you an update. I haven't been writing anything here. But I've been writing nonetheless.

Improv Asylum's newest Main Stage revue opens July 3rd weekend.
We've been jam packing our weeknights with rehearsals so that we can bring you a show that will make you laugh and cry and yell and want to be our friends on facebook. The period of time for sketch submissions ended this past week. Now we have several hours' worth of material to sift through and create a show out of. Throughout June, on Thursday nights at 10pm you (yes! you!) can come watch us try new things out. That means new sketches as well as new improv structures. And because we're not sure how well it works yet... it's all free!

Meanwhile, on the Gorefest: 8 end of things, Mr. Brooks and I finished our very first completed draft of the script on May 28th. On May 30th I met with Steve Gilbane (composer) and Don Schuerman  (director) to discuss their suggestions for revisions, and was pleased as punch to find there were not many rewrites needed.

However, our conversation did generate a ton of fun new ideas I wanted to fit into the show.
Since then I have been working to revise the script into what it is now.

While Brooks and I continue fine tuning, Steve has been writing music, Don has been researching plans for guillotine construction (go ahead, you can read that sentence again if you need to), and the lyricists have been coming up with witty rhymes and clever phrasing to fill in all the most dramatic moments in the plot.

If you ever wondered what we writers talk about in our secret meetings, here is an all encompassing snippet:

Me: I don't know how to fix this line about typewriters!!!
Brooks: I'm not sure if it really matters...
Don:  It definitely doesn't.
Steve: What if we make it a song?

The second draft is slated to be completed by June 20th.

writing writing writing

Updating, you may have noticed, has been inconsistent.
The reason for this is that I have recently taken on two major writing projects.

The first is Gorefest.
 For those of you who may not know,  Gorefest is a gore-filled  musical comedy produced annually at Improv Boston at Halloween. Each year has a different theme, this will be Gorefest's eighth year running. As an example, here's last year's description.  This year, Don Schuerman, the father of Gorefest, opened up submissions for pitches to the general GF and IB community, and my concept has been chosen!
 I am co writing the book with Adam Brooks, and overseeing a small team of amazing lyricists.
The music will be done by the fabulous Steve Gilbane, as it has been in years past.*
We have an amazing production team in place, and emails have been flying back and forth as we start to create the next round of scary, gooey, fun.
Oh, and since everyone's been asking. This year's setting? The creepiest circus you've ever watched.

The other major project is Improv Asylum's new mainstage revue.
We are currently still running "The Best of Improv Asylum," but have started the production process for the next show, to be named at a later date. Our mainstage cast is saying goodbye to three people between now and July, and has taken on several new actors in the meantime. The new cast has been spending our nights down in the theater  drilling basics, running laps, bonding over pizza, and coming up with new sketches and new ways to use our improv skills.

I've never had so much writing to do. And I've never been so excited about it.

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*Shameless plug: go to his website and click on "Gorefest" on the left to hear some songs from the past few years. Among them, a song I sang last year about killing everyone. It is definitely not safe for work.