The Beginning: I started writing Refraction of Light more years ago than I would like to admit. It started out as a one-act called Nightside, which still exists. It takes place in 1975 in the Berkley section of Norfolk, Virginia, where the main character, Harry Rosen, a Jewish refugee. is aging and fighting the City

The Problem With Opera Much of the great operatic literature (contemporary or classic) is plagued with an issue audiences tend to tolerate. The music is riveting.  The plot and the character development –well, not so much.  Candide, of course, is one of the exceptions. Another may be Lucia di Lammermoor. But even then, you have

Will we have to find ourselves in a country of over-twenty-ones? Will we bury the last of our school children before our country considers ALL of the deadly dynamics culminating in an historic loss of young lives due to violence? A newly published drama for teens and adults invites audiences to challenge current assumptions about

School shootings, mass violence, and guns have become commonplace in our society. The “stranger danger” mantra of the last decade no longer applies. Looking over our shoulders is not a helpful strategy—our next menace is probably sitting with us at the local fast fooderie, school cafeteria or outdoor concert. And some officials are suggesting arming

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With the summer term heading towards its close – and, for some, already done and dusted – school halls have been packed with rehearsals for the traditional end-of-year school play. Nervous children will be pacing, proud parents will be charging up the batteries on their video cameras and ... via Why school plays make a

Attracting Theatre Studies Students Finding competent students has become an increasingly difficult task for most colleges and universities over the years.  This decline is mostly mathematical. Schools and programs have increased more than the number of students likely to populate them. At the Maslow MA/MFA Program for Creative Writing where I teach playwriting, for example,

An interesting question I’ve asked myself, and one I’ve been asked - plenty of times by others, from both white and black folks. The first time I remember hearing his name I was sixteen. I had just driven my grandmother in her hot new Impala convertible to Southampton County, Virginia to attend a family affair.