February/ March 2013
I wanted to get all this news up sooner, but I’ve been swamped (a good kinda swamped), so a week or so late to the table again. Lots of good stuff, however.
I’ll start with snippets from the reviews of The Truth Quotient, which closed its three-week run at the Beckett Theatre on 42nd street on February 2nd:
“The Truth Quotient… is sure to be a success… raises a slew of questions regarding the nature and importance of truth… humanity… challenging its audience to consider a world in which we could pay for artificial company in the appearance of human loved ones who have passed…” InsideNewYork.com
“Manley’s work is… thought-provoking… He raises interesting questions about the nature of faith, trust, and love.” Washington Post.
“…this Richard Manley play at the Beckett Theater has a tantalizing conceit…”
New York Times
“Richard Manley’s extremely fresh take on being human in the information age… The characters battle each other in ways that will stay with you long after the show is over. ” NYTheatre.com
“Manley’s well conceived and well developed script is a trope for examining the existential meaning of family… The power of the play lies in its ability to present to the audience an alternative to suffering and loss that might prove to be more possible than probable.” Theatre Reviews Limited
“The lure of virtual friends in virtual worlds is powerful, and the near future is facing a ‘Pandemic of loneliness’ as Manley calls it. This makes The Truth Quotient a particularly timely project.” TheaterforNerds.com
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Because of the reviews and the fact that TTQ was produced in New York, I’ve been getting calls and e-mails from agents and theaters from Los Angeles to Munich. Who knows where all that leads. I’ll keep you posted… or blogged.
And since my last update, I’ve nailed down some dates. The International Theatrical Arts Institute (IATI) has scheduled a public reading of Quietus on April 9th in Manhattan. For specific details, go to their website (www.teatroiati.org) and look under developmental programs.
Ashland has now set a date (Quietus), picked a stellar cast (from the Shakespeare Festival), and begun the publicity – down to designing the tickets, no less, and a poster. Images of both below. There will be a public reading on Monday, April 15th, in Ashland. Here’s the playbill. For additional details, go to their website (www.ashlandnewplays.org) or Facebook page or see the long piece in their newsletter here.
I was on the phone today with the director and set designer of the Stonington Players (CT), who are doing a full production of An Ignorant Man, to run from the end of April into May. Sounds like they are putting a lot of time and energy into it. It’s my first play, and a comedy, which is a lot of fun for a community theater. For the specifics, go to www.stoningtonplayers.org.
For newer news, thanks to making it to the finals, An Ignorant Man will have another public reading at Dezart Productions in Palm Springs, CA on April 12th. For more details, go to www.dezartperforms.com.
And last, and maybe least, Thank Emily made it into the semi-finals of the Nor’Eastern Playwriting Contest.
I think that’s everything. See you in late March or early April.
January 2013
And the behinder I get. I should have had some news up here weeks ago. The upside of being busy with lots of work is lots of work. The downside is getting behinder (with credits to Lewis Carroll) on news about all that work.
Cutting to the chase, The Truth Quotient is in the midst of its three-week run at the Beckett Theatre on 42nd street (NY), and garnering great reviews. Here are the links to three:
The Washington Post piece was lifted from a review by a reporter from the Associated Press. Several newspapers and online sites (e.g., Salon) picked up the same review. The New York Times is due in this week.
And then there are the interviews for local magazines, such as this one from the Garden State Journal.
And blog coverage.
The Truth Quotient wraps up on February 2, after which I take a deep breath, and then begin to think about what I’d like to rehearse in front of the members of the Actors Studio in February or March… and then begin the casting for Quietus, which will have a workshop in March and a public reading in April at the IATI Theater (NY)… and then find time to meet with the director of An Ignorant Man (an early play), which is now scheduled for a full production at the Stonington Players in Connecticut in April/May… and then work out a time to get back to Ashland, where they’d like to do a workshop of something else of mine in the spring. Deep breath, deep breath.