The end of Summer, a new beginning for Radio, and theatrical Crumbs

Usually after not posting in a couple months I start off with a promise to post more. Today I’m bucking the cycle. I’ll post when I can. I don’t want to write a blog full of useless information, and sometimes, I just don’t have the energy to pour it all out. Today is one of those days when I’m so tired but I can’t really sleep, or stop, so probably the best use of time is to write everything that’s going on. I know other people read this blog (four or five people who get bored) but this blog has always been a tool for me to write what’s in my head. An opportunity to write down the highs and lows of my career so I can look back, and understand where I’m going by knowing where I came from.

This has been an incredibly tough summer. How tough? Well I haven’t had a steady paycheck since July. So basically I’ve been living off my credit card since late August. Not having money, and having a family is extremely hard. Some days it feels impossible. I know there are a lot of families in America-in the world struggling like I am right now. But honestly, while it’s been hard I also feel blessed. I have the knowledge that in a couple weeks I’ll be financially fine. I just have to get to that point.

The radio show State of the Re:Union has been such a great unexpected endeavor. Three years ago, I never thought I would be here. An unexpected bi-product of the show is that it’s forced me to become a business man. I’ve always done the business of Al Letson, but honestly, that’s not that difficult. But the radio show- wow. I am a small business owner. Along with my business partner, in the up coming month’s I’ll be employing seven people. Pretty amazing. Also the reason why I’m so broke right now. We are in the midst of negotiating a contract with a funder, so we’ll be able to do the show. Things are working out, our funder is great but when they are giving a large check to a small company like mine it takes time. Apparently three months time. So after the last grant was over we have been in limbo waiting for the next grant to come along. Thus the hard nerve wracking summer. The good news is State of the Re:Union will be heard nationally and we'll be making full seasons whereas last year we were in development and only made three episodes. Time to do it big. I'm ready.

On the flip side, my work is never done. I’ve been on a hard press to write my new play Crumbs. It’s funny every time I sit down to write another play, I can never remember how to do it. I get nervous and wonder if the last play was a fluke. I try to rewrite the last play with a new name, then suddenly it comes. I don’t know how, but “It” comes. I calm down throw out most of what I’ve already written, and write the piece. Unfortunately for Crumbs my time frame was a little crunched. With all my activities in August, (see previous post) I couldn’t get started in earnest until late August. I didn’t finish writing until yesterday, and the show opens in two weeks. To be fair, I’ve had most of the play done for weeks. But still it’s unfair to the actors to give them final pages weeks before we open, but hey, that’s the way it is.

Summer in Sanctuary was my Spaulding Grey play. I was inspired by his work, and wanted to take what he did, i.e. telling stories about his life simply. Him, a glass of water, a desk and his words. Tough to entertain a crowd for 90 mins unless you got the skills. Spaulding had it in spades. I was inspired and wanted to do that myself. Thus, SIS. CRUMBS is my Lisa Kron play. I’ve been a big fan of Lisa’s work for years. She’s a monologist but she experiments with the form. I read her play Well and fell in love. It was essentially a solo show with help. Like Spaudling’s work it was a story from her past that could relate to everyone. After I read that piece I knew exactly how I wanted to tell Crumbs. I won’t go into it in this post but I plan to talk more about it as we pull the show together so stay tuned.