After the Saturday afternoon reading of 7 Sins in 60 Minutes, we held a 25-minute talkback with director Melanie Sutherland and four of the writers — Olga de la Fuente (gluttony), Anne Phelan (wrath), Cheryl L. Davis (pride) and Paula Cizmar (greed).  The audiences asked questions, including, “Will you come back next year?”  The playwrights spoke about the creative process, working collaboratively and the relevance of the 7 sins in the modern world.

The audience members raved about our New York-based talented actors — Judith Hawking, Jason Howard, Gabriel Sloyer and Karen Sours — as well as the script.

A big thank you also to Philadelphia-based actors Marla Burkholder, David Millstone, Christie Parker and Eric Rolland for reading the play on Thursday night, September 9th.  They did a fabulous job.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Philadelphia and hope to return.

Let’s say it again.  We heart Philly.  7 Sins in 60 Minutes is up and on its feet. A big heartfelt thank you to actors Annette Kafplafka, Eric Rolland, Peter Zielinski and Julianna Zinkel for being a part of our journey tonight.  And director Melanie Sutherland rocked it as well.

We’re thrilled that Philly is such a sinful city. Tonight’s performance was a standing room only affair!  We could not have asked for a better audience for the new version of our hot play.  We expect that tomorrow night’s performance is equally sizzling.

Just a reminder, there are only four more chances to see 7 Sins in 60 Minutes in Philadelphia.  We perform through September 12th: Thursday at 8:30 pm, Friday at 8:30 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm and Sunday at 5:30 pm at the Playground at the Adrienne Theater (2030 Sansom Street, just off Rittenhouse Square).

We’ve got a whole new rockin’ journey for Amadea, Dante, Mike and Willow.  Our fabulous 7 writers — Anne, Cheryl, Chisa, Melisa, Olga, Natalia, and Paula — have reimagined the seven sins, and created a dynamic new piece.  The rollercoaster from sloth to pride is barreling forward at full steam, sexier and funnier than ever.

Join us for readings of the play at the Philly Fringe September 8 – 12, Wednesday through Friday at 8:30 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm and Sunday at 5:30 pm at the Playground at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom Street, near Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia).

We’ve got fab Philadelphia-based casts lined up for Wednesday night — Annette Kaplafka, Eric Rolland, Peter Zielinski & Julianna Zinkel — and Thursday night — Marla Burkholder, David Millstone, Christie Parker & Eric Rolland.  New York-based actors Judith Hawking, Jason Howard, Gabriel Sloyer & Karen Sours will showcase their talents at the Friday through Sunday readings.

Join us.  Tickets are no charge.  Donations are graciously accepted at the door.

See you soon!

Greed in the Garden is a perfect example of the power of one, the effectiveness of grassroots fundraising.  In this case, it’s what happens when writers reach out and offer a hand to other writers.

The whole thing started when I told my friends the Rough Writers about the 7 Sins in 60 Minutes activities going on in New York—there was the Pride Cocktail Party, the performances of the play at HERE.  The Rough Writers are an organization of writers on the foggy, windy Central Coast of California.   Needless to say, it was going to be kind of tough for them to get to the 7 Sins events in NYC.

Then I ran into Sherri Bell and her husband John Bell while hiking along Moonstone Beach in Cambria.  She mentioned how bummed everyone was that they couldn’t make it to New York.  Everyone wanted to be supportive, she said….but how?  “Hey, maybe we can do a party out here,” Sherri said.  “Maybe we can do it at our place?”  And in 60 seconds, Greed in the Garden was born.

From the very beginning, it was intended to be a homegrown affair—just like Sherri and John’s garden, which is absolutely exquisite.  They do all the work themselves.  Plus we settled on homemade food.  No caterer.  Just hors d’oeuvres and desserts we could make at home.  Fortunately some of the Rough Writers are fabulous cooks—and readily volunteered.  Sherri also volunteered the services of houseguests she was expecting from Oregon and her neighbors from across the street.  What struck me throughout the event was a spirit of fun and generosity—everyone seemed to be in great moods, I think, because the party was created communally.  There was nothing stuffy or formal—it was homemade, but still fabulous.

The setting couldn’t have been more spectacular.  The Bells’ garden is just a few steps off Moonstone Beach in Cambria.  The town is a few miles south of San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle, and is considered by some to be the gateway to Big Sur, which is another hour or so up the coast.  It’s often foggy, with a light ocean breeze, and the temperature is usually in the 60s or 70s in the summer—even though right over the mountain in Paso Robles the temperature is in triple digits.

Little garden nooks along the flagstone and river-rock paths held tables of beverages, tables for food, benches, fountains, stone sculptures.  The flowers were all spectacular—Cambria gardens tend to be very natural, very wildflowery looking, not sculptured or formal.  This one had matilija poppies, which are native to California and look like wonderful inside-out cupcake wrappers with pompoms for centers.  Plus there were sweet-smelling allysum, deep-blue lobellia, cosmos, hollyhocks, bamboo, lots of heathery things and lavender.

The food was abundant—made by Sherri, her houseguests, her neighbors (she put them all to work), and other Rough Writers including Barbara Snyder, Tom Harrington, Linda Parr, Robbin Miller.  The wine, donated by Eberle Winery, was flowing. And flowing.Alice McGonigle, principle flute player for the San Luis Obispo Symphony, provided live music.    There were door prizes and the grand prize—a VIP Tour for six of the Eberle Wine Caves, complete with wine and artisanal cheese tasting, donated by the winery.

But best of all, it was a grassroots effort.  It had elements of elegance and elements of total informality.   It was no stress, and just fun.

As arts budgets shrink, maybe this is what the future of arts fundraising will be like.  If so, the good news is:  When friends get together to raise money for the creative projects of others, there’s really no better feeling.

– Paula Cizmar (Playwright, “Greed”)

As we gear up for Round 2 of 7 Sins in 60 Minutes, we look back at a few photos from our July premiere production at HERE in New York City.  Get ready Philadelphia.  Buy your tickets now here for our five performances in the Philly Fringe — September 8 through 12, 2010.

Karen Sours & Duane Cooper

Michael Rosete & Cortnie Loren Miller

Michael Rosete, Karen Sours, Duane Cooper & Cortnie Loren Miller

All photos by Joyce Liao.

That’s right. The next stop on the 7 Sins in 60 Minutes world tour is the Philly Fringe.  We will be at the Playground Theatre (2030 Sansom St.) September 8 – 12, 2010.  Performances are Wednesday through Friday at 8:30 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm and Sunday at 5:30 pm.

Tickets are only $7 (that’s $1 per sin!) and may be purchased in advance here.

Melisa Tien, one of our fabulous 7 playwrights, weighs in on writing her scene about envy:

Envy is a weird sin to write about; I mean…how do you show people being envious, and comment on it somehow, without making it all obvious and silly (“I wish I were (or had) ____” / “Me too” / “Gee we always want what we haven’t got” / End of scene)? I once saw a bit of a play that illustrated volumes about envy without the actors ever saying a word; they had props, they interacted, but never spoke, yet it was so clear what the dynamic was between them, and what the commentary was about that dynamic…I wanted to recreate that somehow with this scene, without copying what I’d seen before, and I was sort of stuck.

At first I thought it would be fun to have the actors go the exact opposite route of not speaking, and play multiple characters per actor. I figured it would be amazing and theatrical and interesting to incorporate that into what would surely be a kick-ass 7-minute scene. The problem was, introducing new characters into the penultimate scene of a 60-minute play wasn’t exactly what the dramaturg ordered. So I scrapped that idea and talked over with the director what had already been covered by the writers of the previous scenes with regard to character, theatrical devices, and story development. The more I discussed things with her, the more I realized my hands were tied pretty tight in terms of my parameters. This, as the venerable playwriting teacher Paula Vogel has often said, is a gift to a playwright.

It was easier for me to focus on what was missing, and try to fill that void, rather than try to create something brand-new and spectacular that was meant to fit neatly in between the five scenes that led up to it, and the culminating scene. Suddenly the task became simpler. Really, it was always simple, but too many choices had made it seem like an endless and unwieldy tangle of possibility. In this particular case, the possibility that turned out to be the best fit, was the one that illustrated envy through relationships between the characters. And, not wanting to make them ‘relationships’ with a capital R (with fraught histories and high drama; though there is definitely a place for that), I thought about smaller (pettier, if you will) jealousies–the kind which happen every day and which everyone can relate to. Things like the desire to be somewhere other than where you are, or someone other than who you are, or even more basic–wanting the attention of a person who isn’t giving you as much of their attention as you would like. Or even more basic, wanting a drink of someone’s ice-cold water on a really hot day. That’s how the scene starts, with this basic illustration of envy. Also, I am fascinated by the idea that ‘envy leads to progress’; that never getting what one wants drives one forward and upward. There is much to be said about the dangers of ‘too much’ envy or jealousy, and whether ultimately these emotions are a limiting factor to progress is a can of worms I’ll leave untouched for now. But in the scene, I hope it’s made clear what my stance is on the productivity of someone fueled by envy.

Less than a week after our initial run at HERE closed, two members of our 7 Sins in 60 Minutes team were nominated for New York Innovative Theatre Awards.  Here’s a shout out to playwright Cheryl L. Davis (Outstanding Short Script for The Disorder Plays) and producer Lanie Zipoy (Outstanding Musical for Caroline, or Change).  We will be rooting for you in September at the awards ceremony.

Opening Night for 7 SINS IN 60 MINUTES is just hours away!  We are thrilled to premiere this new work at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, Enter on Dominick, 1 Block South of Spring).  HERE is a terrific organization, offering thousands of artists the chance to showcase and develop innovative new work for the stage.  Thank you to Kristin, Karina, Ryan, Stacey, Jeanne and the whole HERE staff for their hard work and bringing the Summer Sublet Series to life.

Expect to see some wild dancing, exhilarating fights, and an outrageous exploration of the 7 Sins tonight.  Congrats 7 Sins team, we’re off on our journey.  First stop HERE.  Next stop Philly Fringe.  Then all points between until we reach Edinburgh in 2011!

Our lovely playwright Anne Phelan has enjoyed the development of her scene in 7 Sins in 60 Minutes.  In this post, she reveals what it’s like to work with a fight choreographer:

Last Wednesday, we got to hear 7 Sins in 60 Minutes for the first time.  Rehearsals are usually my favorite part of the writing process.  It’s always exciting to hear your words aloud for the first time.  There are always a few “oh, my God, what was I thinking?” moments, when that line that looked so great on paper sounds so bad you want to hide under your chair.  But that’s all part of it.

My second rehearsal was on Saturday, and I had an experience that I’d never had before.  For my scene (Anger), we had a professional fight choreographer, Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum.  This is an unheard of luxury for me!  I’ve written plays with punches or slaps or falls in them, but it was always a matter of the actors, and/or the director, and/or me, stumbling through working things out.  I’m not sure what to ascribe my fascination with stage violence to.  As a teenager, I did take stage combat classes, and one in graduate school.  I also spent many hours watching cartoons (Warner Brothers’ “Merrie Melodies,” and “Popeye”) and “The Three Stooges.”

When I’m writing scenes with violence or a lot of physicality in them, I have a tendency to go crazy (in one play I have a character on roller skates while she keeps a hula hoop rotating around her waist; it’s never actually been staged like that), or suck as much violence out of it as possible, so that it’s a pale imitation of what it was originally in my head.  I did not do that in this instance, because in the back of my mind, I’d hoped that Jacob would be able to do the fights. He is attuned to the sounds of fighting in a way that I’ve never seen or heard before. If you saw his work in  Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson or Sailor Man, you will know what I mean.  Jacob’s sense of humor always informs his work, so his fights are never what you’ve already seen somewhere else.

In rehearsal, I finally got to watch him work his magic.  Karen Sours and Michael Rosete didn’t hold back at all, but literally jumped right in with both feet.  Breaking fights into pieces is slow, exacting work; even more so than dance choreography, I think.  I guess I think of fight sequences as teeny one-acts in themselves:  they start one place, end somewhere else, and if they’re good, at the end you’re happily surprised at where they’ve landed.  By the end of 90 minutes, Karen and Michael were getting comfortable with putting the pieces together, and it did not take a lot of imagination to visualize what it would look like when it was performed:  violent, and funny, and totally specific to “7 Sins” and the characters.  I like having a professional around!