So that's a speed date!

That speed dating thing was really pretty amazing. Meeting and talking to eleven producers in an hour was intense to say the least. I was really amazed that I had a voice left after the last pitch, but I really felt like I could keep on going; I guess that's adrenalin for you. All the producers were nice and seemed to take an interest in what I had to say, some more so than others perhaps, but that's to be expected. You really wouldn't expect someone who participates in these things to be a total ass. some gave me some good feedback: one person quizzed me about my acting experience and said that should be a bigger part of the pitch, since I have some good credits; one guy said that I set the scene for the play, which no one else had done; several asked about my view of where I thought this play could be expected to go, my first answer to this was that I didn't want to limit the play's prospects by pigeonholing it as off-off or off or whatever, but by later in the evening I was just saying that I thought off-b'way is a good fit (funny how the pitch adjusted itself as the evening went on); of course one person looked at my handout, which has pictures on every page from the play, and asked me if the picture on the cover was of me . . . well duh!

I don't know what to expect from the gathered producing brethren, but I do think it was worthwhile . . . you learn from this stuff I think and who can say what the end result may be!

I have some left over presentations so I'm gonna send them to some theaters I have connections with: Hudson Stage, Penguin Rep, Abingdon, Burning Coal, Actors Theater of Louisville to start. I think it's that good a piece. I ran it by my buddy Heather Duke, who has producing and marketing experience, and she liked it.

So now I have to finalize whatever changes I'm making to the piece and then spend June learning it so when we start rehearsing (I suppose July) it'll be solid . . . did I mention that I can't wait to do it again?

The lady I met last night who was my coach for the pitching event said she was interested in maybe coming to Woodstock to see it and asked me to be sure to give her dates and the like, she is a teacher and writer and is currently directing something at Stella Adler, so she must have some connections; even if not she was very nice, very supportive . . .

I'm taking the next ten pages or so of my hillbilly-environmental-disaster-comedy to the playwrights unit tomorrow night . . . that should be fun . . . I haven't looked at in so long it'll be like seeing it for the first time!