The Mid-America Theatre Conference will take place this spring in Minneapolis, and while I will not be able to attend, it was awesome to have my short play, "The Amazing Adventures of Not-Batman" selected as a finalist for the Playwriting Symposium's Dramatist Lab. During the conference, my play would have been workshopped and staged with a collection of other writers' scripts, and then performed in a public forum setting. A cool academic accolade for a ridiculous play about a romance novelist whose work is interrupted by her own personal superhero.
Route 66 Theatre, an energetic Chicago company dedicated to new work, selected Tin Noses as a finalist for its Test Drive Workshop for 2016. This development series is particularly excellent because Route 66 gives the playwright ample time in the rehearsal room and an audience of theatre professionals to provide feedback for the finished product. While I did not win the opportunity to have the workshop, it is a deep honor to be included on the list of finalist playwrights, especially when the company works with high caliber creatives on the regular.
Overall, I have a lot of warm fuzzies about my work right now. Playwriting may involve a lot of hustling, but there is always valuable validation waiting around the corner, and cool opportunities at every turn. Here's to more work and more cool theatre people/organizations coming into my life throughout 2016!