Going, Going, Gone (Viral)

My play opens tonight! It's probably more accurate to say that the Long Island City One Act Festival opens tonight, of which my play is a small part, but just allow me this, would you?

The director and cast are as follows:

Directed by . Max Hunter
Parent 1 . . . . Mia Jessup
Parent 2 . . .  Joanna Carpenter
Daughter . . . Rebecca Gray Davis

They all appear to be talented and accomplished folk. I can't wait to see what they do with it!

You can find more information about the Secret Theater and (discounted!) tickets here.

World premiere of Going Viral

Twice is a trend! I'm excited to announce that another ten-minute play I wrote, Going Viral, will have its world premiere this January at Secret Theatre's Long Island City (LIC) One Act Festival.

(That's New York! People in New York will be reading aloud the things I wrote!)

An earlier, much shorter version of this play appears in my 31 Plays in 31 Days effort. You can read it there. Or don't... and be surprised when you see it!

"When can I see it?" you ask? Well! My play will be part of "Cycle A" at this year's LIC One Act Fest, which means you can catch it at the following times:

Thursday, 16 January, 8:00pm
Sunday, 19 January, 8:00pm
Friday, 24 January, 8:00pm
Saturday, 25 January, 2:00pm

The semi-finals and finals run 30 January to 1 February, should my play make it that far. But let's not get ahead of ourselves! 

You can learn more about the Secret Theatre here. And if you're an actor in New York and want to audition for the festival, they're being held Saturday, 14 December, from 10am to 2pm. Learn more here!

The Other Otter

Just a quick post to say that The Other Otter, a newish daily humor website, has published two of my 31 Plays in 31 Days pieces:

Evolution, Kind Of

The Winning Play

Very exciting! Keep your eye on these guys—there's some funny stuff in there.

31 Plays in 31 Days

Daunting challenge? Near-impossible goal?  

...Or greatest idea ever? 

I'll be participating in this year's 31 Plays in 31 Days challenge and posting my results in the Download section of this site.

Or just click here and, magically, you will be transported. 

Who else is in? C'mon, I need peer pressure to keep me honest.

Second Interview

My first professionally produced ten-minute play, The Interview, gains a second life this July at the third annual Hovey Summer Shorts Festival! This time it's directed by Edmund W. Golaski and, unlike the Bridge Rep of Boston production, will be a complete surprise to me, since I likely won't be attending any of the rehearsals. Very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with! The shows run 8pm July 12th, 13th, 19th, and 20th at Hovey Players (9 Spring St., Waltham, MA). Tickets are $15, and you can reserve one by emailing reservations@hoveyplayers.com or calling 781-893-9171. 

 

"Brandon M. Crose, Playwright" has a great ring to it...

Some of my thoughts on The Interview's production process were featured in Bridge Rep's latest newsletter: check it out here.

Reflecting on The Interview

Just a quick post to say that I posted a reflection piece about attending the world premiere of my short play, The Interview, at my blog-like site The Unwritten Word.

It was a great day.​ One of the best.

More promotional love for The Interview

Olivia D'Ambrosio, Producing Artist at Bridge Rep of Boston (and also director for the Boston Theater Marathon performance of my short play), has really been knocking it out of the park with these promotional images. ​

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Am I biased because my name is at the top and my words are at the bottom? Possibly. Let's look at another to be sure.​

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Nope. They're just awesome.​

​I attended another rehearsal last night and was blown away at how much nuance the actors and director were able to layer in since just Monday. It's really coming together, and Olivia, Deb, and Adam deserve so much praise for their complete commitment to my little play. I cannot wait to see the final version this Sunday at 2pm!

The Interview: First rehearsal

My god, that graphic. Would you look at that graphic? Beautiful. ​

Navel-gazing aside, I met Deborah Martin and Adam Lauver (the INTERVIEWER and INTERVIEWEE, respectively) last night while witnessing? presiding over? whatever it is a playwright does during a rehearsal of his or her play. Mostly what I did was watch and listen, and I'm so glad I did.

You guys, they were so good. ​As written, I think the play has some really funny moments and a bit of heart. As performed by them last night, it was actually hilarious and even poignant. The choices they were making were so, so funny. They found moments to play with that, in my mind, were just words on their way to an entirely different moment. By Thursday (the final rehearsal) I have every confidence that they will have elevated the material far above anything I could have imagined.

Which is exactly what I had hoped for. The play is written in a way that Olivia, the director, calls "actor-friendly." I didn't include many stage directions because I wanted to give the actors and director a lot of room to ​explore. Even in the casting of it, either role could be male or female. This is why I love theater—the script is only the first piece of the play. It's what everyone does with the script that makes it a play. 

And if I can say so (this website has my name on it, so I guess I can), it's going to be a great play. Tickets for this Sunday's Boston Theater Marathon can be purchased here!

Bridge Rep of Boston

​I got word yesterday that the Bridge Reparatory Theater of Boston has selected my ten-minute play The Interview to produce for this year's Boston Theater Marathon. They're a new company with a lot of promise—their production of Harold Pinter's The Lover was impressively well reviewed. 

​Tonight I met with Bridge Rep's producing artist (and director of my play) Olivia D'Ambrosio to discuss tone, scheduling, and dodge ball. She has exactly the collaborative approach to directing I was hoping for, and I can't wait to see what she and the actors bring to my play!

World premiere of The Interview

Some light braggadocio, if you'll permit me: A ten-minute play I wrote (The Interview) will be appearing both in this May's Boston Theater Marathon and this July's Hovey Summer Shorts Festival.

I really cannot overstate what an accomplishment this is for me. For more years than I am prepared to admit, it has been a major goal of mine to get something I had written included in the Boston Theater Marathon. And to that end, I wrote a decently okay play during my senior year of college and slavishly tweaked, submitted, retweaked, and resubmitted that same thing several times, each time receiving the flattering rejection note. (I guess I'm assuming that there is a less effusive version of that letter. Maybe all their rejections are flattering...)

The truth is, I don't really know what that play was about. It was called Dating Athena—smarmy business guy has several bad dates with the Greek goddess. It had an ambiguous ending I thought to be "theatrical" but did not mean anything to me. I just wanted to see my work on stage. Any work. 

The Interview does mean something to me... and in fact, I was worried that it was in some ways too literal, too earnest. But that's my style, and if the work feels disingenuous to me it'll show to others. Thanks in large part to my blog, I'm learning to be less precious and more direct with my writing, and I think that's why this particular play is responding with people: I've stopped trying to be clever and started trying to be me.

I can't wait to see what the directors and actors of each production bring to it.

Welcome to brandoncrose.com!

I've been meaning to create a portfolio-type website for some time.

This is that site!

I'm an author, editor, and playwright; you can follow the links to see some of the projects I've worked on.​

​This site is still under construction to some extent. I might decide to get fancy with fonts. Feedback is more than welcome!