John Lennon’s line that “life is what happen to you while you’re busy making other plans” resonates all too strongly for most of us most of the time. Scena Theatre’s reading of my play Guilt gave me a brief and thrilling taste of the real thing. This was one of four new plays – the others being from Germany, the Czech Republic and Alaska – making up a mini-festival of readings called Rhythm & Rebellion.
It was steven Berkoff eho recommended that I approach Scena, and after only five hours of rehearsals the company produced a fully staged reading of the highest possible calibre. To this end my heartfelt thanks go out to the superb actors, Lee Ordeman, Colleen Delaney, David Bryan Jackson, Ron Litman and Danielle Davy, to dramaturg Gabriele Jakobi, to literary manager Anne Nottage and especially to director Robert McNamara, Scena’s brilliant artistic director. Thank you all for bringing your extraordinary expertise to bear on my work and for your welcoming spirit.
I must also thank the ever-obliging Frank Honacker of United Airlines for going the extra mile on my behalf. Katoomba to Washington DC and back inside six days is a rushed one, and he’s won me over to UA. Oh, and I can heartily recommend the Tabard Inn…