Happy Impending Holidays!

Well, hello! Thought you'd like to see some holiday cheer here. I haven't posted for a bit - yeah, you know what's on MY New Year's resolution list! - so I thought it was high time to get something posted.

This is the "Small World" ride at Disneyland all dressed up for Christmas. Fun! Disney also runs a 'snowfall' during their Christmastime evening fireworks. (The kids who stuck out their tongues to catch the snowflakes seemed somewhat surprised and displeased - so I have a feeling those snowflakes are actually SOAPflakes.)

Still, when the Disney lights are dimmed, and "White Christmas" plays, and when 'snow' of whatever variety starts to fall in Southern California... well, let me say it's surprisingly emotional and effective. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, folks!

Photos from "Twisted Love"

Here are two photos from Tira Palmquist's lovely and smart production of "Twisted Love: A Board Game Menage a Trois" at Hunger Artists Theatre in Fullerton, CA. Pictured: Tyler Seiple as "Husband" and Jennice Butler as "Wife." In the photo on the right, that's the knee of Alison Plott as "Mistress." Tira herself (unseen) played "Mother-in-Law." They were a fantastic and fantastically game cast.

Boy, it was great (though I hear there's an actor conflict and my show isn't being performed tonight, Friday, 11/21 - just in case you were going down to see it). But the whole festival is pretty terrific and definitely worth seeing - shows run through Sunday.

The play, by the way, is performed on a Twister board. Each of the 20 circles on the board corresponds to a different line of text. Therefore the 'playing' of the play is determined by a spin of the spinner - each actor, speaking in turn, gets to choose which of the 2 other characters to say the line to as their bodies intertwine. The piece is over when someone trips, falls and 'dies' - and the other two remaining actors make out passionately over the corpse. So it's got a different combination and set of text every time it's played. Fun!

I originally wrote "Twisted Love" for a "postcard play" competition for the journal "Play: A Journal of Plays" - whose only stipulation was that each piece had to fit entirely on a postcard. My play was accepted, published, and performed in Seattle back in 2007. Click on the following link to buy copies of the postcard play collection.

"Twisted Love" at Hunger Artists...

...was terrific, by the way! What a great night of theater. More later.

Oh, and I have a new post up at Extra Criticum about my 365 plays in 365 days project from last year (as inspired by playwright/rock star/goddess Suzan-Lori Parks).

And then at some point I'm going to blog about NaNoWriMo, aka: National Novel Writing Month - because for some reason I can't fathom, I decided I just didn't have enough to do, and it would be a DANDY idea to write a NOVEL THIS MONTH.

Play tonight

Heading up tonight to see the show in Fullerton, CA at the "Beyond Convention" Festival. I'm excited, because I've never seen this particular play performed (though it was produced once before in Seattle). This one's called "Twisted Love: A Board Game Manage a Trois" and it's to be performed on a Twister Board. Can't wait! I'll blog about it at the Extra Criticum site and here later.

Reboot!

Haven't posted for awhile... but I am still alive and well and living in CA. (See gorgeous photo of mountains, below.) I'm going to post more in the near future, and I even have plans of (gasp!) redesigning this site.

My big news is this: I'm now officially a TV writer! Just before the end of my Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship, I was offered a staff writing job on Nick's hit show "The Fairly OddParents," as well as on "OddParents" creator Butch Hartman's new animated pilot. The work is a BLAST! Three of my scripts are on the schedule for broadcast in the show's 7th season (airdates still TBD).

Some cool stuff is happening with my plays, too: last month the Dramatists Guild Magazine published a profile on my journey between the worlds of theater and TV. My play "Twisted Love" is going on in Fullerton, CA, Nov 14-23 as part of the Hunger Artists Theatre Company's Beyond Convention Festival ...

...and my one-act "Women Behind the Bush" is about to be published in the "Best of En Avant Playwrights" anthology by United Stages. (If you're in NYC, please join us for the playreading and book signing at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble, 3-5 PM on Nov. 23.)

Oh, and please check out my website, featuring upcoming events and excerpts from my work: edvalentine.com. I'm also blogging about theater at the site Extra Criticum, so please check that out, too, when you have a chance!

Best to you, and thanks for stopping by!

Novemberishly,
Ed

PS: I love comments! Please send 'em.

My view...

This is a picture from my window in Burbank. I love having a view of the mountains!

Greetings!

Hi, I'm Ed Valentine - and welcome to my blog! I've finally decided to join the 21st century and am hereby launching the blog, my website, AND my Facebook profile as of today, October 1, 2008.

Sure, you're thinking: blog blog bloggity blog. Yak yak yakkity yak. Just what the world needs: my thoughts direct from my brainstem to yours. Well here they are. Enjoy 'em!

FYI, my website is edvalentine.com. You can go there to learn about me, read some of my work, see some photos, and generally find out what makes me tick.

I Hope you'll come back often to check out what's going on! I'm excited for this adventure.

- Ed