Sunday, March 27, 2011

A Year Without Cookies - Week 12

(I am not responsible for the one missing off the cookie rack, I swear!)

Omigosh, it is almost April! How did that happen? Clearly the weather in New York was caught by surprise as well, since it is still effing freezing! Next week will mark 3 months without cookies or soda. That makes me a quarter way through to my goal of a year! It also means 2011 is 25% over with already. Scary, no?

As I enter Tech week with The Timing of a Day , it's really hard not to turn to cookies for a stress release. Everything is going along just fine, but the desire for a few dozen cookies to help take the edge off of waiting for people to buy tickets is practically undeniable.

I had my most convincing dream about drinking soda this week too. In it, I was in my apartment drinking coke out of a plastic cup, and had that same thought of "oh! how could i forget I wasn't supposed to do this?" that I usually do, but this tie I really believed it. I was so sure it actually happened when I woke up, I only became convinced it was just in my head when I realized I had no plastic cups in the house in the style of the ones in my dream. Nice attention to detail, Sub-Conscious! Try a little harder when you're aiming for realism!

So next week will have the spooky coincidences of being week THIRTEEN, which falls on April Fool's Day and is also opening night of my show. And my girl scout cookie order should arrive Wednesday when Dad comes in to town to visit. Should be some crazy exciting energy next week! Can't wait to see how it goes!

Friday, March 18, 2011

A Year Without Cookies - Week 11

(On Thin Ice!)

Ahh, Elvensies. Here we go. A lucky 77 days without cookies and soda. I am still doing good with denying myself my sweetest of snacks. That I have somehow surrounded myself with them, possibly just to up the torture, is a situation that... really I have no one to blame but myself.

So my dad sent me girl scout cookies and I haven't been able to get them eaten at rehearsal fast enough, so here they sit. I have bottles of soda left over from a party back in February, so here they sit. The biggest temptation by far is an open box of thin mints. I'm not sure what it is about these little buggers but they make my defenses almost completely melt away... like a dark delicious thin mint on a warm Spring day... Perhaps the problem is that they don't really look like cookies in my mind. But small round discs made of chocolate. They aren't your standard chocolate chip cookie coloring, which my brain knows to immediately identify and avoid. Thin mints are much trickier.

Still, I gotta raise my game. Since rehearsals for the show are getting longer and more frequent, the time in my schedule for the gym right now is less and less. Can't fall back on old habits now. New week will be a dozen consecutive weeks without cookies and soda! Woohoo!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

A Year Without Cookies - Week 10

(This cookie's future is so bright, it's gotta wear shades.)

My schedule has been crazed due to prep for timing of a day, but I just wanted to let you know that I have celebrated double digit weeks without cookies or soda. Double Digits! A milestone most definitely. Unfortunately, I am now living with both soda AND cookies in my apartment. My dad sent me a bunch of random boxes of girl scout cookies in the mail. They are not the ones I ordered from my niece. They are just random cookies. Papa is not internet savvy, and has long forgotten that I ever started this no cookie quest. I try to bring these cookies to rehearsals so the actors will eat them. All actors love free food. Trust. Still it feels like I can't get rid of them fast enough.

As the play approaches my general stress level rises. Things are going great, but it's just a naturally anxiously excited time. Generally, at times like this, I want to take comfort in cookies. But I'm not going to do that this time. No matter how hard it gets. But man, inhaling a roll of thin mints would certainly take the edge off right about now...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Get your 5-7-5 on! Win Free Tickets to see The Timing of a Day via Haiku!!

(You've got the write stuff, baby.)

Hey Everybody! To celebrate the upcoming extension of my play, The Timing of a Day, Mind The Art Entertainment is sponsoring a haiku contest. It's free, and the winner gets four tickets to The Timing of a Day or any other upcoming MTAE production. The winning haiku will be included in the program for The Timing of a Day, and the winning haiku and three honorable mentions will be published on Mind The Art Entertainment’s website....

How to enter:

Write a haiku about living with someone. A haiku is composed of three lines: the first consisting of five syllables, the second consisting of seven syllables, and the third consisting of five syllables.

Email submissions to: Keelie.A.Sheridan@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on Friday, March 11th. Our panel of judges will select the Top Twenty Semi-Finalists, which will be posted on Monday, March 14th on Mind The Art Entertainment’s Facebook page. Public voting will take place through 11:59pm on Friday, March 18th. The five haikus with the most “likes” on our Facebook page will advance to the finals, and the winner will be selected by our judges and announced on Monday, March 21st.

It's that simple! Write a haiku to win free tickets to a Mind The Art Entertainment production!


And even if you don't think yourself a poet, don't forget to come see The Timing of a Day...

Written by Owen Panettieri
Directed By Joey Brenneman

Starring Justin Anselmi, Miguel Govea, Nik Kourtis, and R. Elizabeth Woodard


Performances April 1-17, 2011 at Center Stage, NY (48 W. 21st St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10010)

Wednesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm


Purchase tickets at www.MindTheArtEntertainment.com/Tickets.html

Saturday, March 5, 2011

FIFTEEN: The Most Amazing Show Ever - Episode VIII Recap

(Cindy and Olaf try to convince the zipperheads at Hillside that caring about the environment is important. 20 years later, we STILL can't convince some elected officials Climate Change is real. I feel you, Cindy.)

Last time, on FIFTEEN: Courtney was afraid Brooke was making moves on Dylan, but Brooke assured her it wasn't true. LIAR! Ashley tried to explain to Matt he was a teenage alcoholic, but he wouldn't listen. ADDICT! Brooke gave Dylan a music box even though it's not his birthday. PSYCHO! Theresa called Brooke out on her phony antics with Dylan. POSER! Kelly and Brooke said bad things about Olaf in front of Billy. HATERS! Drunk Matt got in a fight with Dylan at school and threatened to take his head off. TOOL! All in all your average episode of Fifteen.

Episode 8: Lean on Me

Opening Credits: Lean on me. When you're not strong. And I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on! I can't imagine any of these characters acting like a rock for anyone else. They're all way to self-involved to be there for a friend in need. We'll see what happens.

(Perhaps my favorite Hillside wall hanging ever. Cindy puts it up over an existing wall display. That's ballsy.)

Hillside - Main Hall. Cindy is back! She is hanging up little signs that say "If you love the planet. THINK." They are printed on light green paper. They are not impressive. I used to poster for WesWELL the health education center at Wesleyan, and we would never have put up such shoddy signs to raise awareness. Courtney walks by and is kinda like "Good morning, Cindy!" and Cindy is kinda like "What's so good about it? The earth is being destroyed!!! Hey, do you wanna help put up these poster with me?" Cindy looks mighty crazy right now. Courtney declines getting mixed up in her drama in order to finish some homework. Cindy's like "FINE. It's only the planet that's at STAKE!!!" Then she stomps off. This was not her best scene.

(Ashely is falling apart... Jake is maintaining. Is that regular milk they are drinking with straws, or milkshakes? I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say milkshakes.)

Avalon - Loser's Table. Ashley and Jake discuss Matt's latest blow up. They are both drinking vanilla milkshakes! Jake tries to rationalize Matt's behavior, but Ashley's over it. Matt's just being a total jerky drunko. Ashley starts to blame herself for being too busy with after school stuff to pay attention to Matt. They talk and talk and talk. Their scenes together are so boring. What it boils down to is that Jake is gonna try to talk to Matt about his drinking and Ashley acknowledges that she is slowly falling apart under the stress of having an alkie for a boyfriend. She hasn't done homework in four days, because she is so torn up about Matt. She says the worst part is that she can't talk to anyone about it. Jake agrees they have to keep it between themselves which indicates to me someone else is gonna find out about it VERY soon.

Hillside - Student Lounge. Courtney continues to do her homework, while Dylan walks in. He's neither wearing his denim jacket nor his leather one, so he must be in "Sensitive Regular Joe" mode. He walks over to Courtney who gives him the cold shoulder. He's all, "what's your problem?" She's all, "what's YOUR problem? I thought our kiss meant something!" It didn't. Dylan's all, "Who said it didn't mean anything?" The universe. They get in a fight about his feelings for Brooke, and Dylan just explains that Fake Terry is in the picture so it doesn't matter anyway, which is basically him admitting that he does, in fact, like Brooke. Courtney misinterprets this though. Of course she does! She starts to think that there is a chance with her and Dylan after all. This girl needs professional help.

(Courtney goes through the reasons Dylan obvs doesn't like her. Let her count the ways!)

Billy comes over as they are still bickering. Dylan leaves, telling Billy his sister is crazy. Billy utters what is to become one of the Go To responses in Fifteen-speak : Did I just miss something here? She claims he didn't and that Dylan is just being nutso. Pot, Kettle, Black. Courtney asks how Billy's doing living in exile with their father. Billy hates it, but mentions that he'll be back with them next weekend when Billy's dad goes away on business. Courtney offers that instead of him going back to their house, she should go stay with him at the apartment and they could throw a big party there without their parents knowing. Billy's not keen on the idea, but Matt overhears them and starts telling everyone about the big unchaperoned party at Billy's dad's place next Friday. So it's on. I'm sure a dozen huge disasters will happen there! Hooray!

(I am sick and tired of Matt being sick and tired of being HASSLED!)

Boy's Locker room. Matt and Jake talk about nothing. Blah blah blah. Matt and Jake discuss billy's upcoming party. Blah blah blah. Jake brings up beer and Matt's like "Beer? I love beer! Yes to beer!" and Jake's like "Or maybe no to beer?" And Matt's like "WHAAAAAT?" Then it VERY SLOWLY dawns on him that since Jake and Ashley are talking to him about the same thing, they must be talking about it to each other - behind his back! Jake tries to get him to face the truth about him being hooked on hooch, but Matt claims to know what he's doing and wants them to get off his back! He exits in a huff and Jake is so upset about how poorly that went that he tries to slam his locker shut. Twice. And he fails at doing so. Twice.

Main Hall. Matt runs into Brooke on the stairs. She's all "Hey, I haven't seen you around much since I tried to break up your relationship a couple days ago!" He's all "yeah, I've been busy drinkin'." They discuss how awesome trashing Billy's Dad's apartment is gonna be next Friday. Then Cindy wanders over, her hands full of loose leaf paper and she's shouting angry Leftist Green Peace propaganda. Ugh, why is she acting so crazy this episode? It's like the director said, "You need to be crazier or your fired." Which maybe is what happened. Anyway, Matt's like "what's the big deal with throwing out paper?" And Cindy starts to become level-headed again and says they should recycle it. She also wants the cafeteria to stop serving tuna because tune are caught in drift nets that kill dolphins. Matt and Brooke ridicule her ideas because they are heartless assholes. They don't even have the decency to silently indulge her until she walks away.

(Cindy freaks out to Matt and Brooke over the plot holes in this week's script.)

Olaf steps into the fray, sincere and rational as always, trying to explain how inhumane drift nets can be, but his presence just sends Matt and Brooke into more of a tizzy. They cackle at each other about it and wander off. See? These two really should be dating. They are perfect for each other. Cindy laments to Olaf how much all the kids around them are self-centered and shallow. Billy watches this whole scene play out, and you can tell by his facial expression he's started to think, "Is my friend Olaf really seen as a loser?" No, Billy! It's those other kids who are losers! Don't get it confused! You've only got five episodes left with Olaf. Don't waste them being estranged!

Main Hall...? Ashley's Locker? Courtney and Ashley are talking at her Ashely's locker but it's nowhere near everything that just happened with Cindy and Olaf, so I don't know where in the school they are supposed to be right now. Courtney is going on and on about the upcoming party, and how awesome it was that Dylan said two syllables to her that morning, and how maybe that means he really DOES like her. Ashley barely takes the time to bite off the shortest of replies. She looks super-troubled. Courtney takes no notice, but let's us know that the party is the same day as Dylan's concert, which means that episode should be filled to the brim with colossal disappointments. Ashely's all "yeah, sure, whatever. I'm dying inside from the secrets I keep." Courtney finally notices something is wrong with Ashley. Ashley bites her lip and says she's fine. Courtney's search for the truth ends there.

(Dylan and Brooke lounge under an Allan Teger print. I googled him and came up with this awesome site as well: http://www.bodyscapes.com Maybe NSFW!)

Avalon - Pinball Wizard Room. Dylan is writing lyrics alone. Brooke enters and finds him there. She tries to be all flirty. Dylan gives her the cold shoulder, still pissed off about Fake Terry. Brooke intrudes on his space and asks if he's going to the party. Dylan claims not to have thought about it. Brooke tells him she broke up with Fake Terry and that she'll be going alone... unless someone else offers to take her. Dylan's all "are you inviting me to ask to you to the party?" And Brooke thinks that's as good as an actual invitation so she declares that she would love to go to Courtney's party with Dylan. Dylan's all "that's weird," But he'll go along with it because he's fifteen and if a girl's gonna throw herself at him that hard he'll make out with her. I mean, why not?

Hillside, Main Hall - Ahh, here comes why not. Dylan's walking down the hall when he's intercepted by Courtney who we can only assume has been on stake out for the last hour waiting for Dylan to appear. He immediately looks guilty over his "date" with Brooke. Courtney tries to apologize for her coldness earlier in the day, but Dylan tells her to forget about it. She asks Dylan if he's heard about the party, and yeah he thinks he heard something about it. She invites him to party. And she wants him to know that he's really invited. Like there's a party going on in Courtney's gigantor navy blue burlap skirt and ONLY Dylan is invited. He gets super uncomfortable and kinda just runs away. Both Courtney and I think that could've gone a lot better than it did.

(Talking to Dylan sends Courtney to Dreamland, but Brooke's about to offer her a rude awakening.)

The scene doesn't stop though. Courtney wanders a few steps away and Brooke is there. And she's all "talking to Dylan, eh? That's cute." And Courtney is all "yeah, i invited him to my party. he didn't say he'd come, but maybe..." And Brooke is super excited as she tells Courtney, "Oh, he'll be there. He's coming with ME." Courtney almost falls to the ground, her world is rocked so hard. Brooke's like, "Oh! I TOTALLY forgot you had that stupid schoolgirl crush on him. Well, I hope we can all still have a great time at your party!" Courtney is PISSED, but Brooke is prettier than she is, so what can she do? All she can do is storm off silently.

The scene STILL doesn't end. Billy runs into Courtney, but she shrugs him off and he goes and stands by where Brooke is sitting. He asks if something's wrong with Courtney, but Brooke says he'll have to check with his sister. Then she points out that his geeky friend Olaf is sitting in the corner waiting for him, and she slinks away to ruin more lives somewhere else.

(Billy's so afraid to be seen with Olaf now he's even trying to avoid my screen capture of their conversation.)

This next scene is too painful to recap. Basically, Billy dumps Olaf as a friend. Olaf is really hurt and Billy seems to hate himself for doing it, but the cool kids have spoken. Billy is powerless against the strength of all that peer pressure. So sad!!

Avalon - Loser's Table. Courtney pours her heart out to Jake about Dylan asking Brooke to her party. They're not even drinking Milkshakes which makes this scene even worse than it has to be. Courtney tells Jake that Dylan is a total jerk. Jake thinks this is a good thing for Courtney to find out so that she can just forget about him. But Courtney's far too obsessed for that to happen. Even if Dylan is a total jerk that simply means she's IN LOVE with a total jerk. Jake's like "oh, bloody hell! gimme a break already!" Courtney tells him that what he doesn't understand is that guys don't like girls like Courtney, so if one even shows the slightest sign they might be interested, she has to cling to that hope for the rest of her life and never let go. Who else is gonna like her? Jake is all "Me. I do!" Courtney refuses to hear what he is clearly saying. She tells him that he is a friend and will always be just a friend and nothing will change that, nor will his feelings ever matter. Jake tries to explain again, but Courtney wants to go take a walk by herself and maybe run into Dylan. Or an oncoming bus. Whichever comes first. Jake sits there super-frustrated.

("A Toad Croaking", Sketches by Jake, 1990.)

Cindy comes over to him and asks how he's doing and about what's bugging Courtney. Jake's like "eh... she's fine." Well, Cindy's not fine. She goes off on what a bunch of assholes (that's my word, not hers. She calls them "zipperheads.") they go to school with who don't care about the environment. Jake heard about the scene at lunch and feels bad for her. Cindy says the people who do care need to start sticking up for what they believe in. I cannot wait for the Hillside Environmental Task Force! Cindy notices what Jake has been sketching and tells him it's very good. We see that it's a picture of a toad. Or possibly a portrait of Courtney. You decide. Then she offers one criticism: he's not using recycled paper. It's a joke though and they both laugh at themselves. I'm glad Cindy has gone back to being non-psycho again in less than an episode's time.

Dylan's Garage Band. This scene is excruciatingly slow. Billy asks Dylan what he thinks about his sister and Dylan calls her "a good kid." So clearly he's over any romantic feeling for her despite their kiss. Billy is disappointed for her, and then Dylan asks him to leave so he can work on a song in private. On his way out, Dylan asks Billy to turn in a math assignment for him tomorrow morning since he's planning to skip class, but he has to get the assignment in anyways. Dylan tells him twice not to forget, so we can be certain Billy will forget to complete this task. Right before he goes Billy asks if Dylan's dating Brooke, and he admits that he sorta is. Billy reminds him that several episodes ago Dylan called women like Brooke nothin' but trouble. Dylan says that they are, but only if you get hung up on them. With that Billy finally leaves.

(Witness a major plot point for the second half of the season taking place!)

Avalon - Pinball Wizard Room. Matt and Ashley rehash all the problems in their relationship with no forward momentum. Nothing new to see here, folks!

Dylan's Garage Band. Brooke has shown up as we knew she would. She doesn't like the idea of Dylan not going to school the next day. Skipping classes is gonna get his concert taking away and then Brooke will have no use for him. They do a little verbal sparring back and forth. They each have a way of saying things without committing to anything which is kind of amusing. Finally Dylan addresses the rumors that they've started dating. Brooke knows she's got him trapped now. She dials the flirting up to 11, and Dylan puts his effing guitar down finally and goes over and makes out with her. Then he says he's crazy for getting involved with Brooke. Getting hung up on her, a guy could get torn up pretty good. Brooke flashes him a wicked smile and suggests he live dangerously. Sounds good to Dylan. It is ON!!

(Dylan compares Brooke to a kiss from a rose on the grave. Ooh, the more he gets of her, stranger it feels, yeah!)

The episode is over and I'm pretty sure nobody was leaned on. Some people got stepped on, for sure. But I saw no real leaning. Not cool, Show. False advertising.

Next time, on Fifteen: Brooke decides to run for Student Council President. Kelly cannot BELIEVE this shit! Billy tells Olaf he's not invited to The Party. Brooke breaks up with Dylan in front of a packed house at the Avalon. Billy forgets to hand in the Math assignment and Dylan's concert is canceled. DRAMA!!!!!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 9

(A cookie by any other name would smell as sweet.)


"When is a cookie not a cookie?"


This is the question I kept posing to myself this week. The kitchen at the office was stocked with delicious-looking milano cookies. I wanted to stuff my face with them. Milanos are only 180 calories 10 grams of fat, and 11 grams of sugars for a 3 cookie serving size.But who can be expecting to eat just three cookies? Maybe 3 cookies per handful as you've cramming them into your mouth, but a serving is closer to three bags than it is three cookies. I had to stay away from them. I thought maybe if I called them something other than cookies I could get away with it. You know like fig newtons are fruit and cake? Maybe Milanos were just chocolate and... vanilla wafer? But it says "cookies" right on the packaging, so I couldn't get around it. Also later in the week a co-worker offered me a piece of a giant chocolate chip cookie and I was like "well, it's not the WHOLE cookie... i could just break off a piece of that cookie that would be normal cookie size and still only qualify as a TASTE of cookie. But I didn't do it. I remain cookie and soda free. My inner strength is a staggering achievement.

The dreams about soda have returned. I thought I was over this after a few weeks of not having them, but then I started dreaming about root beer again. It's so disorienting! I feel like I can taste the sweetness in my dreams, and then when I wake up I really have to convince myself i have not wandered to my fridge in the middle of the night and started drinking the soda left over from my Runaways party straight from the bottle. Soda levels in the bottle indicate I have not actually done this. Thank goodness. I do not want to become a sleepdrinker.

Next week we enter double digits! I'm so excited for this. I don't even know why. But I'll see you there!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Tickets for The Timing of a Day - ON SALE NOW!

(Nik Kourtis, R. Elizabeth Woodard, Justin Anselmi and Miguel Govea are coming at you in The Timing of A Day this spring at Center Stage, NY!)

Whattup, Blogosphere?

I'm very excited to tell you that my play "The Timing of a Day" is returning to the NYC stage at the end of this month and tickets are now on sale!! I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to bring the show back after our successful FringeNYC run this summer. I've got lots of info for you. We officially open on Friday April 1, 2011 and run for 16 performances. Tickets are $18 General Admission in advance. $20 at the door. All those good details are listed below.

But to kick off this latest run of the show, tickets are also now being sold for The Timing of A Day Gala Benefit Performance on Wednesday March 30th 2011 at 8pm. Ticket price includes seeing the exclusive premiere performance of the show at Center Stage, NY on 3/30/11, followed directly by a talk back with the cast and creative team (including me!), and a complimentary wine reception afterward at the theater. Tickets for the Gala event are $100 a seat and are tax-deductible and can be purchased at https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/253

If you can’t make the Gala performance, but want to make a tax-deductible donation in exchange for fantastic gifts and my undying love, you can do so here: http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Timing-of-a-Day

Help us spread the word. Like our The Timing of a Day fan page on Facebook for lots of cool updates including cast pictures, news, reviews and more! So many people are working so hard to make this run of the show amazing, and you won't want to miss it!

Mind The Art Entertainment Presents
In Association with Intimation Productions

WINNER! – Outstanding New Play – Talkin’ Broadway,
Summer Festival Season 2010

WINNER! – Overall Excellence in Ensemble, FringeNYC 2010

The Timing of a Day
Written by Owen Panettieri
Directed by Joey Brenneman

Starring: Justin Anselmi, Miguel Govea, Nik Kourtis
and R. Elizabeth Woodard

April 1st - April 17th 2011
Center Stage, NY
48 W.21st St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10010

Performance times are Wednesdays-Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays 3pm.
Tickets are $18 in advance or $20 at the door; $13 for Students and Seniors.

To purchase Regular Tickets online, go to:
www.MindTheArtEntertainment.com/tickets.html

To get tax-deductible GALA TICKETS for Wednesday 3/30 online, Go To: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/253

To make a general tax-deductible donation and get the goods, go to:
http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Timing-of-a-Day