Walking into Paula Cizmar's Los Angeles home is a wonderful experience. The expansive, lived-in rooms are open and cheery, much like Paula herself. Bruno, her great beast of a yellow lab, tail thumping, body wriggling with introduction, approves me then settles on the floor looking regal. Paula and I relax into conversation. (more...)


	THE DIRECTOR AS STORYTELLER It is always fun talking with director, Daniele Suissa. She is lively, talented and dedicated and I love her French accent. In her Director's Studio workshop, she has created a place where directors can continually hone the craft of their art. And where writers, and actors can learn how to work with directors before they find themselves on a set. (more...)



	Last year, I had the opportunity to spend a month in Australia. Jenny Jones, an Australian friend of mine from Melbourne, was gracious enough to go with me to Tasmania. We loaded up her car and took the "Spirit of Tasmania" car ferry across the Southern Ocean and Bass Strait to Davenport, Tasmania. (more...)

Actor's Equity Association
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The Actor Source Homepage
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American Theatre Resources
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For actors who live and work in and around Los Angeles:
www.actorsite.com

This is a great site on intellectual property law:
www.intelproplaw.com

Publishing & Theatre Law
http://copylaw.com/aboutus.html

The Dramatists Guild of America
www.dramaguild.com

Thank you one and all for your continued support!

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"The Pen is a Mighty Sword" New Play Competition Announces Winners

First Prize
GRAY AREA
By John Ahlin, New York, NY
The North meets the South in a wonderfully funny, provocative, modern-day clash between rivals who have never met one another outside the realm of comfortable, predictable, stereotyped thinking. In the verbal fisticuffs and physical hijinks that ensue, reality blurs as neat categories crumble under the weight of human contact.

Second Prize
IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE WITH ELVIS
By Kato McNickle, Groton, CT
A young girl comes to terms with her father1' madness as she goes on a quest "In Search of a Better Life with Elvis." The voice of Africa has called Jezzie to Memphis, but she thinks the voice meant Tennessee when it really meant Egypt. So Jezzie steals her mother's Honda and her father1's ashes and sets off on a mission to learn to play guitar so she can lay her father to rest in Memphis by giving him a gift of his favorite Elvis song. Only trouble is she has no money, no friends, no intention of singing, and she wasn't listening when the voice said "Egypt".

Third Prize
N
By Laura Harrington, Gloucester, MA
It is 1815 and Napoleon is in his final exile on St. Helena. As he caroms between the colliding realities of his new jailers and old retainers, he enters a strange new world where nothing is quite what it seems. Torn between power and its loss, history and memory, the ghost of Joan of Arc falling through the ceiling and an omnipresent chorus of sardonic rats, he becomes the pivot point for a vividly theatrical and darkly comic meditation on the nature and perils of greatness.

Honorable Mention (In Alphabetical Order by Author)

TREASON
By Sallie Bingham, Santa Fe, NM

THE JACARANDA TREE
By Alex Broun, Petersham, NSW, Australia

HOME/OFFICE
By Joshua Faigen, Newburyport, MA

SUS MANOS
By Lauren Gunderson, Decatur, GA

THRUWAY DIARIES
By Samuel L. Kelley, Cortland, NY

GREEN MAN
By Jim Knable, New York, NY

THE SEA KING
By Dean Purvis, Los Angeles, CA

We were pleasantly astonished by the overall quality of the scripts we received.

We urge you all to continue the fine work you are doing and we very much look forward to hearing from you again.

Over the weeks to come we will be adding more information on venues, dates and locations for this years winners as well as submission information for next year's competition.

Thank you for participating and best of luck in all your efforts.

Whit Andrews Literary Manager
Kim Terrell Artistic Director

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Los Angeles Playwright Paula Cizmar Speaks Out

Walking into Paula Cizmar's Los Angeles home is a wonderful experience. The expansive, live--in rooms are open and cheery, much like Paula herself. Bruno, her great beast of a yellow lab, tail thumping, body wriggling with introduction, approves me then settles on the floor looking regal. Paula and I relax into conversation.

Being a writer myself, I always want to know why people write so that's the first thing I ask Paula.

She smiles briefly, "It's the worst addiction on the planet. Writing is the most addictive substance I can think of. I write because I have no choice. Certainly there are easier ways to make a living but this is the only one that satisfies me." She's quiet for a moment then ads, "It may not seem like it, but I'm shy. Often I don't say things out loud, I write them. I might be silent, but I don't like to be shut-up, so I write. I can get away with writing things that I wouldn't get away with in conversation."

I ask her about writing for the theatre. "It's my holy space. The theatre offers us a communal ritual that generally has a poetic element. It's a lot like church the longing to celebrate and to be together in celebration. The theatre is a better choice for me. It's the ritual without the dogma. I love the theatre. It is so spiritual. In fact, I expect passion from any theatre experience. I want people to be passionately committed to their work. If they're not, it's obvious and I feel ripped off."

Paula talks about writing since early childhood. "From the time I was little I've written. I was lucky in that I was encouraged to write. My first adventure was with crayons on the walls at home - well, I guess I wasn't encouraged to do that! - and then on paper in school. As a kid I found school boring, so to keep me from being disruptive, one teacher gave me a long roll of paper, put me in the hallway outside my classroom and told me to write and illustrate a story. I did. My sixth grade teacher published my poems. I grew up in the mid-west in a blue-collar town where everyone worked hard and knew next to nothing about the arts. Still I got tremendous support for my creativity."

What did you write?

"In the beginning? Poetry. But I was young and didn't think that was brave enough. Now I think it may be the bravest form of writing. As I got older I got more political and turned to journalism. But I found out that I don't want to report what happened. I want to comment. Being objective is uninteresting to me, so I decided not to even bother to pretend to be objective. While living in San Francisco, I was asked to write a play for a group of actor friends. That became a passion. So I abandoned my thoughts of writing the great American novel and started writing more and more plays.

I have always wanted to tell stories, but I want to tell the stories that I want to tell, which makes it hard to write for other people. Lately I've been thinking again about writing a novel. I love narrative."

Paula is soft spoken, something that can be deceptive for she is anything but soft-minded. "This country does not treat its artists well. We expect them to live on a patchwork income. And patching together a livelihood becomes exhausting."

NEW POWER PLAYS PROJECT

Founded in Spring, 2004 by playwrights Paula Cizmar and Laura Shamas as a way to examine the critical issues of the 21st Century through the lens of theatre artists.

Mission of New Power Plays Project -
To move toward a definition of political theatre in America, to reclaim the political function for theatre artists in the USA, and to honor and air the voices of a diverse, talented and opinionated group of American playwrights.

We are silent for a moment. I find myself thinking about the ways in which I sew together the quilt of income stitch by stitch, month after month, year after year.

Paula breaks the silence. "I'm tired of the gate-keepers. I've reached a point in my career where I want to act on my own behalf and that of other artists."

Paula's voice changes as she talks. It becomes more distinct, and purposeful, more animated. "I'm tired of waiting for others to decide who gets published or produced. There are a lot of good writers out there and we're not hearing from them. In fact, there is an incredible amount of incredible work going on but it1s largely invisible. I am not going to sit and wait for the phone to ring any more. More and more the political climate has forced artists away from the act of creation into the development game. It maddens me that this country does not seem to believe that art has a valuable place in our society. So many people seem to consider artists to be children. Why is that?" She answers her own question. "Perhaps because we let others make too many decisions for us."

Is that why you co-founded "New Power Plays" with Laura Shamas?

"Yes. It's always been the artist's role and I believe, responsibility to provide cultural commentary and leadership through creativity. I strongly believe that plays can and should be about something important."

I point out that there are those who disagree, especially in this country, and think that primarily plays should be entertaining. Paula acknowledges that whereas a lot of response was enthusiastic and positive, some people responded to "New Power Plays" with the pronouncement: "Political plays are