Common Sense vs Conventional Wisdom

Talked to a physicist recently who said he didn’t believe in common sense. That got me thinking. Was he really referring to conventional wisdom? After all, isn’t common sense just a reasonable means to navigate our world? If that’s true, then common sense is something worth considering when making decisions. I would think. On the … Read more

Lights Up, Lights Down, Lights Up

After a two-year pandemic that, by-the-way, still plays a leading role in our theatre world, it appears as if lights are rising once again on stages across America. At Heartland Plays, Inc., we remain cautiously optimistic. Following the winter holidays, requests for scripts for season selection purposes began showing up daily in our inbox. Actual … Read more

Get Your Act Back on Stage

Here we are, heading into summer with a sense of hope that, finally, we can get our act back on stage. Actors, musicians, comedians, singers, dancers and artists of all sorts, shapes and sizes need an audience: an audience of one or a thousand, but someone out there who cares and shares in this wondrous … Read more

Gender Bias

Okay, so I know a name is not necessarily representative of a person who identifies as female. I say that because I’m basing a statistic on an unreliable data point… that is, the number of writers who I identified as identifying as female who submitted plays for consideration via our website. Of the approximate 100 … Read more

A Deaf Perspective

The Last Chance New Play Fest in Helena Montana is currently seeking new 10-minute plays by Montana playwrights on the theme “Genetically Modified.” I racked my brain trying to come up with an idea. All I could see was two stalks of corn talking with their “feet” rooted in the ground and a pumpkin walking … Read more

What Would You Do to Get Your Play Produced?

TUESDAY OF THE DEAD by Dan Weatherer produced November, 2018 at the Last Chance New Play Fest in Helena, Montana. I looked around and it was 2019. How did that happen? I have been meaning to write a meaningful blog since November. Writing a blog is a little like writing a play for me. The idea … Read more

On Set vs On Stage

My husband Mark and I are currently hosting the production crew, writers, director and actors for an Independent film, “Two Yellow Lines.” I’ve only been involved on set with one other film, and that was a number of years ago. The process shares similarities with stage production, but with one big difference: when filming on … Read more

PLAYWRIGHT A.D. HASSELBRING ON GETTING YOUR WORK NOTICED

AD Hasselbring

www.adhasselbring.com Heartland Plays, Inc. works with outstanding playwrights whose works have won major competitions and have been seen in theaters across the U.S. and around the world. But it still isn’t easy to get a new play noticed, especially if you are a playwright that hasn’t seen a major production that gained either you or … Read more

Where Have All the Young Women Gone?

As both a publisher and a playwright, I hear quite often from theatres “We need more plays with female roles — good roles!” So when writing a new play, “Pretty Little White Heads” this past year for a competition in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I created four meaty female roles for young women between the ages … Read more

No Small Parts; Tell THAT to Your Actors

CHRISTINA HAMLETT

If you missed last year’s post “Short is In”, check out Guest Contributor, Christina Hamlett’s take on the same subject and how to provide equal opportunity on stage when size matters. Guest Contributor Playwright Christina Hamlett IN REPERTORY Konstantin Stanislavsky is credited with saying, “There are no small parts, only small actors.” While this is … Read more