Hello.

Grady Burnett Walsh.

Born Wed, Aug 15 at 4:02 am.

8 lbs, 15 oz - or 9 pounds, give or take an oz.

21 inches.

All are very very healthy - including MOM!

To see more pix of the birthday party, just go here.

It's all new, now, isn't it?

ps. Thanks for all the calls and emails from everyone about this. The support means a lot to Heather and I. You may get an email about this too - depending on how well I know you. Given the difficulties of wifi at the hospital, it was simply easier to post this first. I hope you understand.

Late. Very Late.

So, you're probably saying, "I thought he said his last post was going to be coming up. But didn't he say that like, two weeks AGO?" And you'd be right. But if you think I'm hanging on too long, you should see the woman I'm married to.

After all, we are officially overdue. And she is officially tired of it.

But what can you do?

Us, we're playing tennis, going on long walks, planning ways to shoot more of a movie idea, kicking around a screenplay idea, seeing lots of movies (Rush Hour 3 - bad; Stardust - good; Once - excellent; Bourne - excellent; Harry Potter - whatever), watching TV shows (Damages - fucking fantastic; Mad Men - fucking fantastic; First Season of The Wire - REALLY FUCKING FANTASTIC!!!!) and, as the video embedded in this post shows, hitting the swimming pool late at night. (I apologize about the squashed look - I shot it in HD and must of captured it incorrectly because I can not get it to compress to the right format (16:9 letterbox) - though it's all part of the very steep learning curve.)

One good thing that has come about - BEYOND THE OWING will be getting a reading at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis next year as part of their Roundtable Reading Series. It's a million years away, but it's nice to have something. Always nice.

In the meantime, I'm closer than ever to being done with this thing.

I thought it would be worthwhile - or at least worth the self-indulgence - to link to "People I'm Meeting In LA" posts that I've had written through the year. There's only 10 of 'em. And if you're interested, well...

I like the agent piece in particular.

The Actor

The Agent

The Dream Factory

The Story Analyst

The Playwright

The Library

The Director

The Young Producers

The New Writer

The Executive

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Finally, weirdly, "WHY BLOGGING MATTERS" has for some reason disappeared. Anyone know why that might have happened, aside from the crack that maybe it doesn't matter?

Did You Know?

In a few days - maybe even today - a baby is going to make me a dad.

This is the world he's being born into - and that we're all writing for - today.

Amazing. Frightening. Terrific.

Next.

One piece of advice I've gotten from everyone here, from all angles. Do it yourself.

This follows Anne Bogart's "Don't wait."

You'd think theatre would be faster, but actually, it's not. For theatre, you not only need actors, but you need a space to rehearse in, a space to perform in and people to run lights, the house, the sound and the cues - every night.

Then you have to find an audience to make it worthwhile.

In film, you need those actors and technicians for one day (more if you have a budget and you're doing something bigger - but still less than theatre). The performance space can be as low rent as YouTube and my experience with videos on YouTube has been, you're likely to get more people watching your work by accident than you are to get in a theatre without a decent ad budget, a huge cast and a rave in print.

So I took all the collective advice and bought a Canon XH-A1. It's the low end 24f (or p, if you believe the hype) HD camera. I also picked up a Sennheiser mic and one lighting instrument.

My wife bought me a copy of Final Cut Express.

Two weeks ago I shot my first short. The script was from a play I wrote that imagines a conversation between Helen and Clytemnestra just before Clytemnestra gives birth to Iphigenia, (Iphigenia, the girl who will later be sacrificed by Agamemnon - her father - in order to please the gods enough to put wind in his Greek fleets sails and begin the quest to bring Helen back from Troy. Hilarity, right?)

The stills here are from the edited short - which runs about 10 minutes. I won't post the video of it because what I learned is just how limited my equipment is, but it gave me hope about continuing down this road.

And, it was fun.

I may in fact stop blogging soon, but I may start posting video shorts instead. All the while trying to find a place to do Dressing the Girl here in LA - naturally.


NOTE: While writing this, we had a 4.5 earthquake here in California. The bookshelves definitely SHOOK.

My Irish mind.

We're close to being parents.

And these days we're a bit edgy waiting for that. But now that Denver is taking some space, we're not only waiting, but we're -er, well, I'm - thinking overmuch about what comes next.

Mixed into it, I've received a few rejections - one of which actually surprised me (though I should know better) - and one of which was very detailed about why a play I'd written wasn't being accepted. This detail was offered in good faith by someone who likes my work. But I have to remind myself - a lot these days - that nothing happens overnight. Or on any schedule that I have.

On the other hand, i'm making plans to do what many here have recommended - making something myself.

It's a lot to have in the air on the eve of so much more. And sometimes I feel a little like I did last November when I was thinking we might be living in a car rather than an apartment when there was no money and no prospects.

Of course, that's not at all how it worked out. But my Irish mind went there anyway.

And I while I have to wait for what comes next, I really can't wait. It's pretty amazing to think that a year ago I never thought I'd be in such an amazingly fortunate place.

Good things to come. Good things.

In that spirit, it seems like a good time to point out some of my favorite posts by others. So, in really no particular order, here's a list of posts (an inadequate list to be sure) that were worth a look when when they were written. And I think are still worth a look now.

If you don't find one you like, just check out anyone I've put a link to on the right. They're there because I read them. You should too.

Enjoy.

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1.
This is the first post that really caught my interest and wouldn't let go: A speech from Eduardo Machado that questioned the way playwrights are being supported by the theatre culture we live in. I believe that Isaac had found it elsewhere originally. The text and the responses it inspired at Parabasis made me take the "theatrosphere" seriously and made me want to contribute.

2.
This manifesto from Adam was great. Certainly made me think a little more about what I wanted to see in theatre. I suppose you might expect nothing less from Adam, who suggested I create my own blog just a little after we left school.

3.
Ever feel stuck? You are not alone. Another gem from Szymkowicz.

4.
I used to read George Hunka very regularly. I still peak occasionally. Whatever one thinks of his style, he sticks up for seriousness and against the trivial. His "Organum" is a perfect example of his maddening tone and his incisive thinking. If you can't get one without the other, well, I'll take both rather than neither. So, look around.

5.
Matthew Freeman has few things to say about the "Organum" too - and why he prefers practice to theory.

6.
Of the many things discussed in the "theatrosphere" funding is one of the more important topics. Here Freeman talks about the arts funding decline.

7.
Another popular discussion has been the way writers have wrestled with narrower production opportunities and the rise of development. The Playgoer led a lot of these conversations.

8.
But he's not the only one as these posts from Mr. Excitement and Laura - who no longer writes about theater - show.

9.
It all lead to a lot of yelling and kvetching until, eventually, Jason Grote weighed in with some tempered observations based on his experiences.

10.
The subject got explored from a different angle when Isaac quoted Albee and delved into questions about our collaborative natures.

11.
And there's this from Playgoer about the economics of what we do.

12.
One of my pet subjects is the need to do more than theatre when theatre isn't keeping the lights on. The always provocative Don Hall had this to say. Laura also had some thoughts that are worth reviewing. That of course is one reason why I believe Joshua James made this declaration.

13.
Then there are big subjects that get broached. Like the one that unspooled from this post by David Cote. Religion seems to do that.

14.
David also wrote this piece that exemplifies one aspect of what I'd like see instead of theatre reviews - the think piece.

15.
Finally, I'd be totally remiss if I didn't point out the great thinking of Dave Tutin as exemplified by this observation about where we discover who we are.

Beyond the Owing

Not much to say about this one that hasn't already been said.

Beyond the Owing

Drama, full length, one intermission.

It’s Easter and Liz has come home with her fiancé Sutton to put the finishing touches on their wedding plans. With the big day only three months away, a financial storm of debt swells on the horizon of their life together. Has Sutton lost hope in their future or does he just have cold feet? Will Liz's mother roll the dice on her own future to prop up the young couple? In a tempest brought on by the crushing cost of pursuing a dream, Liz is swept up in the tragic struggle over who owes who - and for what.

CAST: 2 M, 3 F

Drama Guild Writing Fellowship – semi-finalist - 2006

NJ Rep – staged reading, directed by Matthew Arbour - 2006

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR – staged reading, directed by Robynn Rodriguez – 2006

Clubbed Thumb “New Play Boot Camp” at Playwrights Horizons, NY, directed by Matthew Arbour – 2006

PCPA TheaterFest workshop/reading - 2007

Finally, here's a photo of Heather from about an hour ago, at the pool, where we talked for an hour or so before coming up to bed.

Logic of Clawed Feet

I'm still working on this one.

Michael Kenyon at the Public used to call it the "flower-penis" play.

That's not a horrible description. Plus, there's a wrestling match between the flower-penis and its owner.

Don't know when I'll ever finish it.

The Logic of Clawed Feet

Comedy, full Length, three acts.

Is Iris a witch? No one knows for sure, but when she decides to stop turning her lovers into cupcakes and swears men off for good, she casts one last spell on poor Earl, the cab-driver who haplessly picks her up at the Ritz. Things get really crazy however, when, after falling for her, Earl grows a Gerber daisy for a penis. Can Iris control her fears long enough to settle into a relationship with a man? Should Earl use Miracle-Gro or start weeding the garden that’s sprouting out of his pants? These questions and more get asked in a whimsical comedy that uses San Francisco as a fairy tale backdrop.

CAST: 2 F, 2 M

78th Street Theatre Lab - workshop presentation - June, 2006

78th Street Theatre Lab - reading - 2005

American Theatre Co-op quarterfinalist - 2003

Finally, a worthwhile essay on the state of theater that Adam linked to earlier today after seeing it at Mike Daisey's place.