In Which MISS PALMER Gets a Nibble.

So I get this phone call, see. It's from a Chicago actress, Carmen Roman. (She can be seen as Dr. Gabriella Reyes in BOSS with Kelsey Grammer on Starz Network.) I didn't know her. A friend had passed along my play, and in her words, "I want this for myself." She says she knows a backer (James Simon), and wants to produce a workshop or (gasp) production in New York.

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}Bells ring, clouds part, heavenly light fills my universe.

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}"Sure," I choked out. "Whatever you want."

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}The play she's talking about is MISS PALMER'S SCHOOL OF PENMANSHIP AND CIVIL BEHAVIOR. It's the one I've been working on for months. I gave it to my friend, Tim Monsion, and asked him to pass it along if he liked it. He gave it to Carmen, who passed it along to her backer, James Simon. By the way, Mr. Simon is the producer of RENT.

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}Yes, that RENT.

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}But my little play is hardly a RENT. I wouldn't even call it a REN. It's barely a R. So it came as no surprise when Mr. Simon passed on the project. I was disappointed, of course, but not surprised. Carmen says she has a few more tricks up her sleeve, and would call me again next week.

body {font-family:helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;}a.stbar.chicklet img {border:0;height:16px;width:16px;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;}a.stbar.chicklet {height:16px;line-height:16px;}Here's the thing. I've been mass-submitting my plays since August. In September alone, I submitted my work to 50 various venues. I got a few nibbles, but no hits. I've been shopping FULL PLATE COLLECTION for two years. It found one production at the North Street Playhouse in Onancock, VA (June 2012) and semi-finaled a couple times, but it's rough out there. There are 100 playwrights for every legitimate theatre, and each of those playwrights are probably submitting more than one work. It takes an original voice, theatrical execution, and a resonant story to float to the top. Heck, you're lucky if you even get your plays read, much less vetted. Even then, few theaters are going to take a chance working with a playwright they don't know. That's where your network comes in.

If Tim hadn't handed this play to Carmen, she never would have read it. And even if nothing happens, I've made a new friend. She said she'd be happy to read anything I write. That's a major score in my book.

I have hope but no expectations about this project. I've been in this business long enough to know how quickly a nibble can be spat out. And that's okay. Because these are my people. And I like it here.

Thanks, Tim, for passing along my play. And thanks, Carmen, for filling my universe with heavenly light.