About this site – (dave lefkowitz)

Dear Readers,

I’m starting this blog as a way of sharing my creative work in a new and very open way.  I’ve been a playwright since my college years, going way back to the mid-1980s, when cassette decks and Super 8 cameras roamed the earth.

Over the years, I’ve written a couple of full-length plays, a couple of one-acts, a bunch of skits and radio bits, and hundreds of theater reviews and feature stories.  The latter stuff you can read on my main website, TotalTheater.com, or in clusters at places like theaternewsonline.com, LIPulse.com and my former place of employ, playbill.com.

A few of my comedy-themed plays were published in a book, “Marriage, Babies and the End of the World,” many years ago by a Russian educational outlet in St. Petersburg. The anthology (which is in English), came out great, people who read it really enjoy it, and I have about 500 copies in my parents’ garage.  Such is the nature of art (ha!) and publishing.

But this is a new way and a new world.  At a recent fellowship in Los Angeles sponsored by USC and the National Endowment for the Arts, we lucky fellows were exhorted that the thing to do in this insanely open new millennium is to get the work “out there” and then worry about money and rights later.  Suuuuuuure…

But you know what?  It’s not like I’m A.R. Gurney getting produced all over the universe or Theresa Rebeck making a pile off “Law & Order” residuals, or Tony Kushner living off the laurels of being lucky/genius/right-play-right-time.  I’m so far on the fringe it’s a wonder I’m still on the tablecloth.  And no, I have no idea what that means.

But I DO like my plays.  I think they’re funny, thoughtful, readable.  I think they have something to say without pushing, pandering or pedagogy.  I also want to see them DONE, so here’s the deal: if you find a play on this website, go `head and read it.  Print it out, share it with your friends, send a dozen copies to your town supervisor.  Have a ball.

You can even put the play on in a reading or staged-reading format, FREE, for up to three performances.  I swear, I don’t want your money.  Actually, I do, but I’ll settle for getting produced.  All I ask is that you TELL me you’re doing it.  Send me a flyer or a listing with the info so I can add it to my cv.

If you want to actually do one of my plays as a full-production thingie – may God bless and keep you and fill your garden with tasty artichokes.  All I ask in that case is:

ONE ACTS:
1-5 performances: $3 per play per performance.

6th-10th performance: $4 per play performance.

11th-infinity performance: $5 per play per performance.

FULL-LENGTH:

1-5 performances: $8 per play per performance.

6th-10th performance: $9 per play performance.

11th-infinity performance: $10 per play per performance.

So let’s say you want to include my comedy, “King Solomon the Wise,” as part of an evening of one-acts, and you’re doing two weekends, with a total of 8 total performances.  My royalties would be $27;  that’s about a quarter the cost of a ticket to some Broadway shyte with Journey songs piled in it.

Let’s say you’re a college prof and you think your students will find “The Triple Wedding” just hilarious (because they’re just THAT bright and wonderful).  So you make it part of your season, slating  four performances. The production ends up going over so well (and why wouldn’t it?), you add another two performances to the schedule. My royalties would be a whopping $49 ($40 for the first five nights, $9 for the sixth).  You can send me a check or even paypal me (holvoe_at_aol.com), I’m easy that way. A few extra cupcakes at the bake sale, and you’re all set.

So there’s my rationale for creating davelefkowitzwriting.wordpress.com.  I’m putting my stuff “out there” (once I learn how to do that on this bloggy thing), and I hope you’ll enjoy it, share it, produce it, and give it your unabashed, unconditional love. Write to me or post comments on here, and if you have questions about stagings (some of these have been produced over the years), characters or a particular nuance, well, I’ll do my best to answer. Hopefully, though, the works will speak for themselves – especially now that they can be heard.

Welcome!

Dave Lefkowitz (7/5/09)