Return of the King

I HAVEN'T REALLY blogged about my new day gig. It's another position as a project manager for a technology company. The commute is farther, but it'$ a growth opportunity.

After being in one place for 11 years, another place is bound to feel a little different. So, now that I have three weeks under my belt and some of the newness has worn off, I can safely say, the place really is a little different.

Rather than tell you, I'll let you see for yourself. This happened while we were in the middle of a meeting at 4:00 this Wednesday:

Mo Drama

NOW THAT I'VE COMPLETED my MFA in Poetry and now that I''ve joined hundreds of other MFA graduates in playing the ludicrous lottery of submitting the manuscript to poetry first book contests, one might think that I would be itching to put the MFA to work and start on my second collection.

One might think that, but one would be wrong.

Instead, on February 5, I began writing the next chapter of my literary development by enrolling in a course entitled Intro to Playwriting at Actor's Express, taught by none other than local playwriting prodigy, Lauren Gunderson.

My Mondays begin with me rising at 7:00 a.m. - prepping and grooming before the commute into the sun at 7:45. About 40 minutes later, I arrive at the new day gig, work until 5:30, and hit the gym for an hour. By the time I get to the Playwriting class at 8:00 p.m. - 13 hours later - I should be running on fumes.

But I'm not. I'm a live wire.

Lauren's really passionate about playwriting, and it's contagious. I haven't been this enthused since I took my first poetry workshop with Blake Leland as an undergrad at Georgia Tech in 1994. There are striking similarities to that experience and this one. For starters, I'm the only Black person in the class.

Which is to say, I stick out. Again. But that's par for the course.

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I remember the first time I picked up the Nuyorican anthology Aloud in '94, and how I dreamed of one day performing on the Nuyorican stage. I had no idea how I would get there. I'd never seen the place, but it happened. It took 6 years.

This time, my sights are on an analogous institution in the theatre community, New York's Public Theatre. Though I've never been there, I've seen/read many works incubated there: George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum, Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, Daniel Beaty's Emergence-See!, and Savignon Glover/George C. Wolfe's Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk. I've always admired the Public Theatre's commitment to developing new work and its commitment to community outreach. And I'm excited to have my own work join that tradition.

I'll give myself 6 years to get a play staged there. 2013 here I come!