Now Accepting Submissions For Pint Sized IV!

It’s that time of year again!  PINT-SIZED PLAYS are back for a fourth go around!  We are now accepting play submissions through April 15th, 2012. And mark your calendars, the festival performs this July!

Guidelines:

1. Local, Bay Area playwrights only. Must be able to prove residence upon request.

2. Plays must be no longer than the time it takes to finish a beer. This means plays may be as short as a few seconds, but no longer than ten pages.  If a scene is too long, the beer could get warm and we certainly don’t want that.  We’ve got an hour for the evening and we want those plays brief and those beers cold.

3. Plays must take place in a bar. This is both a thematic concern and a logistical one.  The plays will be performed at a bar and as great as it would be to see a scene of people drinking beers while skydiving, we don’t have the fly system installed yet.  Items provided for your plays: tables, chairs and beers.  So keep that in mind.

4. Plays must respect the bar space. Our hosts are incredibly supportive of the festival, but we need to reciprocate that respect. Don’t do anything in your play that you wouldn’t do in a bar yourself (with some degree of sobriety).

5. Plays must have no more than three actors.

6. At least one of the characters must be drinking a beer during the scene and the play is over when a beer is finished.  We don’t have many rules, but this one is a biggie.

Plays should be submitted electronically, in a .doc or PDF format, with the playwright’s name and contact information to sfpintsized@gmail.com with the subject “First Name, Last Name – Pint Sized 2013 Submission.”

Clarifying questions may also be sent to this address.

Selected plays will be announced in May 2013.

We look forward to reading your submissions!

-Brian, Julia, Neil and Stuart

Somethin’ Like a Bearnomenon

Allison Page shares her thoughts on the phenomenon (or bearnomenon) of performing in “BEEEEEAAR!” by Megan Cohen and Directed by Meg O’Connor at this year’s Pint Sized Play Festival.

Allison will reprise her role one last time at the San Francisco Theater Festival this Sunday, September 30, at 1 PM, at Faithful Fools, 234 Hyde Street in San Francisco.

Check here to view the full schedule at: http://sftheaterfestival.org/.

She’s never gonna stop dancing!

I walk up to the bar at Cafe Royale to get a delicious glass of beer at the end of a long day, and some guy sitting at the bar turns to speak to me.

“I know who you are, you’re a f*cking legend.”

“Excuse me?”

“I didn’t even see that show, and I know who you are…you’re the Bear…the Beer Bear.”

This scenario repeats several times in several places; sidewalks, Walgreens, other bars. And I cannot deny it, they’re right, I am the Beer Bear. Hear me roar.

growl.

I had never been a part of the Pint Sized Play festival or actually, anything Theater Pub has done, but last year I saw Pint Sized II because I had some friends performing in it. I thought “Ohhh, this will be…whatever.” (Yes, my thoughts are always genius and well-articulated.) But I had SO. MUCH. FUN. It was great. The Theater Pub atmosphere, and especially the Pint Sized atmosphere, has a fantastically different feel than any other theatrical event I’ve been a part of. So, when Meg O’Connor wanted to plop me into a piece she was directing for Pint Sized III this year, I said…”Yeah, sure, okay.” (I know, I’m brilliant.) I hadn’t even read the script for what was oddly titled “BEEEEEEEEAAAR”, but I trusted the title, the fact that it was written by Megan Cohen (And if Megan Cohen ever writes something and you can be in it, you should DO IT IMMEDIATELY. I always will.) the fact that it was about a bear, and the fact that I met Meg O’Connor once and thought she was nice. (She’s still really nice, and really awesome and funny and cool and easygoing.) It could have been a complete disaster. Instead, it was like lightning struck a cookie factory and the cookies went flying everywhere and everyone got to eat them for free and then get drunk.

I don’t know what it is about Megan Cohen’s monologue of a world-weary, alcohol-abusing, depressed, lovelorn, lonely, deep, dark, hilarious, suicidal dancer-by-day, tutu-wearing, beer-swilling Bear that struck such a chord with people, but that’s what happened. Actually, now that I read that sentence, it sounds super kickass. We should have known. I don’t think Meg O’Connor will mind me saying that she had some reservations about directing “BEEEEEEEAAAR”, and I guess I can see why. It seems like kind of a tough cookie (Yay, more cookies!), and it was sort of a shock the first time I read it, because, uh…WHAT IS THIS?!…but it was so well-written it just couldn’t go wrong. I dove right in and totally fell in love with it, and I’m not the only one.

When I say I don’t know what it is that struck such a chord, I guess that’s not really true. I think I know what it is. It’s truth packaged in a digestible way (LIKE MAYBE IN A COOKIE?). Life is a dark, confusing beast. Bad things happen all the time, whether you deserve them or not, here they are, and they’re not stopping anytime soon. “BEEEEEEEAAR” is hilarious. Like, really, really amazingly funny. But in that humor lies something bigger. One of the best moments for me as the bear, hell, one of the best performance moments I’ve ever had, was getting into some deep dark moment of the Bear’s past and of the fragility of human mortality and how “…the hands of time and death must reach down and SCOOP UP THE ONES WE LOVE!”  and a man in the balcony area let out a reflective “…Jesus.”  Yeah. That’s right. Everyone you love and care about WILL DIE AND SO WILL YOU…now time for more jokes. It’s just the perfect combination of sense and nonsense, puns and truth, beer and poison, that give “BEEEEEEEEAAR” the strange cult appeal that it has. It’s been 2 months since I last donned that tutu and those fuzzy ears, but it seems like only yesterday that I was getting black-out drunk from all the free drinks bestowed upon me from excited audience members, who would sometimes be shy about it and not even admit to buying the beers I would find waiting for me after my intermission hibernation. I still get stopped on the sidewalk and occasionally roared at. And I always roar back.

This is technically another play, called “Llama” but whatever… that guy never returns my calls.

Allison Page is an SF comedian/actor/writer/chick with good hair from rural northern Minnesota. Not necessarily in that order. Follow her on Twitter or something @allisonlynnpage

Bear With Me

Esteemed director and long-time Theater Pub collaborator Meg O’Connor talks about collaborating with Allison Page on this year’s best play about a dancing bear.

Allison Page in the now iconic Bear with a Beer photo. (Photo by Erin Maxon.)

I have had the esteem privilege – nay! the HONOR- to direct Megan Cohen’s BEEEEEEEAAR! for this year’s Pint Sized Plays III. I was a little apprehensive to take on this piece – Megan delivers another inspired, hilarious, thoughtful play, and I was worried I couldn’t do it justice. I knew casting was everything, and I wondered at my luck that the talented genius Allison Page agreed to take on the role. I learned a lot about bears, beers, but most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. Mainly, that Allison kicks my ass at bear-puns.

Here are some typical text conversations between the two of us:

Meg: Hey Bear – what time is good for you tmw?
Allison: Oooh…how’s 3PMbears? Where shall we go?
Meg: BEARpm it is. My apartment: I have beeeeeeeeeeeer.
Allison: CoolBEARS!

This bear is always looking for beer. Always. (Photo by Erin Maxon.)

Allison: Ich bin ein Bearliner
Meg: Sorry, don’t know what you’re saying – I only speak Bearlish.
Allison: hahahahahahabearhahahahabear

Play it again, Bear. (Photo by Erin Maxon.)

Meg: Ah bears, I double beared myself tonight.
Allison: Ah bearshit!
Meg: Can we meet on Saturday? Is that bear-k with you?
Allison: That’s bearcceptable. I will find someone to be on bear book for me.
Meg: I’m emBEARassed to have to flake. Hope you can beargive me.
Allison: It’s going to be hard…just…let me get my bearings.
Allison: Bearsome!
Meg: Bear beary bears bears!

I Dreamed A Bear In Time Gone By…. (Photo by Erin Maxon.)

It has been an absolute blast working with Allison on BEEEEEEAAR, and with Rob Ready on the epic return of Llama, the mascot of Pint Sized Plays, written by Stuart Bousel, around characters created by Megan Cohen and Elana McKernan. Whenever you make it out to the show, come say hi. I’ll be the giggling idiot on a bearstool, trying to think of more puns.

Bear For Now! (Photo by Erin Maxon.)

The title of this post donated by Allison Page. Don’t miss her in action, only at this month’s Pint Sized Plays III, playing tonight at The Plough and the Stars and July 23, 30 and 31 at the Cafe Royale!

Pint Sized Interview 7: Sylvia Hathaway vs. Katja Rivera

Pint Sized III opened last night to a packed bar and tumultuous laughter and applause. Did you miss it? Well, no worries, you can see it tonight or tomorrow (at the Plough and the Stars), or next Monday, or the Monday and Tuesday after that! But hey, why not see it tonight so that you can come see it again… and again… and again! Meanwhile, we’ve got two of our directors, Katja Rivera and Sylvia Hathaway, comparing notes on what it’s like to be a part of this year’s Pint Sized Plays!

Who are you, in fifty words or less.

Katja Rivera: Mexican-Irish actor, director, mommy, massage therapist, yoga gal, severe optimist, born and raised in LA, Dodger and Jimmy Cagney fan, keen purveyor of free boxes.

Sylvia Hathaway: I’m a theatre maker and teaching artist with a passion for creating positive change through arts learning. I’m native to the country’s rust belt, growing up in Cleveland and then living near Pittsburgh before moving to SF. I have a background in dance, music, acting and baking with chocolate.

What’s the play you’re directing about?

Katja Rivera: Beer Theory, by Marissa Skudlarek, is about how we can use our mental constructs to say no to opportunity.

Sylvia Hathaway: Circling, by Nancy Cooper Frank, is a comedy of errors that explores one woman’s frustration at what is well-known to be the “scarcest resource in San Francisco”.

What drew you to this kick-ass show?  

Katja Rivera: I like the intelligence of this play, and how the playwright doesn’t go for the easy answer.

Sylvia Hathaway: The script was so open and waiting to be brought to life. I added elements of commedia and farce to the production that complemented the snappy humor really well.

What are you discovering is the challenge of working at Theater Pub?

Katja Rivera: Opening this show 2 days after another show opening/rehearsal space.

Sylvia Hathaway: The challenge is always the audience for me. I sometimes wish I could just rehearse a play forever and never get the audience involved. And yet, it’s such a joy to see them enjoying the show on opening night! Anyway, not knowing where the audience is going to be–whether they are in your playing space or not–that has been the main challenge.

What has you most excited to be there?

Katja Rivera: The fevered talent.

Sylvia Hathaway: Absolutely everyone involved is there because they love doing it. There is no sense of drudgery or heavy responsibility. It’s fast, furious and fun!

What’s been your biggest, craziest, most HA! I PULLED THAT OFF, BITCHES! moment as a director?

Katja Rivera: I think it might be the play I open July 14, An Evening With The Great Zamboni.  Come see it and tell me if I did.

Sylvia Hathaway: This was my first time directing, so I suppose actually getting to opening night with a fantastic piece is my moment!

If you could direct anything, with limitless budget and stars, what would it be and why?

Katja Rivera: Transformations–a book of poems by Anne Sexton.  I love her way of twisting the classic fairy tales.

Sylvia Hathaway: I have always wanted to stage Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas for the theatre as an entirely masked musical production.

What’s up next for you?

Katja Rivera: Casting Eurydice, opening April 2013 at Custom Made, and a well deserved break until December.

Sylvia Hathaway: I’m performing in “You Need to Read Poetry” with Performers Under Stress this Fall.

What else in the SF Theater scene has you excited?

Katja Rivera: Marat Sade at Thrillpeddlars

Sylvia Hathaway: I’m most excited about Crowded Fire’s upcoming season. You just can’t miss with that company!

What is your favorite beer?

Katja Rivera: Bunderberg Ginger Beer.

Sylvia Hathaway: My favorite beer is a glass of red wine. But in the spirit of opening night at Cafe Royale, I enjoyed a local brew called Triple Vodoo Inception, which was delicious.

Don’t miss Pint Sized Plays III, tonight, tomorrow and July 23, 30 and 31!

Pint Sized Plays Interviews 6: Amanda Ortmayer Flies Solo

Pint Sized Plays III Opens Tonight! Don’t miss it! We start at 8, but get there early because we’re definitely going to fill up! And if you can’t make it tonight, we have shows tomorrow, the 23rd, the 30th and the 31st, in addition to a traveling show at the Plough and the Stars on July 18th!  

Meanwhile, we thought we’d introduce you to one of our new directors, Amanda Ortmayer, who joins us from the Exit, for her first Theater Pub!

Who are you, in fifty words or less?

I am an EXIT Theatre family member.   I am lucky enough to do theatre for a living.  I am terrible at all other jobs.

What’s the play you’re directing about?

I am directing a play by Sunil Patel and it is about a man and his potential first beer.  Debate, conversation, and a real emotion connection ensue.  Do they have a future together?  Come and find out.

What drew you to this kick-ass show?

I was drawn to Theatre Pub because the community surrounding it is exciting.  I was drawn to this particular piece because the writing is funny and honest.

What are you discovering is the challenge of working at Theater Pub?

I think it’s a bit tricky to get people’s attention and keep it when you are in a bar.  It means the actors have to fight harder. Directing theatre in the round has its own set of challenges.

What has you most excited to be there?

I love the idea that we are magnifying moments that we would usually ignore in a bar.  Most people go to a bar to talk to their friends or drown their sorrows, not pay attention to everyone else who is doing some variation of the same thing.

What’s been your biggest, craziest, most HA! I PULLED THAT OFF, BITCHES! moment as a director?

Hmmm…  If we are talking about this show specifically I haven’t had too many challenges.  The script is funny, and the actors are great.  I have 2 props.  The most difficult thing I have had to do is schedule and that isn’t really all that impressive.

If you could direct anything, with limitless budget and stars, what would it be and why?

I like limitations because I like making choices bases on what I have.  I would probably find some great building (something old and creepy) and find a play that needs to take place there.  If anyone has an old creepy house, hook me up.

What’s up next for you?

The SF Fringe Festival.  I’m the Production Manager and the fun never stops.

What else in the SF Theater scene has you excited?

I think site-specific work is really exciting.

What is your favorite beer?

Duvel or any Chocolate Stout.

Pint Sized Plays Interviews 4: Megan Cohen and Sunil Patel

Two more playwrights tell all, just in time for your July 4th celebrations!

So how did you hear about Theater Pub’s Pint-Sized Play Festival and what possessed you to send something in?

Sunil Patel: I really enjoyed the first Pint-Sized, and I was in the second Pint-Sized. Last year, I did submit a short play about two superheroes in a bar that I do like but, in retrospect, didn’t really fit in the festival. So, having seen two festivals, I thought about what sort of play would really be appropriate in a festival of shows centered around drinking beer, especially considering that I don’t drink. And it’s funny that you used the word “possessed,” because that’s what happened: I was possessed by this image of a guy talking to a giant beer that is trying to convince him to drink it, along with the title Man vs. Beer. I thought it would be a fun contrast to submit a piece about not drinking.

Megan Cohen: This is my third year having a play in Pint-Sized. I work with Theater Pub a lot, but Pint-Sized tends to be my favorite show of the year because it really makes the most of the bar setting. Since all the shorts in the evening are meant to happen in a bar, it’s a totally immersive theater experience– the festival really invites the audience to live inside the plays, which I love.

What’s the hardest thing about writing a short play?

Sunil Patel: You have such a short time to develop your characters, you need to make every word count. You want your characters to have an arc, but you want it to feel natural and not rushed, even though any change will have to occur in a few minutes, rather than over an hour or two.

Sunil Patel

Megan Cohen: People are less amazed afterwards than if you’d written a long play. A short one’s not actually easier– it’s a lot quicker, but in the time you spend writing and editing, it’s just as difficult.

What’s the best thing about writing a short play?

Megan Cohen: There are only two difficult things about writing: starting, and finishing. With a short play, finishing is easier than with a long piece just because you need less time– when you’re only aiming for a few pages, you have a genuine fighting chance of getting the whole thing done before you get distracted by a loud noise, hunger, facebook, a house fire, or by a so-called “better idea” that lures you away.

Sunil Patel: There are some concepts that are uniquely suited to short plays: no one wants to sit and watch a guy talking to a beer for two hours. Well, unless it were a really interesting, erudite beer. With this play, I wanted to make sure it didn’t overstay its welcome; it was nice to know that it was designed to have a specific trajectory that lasts a short amount of time. I could simply stay focused on that rather than worry about supporting characters, subplots, or other things that can complicate longer works.

Who do you think is a major influence on your work?

Megan Cohen: Writer/director Charles Ludlam (founder of the “Theater of the Ridiculous”), and the devising ensemble Forced Entertainment are really huge for me. Tom Stoppard and Stephen Sondheim are the writers I wanted to be when I grew up, so they’ll always loom large. I really love the pilot episode of “Lost,” it’s sort of like an hour-long narrative manifesto for me right now. Lanford Wilson, of course; he was one of the first “real” playwrights who I actually worked with in the same room, and my work doesn’t sound like his at all tonally but his empathy as a writer and as a person are definitely a heartbeat in terms of what motivates me to write.

Sunil Patel: Joss Whedon. I think I’ve picked up a lot of his rhythms and dialogue quirks, especially his use of humor (though I am perhaps more fond of puns). And we both like taking unusual, ridiculous situations and characters and treating them with sincerity.

Megan Cohen

If you could pick one celebrity to be cast in your show, who would it be and why?

Sunil Patel: Alison Brie as Beer! She’s hilarious, and she’s shown such range on Community and Mad Men (and she also had a small role in Scream 4, what the hell) that I think she could portray the different facets of Beer. Also, then I could meet Alison Brie. (Oh! Donald Glover as Teetotaler! Somebody make this happen.)

Megan Cohen: Well, our actor (Allison Page) is already pretty famous– she performed with Bill Irwin this year, and has been in viral videos that pretty much a zillion people have seen– so, this question is basically moot, ’cause I have a celebrity already. But I always say– and it’s true of this piece as well– all the roles in all my plays are written for Madeline Kahn.

What is a writing project you are currently working on?

Sunil Patel: Last year, I wrote the first act of an epic sci-fi drama called Gravity, and the second act was improvised, so I am trying to write my own second act. I am also working on a romantic comedy about a golem, tentatively titled The Dating of Gilgamesh.

Megan Cohen: So far this year I’ve written my first game, my first TV script, and my first screenplay; next, I’m planning to write my first good TV script, and maybe my first novel. I also have a lot of projects bubbling for next year that I can’t talk too much about, but expect some adventures in transmedia storytelling with live and online components… and I am revising two full-length plays and drafting a whole new one… the new one is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever written.

What’s next for you?

Sunil Patel: See above. I would love to finish both those projects this year, but life is busy!

Megan Cohen: Oh man, I am working on like seven hundred things– I blog about them at http://www.megancohen.com, and tweet about them @WayBetterThanTV, so you can always keep tabs on me there!

So what upcoming shows or events are you most excited about in the Bay Area Theater Scene?

Megan Cohen: Really excited for the San Francisco Olympians Festival this winter– my play Zeus is on Dec. 20th, but I’ll be coming to as many of the other shows as I possibly can. I love the diversity of voices in the festival, a lot of different viewpoints and styles at work.

Sunil Patel: Custom Made’s Merchant of Venice, because who doesn’t want to see American Psycho meets Mad Men? And Vamp’s It’s All in the Mix, because I have no idea what it is except this “DJ play” and I’ve never seen a play about a DJ. Oh, and Dark Room’s Princess Bride Live!

What’s your favorite beer?

Sunil Patel: Ginger.

Megan Cohen: Who’s buying? If it’s me, PBR. If it’s you, Consecration from Russian River Brewing.

Don’t miss the Pint Sized plays, opening July 16 and playing July 17, 23, 30 and 31 with a special performance at the Plough and the Stars on July 18. All the rest are at our usual stomping grounds, Cafe Royale, located at the corner of Post and Leavenworth in San Francisco’s lovely Tendernob neighborhood. Performances are free, no reservations necessary, but show up early and stay late- we’re bound to be sold out and the crowd is always the best part of Theater Pub!

Pint Sized, Props and Good Vibes

Theater Pub Artistic Director, Julia Heitner, talks about what it’s been like for her to put together this year’s Pint-Sized play festival. 

It’s not everyday that I get to carry around a large box of vibrators and a bag full of dildos on BART, but it’s all part of the fun of directing for San Francisco Theater Pub.

Last week I had the honor of picking up a package of toys from the Good Vibrations warehouse in San Francisco’s SoMA district. Good Vibes has graciously donated for a new play I’m directing for Pint Sized Plays III, Put it on Vibrate, by Tom Bruett, featuring the acting talents of Kirsten Broadbear and Maggie Ziomek.

After riding home to Oakland with my shopping bag of sex positive swag open for any passerby to see, including the group of BART police next to me (I wonder if they got a peek?), I unpacked everything and snapped some photos of each prop to send off to the playwright, concluding that this was “pretty much the weirdest email I have ever sent someone.”

These may be the first props for a show that have genuinely made me blush, but it is not unusual as an indie theatre director to be on the hunt for less-than-conventional stage props. For the first Pint Sized plays, in 2010, the play I directed, Queen Mab in Drag, by Stuart Bousel, called for a diamond snail ring, and a fairy princess costume for a man (worn very well by Rob Ready). After wondering what the heck a diamond snail ring was, I thought, “I’ll have to make one!” Out came the Sculpey clay and paint.

For Ashley Cowan’s play, Word War, part of PianoFight’s ShortLived, I created a giant iphone/ipad out of cardboard and tape for a dream/dance fight sequence. I also ended up making custom t-shirts for M.R. Fall’s play, Test Preparation, when it was included in BOA X. I’m proud to say the playwright and I designed these ourselves!

For me, part of the fun of putting on theatre with a small budget is finding a way to bring interesting props to life with a bit of glue and paint. Although homemade clay versions of sex toys would have provided a fun and interesting challenge, I am very grateful to Good Vibrations for donating props that we otherwise could not afford in order to bring Tom’s play to life.

I’d like to maintain some element of mystery, so I haven’t posted any pictures of the props. To see what Good Vibes has donated for Put it on Vibrate, plus nine other original short plays by some fantastic local playwrights, you’ll have to come see the show!

Pint Sized Plays III
July 16, 17, 23, 30 & 31, 8pm at Café Royale, 800 Post St. San Francisco, CA 94103
And July 18, 8pm @ The Plough and the Stars, 116 Clement St. San Francisco, CA 94118

Pint Sized Plays Interviews 3: Marissa Skudlarek and Nancy Cooper Frank

We thought we’d start your weekend off right with a pair of interviews from two returning Pint-Sized playwrights. Marissa Skudlarek was part of Pint Sized 1 with and Nancy Cooper Frank was part of Pint Sized Three. Now they’re both back for more!

How did you hear about Theater Pub’s Pint-Sized Play Festival and what possessed you to send something in?

Marissa Skudlarek: I’m a longtime friend of Theater Pub and had a play, Drinking for Two, in the inaugural Pint-Sized Play Festival in August 2010. (Otherwise known as “the play about the pregnant lady.”) This year, as the submission deadline for Pint-Sized approached, I had a cluster of ideas in my head that seemed to want to coalesce into a short play, and I realized that this play could easily take place in a bar. So I sat down and wrote Beer Theory.

Nancy Cooper Frank: This is my third collaboration with Theater Pub. The first was way back in 2010, so I can’t remember how I first heard of this creative bunch of people. I’m tickled by the way the action in a Theater Pub production can move from table to table, through the audience, across the pool table, along the bar, up to the balcony.

Nancy Cooper Frank

What is the hardest thing about writing a short play?

Nancy Cooper Frank: You can’t waste time setting things up. You have to dive right in.

Marissa Skudlarek: Because short plays have to be so concise, so precise, they live or die by their initial concept. Even more than a full-length play, a short play needs a zesty or sparky or intriguing idea behind it. I have written so many bad short plays for school assignments — plays that were doomed from birth with no hope of salvage, because the ideas behind them were so weak. (Which is why I doubt that the best way to teach someone playwriting is to make her write a lot of short plays… but that’s another story.)

What is the best thing about writing a short play?

Marissa Skudlarek: The freedom to experiment and to be as weird as you want to be. For instance, I could never see how to make direct-address monologues work in my plays, and thus hated and feared direct address. But in “Beer Theory,” my characters talk to the audience and I’m OK with it! Moreover, the whole time I was writing this play, I was thinking “This is weird, it’s bizarre, it probably won’t make sense to anyone but me.” But I was willing to take the risk and write it because, hey, it’s a short play, it’s not a full-length.

Nancy Cooper Frank: See answer to question 2.

Who do you think is a major influence on your work?

Marissa Skudlarek: The answer to this question might be more apparent after you see “Beer Theory,” which is in a sense my attempt to articulate my artistic credo in the form of a seven-minute quasi-romantic comedy… so I’ll just say, I have always felt far more affinity with Apollonian modes of art than with Dionysian. In particular, this year I have been paying special attention to the dictum “content dictates form,” recently popularized (though not coined) by my hero Stephen Sondheim.

Nancy Cooper Frank: My Uncle Albert, whose stash of 60’s era Mad magazines I discovered as a six year old. It’s pretty much my first memory of myself reading. Of course, It meant I was reading parodies of books and movies I’d never read or seen, or even heard of.

If you could pick one celebrity to be cast in your show, who would it be and why?

Marissa Skudlarek: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I think he would be a good fit as the male character in my play, a guy in his late 20s who loves indie rock but hates going to concerts. And, more to the point, I’ve had a crush on him ever since I saw that insanely charming YouTube video of him singing in French.

Nancy Cooper Frank: Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench. Because they’re great and if they were cast in my show, I would not be the Oldest Living Collaborator with Theater Pub. (Oh, you said pick one.)

Marissa Skudlarek

What is a writing project you are currently working on?

Marissa Skudlarek: This is going to be a busy and Olympians-focused summer for me. I will be revising my 2011 Olympians play, Pleiades, for publication in the upcoming anthology. Plus, I will be writing my 2012 Olympians contribution, The Love Goddess, based on the Aphrodite myth — it will be my first screenplay!

Nancy Cooper Frank: I’m revising my Daniil Kharms: A Life in One Act and Several Dozen Eggs. (based on the life and work of the Russian experimental writer) and also working on a longer play with fairy tale elements set in Russia.

What’s next for you?

Nancy Cooper Frank: I guess I’ll just keep on writing and reading plays and going to plays.

Marissa Skudlarek: Other than “Pleiades” and “The Love Goddess”? Well, I’ll also continue to write my “Hi-Ho, the Glamorous Life” column for the San Francisco Theater Pub blog every two weeks… watch this space!

What upcoming shows or events are you most excited about in the Bay Area theater scene?

Marissa Skudlarek: I’m looking forward to Shotgun Players’ next two shows. They reliably do strong and interesting work, and this summer they are offering Truffaldino Says No, a world premiere by witty local playwright Ken Slattery, and Precious Little, a script that I have heard amazing things about (it’s had some productions on the East Coast) but didn’t know if I would ever get to see staged.

Nancy Cooper Frank: Circle Mirror Transformation at Marin. Custom Made Theater’s Merchant of Venice.

What’s your favorite beer?

Nancy Cooper Frank: Any decent Pilsner. Love those hops.

Marissa Skudlarek: I don’t drink beer — that’s why they kicked me out of Portland, Oregon when I turned 21. OK, I do love Belgian fruit beer (Lindemans Framboise) but that doesn’t really count as beer, does it? I stick to wine when I’m at the Cafe Royale… and cocktails or cider at other bars.

Don’t miss the Pint Sized plays, opening July 16 and playing July 17, 23, 30 and 31 with a special performance at the Plough and the Stars on July 18. All the rest are at our usual stomping grounds, Cafe Royale, located at the corner of Post and Leavenworth in San Francisco’s lovely Tendernob neighborhood. Performances are free, no reservations necessary, but show up early and stay late- we’re bound to be sold out and the crowd is always the best part of Theater Pub!

Pint Sized Festival 3: The Bard and the Llama

Don’t miss the Pint Sized plays, opening July 16 and playing July 17, 23, 30 and 31 with a special performance at the Plough and the Stars on July 18. All the rest are at our usual stomping grounds, Cafe Royale, located at the corner of Post and Leavenworth in San Francisco’s lovely Tendernob neighborhood. Performances are free, no reservations necessary, but show up early and stay late- we’re bound to be sold out and the crowd is always the best part of Theater Pub!

Pint Sized Plays Interviews 2: William Bivins and Seanan Palmero

Next up in our series of interviews behind-the-scenes of this year’s Pint-Sized Play Festival, we have two staples of the San Francisco Theater scene. Bill Bivins is a very established Bay Area playwright, with working having appeared in the BOA Festival, at SF Playhouse, PianoFight and Central Works, just to name a few. Seanan Palmero is a real jill-of-all-trades, having worked with a number of companies, including No Nude Men and Atmostheatre, wearing a lot of different hats- writer, assistant director, stage manager, tech. Both are making their Theater Pub writing debuts with this year’s Pint Sized plays!

So how did you hear about Theater Pub’s Pint-Sized Play Festival and what possessed you to send something in?

Seanan Palmero: After seeing two hilarious Pint Sized Play Festivals, it dawned on me that submitting something is the way to get in on the fun.

William Bivins: I can’t remember how I heard about The Pint-Sized Play Festival, but I came to it last year for the first time. I love the “bar-specific” aspect: the spontaneity and immediacy of having a dramatic scene not involving my family suddenly occur at the next table. As it happened, I had a play, Celia Sh*ts, that takes place in a bar. The characters in the original draft were drinking bourbon, not beer, so I did have to do a major structural rewrite before submitting the play. I’m glad I did; I’m excited to see it on its feet… or in its corner table.

William Bivins

What’s the hardest thing about writing a short play? 

William Bivins: Staying lean. You have only ten minutes to develop full-bodied characters, build a complete story and fit in all those product placements.

Seanan Palmero: Character development.

What’s the best thing about writing a short play? 

William Bivins: It doesn’t take a year to finish.

Seanan Palmero: Editing. Cut, cut, cut. When in doubt, chuck it out. Unless a really smart person tells you otherwise.

Who do you think is a major influence on your work? 

William Bivins: Madame Deadline.

Seanan Palmero: I’m not sure yet. I’m still learning to steal, um — borrow, I mean, “find inspiration” from the greats.

If you could pick one celebrity to be cast in your show, who would it be and why? 

William Bivins: Woody Allen about thirty years ago.

Seanan Palmero: Allison Janney. She exhibits a higher level of awesome, so much so that I think she has super powers.

What is a writing project you are currently working on? 

William Bivins: I’m finishing final rewrites on The Education of a Rake, which, since you asked, opens at Central Works in Berkeley on July 28th. You can get tickets at http://www.centralworks.org/

Seanan Palmero: I’m co-authoring Hyperion for the San Francisco Olympians Festival this year.

What’s next for you?

Seanan Palmero: One thing at a time.

William Bivins: After Rake, I don’t know. Anyone want to commission me to write a play? Will work for gin.

So what upcoming shows or events are you most excited about in the Bay Area Theater Scene? 

William Bivins: Besides Pint-Sized Plays and The Education of a Rake–which, did I mention, opens July 28th?–I’m excited about PianoFight’s upcoming show, Duck Lake.

Seanan Palmero: Custom Made’s production of Merchant of Venice, which opens July 10th.

Seanan Palmero

What’s your favorite beer?

Seanan Palmero: Redhook, at the moment.

William Bivins: Theakstons Old Peculier. (Yes, that’s how it’s spelled.)

Don’t miss the Pint Sized plays, opening July 16 and playing July 17, 23, 30 and 31 with a special performance at the Plough and the Stars on July 18. All the rest are at our usual stomping grounds, Cafe Royale, located at the corner of Post and Leavenworth in San Francisco’s lovely Tendernob neighborhood. Performances are free, no reservations necessary, but show up early and stay late- we’re bound to be sold out and the crowd is always the best part of Theater Pub!