The Sequel to Citizen Kane Is On the Air!
My play, The Sequel to Citizen Kane, will be performed, via Zoom, on Monday, November 9, at 7:00 p.m. EST, by the New City Players Lab, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Registration is required to get the Zoom link, but it is free to all. Here’s the link to registration: https://www.newcityplayers.org/lab
I hope you’ll make plans to attend.
The Sequel to Citizen Kane is a comedy about two Hollywood knuckleheads who think they have the sequel rights to the greatest movie ever made. It’s one of my favorite plays and I think you’ll like it.
New Plays
In 2020, who knew what would happen? In January, Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day was given a staged reading through the Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative. Also, a monologue from Lily Blossoms was performed by Darkhorse Dramatists in Syracuse, New York.
The Sequel to Citizen Kane was given a reading in March 2020 by Miami (of Ohio) University’s Miami Writes program. And then everything shut down. As a director, I had six shows canceled, hopefully to be rescheduled. One play I was going to direct, Let’s Murder Marsha, has been rescheduled for 2022.
In October 2020, The Janus Circle was performed via Zoom by the Philadelphia Screenwriters performance group.
The Sequel to Citizen is scheduled for November 2020, performed via Zoom by New City Players in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The Sequel To Citizen Kane Gets the Green Light
My play, The Sequel to Citizen Kane, has been selected to take part in the Miami Writes Festival. It will be given a reading on Friday, March 6, at Miami University Hamilton Campus, Studio 307 (307 Phelps Hall), 1601 University Hall, Hamilton, Ohio 45011 at 7:30 PM. Admission is free.
Miami Writes is part of the Miami University Regionals Theater season. There will be about ten 10-minute plays read that evening. Here’s their website: https://miamioh.edu/regionals/academics/departments/hca/student-work/theatre/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2VGiEiL3v43ffFJESHW3ip2gsh_4tJIm1bPQWpxb4TodtlwpXhzER8Qtg
The Sequel to Citizen Kane is a comedy about two Hollywood knuckleheads thinking they have the sequel rights to the greatest film ever made.
I’m excited because it gives me a chance to hear a different voice to my play and it’s the first time this play has been performed. If you can make it, I’d love for you to hear this play performed.
Tonight’s the Night: My New Play is Performed
It all happens tonight! I hope to see you there.
Playwright Steven G. Martin says in a recommendation: “ Sophisticated humor — through wit, wordplay, and charm — infuse this light, one-act comedy set in 1950s New York. Hatfield clearly understands and enjoys the high-brow charm of shows of this period, and has created a group of characters — world wearing magazine writers, a misled wife, and a tortured editor — that fits right in. Stylish and enchanting. ”
PREMIERE OF LILY BLOSSOMS, OR MODERN SUBDIVISION ZONING IN THE PRESENT DAY, AT THE ARONOFF CENTER, JANUARY 14
The Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative New Voices series presents the premiere of Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day by Greg Hatfield, in a staged reading, on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020, at 7:30 p.m., at the Fifth Third Bank Theater in the Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut Street, in Downtown Cincinnati.
This sophisticated comedy is set in New York City in 1954. Lily Palmer and Theodore Barkley, the star writers for Manhattan magazine, are the very best of friends. Hating their present assignments, they decide to mix things up a bit to the consternation of their editor. Barkley has also been moonlighting as an actor and gets an offer from a movie studio in Hollywood. This could break up the team and his marriage.
Cincinnati community theater lovers will recognize this cast: Cathy Jo Judge, Darren Lee, Peggy Allen and Chris Bishop, as all are very familiar faces throughout the city, working consistently on plays and musicals with every theater company.
The playwright and director, Greg Hatfield, is no slouch, either. For years, he was a writer, actor and director in Dr. Browndog’s Moneytime, a theatrical comedy troupe in Cincinnati. His other plays have been performed by companies in Cincinnati, Kansas City, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
Tickets are now on sale at https://www.cincinnatiarts.org/events/detail/cpi-ghost-girl or the Aronoff Box Office. Tickets are $10.00. There is another play, The Ghost Girl by Ariel Rodgers, also performed that night.
For more information, go to cincinnatiarts.org or cincyplaywrights.org.
PREMIERE OF LILY BLOSSOMS, OR MODERN SUBDIVISION ZONING IN THE PRESENT DAY, AT THE ARONOFF CENTER, JANUARY 14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact
Greg Hatfield, greghatfield@yahoo.com
PREMIER OF LILY BLOSSOMS, OR MODERN SUBDIVISION ZONING IN THE PRESENT DAY, AT THE ARONOFF CENTER, JANUARY 14
The Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative New Voices series presents the premiere of Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day by Greg Hatfield, in a staged reading, on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020, at 7:30 p.m., at the Fifth Third Bank Theater in the Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut Street, in Downtown Cincinnati.
This sophisticated comedy is set in New York City in 1954. Lily Palmer and Theodore Barkley, the star writers for Manhattan magazine, are the very best of friends. Hating their present assignments, they decide to mix things up a bit to the consternation of their editor. Barkley has also been moonlighting as an actor and gets an offer from a movie studio in Hollywood. This could break up the team and his marriage.
Cincinnati community theater lovers will recognize this cast: Cathy Jo Judge, Darren Lee, Peggy Allen and Chris Bishop, as all are very familiar faces throughout the city, working consistently on plays and musicals with every theater company.
The playwright and director, Greg Hatfield, is no slouch, either. For years, he was a writer, actor and director in Dr. Browndog’s Monkeytime, a theatrical comedy troupe in Cincinnati. His other plays have been performed by companies in Cincinnati, Kansas City, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
Tickets are now on sale at https://www.cincinnatiarts.org/events/detail/cpi-ghost-girl or the Aronoff Box Office. Tickets are $10.00. There is another play, The Ghost Girl by Ariel Rodgers, also performed that night.
For more information, go to cincinnatiarts.org, cincyplaywrights.org and greghatfield.com.
Tickets Now on Sale for Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day, Tuesday, January 11, 2020 at the Aronoff in Cincinnati!
I’m happy to announce that tickets are now on sale for my new comedy play, Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day, which will be presented by the Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative New Voices series in a staged reading, on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020, at 7:30 p.m., at the Fifth Third Bank Theater in the Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut Street, in Downtown Cincinnati.
The play is set in New York City in 1954. Lily Palmer and Theodore Barkley are the star writers for Manhattan magazine, who are the very best of friends. Hating their present assignments, they decide to mix things up a bit to the consternation of their editor. Also, Barkley’s been moonlighting as an actor and gets an offer from a movie studio and is breaking up the team by moving to California.
I have a wonderful cast, whose names you will instantly recognize from their many appearances in Greater Cincinnati theater: Cathy Judge as Lily Palmer, Darren Lee as Theodore Barkley, Chris Bishop as Russell Harold and Peggy Allen as Louise Barkley. I will also be directing.
Tickets are now on sale at https://www.cincinnatiarts.org/events/detail/cpi-ghost-girl or the Aronoff Box Office. Tickets are $10.00. There is another play, The Ghost Girl by Ariel Rodgers, also performed that night.
This information will also be on my website, greghatfield.com, cincinnatiarts.org and cincyplaywrights.org.
The Gingerbread Lady
I will be directing the play, Lessons, by Teri Foltz, for The Drama Workshop’s Home Brew Festival, featuring productions of short plays by local authors. The show dates are June 7, 8 and 9 at the Glenmore Playhouse in Cheviot.
My own play, The Ten Minute Play (with a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter), will also be part of the festival.
In the Summer of 1974, I directed my first full-length play, The Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon. One of Simon’s more dark comedies, TGL is the story of Evy, a singer, whose career and life is destroyed by her drinking.
During the Spring of 1974, I was a student at Northern Kentucky University, as a theater major. I had had a lot of fun directing Edward Albee’s The Sandbox and a few scenes form other plays in classes, including a great version of the closing scene of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Jennifer Burkhart was one of the best actresses at NKU and frustrated because she couldn’t find a part that she wanted to play. She brought me a copy of the play and asked if I would look at it and, if I liked it, we could go to the theater head, Bill Parsons, and see if we could do it as summer show. I did like it and pitched it to Dr. Parsons, who agreed to give us a little money to put it on.
So, I was part of great group of friends with theater sound, lighting, props and production experience, so there was no doubt that they were going work on it. This was going to be the first totally student produced show at in NKU’s history. In Nunn Hall, there was a small theater, holding around 150, so after Spring semester was out, we moved in and began to work on the show.
I don’t even think we had auditions. Jennifer was going to be Evy, after all, it was her idea. I cast friends in the other roles. Greg Carstens as Jimmy, Frankie Banta as Polly, Susan Rogers as Tory, Mike Salzman as Manuel and Jerry Helm as Lou.
Mike, Jerry, Debby Wolff and me practically lived in that theater for the two months leading up to the show. Debby was our props mistress and we had a great looking set, designed by Jerry. We even had running water in the set kitchen.
We had some anxieties throughout the rehearsals. Nerves came out. It was a big show, after all, with nuances that I don’t know if we were successful in presenting, but we had fun, that I do remember.
New Production of The Ten Minute Play and Directing a Play in Cincinnati
To all my Cincinnati friends (and those that want to travel). I’m happy to announce that I will be participating in The Drama Workshop’s annual Home Brew Theater as a playwright and director.
Home Brew Theater is an annual festival featuring productions of short plays by local authors. The show dates are June 7, 8 and 9 at the Glenmore Playhouse in Cheviot. There’s also a reception following the plays with craft beer from West Side Brewery.
My play, The Ten Minute Play (with a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter), will be performed. It will be directed by Julie Jordan. The play is a comedy. Some of you may remember that this play had a reading in Kansas City last October and the audience loved it. You will love this play, too, and this gives all my Cincinnati friends the opportunity to finally see what I’ve been doing with my life.
I’m also directing a play for the festival, Lessons by Teri Foltz. This is a warm, touching play that I found absolutely delightful. I think you’ll like it, too. I’m very excited to work on this play.
I want to mention that the Drama Workshop people have been very nice to me and supportive and the Glenmore Playhouse is a wonderful theater to see a play.
I’ll have more information about the plays as the weeks progress, but I hope you’ll save the date and come and see my plays at the Festival. I’m linking to the Drama Workshop’s Facebook page, where they have information on all the plays and ticket reservations.
I’ll see you there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheDramaWorkshop/?fref=nf
A Recommendation for My New Play
I have a new play. It’s called Lily Blossoms or Modern Subdivision Zoning for the Present Day. It’s a one-act comedy. Recently, a playwright/reader on New Play Exchange, a website where playwrights can upload their plays and theatre managers, artistic directors, etc., can find new plays to produce.
The play is set in 1954, in New York, and features writers Lily Palmer and Theodore Barkley, who work for Manhattan magazine. But, things will change once Barkley gets an offer from a movie studio and has to move to California.
This is the season when theatre companies ask for submissions and I wanted to have a new play ready to submit. I worked on this play in November and December and finished it early January. I like it. It’s funny and the characters are among my favorites. I even got to name drop a favorite character from one of my other plays.
This recommendation is from Steven G. Martin, a fellow playwright:
“ Sophisticated humor — through wit, wordplay, and charm — infuse this light, one-act comedy set in 1950s New York. Hatfield clearly understands and enjoys the high-brow charm of shows of this period, and has created a group of characters — world wearing magazine writers, a misled wife, and a tortured editor — that fits right in. Stylish and enchanting. ”
2018 was a good year for me, professionally. Two of my plays, The Great Stalinski and The Ten Minute Play (With a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter), received readings. in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, respectively. Another play, Mundy Tuesday Friday, was a finalist for a theatre company in Virginia.
2019 is off to a good start, too. I’ll have some news a bit later on about some theatrical work I’m doing in Cincinnati.
Play Reading of The Great Stalinski
My play, The Great Stalinski, will be given a reading by the Pittsburgh New Works Reading Series, on Monday, November 5.
The Reading Series will be be held at Higher Voice Studios, 144 E Main St, Carnegie, PA 15106, at 7:00 p.m. Their website is https://pittsburghnewworks.org/reading-series/
The Great Stalinski was selected as a finalist for the Pittsburgh New Works Festival in 2018, but just didn’t make the final cut of 18 produced plays. Out of hundreds of submissions, my play and about 39 others were finalists. The Reading Series is taking the plays that didn’t make it and giving them a reading over the course of the winter with local actors.
Of course I’m thrilled to be included.
The Great Stalinski is a personal favorite of my plays, as it started what I call “The Cabot Trilogy.” Let me explain: The play is about the third generation of Cabot actors who are gathered together for the funeral the “World’s Greatest Shakespearean Actor,” Gregor Stalinski. Brothers Jack and Monty and sister Veronica Cabot were close to Stalinski (especially Veronica) and they meet up at Jack’s theater to travel together to the funeral. The Cabots are theater royalty and the play is really a fun piece about theater history and fame.
So after writing it, that got me to thinking about the other generations of Cabots and I wrote a play about Jack, Monty and Veronica’s parents called Three Sisters in Repertory. I love that play. The characters are great. We meet Charles Cabot, their father, and three sisters, Virginia, Eve and Roz Fleming. I’m guessing that one of them becomes their mother. Again, theater history is evident as scenes are played from Pygmalion, Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest.
So I had to write a play about the First Generation of Cabots and I wrote the first act of what would become The Cabots of Broadway, where we meet Kate and John Cabot, who start the whole family on a theatrical career.
Act Two is Three Sister in Repertory and Act Three is The Great Stalinski. I’m really proud of this play and have been sending it out religiously.
As always, my plays are on New Play Exchange. I’m sorry more of you can’t see or read the plays just yet, but I’m working on it. It’s hard work.
That’s A Myth
I woke up with this sketch in my head for some reason. It’s That’s A Myth, a sketch I wrote for The Act, which was my comedy duo with Scott Levy. I don’t have too many sketches posted on my YouTube page because, frankly, they’re not so hot. We were one of the first to use public access equipment and we rushed the shows. As I was looking at the shows recently, they just didn’t seem to hold up very well. I do have a couple that I could post, but for the most part, I think we’ll pass.
This one, though, is pretty good and represents something we were attempting. It’s a fast paced sketch and still holds up. I’m the guy on the left. The other guy is Bill Balfour, who helped us in the studio with directing and acting occasionally.
Here’s That’s A Myth:
Cincinnati Actors! I Need You.
Call for Actors!
I need (at minimum) three (3) male and three (3) female actors for four (4) ten-minute plays I’m directing for the Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative Fools Fest.
These will be staged readings at the Aronoff Center’s Fifth Third Bank Theater on Tuesday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Depending on the response, each actor will be cast in multiple plays. This is a really good opportunity for an actor to stretch a bit and tackle something new. The roles are varied characters; some are a bit classical; some are more straight-forward. I’m also open to new talent.
Rehearsals won’t be too taxing. We’ll have two or three rehearsals before the show in late March and early April and a final rehearsal the afternoon of the show at the theater.
If you’re an actor, know an actor, know someone who knows an actor, tell them to contact me either through Facebook or email me at greghatfield@yahoo.com.
Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day
My comedy monologue, Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day, will be performed as part of “Tales from the Script Festival” from Darkhorse Dramatists, on November 1 and 2, at 8:00 p.m., at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center, in Owega, New York.
Adam Ruff performs the monologue, directed by Cat Robinson.
Cincinnati audiences will get a chance to see it on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, when the Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative presents my play, Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day, at the Fifth Third Bank Theater in the Aronoff Center. More details on that to come.
What’s Going On?
Hi everyone. We had a great summer. My play, The Ten Minute Play (with a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter), played to great response at the Drama Workshop in Cheviot, Ohio (my hometown, or close to it in Cincinnati) in June. I also directed a play, Lessons by Teri Foltz, that was well-received. I wrote at length about these two plays in an earlier blog post.
Since then, I’ve been busy. I’ve written another play, The Sequel to Citizen Kane. The play is about an agent and a director who think they have the sequel rights to the greatest film ever made. It’s a comedy one-act.
I should have some news soon about a production of another play of mine coming up in November. I can’t reveal anything yet, but, New York State, lookout.
I can say that my play, Lily Blossoms, or Modern Subdivision Zoning in the Present Day, will have a staged reading on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at the Aronoff Center’s Fifth Third Theater, in Downtown Cincinnati. Also on the bill is The Ghost Girl by Ariel Rodgers. I’ll have more info on this as we get closer to show date.
Early fall is the time when playwrights submit to every playwriting festival, calls for submissions and any opportunity to get the work out there. That in and of itself is a full-time job, especially for playwrights that don’t have an agent (most of us, I think). But, it’s a necessity, so you do it. Thankfully, we do support each other with our writing communities on social media, so that helps.
If you’re a new visitor to my page, thank you for checking it out. Let me know if you need anything. Sign up for alerts. I think it’s going to be a busy season.
Greg