Performances, Publications, Panels, and More!

There's lots going on at Camp Thom Dunn (is there ever not?); and so, I interrupt your regularly scheduled weird nerd pop culture discoveries & progressive political rantings to, ya know, talk about myself for a minute.

• As previously mentioned, my play True Believers is now available for purchase through Indie Theater Now, and you should totally go buy it, because it only costs $1.29, so why the hell not? (I'm also considering making the script available through Amazon's self-publishing portal, if there's demand for it, even though I do have some ethical issues with Amazon as a company. But dammit if they're not cheap and convenient)
   
• I will be returning to rock the Mortified Boston Christmas show on Friday, December 19 at Oberon in Harvard Square. Tickets are $15 and they're going fast, so hurry up if you want to see me play some really, really, really bad and embarrassing songs I wrote in high school! Which obviously you do.
   
• My words will grace the stage for the third consecutive year in the Boston One-Minute Play Festival (#OMPF). The festival is the brainchild of Dominic D'Andrea, who produces these little bursts in most major cities across the country. It's a fun night — as writers, we're not really given any prompts other than "60 seconds, one page, MAX," so it's neat to see what kind of thematic patterns emerge through that. It's a neat way to gauge the temperature of a city, and the topics that consume its collective consciousness. My two scripts will be directed by Stephanie LeBolt and Hatem Adell, and they'll be performed on Monday and Tuesday, January 5 & 6, at Boston Playwrights Theater.
   
• I'm also excited to announce that I'll be featured on a whole bunch of panels this year at Arisia, Boston's largest and most diverse science fiction & fantasy convention, January 17 — 20 at the Westin Boston Waterfront. Here's where you can find me (when I'm not at the bar or in bed, I mean):
  • Neurodiversity in SF/F — Saturday @ 11:30am in Marina 2
  • DC Comics on the Small Screen — Saturday @ 5:30pm in Marina 2
  • Behind the Bristol boards: Comics as  Profession — Saturday @ 7pm in Marina 4
  • We Know (Philip K.) Dick — Sunday @ 10am in Marina 2
  • Superman & Religion — Sunday @ 11:30am in Burroughs
  • Story Autopsy — Sunday @ 2:30pm in Alcott
  • The Medium & The Message — Sunday @ 5:30pm in Hale
  • Writing & Racial Identity — Monday @ 1pm in Hale
     
• AND SPEAKING OF COMICS! I have 2 more comics coming out through Grayhaven Press — one is a story in their Science Fiction anthology, and the other is a super villain story featured in their "You Are Not Alone" anti-bullying anthology. Both comics will feature art by my buddy Dave Ganjamie, and he and I particularly pumped to actually have some comics going on, after talking about it for the last couple of years. I'm not sure when these comics will actually be published, as I'm currently working on the scripts, but of course, and let you know and link to 'em when they are.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Ganjamie

Oh yeah, and then after all that stuff's done, I'm getting married, but ya know, that's a minor event.

Good News For True Believers! (the play, I mean. I guess the people, too)

Two, count 'em, TWO  big announcements about everyone's favorite geek culture serio-comedy theatrical romp (that being True Believers, which I wrote): 

• I have officially signed a digital publishing contract with the wonderful people at Indie Theater Now, an online extension service of the New York Theatre Experience, Inc. that presents, promotes, and preserves new American plays in script form. The full script will be up soon (possibly along with some of my other plays?), but for now, you can check out my playwright profile, anyway.
   
• True Believers will be receiving another public play reading in New York City, this time with the fine folks at Animus Theatre. It's the season kick-off for their 2014-2015 New Play Reading Series, so if you're in or around the New York area, please come check it out! The reading will place this coming Monday, October 27 at Bunga's Den on W 14th Street in Manhattan beginning at 7:30pm. So BE THERE, or make your own Hipster Slave Leia or Steampunk Jesus costume for Halloween.

And if for some reason you found your way to this website / blogpost and have no idea what I'm talking about, well, you're in luck, because I've got a whole section of my website dedicated to True Believers, complete with script samples, production photos, reviews, and more.

For the Cyborg Head of Stan Lee!

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Zach Winston as Billy cosplaying Galactus.

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Rachel Katherine Alexander as Chloe cosplaying Slave Leia with a hoodie, 'cause it's cold.

Good News, True Believers!

I've got two new exciting bits to share with you about your favorite nerdy theatre experience. First, The Hive Theatre in New York will be presenting a staged reading of True Believers on Monday, March 18 at 7pm at the Lee Strasberg Film & Theatre Institute on East 15th Street near Union Square. The reading is being presented under an Equity showcase contract, which technically means that they're all professional actors who probably aren't being paid, but that's okay, because hey, cool, professional NY actors! I've met with the company once so far, and they're incredibly excited and supportive about the show. I by no means feel that the script is perfect, but when I asked them about a few of the concerns I had about it, they all pretty much answered, "Nope, it's great, don't worry about it," so, ya know, that's nice. If you're in New York, or have any friends in New York, please tell them to come (especially if they're important agents/editors/producers/superheroes/billionaire philanthropists/the real-life inspiration for Avenger because oh God I want to see his face). The other great news I received this same weekend (which also pertains to True Believers) is that I've been invited to participate in the Last Frontier Theatre Conference at Prince Williams Sound Community College in Valdez, Alaska, which is apparently a 6 hour drive from Anchorage. It's a week long conference full of panels and workshops all focusing on new works for American theatre, and another staged reading of True Believers will be presented under my adept direction. But mostly, it'll be cool to go to Alaska in May when it's not a frozen tundra and there's only like 3 hours of darkness and then suddenly I'm Al Pacino and I'm going crazy trying to catch a killer and hey that could be plot of my next play (he says, already working on 2 more simultaneously instead of focusing on finishing one UGH).

So in conclusion: The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee was right.

They Like Me! They Really Like Me!

GOOD NEWS: The 2012 BroadwayWorld Boston Award nominations are out, and my play True Believers has been nominated for a ton of them, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble (they seem to have gotten rid of the "Best Play - Small/Fringe" category this year, jerks) BAD NEWS: Now you have to go vote for me. With every email address you have. Also tell your friends to do the same. Or else The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee will come to your house and destroy your soul. KTHXBYE.

(also, while you're at it, vote for my girlfriend M. Bevin O'Gara's incredible production of Love Person at Company One, in all of those categories, too, 'cause she's awesome.)

(you can also vote for the Huntington in all of the Large Theatre categories as long as you're there, ya know?)

True Believers Closing and More Reviews

Before I run away to Florida and sleep for 2 weeks straight because I need it, here's a final roundup of more reviews for the world premiere of True Believers:

"Dunn's script is smart and sharply written. He creates memorable and believable characters set in this world who many of us can either relate to, or just be familiar with.  The comedic moments are great and chock full of fantastic one liners. He also is able to create strong and powerful dramatic moments that help balance the comedy.  It doesn't become a parody, but a snap shot of what this world could very well be like. What else can be said about this show except only more praise?"  - MuffinEatsDragon.com

"I was impressed with this show for many reasons, but the foremost was the interesting, thoughtful story that they told extremely well. The second is that it spoke authentically to the nerd fringe community. I know, ‘nerd culture’ is the hip thing right now with comic book movies dominating the box office, but I agree with the sentiment that this newfound cash cow does not represent the community in a real way. Though it does help to normalizesome nerd culture. True Believers by Thom Dunn feels like a play that intimately knows what conventions are like. Their lights are clever, their sound is full of hilarious nerdy references, the script is clever, the characters are interesting, and the actors are brilliant. I could not recommend this show more."  - My Entertainment World

And to top it off, we were the Pick Of The Week in RadioBoston! All in all, I'd say that's not so bad for a nerdy little play about a comic book convention.

Now without any further ado, I'm going to retreat and recuperate for a few years. You'll hear from me eventually...

First review of True Believers is a rave!

From EdgeBoston:

Heroes and villains clash in Thom Dunn’s True Believers; it’s not the fate of the cosmos that hangs in the balance, but rather the personal worlds of everyone involved. This salute to comic-con is fraught with sharp writing and impeccable performances. Comic books are wildly colorful exaggerations of life, a form of contemporary myth, and Dunn understands this. Dunn’s energetic script takes on the general form of a farce, albeit one in which aimless young men dress in crude cardboard approximations of cyborg armor. The play’s particulars may be specific to a certain social subset, but its themes and motivations are universal. The characterizations are well wrought and the jokes are smart, sometimes downright wicked sharp.

Yeah, alright, I'll take that! You can read the full review online as well. We have just 5 more performances this week (Wed - Sat) before the show closes, so make sure you catch it will you can!

True Believers Production Photos

Here's a little peek at True Believers, for those of still waiting / unable to see it (or for those of you who want to relive the experience). All photos by Paul Cantillon / LIDEC Photo.[slideshow]

True Believers Updates, Part I

Okay. Breathe. We just made it through opening weekend of True Believers, which saw mostly packed houses and very responsive audiences (and only a few technical malfunctions that hopefully no one noticed but me). All in all, I'd say it's going well so far! We'll just have to wait and see what the critics have to say about it. In the meantime, here's a little interview I did with Jacqui Bryant, a local Boston entertainment blogger, about the show. Full disclosure: I thought she was writing an article, not posting the full interview transcription, so some of my answers, uh, well, they go on for quite a while (I wanted to give her a lot of information to pull from!)

We also got a nice shout out in the print & online version of DigBoston / The Weekly Dig:

Now, you might assume this unconventionally comedic play (penned by local playwright and Emerson College alum Thom Dunn, go Lions etc.) chronicling the interactions between conventional comic convention-types—aspiring artists, single-minded fanboys, haute couturecosplayers and so on—would be a tad nerdy. You would be right. Some World’s Greatest Detective stuff, that is. But just how nerdy are we talking? Try “Cyborg Head of Stan Lee” nerdy. Yes, that’s a kind of nerdy. The “most” kind.

Ha. Thanks, guys (I think...)

Opus Affair, a social group for young professional interested and involved in the arts in around the Boston area, also highlighted the show in their "On the Town" weekly roundup, praising it with favorable comparisons to both Closer and Magic Mike (both of which I assume were intended as compliments though I'm not entirely sure...)

Anyway, stay tuned, True Believers, for more updates, including production photos and...The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee!

Top 5 Reasons Why THE AVENGERS Movie Totally Sucked And Also Was Stupid, Part II

After recovering from his earlier coughing fit, "rogue video blogger" Billy Horowitz continues with his Top 5 Reasons Why THE AVENGERS Movie Totally Sucked And Also Was Stupid. Tickets for the world premiere of TRUE BELIEVERS are going fast, with only 50 seats in the theatre, so make sure to get yours ahead of time while you still can! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtR7kMEf5q4]

Billy Horowitz and the No Good Horrible Very Bad AVENGERS Movie

Here's a little sneak peek at the world premiere of my new play True Believers. Billy Horowitz is a self-proclaimed "rogue video blogger" (as well as a cyborg), and his passion for comic books tends to drive him into a destructive frenzy. His video blogs feature prominently into the play, projected on the stage, and here, Billy takes his shot at The Avengers movie. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6f0bb-n1Y]

Don't forgot to buy your tickets for the show, which only runs for 2 weeks. Performances start this Thursday!

Stay Tuned, True Believers!

Rehearsals for my new play True Believers are now well under way! I'm incredibly to be working with our talented and enthusiastic cast, featuring:

• Ryan Edlinger as Chad Mailer. "Comic book writer, creator of Night Shift. High aspirations; doesn’t get the attention he thinks he deserves. Seriously didn’t mean to make Wolverine gay."
• Michael Avellar as Ted Thompson. "Comic book editor, currently at DC Comics. Worked on Night Shift with Chad. Recently divorced. She took his entire Star Wars collection in the settlement. Yes, that includes his Han Solo in Carbonite coffee table. Not that he’s bitter or anything."
• Zach Winston as Billy Horowitz. "Amateur comic book journalist (read: video blogger) and Cyborg Rights Activist (he has a pacemaker). Avid cosplayer."
• Jeffrey Charles Marcus as Calvin Elder. "By day, a mild mannered aspiring comic book artist. By night, he dons the mantle of...Avenger! No, not 'The' Avenger. Just Avenger. You haven’t heard of him? Calvin didn’t make him up. He’s an original creation."
• James Remmes as Box. "Comic writer and professional druid magic user (or at least that’s what he says). Actually knows how to pronounce 'Cthulhu Ftagn.' His mom calls him Christopher."
• Caitlyn Conley as Kt Watts. "Artist on Night Shift (as Katie Tulle). Also wrote the final issue (as Kt Watts). Recently sold the movie rights to her slice-of-life graphic novel Robots Still Love You (Until Their Batteries Die). Her roller derby name is SnatchBox 20."
• Rachel Katharine Alexander as Chloe Long. "Small town girl from Kansas. Flying to the city for the first time in her life to finally meet her online boyfriend in person. She’s a little nervous."
• and Anne Colpitts & Steve Marois in the ensemble.

Tickets are on sale now. The show runs July 12 - 21 at the Piano Factory Theatre in Boston's South End. Check back soon for more updates!

I'm Back Now, And I Brought T-Shirts For Everybody!

I have a confession to make. I didn't really bring t-shirts for everybody. Although I do have these sweet new business cards! So that's cool, right? I know I've been slacking (again) lately (again) with keeping this website updated with all of my various doin's. But it's not like I've not been not doing things (...or is it?)! Instead, I've just been too busy doing things to, ya know, write about doing things. It's kind of why I hate meetings in general, because I'd rather be doing things, than talking about doing things. So this website's kind of like a meeting then. Except I don't hate it; in fact, I quite love my little website here. So really, not like a meeting at all.

(shut up Thom) Okay so here's a brief rundown of where the hell I've been:

• My very short play, Stumped, was performed as part of a staged reading series to celebrate Company One's production of Hookman.
• My debut comic book story, Not Dead Yet, finally saw print in GrayHaven Comics' sci-fi anthology, The Fifth Dimension! Also the first printing already sold out, which means maybe someday you'll be able to sell that shit on eBay for like $20 (but probably not)
• I did a totally awesome article for Quirk Books comparing Samuel Beckett (the playwright) to Sam Beckett (the time traveling protagonist from Quantum Leap) and it was totally awesome. Don't believe me? Ask the former executive director of the American Theatre Wing!
• I also started doing some writing for Tor.com, with my first article being a roundup of great sci-fi/fantasy rock bands (so basically my two favorite things, combined. If only there was more beer!)
• We did another staged reading of my play True Believers as part of ImprovBoston's Geek Week celebration. It was really great to hear the play out loud in front of different kind of crowd, as it helps me figure out what kind of changes I need to make to the script before the world premiere this summer at the Factory Theatre (July 12 - 21! Get yer tickets while they're hot! Just kidding, they're not on sale yet). The lovely producing folks at Vagabond Theatre Group have a post up over at their website about the event so you can catch up on all the happening. There's also the first part of an instructional series about how to make your very own The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee, which actually comes a lot more in handy than you might think.
• Did I mention that I launched a new website for the Huntington, and that our world premiere production of The Luck of the Irish was extended, and sold out almost every night? For being, ya know, "just my day job" or whatever, sometimes it keeps me pretty busy as well.
• Plus Cupcake! So many things, so very busy with this wonderfully little world-premiere-musical-that-could. We raised $6,000 in our Kickstarter campaign (we were going for $3,750...whoops!), and we were the featured show this past Friday on Goldstar. You may have seen some of my sexy posters around town as well (just don't tell Grant that I photoshopped his arm a bit...) Previews start this Thursday, May 10!
• AND, to top it all off, I've only got like 50 pages left to read in Infinite Jest (finally! Jesus God this book is epic), so I'm gonna go finish that right now and hopefully conquer my crippling fear (no pun intended) of paraplegic Quebecers.

In the News!

It's a good week for being me! I opened up a print copy (on newsprint! Gets on your hands!) of Boston's Weekly Dig, only to find that they reprinted my tweet to them about my Haiku Beer Reviews from last week's Beer Summit (for which I had tickets from the Dig), and they even printed one of the haikus (for ZOMBIE KILLER Meade from B.Nektar) in their pages. This marks the second time that the Dig has printed one of my silly poems (the last time being in October, 2010 in their "Oh, Cruel World!" column, wherein I expressed my violent rage about a bicycle accident in verse) which all just makes me think that they should give me a job as "Official Writer of Silly Verse" or something. Vagabond Theatre Group, who is the producing the upcoming reading of my play True Believers, posted a lovely and thoughtful blogpost about my play, and the trend (or lack thereof) of comic book-related stories in theatre. It's a brief but flattering piece, that you should check out if you have the chance!

Coming up: even more news that I can't quite officially announce yet. Hollerr.

Go Ahead, Ask Me Anything

I recently did an interview with Vagabond Theatre Group, who will be producing a staged reading of my play TRUE BELIEVERS in just a few weeks. As to be expected, I am incredibly charming and witty throughout. Check it out!

Look, Ma! I'm in a comic book!

Excelsior! Stay Tuned, True Believers!

I'm excited to announce that the lovely people at Vagabond Theatre Group like me so much that they've decided to present a my new full-length play True Believers as the next staged reading/public workshop in their There Will Be Words reading series. I've met with the production team once so far, but they seem incredibly enthusiastic about my work (and impressed me with their own comic book/sci-fi/nerdery knowledge, which is of course very important, especially in a piece like this), so I'm looking forward to presenting the latest draft for a smart Boston audience. The reading will take place Thursday, February 9 at Trident Booksellers & Cafe at 338 Newbury Street in Boston. Admission is free, but for a suggested $2 donation (plus Trident serves delicious food and a great selection of craft beers).

And yes, the Cyborg Head of Stan Lee will be in attendance. Hope to see you there!

Behold: The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee!

Clearly I've been pretty busy with this playwriting fellowship, writing and re-writing and writing some more. (I'm pretty sure I killed about 7 trees in the last 2 weeks. WHOOPS) And of course, as soon as I'm back to Boston, I'm immediately thrown back into the grind. As such, this week's post on Five By Five Hundred isn't a new piece of writing, per se; instead, it's a monologue from my play that unfortunately had to be cut (by no fault of its own, of course). Amongst the (many) other bizarre, larger-than-life characters featured in True Believers, there is one that stands above the rest.

Or, rather, rests on a wooden base with plastic wires and tubing, presumably for life support. Meet: The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee. Which is kind of like the Head of the John Baptist, or Pope Sylvester II's brazen head, except with more clever catch phrases like, "Stay tuned, True Believers!" and "Excelsior!"

"The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

(And let's be honest: now you're REALLY intrigued by this new play I'm working on, right? Thought so.)

True Believers Staged Reading

The first public staged reading of my new play, True Believers, took place today at the Berkshire Fringe Festival, following two weeks of intense workshopping. The cast was as follows:

• Chad Mailer..........Ryan Marchione
• Billy Horowitz..........Joshua Ramos
• Ted Thompson..........Bill Shein
• Chloe Long..........Bethany Geiger
• Kt Watts..........Kristen Sparhawk
• Box/Ensemble..........Timothy Ryan Olson
• Calvin..........Hector Rivera
• Ensemble..........Clelia Sweeney
• The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee..........Himself

Special thanks to my director, Keith Bulla, and dramaturg/playwright mentor Laura Maria Censabella. Overall, the script seemed to be well received, and I made a lot of progress on it over the past 2 weeks, tightening the story and sharpening the edges. There'll be another draft coming up, so stay tuned to see where your favorite Comic-Con play goes next!

True Believers Facebook Contest

As mentioned before, my new play, True Believers, will be receiving a workshop production as part of the Berkshire Fringe Festival. I'll spend two intensive weeks in the Berkshires, writing and re-writing, before the public workshop on August 13. Here's the elevator pitch for the play to get you interested:

The heartfelt lives of starcrossed lovers, psychotic fanboys, aspiring comic book writers, cybernetically enhanced humans, and girls who dress like Princess Leia all intertwine over a whirlwind Comic-Con weekend.

(Also, part of the play is set in WORLD OF WARCRAFT. Like, the actual scenes play out within the world of WORLD OF WARCRAFT, when they're not otherwise taking place on the convention floor. Totally cool, right? I'm brilliant)

To get everyone excited about the smörgåsbord of events going on at the Berkshire Fringe Festival (as if True Believers somehow weren't exciting enough on its own), they're holding a Facebook contest to get you extra pumped. One lucky winner will walk away with a $100 cash prize, a season pass to the Berkshire Fringe Festival, and — AND — a snazzy t-shirt. (because we can all use more free snazzy t-shirts, amirite?)

You can read the detailed contest instructions over at the Berkshire Fringe website. Win that money, use it to buy me a beer, and come check out True Believers on August 13!

Fancy Backyard Bohemian Play Readings (plus beer)

Last night, we held a small reading (well, okay, it's a fairly large cast, but there was audience, so whatever) of my new play True Believers, at the Westerly Street Theatre Company and BrewPub. Also known as My Backyard. Clearly of all of my neighbors were quite impressed by the psuedo-Bohemian lifestyles of me and my friends read plays and drank homebrewed beer. Did I mention that True Believers is a play about Comic-Con, and includes cyborgs, girls dressed as Princess Leia, and scenes that take place entirely in WORLD OF WARCRAFT? Okay, so maybe we're less Boheme, more Geek Chic. I'm cool with that.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the reading; everyone had great feedback to share, and the response helped to get me even more excited for workshopping the play as part of the Berkshire Fringe Festival in August (during which there will be a public staged reading of the play, featuring professional actors and directors. Not that my friends aren't professional actors/director [which, some of them are! No, really.], but they're also, well, my friends, and I know them).

Stay tuned (for more information on) True Believers!

The Plot Finds a Life

Today on FiveByFiveHundred.com, I tried another small experiment meta-flashfiction experiment (but I swear, it's not nearly as pretentious as that phrasing sounds. Honest). It was partially inspired by (or possibly expounds upon?) a previous piece that I wrote for the website, titled The NightShift (which is, in turn, the inspiration for a fictional comic book fictionally written by the protagonist of my play True Believers), because sometimes, I guess I just like writing stories about stories. But, you know. With heart.

"Storytime Dreams" on FiveByFiveHundred.com