news
The Dramatist
Becca Blackmore
I have a brief article in the May/June 2013 issue of The Dramatist, the journal of the Darmatists Guild of America, Inc.
The issue is the Musical Theatre Issue and features wonderful content from several terrific writers and members of the Dramatists Guild including Stephen Sondheim, Marc Shaiman, Julianne Wick Davis & Dan Collins, Gretchen Cryer and more! If you do not receive The Dramatist, you can pick up a copy at The Drama Book Shop on W. 40th Street in New York, NY.
Miscellaneous songs
Becca Blackmore
I've added new tracks to the "Music" section of the website. Please enjoy these stand-alone pieces written with various collaborators.
You can find them here!
Hatter a finalist for the 2013 Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival
Becca Blackmore
Hatter , music by Brandon James Gwinn, lyrics by Becca Anderson, and book by Brandon James Gwinn and Becca Anderson, is a finalist the Caryl Crane Youth Theatre's 2013 Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival.
The five finalist plays/musicals will be presented as staged readings on April 27th and 28th in Huron, Ohio.
Vision Board
Becca Blackmore
At the start of this year I made a vision board. I flipped through magazines and found images, words, and quotes that appealed to me on a gut-level, and I cut them out and glued them to the top of a shirt box.
The images aren't all about writing, but just things that spoke to me. I chose images that made my heart pump or my stomach quiver. Things that just got me going for some reason.
My vision board hangs on the wall behind my desk, staring down at me as I type away in Final Draft or even on this blog for my website. There are no images of women holding pens to paper or quotes that say "write every day." I feel like those things would be more intimidating than inspiring. I don't want to feel pressured or guilted into writing, but when I see an image of people backpacking by a river or a dinosaur in a living room, I just want to write. I want to tell stories, or more accurately, I want to discover those stories.
This is my first year having a vision board, but it's only March, and I already feel like this has been the most productive year of my life so far. Something must be working!
A Numbers Game
Becca Blackmore
January through March have been surprisingly busy and happily productive months. I have been submitting my play Bedtime to theatre companies, festivals, and playwriting competitions with brave abandon, and though I do receive rejection letters and emails left and right, I have also started to receive positive feedback including requests for additional materials and even notice that I am a finalist for a playwriting prize.
While I am quite aware that the quality of the writing and the story and characters themselves certainly help get new plays and musicals produced, I have realized that there is an element of a numbers game involved as well. If I don't put my work out there into the hands of theatres, festivals, readers, etc., nothing will happen. Sharing the play is almost as scary as sitting down to the first blank page, but the positive feedback feels almost as wonderful as typing out the words "The End."
Academia Nuts to be presented as part of Broadway's Future at Lincoln Center
Becca Blackmore
A concert of songs from the musical Academia Nuts will be presented on January 28th at 6PM at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. The evening should be the most hilarious thing that has ever happened ever, so you should probably be there. ;)
Did I mention it’s free?
News and events to date
Becca Blackmore
Academia Nuts in concert will be presents as part of Broadway’s Future at Lincoln Center in the Bruno Walter Auditorium! The concert is free with general admission seating.
December 9, 2012 – 2:30pm Becca and collaborator Julian Blackmore will have a song in the Broadway’s Future at Lincoln Center Holiday Songbook concert. Admission is free.
November 18, 2012 – 3:00pm Becca Anderson & Julian Blackmore will be presenting a new song at the Voices for Hope Concert. Details here.
November/December, 2012 – Various performances as a singer (instead of just a writer) at Manhattan venues.
October 22, 2012 – CAP21 hosted a private table reading of Academia Nuts.
October 15, 2012 – Songs from Academia Nuts were presented as part of an evening of NYTB at the D-Lounge along with songs by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson. You can watch videos from the concert here!
Fall 2012 – Becca is currently working on an exciting new international project. Details to come!
September 20, 2012 – Several songs Becca has written with composer Julian Blackmore were featured in the Uptown Cabaret at Indian Road Café in upper Manhattan at 7pm.
August 6-10, 2012 – Academia Nuts was further developed as part of a writing residency at CAP21. Read a related article here.
Summer 2012 – Writing began for Motel Songs, a song cycle with Dimitri Landrain
May 5, 2012 – Becca sang songs from Academia Nuts and other musicals at “Song and Dan,” a benefit cabaret to raise money for Bronx Arts Charter School
April 28, 2012 – Private reading of Academia Nuts