On her new play, she said, “I originally wrote it between 1992 and 1994, but spent last summer revamping it from a two-act play into a long one-act, which seems to be the preferred 21st-century structure. I wrote it in response to a New York Times article astutely stating that so much of modern theatre was just about four people sitting around a room being rude to each other, and I thought, how about writing a play about four people being good to each other.”
She shared that her playwriting is inspired by life. “Observing people and what they do, and what happens to them, and how they respond to situations motivates me to come up with characters, themes, and storylines,” she said.
They just had three performances of Angel’s Mice and Men at the Hudson Guild Theater in New York City, on July 30 and 31, as well as on August 3. “The audiences were incredible. They laughed, cried, and expressed their approval of the play by hooting, howling, and heartily applauding at the end of the show,” she said.
Regarding her future plans, she said, “I am finishing up a full-length play, The Karma Bums. It’s the final play in what I call my Long Island Trilogy plays, which includes: Angel’s Mice and Men and Phantom Pain. All three of these plays are set on Long Island, a place that I was born in, raised in, and continue to live in.”
“My radio show is very well-received and my producer, Nicole Semidei, and I have a large, loyal audience who call in or listen to the show every Thursday night at 7 p.m. EST. To learn more about my radio show, check out its official website,” she said.
On being a playwright in the digital age, she noted that it feels “incredible.” “It is so easy to do research. I sit with my laptop and my iPad and just Google what I need to know. It has given me access to many plays to read online, and I listen to audios of plays all the time,” she said.
“I can see drama on Youtube, and order any props, costumes, with a click of the computer. And now, you can send your plays out electronically to most theaters or theater festivals and that’s not only fast and convenient, but it saves a lot of money on postage,” she said.
When asked what motivates her each day, she responded, “My desire to make the world just a little bit better place to live in for others. Through my work as a relationship coach and psychic, I try to bring a sense of peace to people or offer practical advice and solutions to their everyday problems. As a writer, I strive to have anything I put down on paper to be positive, uplifting, and life confirming.”
On balancing all of her careers, she said, “I’ve always juggled several careers or projects at one time, and this is just me. I get bored doing just one thing, so I just try to pace myself. The last six months have been dominated by putting on my play, but I still continued to see my clients and do my weekly radio show.”
“I try to work out each day, eat healthy, get good sleep, and spend time with friends, family, and my husband, TJ. Those things nurture my mind, soul, and body,” she said.
For her viewers, she remarked about Angel’s Mice and Men, “Every character in the play is dealing with loneliness. In one scene Angel, the protagonist, who is a young widow, says, ‘…I haven’t felt this alone, I don’t know, I guess ever.’ Steele, the romantic interest, responds, ‘For me, loneliness comes as regularly as the full moon, or as irregularly as the rain’.”
“Mrs. Bloom, widowed twice, is an aging Jewish grandmother, who is estranged from her children and grandchildren and suffering greatly from the loss of her loved ones. Gina, Angel’s younger sister, is trying to put her loneliness to an end by placing a classified ad in the personals in hopes of finding a mate,” she elaborated.
She concluded, “The solution to loneliness is love and companionship and how necessary that is for people’s survival, and the four diverse characters in my play find comfort and camaraderie in each other. I like that my audiences left the theater feeling a little more connected to humanity, uplifted, and hopeful.”
To learn more about Angel’s Mice and Men, check out the New York Theater Festival website.
