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ČERVENÁ BARVA PRESS NEWSLETTER

Gloria Mindock, Editor   Issue No. 3   September, 2005



EDITORIAL

Welcome to the third newsletter of the press. The purpose of this newsletter is to share events, readings, interviews, books of interests, theatre productions, and whatever else is going on of interest. It is completely open for anyone to submit to.

From September 1st to December 1st, submissions are being accepted for the chapbook contest.
Please check guidelines on the website and submit.


RANTS AND RAVES

Rant:   I do not understand why the simplest guidelines are not followed when entering a contest or submitting poems. When I edited the Boston Literary Review/BluR for 11 years, 99% of the submissions were neat, typed, and you could tell writers cared about sending out their work. It's the 1% that drive me nuts! My chapbook contest just started and I have received submissions already. I am very excited and can't wait to start reading the manuscripts that come my way. One entry that I did receive had no entry fee, no postcard for acknowledgement, no SASE, and I have no idea what they sent. It was sloppy, scratched out, and it looked like it was hit by a bomb. I could not read it! It was actually the worse looking submission I ever got. There was not a blank spot on the envelope addressed to me. That also was crossed out and sloppy. I don't get it. I can understand if someone accidentally forgets to put something in. If this should happen, I will e-mail and let the person know. That is no big deal. You can tell the ones who are just horrible at directions or don't care. I will not let it slide. I want clear readable copies. The work is you! Let it reflect you! I know that most chapbook submissions I get will be fine. Editors from other presses that I know go through this too. Well, enough said about this. On a positive note, I hope many of you will enter the poetry chapbook contest. I love publishing writers. It has always been important to me.

Raves:   For Susanne Morning, who is a poet and an abstract expressionist painter. Her paintings are amazing. The color, tone, and images are wonderful. Check out her gallery at her website: http://www.susannemorning.com


EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

On a sad note: I can't believe CBGB in NYC didn't get their lease renewed. I saw so many wonderful bands there. Let's hope they find a new place that has character like that environment/place did.


DEMOLICIOUS POETRY/MULTIMEDIA SERIES Sunday, Sept. 4th at 2:30 PM
Green St. Grill
280 Green St.
Cambridge, MA
Suggested donation: $5.00 / 617/876-1655
Lithuanian born Jonas Mekas is a poet and underground filmmaker. He immigrated here in 1949 after surviving a Nazi Labor camp. Mekas is considered to be the "godfather of American avant-garde." His films are definitely worth seeing. He currently edits Film Culture Magazine and is a columnist for the Village Voice in NYC. See the notice written in the Calendar/Boston Globe by Sarah Tomlinson.


On Sunday afternoon 9 October, between the Jewish High Holy Days, at 3 pm, Richard Kostelanetz will present the six films made with Martin Koerber about the Great Jewish Cemetery of Berlin Weissensee at the Anthology Film Archives, on the SE corner of Second Avenue and Second Street, New York City:

A Berlin Lost, Ein Verlorenes Berlin, Berlin Perdu, El Berlin Perdido, Ett Forlorat Berlin, Berlin Sche-Einena Jother (1982-1984), each 21’, respectively in English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, and Hebrew. Footage of the cemetery two decades ago evokes pre-WWII Berlin as the entire image of six films in six different languages, each with a different original soundtrack of ex-Berliners talking about the world represented there. More distinguished than most documentaries, it lacks a celebrity- introducer and even “talking heads.” Nor do we annouce what we take to be the principal theme of the cemetery as a surviving representation of the best Berlin. All you see in our films is images and testimonies, always in original languages, never subtitled nor overdubbed. Two other themes (important to me) are the visual poetry of gravestones and the magnetism of the modern city for Jews, as Berlin resembled my native New York (until it didn’t). These films have been screened in venues around the world and are acknowledged in the entry on Kostelanetz in Encyclopedia Britannica.

Between the German and French films, Kostelanetz will screen the footage silently, pointing our details not acknowledged in the soundtracks and answering questions. He will post English translations of the other languages. Also available will be copies of a booklet in English excerpting from the testimonies. This condnsed text also appears in his new book Film & Video: Alternative Views (Autonomedia), for which there will be a reception following the screening. Kostelanetz has published many books in addition to working in film, video, audio, and holography; Koerber has curated historic retrospectives for the Berlin Film Festival, in addition to restoring many classic German films, among them Fritz Lang's Metropolis, M, and Testament Des Dr. Mabuse. This is the first time all six films have been screened in several years. The last time was likewise at the anthology Film Archives. Admission is the standard $10.00.


POETRY READINGS

Phoenix Reading Series:
Susan Tepper, Eric Darton and Robert
Kramer
will be giving a reading on Friday,
Sept. 23, 2005 at 6:00P.M.

Socrates Restaurant
101 Hudson St. (in Tribeca)
New York City

 

William James Austin
Sunday, October 9, 2005
The Knitting Factory
74 Leanord St.
Manhattan, NY


INTERVIEW WITH UK PLAYWRIGHT MICHAEL NASH

As far back as I can remember, I have always had an affiliation with the theatre! I was born, a few weeks prematurely, seven hours after VE day - my mother was celebrating at a backstage party when I decided to arrive. Her cousin was Sir Rex Harrison. The first thing I can vividly recall were dreams - cardboard cut-out trees (stage scenery no doubt).

My childhood ambition was always to become an actor - but my father wanted me to have a proper career! He gave me very little choice - a teacher, a doctor or a veterinary surgeon. I absolutely detested the sight of blood so teaching was the only option! This was not a problem though - I graduated and taught English and Drama..

During my few years as a teacher I was able to develop new ideas and to direct a number of established plays as well as a few snippets of my own. Eventually I joined a repertory theatre company in Salisbury as an ASM - and from there I started my own Theatre-in-Education company. I also performed in Summer Season in Weymouth and appeared in a one-man show which ran for 84 performances..

In the early 1980s, I was approached to write a pantomime for a 1200-seater theatre in the Rhondda, South Wales. I had just one week to produce a working script - complete with 35 original songs - for a cast and chorus of 50 people! Furthermore I was invited to play the Dame and to direct the production! Most of the performers had never been on stage before. What a challenge! My vision was not only to use the stage but the whole auditorium as well - even down to characters in full costume acting as ushers, program sellers etc! And it worked! The then Mayor of Rhondda said it was the best show he had ever seen anywhere..

The success of this spurred me on to keep writing! I have only had one of my plays performed since - again with me as director. Nevertheless this has not deterred me from persevering. Who knows what is out there? I have had my rejection letters - the latest from Playscripts Inc.

I have received encouraging and positive thoughts from my internet friend Gloria. She has led me to believe that her favourite play is one called 'They're Dropping Bombs Not Ham Sandwiches'. This is a dialogue set not so very long ago between a WW11 veteran and a youth caught up in the troubles of Northern Ireland. The play takes place in a hospital corridor. The story illustrates the Second World War through flashbacks and all roles are enacted by a cast of five. I will not go into too much detail as, with all of my plays, there is a proverbial 'twist in the tale'.

Currently I have been working on the book and lyrics for a new musical 'Signs of Fire' which explores the last year in the life of Van Gogh. John Sullivan, the composer, has had successes in the past with rock and jazz compositions and works with Annie Lennox. In addition I am working on a novel based on my experiences whilst living in Istanbul - 'Swim With the Tide'. I first visited this most magnificent city as a student in 1966 spending 6 months there on work exchange. The following years until 1970 I spent several holidays with the many friends I had made. In 1970-71 I lived there - and worked as an English teacher and as an actor appearing in a few Turkish feature films. My partner Dave and I have been back 3 times this year and are hoping to move there permanently. Maybe, one day, the book will be completed - sitting on a roof terrace overlooking the Sea of Marmara surrounded by all the sights and sounds that are so precious and dear to me

For the past two years Dave and I have organised and maintained a few writer's groups on Yahoo - my good friend Gloria is a moderator on these! From meeting other group members I have learnt so much more about writing - we all have our inspirations and our heartaches. It is fantastic to become published or performed but it is much better to persevere and let the words pour from within. All my characters speak from my heart and soul - and I am sure that in most cases writers experience the same. I become each individual. I must have lived many lives before! And I hope and trust that I will live many, many more..


Editor's words on Michael Nash:. My favorite play by Michael is THEY'RE DROPPING BOMBS NOT HAM SANDWICHES. This play is written so powerfully. It reminds me of Early Theatre. A synopsis of his two-act play:

A heart-rending awareness of World War Two as seen through the eyes of an elderly hospital patient. His recollections are shared with a youth who is, as the play, which is set in 1989, eventually reveals, a victim of a terrorist bomb attack in Northern Ireland. Scenes from the war years are illustrated by poetry, dialogue and action, in fantasy sequences, enacted by the two central characters and three of the hospital staff. An oft-times funny, poignant and thought-provoking play. The play is set in the corridor of a hospital. Two chairs SL are the only items of furniture. A notice board adorns the wall SC. Part of the wall from SC to SR slides open to reveal a separate performance area beyond. There are two exits each side of the stage and these can be found DSR, CSR, DSL, CSL.

Michael also has another play I've read which is a musical called, PUBLIC HEROES PRIVATE FRIENDS. This is really well done. I loved it! A synopsis of his musical:

"The love between two friends, albeit difficult to understand, is just as important as the love between a man and a woman" - but how important? For Mike and Andre, employees at an adventure centre in Mid Wales, it brings problems and frustrations which neither have experienced before. They openly admit their love for each other but, naturally, show much concern when their co-workers doubt the normality of the relationship. Complications arise and, at times, the friendship becomes rather tense.

To confuse matters even further, Julie, a young instructor who, much to her dismay, never seems to be noticed, yearns for a boyfriend of her very own. She becomes infatuated with Mike. He, in turn, besides being emotionally involved with Andre, is dating Julie's sister, Cheryl, who is spending a few weeks at the centre as a voluntary helper. However, when Cheryl leaves, Julie sees the way clear to pursue Mike. But all in vain! Mike's attentions are given totally to Andre and, despite the occasional disagreement, they become inseparable, and Julie has to resolve herself to the fact that Mike will never show her anything more than friendship. Will she ever find a love of her own?

Meanwhile Mike, together with a few of his closest friends, proves rather rebellious and his unconventional nature upsets both the director and the warden of the centre. Clearly he has to go! Dave, the director, breaks the news to Mike informing him that the management are unhappy about his relationship with Andre. Furthermore, Mike's influence over Julie is causing concern because it is badly affecting her work. And, as it transpires, Dave has other more personal reasons for wanting Mike to leave!

The day arrives for Mike's departure. Julie volunteers to drive him to the station. She seems happy although Mike had thought that she would be the last person, apart from Andre, who would wish to see him go! Her happiness, however, is due to an approach made by Dave who has secretly admired her but has been too shy to make any advances. Perhaps, then, she has now found the boyfriend for whom she has been yearning? Her future, at last, seems settled.

But what of Mike and Andre? Mike's home is far away and there he has to return. Will the two friends ever see each other again? Who knows? The future is too uncertain....


In the theatre world, good plays and musicals are hard to come by. I see brilliantly written plays revised and performed numerous times on Broadway and Off-Broadway, Repertory Companies, and smaller theatres. This is great but I would like to see more original plays and musicals read and produced. In Boston, Playwright's Platform is a wonderful venue for playwrights. If I still ran a theatre company, I definitely would be doing these two plays. I hope that someday I will get to meet Michael. It would be such an honor for me. When I like writing by someone, as many of you know, I follow their writing for years.


THEATER

Mabou Mines will be performing Red Beads
September 20th-24th
Skirball Center, New York City

For information about this multimedia performance call 212/992-8484


COMING IN OCTOBER

  • More poetry readings. They seem to pick up in the fall.
  • An interview with a poet will also continue.

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