2015

Well blog. Farewell to 2015. A fine year.

I turned 40, and had the best kind of birthday - encouraged and loved by friends and family.

Spent another year with Pam Grossman, who continues to amaze at every turn. Five years married.

In my second year at New Dramatists, I presented multiple readings and participated in my first Creativity Fund.

I worked on new plays: The Listeners, The Base, The Starving Dress, That Which Isn't, Bluebeard, Traveling to Montpelier and The Language.

A new Star Wars movie came out, and I actually attend the premiere because of a loving old friend. And I went with my oldest friend. George Lucas was in the theater and we were a part of his standing ovation. Also: I got to see my heroes get older. And I'm getting older. And I have feelings about that. And you know what those feelings are.

Production at the Brick of The Listeners along with Michael Gardner and a cast of some of the most brilliant actors I know. Crazy, strange, intense experience. Nominated for an NYIT Award.

I was a judge for the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. First time judging. An honor.

Met a lot of individuals I'd been hoping to meet for years, at various theaters I admire. Good conversations, learning a lot, meeting agents, learning what it means to move forward.

Got some podcasting goodness going on:




Received a fellowship to attend the MacDowell Colony. My first residency. Talked with artists of all sorts of disciplines, made new friends, wrote some new things, learned that my most productive hours are 9 am - 1pm (useless information, but true) and even played charades.

Watched friends grow up, and grow their hair long, and cut it short, and show up on TV, and publish books, and learn new things, and move, and stay put.

I got to watch them raise their kids, and watch their kids wear Green Lantern rings and sing at the top of their lungs and cry at movies and learn the names of all the characters in Star Wars and be the best in ballet and make funny faces on Facebook and be just fine, thank you very much, and what's better?

I'm a lucky human being.

Podcasts, Fellowships and Fall

That's me with a Luchador. Mexico City is cool as fuck.

Anyway...

I rarely post here these days, as a lot of my social media presence has transferred to Facebook and Twitter or my website. Nonetheless, blog, you exist. And you matter. To me. Really. You do.


So. The fall approacheth. Or wait. It is uponeth. I'm feeling a bit out of sorts, because around this time of year, I'm usually preparing for a show or project. (See: The Listeners, which went up in February of this year, and was nominated for an Outstanding Performance Art Production Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2015).

Now, though, I'm in seed planting mode. I'm having meetings with artistic staff at theaters, just to learn a bit more about how they make decisions, how they characterize their approach and opportunities, and to make my name more familiar. I'm figuring things out. I'm submitting stuff. I'm being me and I'm writing.

I am, in a lot of ways, doing what most playwrights do. Hopefully, this effort will result in new eyes on my work and some new opportunities.

In the meantime, I've got a few cool things going on/coming up in the fall and winter.

First, the ND: In-Depth podcast is on Episode 6. Between the first episode (which featured and interview with yours truly and A. Zell Williams) and this one, there have been some terrific interviews and segments. The newest is an airing of my own Lift Lift Lift. Give it a listen. Plus, do yourself a favor and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or whatever you use for podcasting. It's worth the time and effort. 

Second, I'm heading up to the MacDowell Colony at the end of the week, to do a ten-day stay and work. Perhaps I'll even see a legendary picnic basket up close.

Third, it's my five year anniversary with Pam next Friday. Eleven years with that magical human, five married. Ever more inspired.

Onwards and upwards.

Been too long

I haven't posted on the blog since April. Wowza.

Well, since April, I've done a couple of readings at New Dramatists, and met some terrific people, and continue to try hard to make things happen in order.

Big news on the horizon.

In the meantime, look at this.

The Listeners is now available on IndieTheaterNow

My last play, The Listeners, was quite a cool, weird production. The text, I think, is its own kind of fun. Of it, Helen Shaw at Time Out New York said:

"Matthew Freeman’s The Listeners boasts a swinging, Aleister Crowley naughtiness. It’s a Lynchian fable set in a bed-and-breakfast where time has a habit of looping back on itself. Imagine The Wicker Man sprinkled with Pinter: dark and silly, silly and dark."

So, why don't you give it a read for yourself?

The debut of ND: In-Depth

New Dramatists has launched a new podcast series. The first episode features A. Zell Williams interviewing yours truly. Quite the honor. Hope you enjoy it.

Good news

3C wins its case, which should never have been a case.

The Listeners closes

Today, The Listeners closed at the Brick. I have to say, a run of over two months was such a rare treat, and nearly impossible given the state of the Showcase Code. Thanks to all the non-equity performers that entered into substandard contracts in order to make my dream a reality. Thanks for everyone who attended our show over the past few months. To see a play like this really take root and grow means everything.

Because of this success, I've decided that all my productions going forward will be pay-what-I-will. Meaning, when you come to the door, I'll assess you, and assign you a ticket price based on what I think your means probably are.

"Always prepare realistic ideals! Loving folly, over ole Lord Spring!" - William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene iv

The Listeners has opened

Limited seating. Unique staging. A play by me.

So. Tickets.

Tickets for The Listeners are now available

My new play, The Listeners, opens February 4th and has both a limited run - two weeks - and very limited seating. The staging will be unique, and will require that less than half of the usual house at The Brick will be available.

So if you want to see the show, given the terrific cast and strangeness that awaits...I'd totally suggest you get tickets soon. Like now.

A New Year

It's the first day of 2015.

What a year 2014 was for us.

I won't speak at length for Pam, but between her frequent lectures about the Occult and Art, she managed to help create the Lean-In Collection at Getty Images. For that work, she was named one of Marie Claire's "20 Women Changing The Ratio" in their 20th Anniversary Edition and featured in the Washington Post and NPR and pretty much everywhere else. And that's just me keeping it brief. She flew all over the world and generally was just awesome, all the time, everywhere.

As for me, 2014 was a very special, strange, transformational one.

My brother Dan got married this year to his husband Joe - a new Freeman. Two of my best friends got married this year. New babies came into our expansive family here in Brooklyn. As I sit here in our apartment in something between South Slope and Park Slope and Gowanus and Greenwood Heights (and whatever Real Estate agents think up next) that's what makes me happiest. Time passes, and on most days, I sit up in bed scared to death that it's running out. Then, I have a moment of nostalgia and gratefulness that could not exist without the passage of time. So, come on, new ache and odd gray hair. You're worth it.

In terms of travel, I've been to St. Louis, Boston, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Utah this year. I think that's the full list. Oh wait. One more thing. Scotland. A two week adventure in Scotland with Pam and our dear friends and oft-times collaborators Robert and Moira. I hiked without complaint - a first - and sang a duet with Pam, for the benefit of drunken strangers and friends, at a bed and breakfast on the Isle of Skye. What could be better?

As for my playwriting work... I had my first collaboration with Djahari Clark and Desert Sin with Cloud Cuckooland, and I created a new audio piece called Lift Lift Lift. I also wrote a new play called The Starving Dress, when I was a part of a silent week of writing called The Writer's Army in late August. I'm in the midst of working on a new play, which opens in February, called The Listeners, with some of my favorite people. Plus, work on Traveling to Montpelier, a new play that takes place in the world of That Old Soft Shoe/Confess Your Bubble, and revisions of That Which Isn't. A good and productive year.

I also, of course, was invited to become a resident playwright at New Dramatists. I'm just ridiculously grateful and proud of that. The number of people that I need to hug and thank in my life, from New Dramatists alone, just went up by multiples of multiples. I just hope I can take full advantage of the opportunity I've been given.

In other just life news...did you hear there's more Star Wars coming out? My f*cking God. (He places his hand over his mouth and just thinks for a moment. Whispers, to God, maybe.) ...thank you...

Finally... this is a time of year that will forever make me miss my friend John Walsh, who died just before New Year's last year. John, I hope you're making them laugh somewhere.

I'm sure there's more to say, but I'm either too tired or too forgetful to mention it.

Happy New Year. Love and more love.