Congratulations Adam Szymkowicz on 1000 interviews

It is utterly insane that Adam has published 1000 interviews on his blog. I thought it only fitting that I send him congratulations through my barely updated blog, which was started way back in 2005. Jesus, that's a long time ago.

You're a man of either a tremendous sense of mission, or you're very good at forming new habits, or you just love theater. Or all of them.

Way to go.

And now, at last, may you sleep the sleep of the just.

(I was number 3, back in 2009!)

The blog

Wow,  I haven't posted here in nearly a year. Just too many other ways to communicate these days.

I'll write a little 2016 round up. But in the meantime, here's a picture from this year, of a reading of The Starving Dress. A play that continues to figure itself out, with the help of lots of good friends and talented people.

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.