David MacDowell Blue News

December 2020

An amazing month for me! Towson University of Maryland did a performance of my initial one act Carmilla, followed by Preludes for Moonlight for the Los Angeles-based Son of Semele theatre company, while a reading of my new play The Wings of Dracula will take place on my birthday, produced by Fierce Backbone.
For the new year, will be working on a notion which has been percolating in my head for years, titled The Dark Swans. Will also be polish up both Capes and Consequences as well as The House of Sea Griffins.

Am thrilled to announce my short play Preludes For Moonlight will be part of the 2020 Quick Creation Festival in December.
Fierce Backbone Theatre Company is sponsoring a full reading of my audio/zoom play The Wings of Dracula on my birthday, December 19.
Have joined the New Play Exchange.
The first draft of A House of Sea Griffins is done and am working on the polish.

Have almost completed a new play, written in something of a white heat, titled A Blessing of Seagriffins. It is an LGBT bedroom farce of manners, set in February 1840, the week Queen Victoria married Prince Albert.
Come June 27 the reading of Carmilla: Shadows on the Air will take place!

In the age of Covid 19, I will be having a play reading June 27 of my play Carmilla: Shadows on the Air. This is sponsored by Fiece Backbone, a local theatre company.
My twenty minute superhero play has become a full-length. Looking to have a reading in July hopefully!
Have helped found a group on Facebook called the Virtual Shakespeare Company. We just get together and do a reading of a play or some such. First was The Winter's Tale.
Someonedid take me to see The Rise of Skywalker for my birthday. It was about as well-done as a pure formulaic story refusing to take the slightest dramatic risk of any kind probably could be. It was enjoyable. Let us leave it at that.
I have submitted a play proposal centered around some ideas that have been percolating for years in my head. It is a tense love story, centered around a supposadely cursed violin and viola known as "The Dark Swans." We'll see if they like it.
I was also interviewed by a podcast called The Stage Door.

I was interviewed for a podcast called Out of the Blue.

I am directing a play in Hollywood, Masoch and DeSade by my friend Omen Kaine.
Finished a 20-minute play, a parody about superheroes!
Am also writing a radio play adaptation of Le Fanu's Carmilla.
Hope someone will take me to see The Rise of Skywalker for my birthday in December. Just putting that out there.

Well, finally got my web design software working again, so can update the website regularly!
Had a very, very, very busy June with the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Began to write a new play, in something of a white heat, a science fiction retelling of the Quest for the Holy Grail, titled Cauldron. See below.
Have also had a bit of revelation, in the wake of discussions about Disney's casting decision for their remake of the super-Disney-fied version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid. I had put The Deep Kind on the back burner to simmer for a time. Now, I see what was missing and when I return to it, methinks it will proceed into its true form with far less difficulty.

Well have begun work on The Eyes of Dracula which excites me a great deal.
Was interviewed by the podcast The Stage Door here. This includes some information on directing a rather radical edit of William Shakespeare's Richard III.

Have created a Pinterest Board full of images to help me write my adaptation of Dracula.
If you are interested, here are a series of articles on my blog about my ideas on the subject. Appropriate for Halloween yes?
This month I'll be taking part in a reading of a friend's play, Masoch and DeSade, in Hollywood. You are invited!

The Hollywood Fringe Festival has begun and I will be reviewing about two dozen plays. Methinks I might be (or maybe going to become) some kind of insane.
Also discovered the Montreal Fringe has a burlesque version of Le Fanu's Carmilla this year. Am so jealous!
Auditions for Masoch & DeSade will be the last weekend in July, 2018 at Oh My Ribs in Hollywood
Danced in an eight-minute production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Think I made a pretty good Disney villain (see below)!

Happy to say there will be a reading of my play Noah's Cove at Samuel French Bookstore April 29. Just a table read in the green room upstairs, but I hope to get some good feedback and (with luck) record the proceedings!
For the record, the reading went very well indeed! Got lots of valuable feedback from some folks I respect very much.
Definitely confirmed now (as much as possible) I will be directing Masoch and DeSade, a wonderfully gothic three character play by my friend Omen Kaine, in October of this year. Details to follow!

Have had a vast good fortune of finding a writers' group in Hollywood (!) that focuses on playwriting! Their feedback is proving more helpful than I expected (uncomfortable as it is to learn one's weaknesses). Plus I already know several members.
Begun serious notes on a long-simmering idea, my own adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Will post as series on this process on my blog over the next few months.
Took part in a reading of a play by a friend, a searing (almost) one-woman show which will hopefully premier in the 2018 Hollywood Fringe!
Also found this website showing some gorgeous photos from the December 2017 production of my play Carmilla.

Begun working on the fourth draft of The Deep Kind, and the second draft of my As Yet Untitled space opera.

Well, here is my new website, after the old one vanished into the aether. Am happy to share some news.

My play Carmilla had its sixth production this last December at Columbia College, Chicago IL.
On January 28 in Hollywood CA there was a reading of my play The Deep Kind. Not as many attendees as I'd've liked but the feedback was good. Photos below!
Quite suddenly, a long-simmering notion of a science fiction play boiled to the suface of my mind and began to spill out through my fingers onto the keyboard and up on my laptop screen! Finished the first draft in less than three weeks! I feel honestly astounded.