The Land of Misfit Toys

If you click on the links to the right, you can learn about my two produced scripts. A 15-minute screenplay called "The Europa Society" was made in to a movie by Apprentice Films. It screened in Ann Arbor and Mt. Pleasant, both in Michigan.

The second is a 12-minute play called "The Video Game." This one is about two video game characters who stand around and chat while the gamer takes a break. Remember that old Looney Tunes cartoon, where the sheepdog and the coyote say "Hi, Frank" and "Hi, Ralph," then punch a time clock? Then the dog sits on a hill and the coyote tries to steal the sheep? It's kinda like that. Anyway, "The Video Game" will be performed June 24. I've got a director and a cast, and rehearsals start this month.

Usually when I think of my fiction projects, I often recall The Land of Misfit Toys from the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" TV show. Santa created this island for screwed-up toys with square wheels, strange habits or tragically misguided name choices (remember "Charlie in the Box?")

My toys hide in obscure computer files or crumpled boxes from Kinko's. I've got a short story called "Happy Burger" and a 10-year-old play script titled"The Bats From Hell." My one-act play "The Europa Society" lives as a 40-page stage play and a 15-page screenplay. My short play "The Video Game" wears three separate hats: one where the Russian sentry lives, one where he dies and one where nobody knows. Glowering over all of them sit my two novels: "Secret Soldiers" and "Escaping Olympus."

My efforts at writing a full-length script have failed miserably so far. The first, called "Wake Up Winslow," was about a brother and sister hosting a local morning television show. Their older brother talked them into the show, then promptly disappeared after the first day. After Scene Four, the script crawled into a hole and still refuses to come out. Sometimes a story is smarter than I am.

##