Making lemonade in a pandemic

Friends!

Only 1 more opportunity to see my short play, NEAR KISSES, as part of the Zoom festival, Our Stage, Your Screen. I very much enjoyed writing the piece and feel grateful for the actors, directors, playwrights, and SEED Art Share team for making virtual theatre that brings us closer in pandemic times.

When I saw all six plays for the first time, I felt less lonely. All of the pieces were written for Zoom (totally embracing the Zoom-ness we’ve all felt) and captured the ups, downs, and in between of this extended virtual liminal space. And even more fun (for a playwright nerd like me), all six plays had variety and distinct personalities.

Grab tickets to the final performances of Our Stage, Your Screen on Saturday, Feb 27.

Big thanks to Aurelia Belfield for the excellent graphics with pull quotes above.

Aren’t reviews fun?

Here’s the review from Chatham Life & Style: Seed Art Share Uses Zoom to Bridge the Gap

An excerpt about NEAR KISSES: “In Tamara Kissane’s passionate and devastating Near Kisses, Zachary (an honest Kahlil Garcia) looks into our eyes as he yearns for closer sexual proximity with his quarantined love. That gaze enters our mind and heart before we pass it along to Mariah (a vulnerable Carly Prentis Jones), completing the circuit. Director Aurelia Belfield ensures that when one character disables their camera to avoid emotional exposure, we must stand in their place and accept the outpouring. “

Here’s the review of Our Stage, Your Screen: Review: Has Seed Art Share Figured Out the Antidote to Zoom Fatigue? Maybe.

An excerpt about NEAR KISSES: “Not all of the plays of Our Stage, Your Screen utilized the Zoom format as well, however. In its attempt to be topical and heart-wrenching, “Near Kisses” – written by Tamara Kissane and directed by Aurelia Belfield – fell short of the mark in convincingly dealing with the direct and indirect effects of COVID-related survivor’s trauma. Kissane and Belfield clearly have good intentions, but the play has all the stilted and compressed sentimentality of an afterschool special. Much of its dialogue is repetitive and glib, ultimately failing to achieve a convincing tone in its short duration.”

If you’d like to read my reaction to the RDU on Stage review, then hop over to Patreon and become a patron. I sent a message specifically about it.

[This is super important, and I hope you already know this about me: I absolutely believe that people have a right to their opinions, to express those opinions freely, and to have different tastes. I love the people at RDU on Stage and Chatham Life & Style, and I’m not interested in snarkiness directed at theatre critics, most of whom love theatre, are doing the work for little or no money, and are learning their own craft at the same time that playwrights are learning theirs. It’s cool.]

Artist Soapbox

Artist Soapbox is a platform for original scripted audio fiction and an opportunity for artists to discuss their creative work in their own voices. We do this through our interview podcast, our blog, live events, and original audio dramas.

Artist Soapbox is an anti-racist organization. We believe Black Lives Matter. In addition, as a podcast production company, ASBX has signed the Equality in Audio Pact on Broccoli Content.

Artist Soapbox is more than just a podcast.

We lead writers groups, accountability support, workshops, and events. We produce and create audio dramas too! Listen to the Master BuilderThe New Colossus Audio Drama, Jesus Pancake, Declaration of Love, Food for Thought, and ASBX Shorts. Stay tuned to hear about more projects written by the Soapbox Audio Collective Writers’ Group.

Audio Dramas

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Jesus Pancake

Jesus Pancake is the newest scripted audio fiction series from Artist Soapbox. Nine episodes of zany dark comedy.

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The New Colossus

The New Colossus Audio Drama is a totally unhinged dark comedy reboot of Anton Chekhov’s classic play, THE SEAGULL.

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Master Builder

This audio drama was adapted from Tamara’s 2018 stage play produced by Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern and inspired by Henrick Ibsen’s classic, The Master Builder published in 1892.

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Declaration of Love

Co-producers Aurelia Belfield and Tamara Kissane of Artist Soapbox commissioned eleven NC playwrights to craft short audio scenes based on the prompt “Declaration of Love.”

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Food for Thought

Three pilot episodes of new scripted audio fiction series inspired by the prompt Food for Thought.

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ASBX Shorts

ASBX Shorts are six short audio fiction pieces created and produced by North Carolina artists. Artist Soapbox Shorts were specifically contributed by the artists to aid in fundraising and to get everyone excited about Jesus Pancake, our new audio fiction series in development.

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