Shaver Book Sellers, on Madison Square in Savannah to hold a book signing.
This event will begin at
2PM today, November 17th.
Shaver’s carries all of my children’s books, my poetry and novel, “Women Outside the Walls”. Also available, today only, will be most of my play scripts.
Come by and say “hello” and enjoy this historic, iconic book store that is locally owned and operated.
SHAVER’S BOOKSELLERS
326 Bull Street
Shaver Book Sellers, on Madison Square here in Savannah has invited this author to hold a book signing.
This event will begin at
2PM on Saturday, November 17th.
Shaver’s carries all of Sugarek’s children’s books, her poetry and her novel, “Women Outside the Walls”. Also available will be most of her play scripts.
Come by and say “hello” and enjoy this historic, iconic book store that is
locally owned and operated. Enjoy a beautiful fall day in Madison Square.
Shaver’s Booksellers
326 Bull Street (Madison Square)
Savannah
Stop! Enjoy! Writing is a lonely business….oh sure, family and friends read our stuff (sometimes reluctantly) and sometimes they really like what we’ve done! LOL But, a good (or great, if we’re so lucky) review from someone who doesn’t sleep in the bed next to us, or sit across the Thanksgiving table from us, or see us at work every day; that’s a rare validation that keeps us writers doing what we do. Perhaps non-writers don’t know this but most of us who put pen to paper have no idea whether or not what we write is good or worthy of your attention and when we put it out there we hold our breath while it is judged.
The fine folks at BookReview.com have written a thorough (and very complimentary review of “Ten Minutes to Curtain”. Scroll down to take a gander, or click here to read it on the original site.
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| Teen Fiction Title: Ten Minutes to Curtain! A Collection of Short Plays for the Young Actor Author: Trisha Sugarek Rating:  Must Read!Publisher: CreateSpace.com Web Page: www.amazon.com Reviewed by: Eric Jones |
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Trisha Sugarek is a writer after my own heart. Her work is an ode to life meant to introduce children to the wonders and horrors that make life worth living. Ranging in length and production value, many of her plays invoke the feel of the old morality plays, and inherit their sense of distinction. They have been collected under the aptly titled, “Ten Minutes to Curtain”, and reading them back to back encourages them to be performed together as they flow exceedingly well from the first story of 1920’s poverty, to her final comedy about a loving, and unusual, modern housewife’s bizarre meeting with a multi-millionaire. “Ten Minutes to Curtain” contains ten mini-dramas meant for middle school or high school production. They are appropriately simple in construction and complex in conflict, lending great emphasis on the characters established in each play. While Sugarek offers brief explanations on the stage sets, she sharply leaves them open to interpretation, allowing for many of the plays to be performed on a blank canvas as might be necessary in a class room or school yard. “Love Never Leaves Bruises” is the pinnacle of Sugarek’s dramatic angle, and occurs at the peak of the book’s arc. It revolves around an abusive high school relationship between a boy and girl, and the emotional battle that the girl fights with her mother. While being representative of a classic case of high school hormonal imbalance, the play puts a major problem on its face and demonstrates to kids how harmless dating can quickly turn dangerous. But Sugarek is not content to keep all of her plays in a setting familiar to the children who will be performing them. Her plays encourage an exploration of both time and emotion. “Pan of Potatoes”, “La Verne and Mr. Service”, and “The Waltz” all take place during the 1920s, and while dealing with situations that children can relate to; poverty, dance parties, and poetry, they also introduce them to the work of Robert Service, as well as the social constructs of other periods. Sugarek’s master work can be cut up and performed in the segments that make up the larger work, but I believe that they would be best served in performance back to back. The over arching theme is that of children’s natural conflict with parents as they grow older. It’s an astonishing work that finds a way to say so much with so little, and turns the bare stage into every young man and woman’s living room. A perpetual battle ground for issues of trust and mistrust, laughter and misery, overwhelming loss and astounding triumph. ~~BookReview.com We writers are very self-critical……but remember to stop and enjoy the successes….something that you know is well written….your book sales….or a review that tells you that you are on the right track. You deserve it!! |
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I am proud to announce that my new book of monologues for women has been published and is available here and on www.amazon.com.
I woke up one morning recently and thought, “I’ve got some soliloquies tucked away that would make pretty good monologues. This book is, I think, unique because all the contemporary monologues are original. Directors get bored and tired of the same old shoes like speeches from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Barefoot in the Park, Streetcar Named Desire, Pygmalion, View from the Bridge and others. Make them sit up and listen when you use something they have never heard before!
And that brings me to the point that I want to share with my readers out there who are writers or want to be writers. Previously I was talking about my digging out some old and new work and turning them into a book of monologues. Never, never throw anything away. Open up that dusty old box of your scribbles that you have hidden away on the top shelf of the closet. You might be surprised what you find and how much you like it after a year, five years or ten. “Note from a Watery Grave” which I scribbled down back in 2002?….turns out it was pretty good with some additional editing on my part. The end result was a new book. My motivation: as an actor, I know how hard it is to find that perfect monologue for an audition. How difficult it is to get the director’s attention and keep it.
While compiling this book, I remembered how I would go to an audition and announce that my classical piece was going to be Anne from Richard III. The director (or audition panel) would roll their eyes and yawn in my face. The ‘Anne’ that they were thinking of was an old tired thing that’s been done to death, when Richard confronts Anne over the coffin. My ‘Anne’ was a conversation that I pieced together into a soliloquy and I was certain that they had never seen. I got the same reaction from the director every time; they sat up and listened! And afterwards, they laughed and told me they were expecting something else and how refreshing mine was.
A final note: I have included not only some classics (so that your audition will show contrast in your acting ability) but also some original monologues for the African-American actress.
I am a big fan of reality dance shows (All the Right Moves, So you think You can Dance, Dance Moms, The Chance to Dance, Breaking Pointe; the list goes on and on). Nope! Not a big a fan of Dancing with the Stars…..(sigh, sorry). Wait! Don’t give up on me quite yet…..please read on.
As my readers probably already know I create many short scripts about ‘real time’ challenges for the teens of today. And the other night I was watching the season finale of the Abby Lee Dance Company (Dance Moms) and Abby choreographed a 
powerful and brilliant piece called, “The Last Text”.
All told in dance, it was about a car load of teens texting while driving and the predictable results, a horrific car crash. The dance piece was stellar! And won national awards! I am certain you can see it in a re-run; believe me it is worth tracking down.
I was inspired to write another short play for my “ShortN’Small” series. About texting and driving and the possible consequences. I borrowed the concept from her wonderful choreography (blocking) and the premise of the piece. But the dialogue that her wonderful work inspired in me is all mine!
I’ve always believed that excellence breeds excellence. I have always been attracted to the company of smarter people than myself. They teach me so much. I always wanted to play with better tennis players…it made me a better player. I was never jealous of a more accomplished actor than I was; they made me grow and stretch as an actor. And watching young dancers makes me happy; they are such athletes and so passionate about dancing…. of course, I was inspired !
Were you there when the movie “Little Women” came out? Not the new (1994) version…the old version (1949, it’s on DVD) with June Allyson who played Jo, Peter Lawford as Laurie, Margaret O’Brien as Beth, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, and Janet Leigh (yes! from Psycho fame) as Meg. Do you go all nostalgic when you think about those simpler times with Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg? I do. Have you read the book by Louisa May Alcott? She was writing about her family.
Part of me wishes I had a bunch of sisters, (be careful what you wish for, right?) part of me wishes that I had lived in a simpler time. I am a part of a family like the Marches. My mother had five sisters and six brothers. I grew up with twelve aunties and uncles. And so many cousins I still don’t know the number.
So I write about them. I am much like Jo; writer, tomboy (in my younger days) outspoken and trying to be the very best at what I do…….writing.
My suggestion to other writers is to write about your grandmother, great-aunt, second cousin, twice removed. Write about what you know. Write about the past. I am so very lucky to have the ‘Guyer girls’ to draw from …..I couldn’t make up the stories that they have given me out of their real lives. 
This has been an incredible journey for me as a playwright turned novelist. In play writing you must tell your story in 100 pages or less, definitely in less than two hours and everything you want to relate to the audience must be conveyed through the dialogue. In the theatre world there’s a term: “method acting” which means you get as close to your character as you can. If the character you are going to portray is a prostitute, you follow and talk to whores. (been there, done that. Honolulu, 1992 ) If your character is a woman who’s husband has been in prison for the past 13 years, you get inside her head.
I’m a ‘method’ writer, (every chance I get.)
In 1999 I had reason to visit a men’s DOC facility. (prison). I was visiting a confessed murderer as research for one of my earlier scripts. My writing has taken me to some unexpected places to say the least. On a Sunday morning I found myself sitting in the reception area with three dozen other women. Wives, sisters, mothers, daughters of convicted felons. As I waited, I wondered how long they had been coming to visit; how long would a woman wait for her man behind bars; and what a terrible impact this must have on the children, visiting their fathers in this place. Sitting there I was suddenly compelled to write their stories. I tried to interview as many women as I could and this was no easy task.
Their closed society is cloaked in guilt and shame. But they finally let me in and I discovered, for the most part, incredibly brave and strong women. They would tell their friends and neighbors, “my husband travels with his work” to explain the man’s absence. Always appearing cheerful and strong while visiting their men, the women I spoke with, had a pull off down the highway where they would congregate (after leaving the prison) where they could cry, scream, and moan and be comforted. Where they could share, with other women who understood, what their lives were really like outside the walls. Away from the eyes of their men and the prison officials.
Fast forward to 2011: My heart had been nagging me for years that my stage play,(by the same name) had MORE to say. And it wouldn’t let up!! The message was, “you have to tell the rest of these women’s stories. GET BUSY!!”
For someone who was so comfortable writing in the genre of ‘scripts’ this was a scary prospect. Yikes! I thought, a novel was at the very least 70,000 words and over 300 pages long. What could I possibly have to say? One year and four months later I had a 335 page novel in my hands. Evidently my characters had plenty to say! At times I was surprised and delighted with my women and their stories. At other times appalled. As many writers will tell you, at some point, the characters sort’a….no…they definitely take over and you become simply the typist.
I am hoping that my readers enjoy this journey and find some empathy for those women doing hard time outside the walls.
So my series hasn’t even been on amazon.com for a week and I am experiencing sales. Why am I telling you this? Well, it was sort of an experiment; publishing a series of single one act scripts……..
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One of the most rewarding parts of being a writer (on the Internet) is the responses I have gotten from all over the world. India, Australia, Argentina, Great Britian, and now Spain. Tanya is a working actor and has become interested in Billlie Holiday as a way to fine tune her musical career.
I thought my readers might enjoy her letter,
My name is Tanya R. and I’m an actress interested in training and developing my acting and singing abilities. I came to find your play and I was very lucky to find it (Scent of Magnolia)
I’ve read it and I have really enjoyed it. I hadn’t really gone in depth in Billie Holiday’s life or music. My only objective is to do some training with the play. I was born in Colombia, raised in both Colombia and England and presently live in Spain. I try to develop and work on the characters I play from what is the most difficult for me from a humanistic point of view. I try to work on a basis of affection, humbleness as a person, tenderness and respect with no judging, and I know that can be very very hard. I just think your play is an excellent opportunity to grow as an actress, and as a woman. I find your play very beautiful because though Billie Holiday’s life was so difficult, what attracts me so much is the way the character can be so close to you as you see/listen to her telling her story, so close.
There’s is a lot in it, told with affection and respect. Not only that. I am Colombian, and accent, background, my god, my profile is far from the character’s, which makes it more challenging to work on. I have had a look at your material, and I am very interested in reading all of it. The play with the 4 women seems so interesting to develop such different colours to the characters. Also I work a lot with my son’s friends in creations in video and theatre, they love acting so we do simple things in english as well. You have some material on short plays for young actors which I will be using no doubt.
I am very happy to hear from you and your work. I will let you know about my process, of course. As I said, my aim is to be a better actress and person and your play has the perfect ingredients for it.
A warm hello, Tanya
