I’ve been swept away again, away from my series on how we are all psychic , and hopefully not afraid of that realization. In fact, I met a man at an airport, and I shared with him about my latest novel about the psychic sociopath that goes to a psychic shrink, and how I want the novel not only to be a good thriller, but also to help people realize that we are all a bit psychic–having some similar experiences to the protagonist who is like, very psychic. Not only that, I hoped to help readers see that there are ways of handling the unknown if you feel threatened by something you can’t see. He shared his psychic experience and it gave me chills. I wanted to go home and write about the experience for me.
But, I have been involved with the 50/50 Applause Awards 2018 again, beginning the Award process earlier this year–easier to research theatres when you are in the middle of the season, then at the end.
The International Centre for Women Playwrights @womenplaywrights has initiated the 50/50 Applause Awards earlier this year for the 2018 season. The mission of the awards is to honor those theatres that produce women playwrights as often as male playwrights-50/50. Right now, production numbers for women playwrights stand at about 25-27% percent worldwide. Some plays by women, when produced, have less performances than plays by men, especially on the main stages that get more funding and many more seats. This year we added that the funding sources, taxes paid by men and women, might need to answer for all male productions! And this year we have more support and more countries around the world participating. Great news. We are succeeding, more so than last September.
It is still difficult to find theatres that have both men and women playwrights, not filled with festivals, have full-length plays, and other items necessary to the rules, but we have twice the volunteers and a more powerful PR team. The nominations are rolling in. We are doing well.
The 50/50 is very time consuming, and as you know, one minute you can be working on a wonderful, fun-filled project, then be swept away to an equally fulfilling project, and lose sight of where you once were. Then when you can come up for air, you remember! Aha! Back to the novel. Something is calling me to finish it … now.
