Rehearsals for "The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!" Begin

The fun has begun. Rehearsals for the Rogue Machine Theatre production of my play "The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!" have kicked into gear, and it's gonna be great!

Rogue's Artistic Director John Perrin Flynn and director Cameron Watson presided over a table reading with our cast and some of the distinguished design team, and we've seen the model for our wonderful (and magically transforming!) set.

Opening night is set for Saturday November 12, and the show is scheduled to run for six weekends (Saturday night, Sunday matinee, and Monday night) until Christmas weekend. I'll be posting a link to get tickets (and more info) as soon as it's ready...

Appearing on IFC's "Documentary Now!" with Bill Hader -- Season 2, Episode 3

Check local listings (or visit IFC.com) to watch a stellar episode of Season 2 of "Documentary Now!" with the brilliant Bill Hader, Wednesday September 28. I play a small (but extremely important!) role. 

Episode 3, "Parker Gail's Location is Everything" riffs on Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia" film (1984, Jonathan Demme, director). It's particularly meaningful to me because I love Spalding Gray's work, and it reminds me of moving to New York City in the 1980s and being inspired to write my own performance pieces. This episode nails Spalding's free association writing and performance style perfectly -- it's less a spoof than an homage, really.

It was a thrill to be invited back this season to work with Bill and directors Alex Buono and Rhys Thomas. Check it out and enjoy!

Wonderful Week at Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival!

My play "Miss Keller Has No Second Book" was one of four plays selected for Gulfshore Playhouse's New Works Festival in Naples, Fl, and what a great week it was! I was blessed with an amazing cast, director, stage manager, and along with the hard-working staff at GS, the entire process was productive and delightful. The surprise factor was the engaged and enthusiastic audience -- a smart, sensitive, honest, theater-savvy crowd who valued their own participation in helping to develop new theater.

Thanks to all who made me feel so welcome, and who embraced my play so wholeheartedly! This play (and this writer's soul) feels so much better because of you.

Rewrites, and rewrites, and rewrites...

Rewrites, and rewrites, and rewrites...

The stellar cast prepares...

The stellar cast prepares...

L-R: Me, Annette Trossbach (Director), and Kristen Coury (Artistic Director, Gulfshore Playhouse) at the post-reading talkback

L-R: Me, Annette Trossbach (Director), and Kristen Coury (Artistic Director, Gulfshore Playhouse) at the post-reading talkback

I mean, COME ON. Taken on Naples' Fifth Ave just after my reading.

I mean, COME ON. Taken on Naples' Fifth Ave just after my reading.

"The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!" at Rogue Machine Theatre in L.A.!

Wonderful news! L.A.'s celebrated Rogue Machine Theatre will be producing a world premiere of my newest play, "The Super Variety Match Bonus Round!" this fall. Directed by beloved director Cameron Watson and scheduled to open November 5, this rollicking comedy explores the risks of desperate love, the exemplary form of the 1970s game show, and the psychedelic side effects of fear your doctor may not have warned you about. 

Check back here for more details about the design team, the cast, and how to see this funny, thoughtful, brand new show.

Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival!

So honored to be selected as one of four playwrights who will be workshopping new plays at the prestigious Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, FL during the first week of September! My play, "Miss Keller Has No Second Book" will be featured in their 2016 New Works Festival, and will have a public reading on Sunday 9/11 at 3:00 p.m.  More info and tickets HERE!

More Eyes on My Play "Miss Keller...!"

Just got word that my play "Miss Keller Has No Second Book" is a Semifinalist for the 2016 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship, and the 2016 Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival in Naples, FL!

It's enormously encouraging and exciting to know that others -- especially such esteemed organizations -- are evaluating my work and finding it worthy of their attention.

In "Miss Keller Has No Second Book," it’s been nearly 50 years since the notoriously reclusive Agnes Keller published her first and only book. Now, with her protective sister recently deceased, Agnes must face the pressures from outside her small sanctuary as she grapples with the inevitability of change, the tangled tethers of family, and the question of an artist’s obligation to the world.

Members of New Play Exchange/ New Play Network can now read the play here

Deborah Valenti
Finalist for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville

So excited to learn that "The Presentation," one of my ten-minute plays, is a finalist for the 2017 Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. The play was submitted for consideration of this award as well as inclusion in ATL's National Ten-Minute Play Contest.

Established in 1989, the National Ten-Minute Play Contest remains one of the most enduring and significant means by which the literary staff at Actors Theatre of Louisville connects with American playwrights and is introduced to vibrant new voices for the stage. The Heideman Award was established in 1979. Made possible by the late Ted Heideman, a Louisvillian, the $1,000 cash prize is bestowed annually upon the winner of the National Ten-Minute Play Contest (1990 – present).

Won't know final results until February, but I'm honored to be selected as a finalist for this prestigious prize.