I'm headed to Australia (well...at least "Billy Balfoor" is)!

I alluded to some "big news" on Facebook a couple weeks ago or so. This is it. After three years of having three of my short plays (THE BED, BILLY BALFOOR WANTS AN APOLOGY, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE) selected to various semi-finals of Short & Sweet, the largest short play festival in the world (with festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Brisbane, Delhi, Malaysia and Singapore), BILLY BALFOOR, which was a previous semi-finalist in Sydney and Brisbane, has been selected from over 720 entries around the world to be performed at the 10th anniversary festival in Sydney (the largest of the festivals) in January/February 2011.

I am beyond thrilled. Here's the synopsis for BILLY.

It's gotten to be a game with me...trying to write (or resubmit a play) in order to crack that nut and make it to an actual production. Of the 720+ scripts submitted for the Sydney festival, 168 made the semi's and only 26 of those were US playwrights. Then, 80 or 90 plays are chosen from the 168 and are performed 5 or 6 times in a week over a month and a half stretch. The best plays each week then move on to the Gala, which is held in February, where about 12 shorts are performed and voted on for cash prizes (best actor, actress, director, script, audience favorite, etc.).

BILLY BALFOOR WANTS AN APOLOGY will be directed by Grant Wilson. Grant and I have emailed back and forth - I feel BILLY is in good hands. You can't imagine what goes into writing a play and then sit there - hoping it bodes well in a competition. Unless you write.

Here are my blog links for BILLY'S inclusion in the semi's for Sydney - and for Brisbane. BILLY is actually the third act of the full-length dark dramedy, HOW TO KILL A BOY.