Welcome to the April 2009 update. Stay tuned for news of an upcoming publication and a trio of guest artist visits, an opportunity to premiere a new play, as well as news of upcoming productions, the Playwriting Tip of the Month, the latest YouthPlays news and much more. I'm in the process of some website updates, so if the left-menu doesn't look as pretty as usual, it should be back by next month. As always, if your email client doesn't show love to this format or (if you want to see the prettier navigation menu), visit me here: http://jondorf.com/news0409.html.

I'm pleased to announce that Playscripts will publish 4 A.M., my one-act play about a group of teen characters navigating the magic hour, later this year. Until the printed copies are ready, non-printable perusal copies are available through YouthPlays here, while Playscripts will handle royalties here. I am very excited about this script, so please check it out!

Thank You for Flushing My Head in the Toilet and other rarely used expressions, my one-act play for teen performers about bullying, apparently makes a great piece for competitive forensics as well--it was the play of choice for the state runners-up in duo interpretation in Tennessee and the state champion in Georgia in solo dramatic interpretation for 2009!

I will be a guest artist teaching playwriting workshops at this weekend's California Thespian Festival, at the Florida Thespian Festival later this month in Tampa, and at the International Thespian Festival (Lincoln, NE) in June. Will you be there? Be sure to stop by and say hello--and stay for a workshop! If you're a student, you might have a chance to win a free copy of Final Draft, the industry leading scriptwriting software.

Want me to visit your school, theatre, festival or writers' group? I'm available to conduct playwriting workshops worldwide, whether in conjunction with a production of one of my plays, or on their own. To learn more, click here, or .

Of course, you can also study playwriting with me in the comfort of your home or office. The next session of Introduction to Playwriting, my course at Writers University, begins on May 11th, so don't delay! Click here to enroll or for more information.


Can't get to a workshop or bring one to you? The cheapest way to learn about playwriting is my complete course in a book: Young Playwrights 101. Click on the picture to order your copy today!

Looking for something different in your theatre season? Why not premiere one of my plays? Whether you're at a theatre company or a school, it's a great experience for actors to work with a live playwright and to see a brand-new script evolve throughout their rehearsal process. And a world premiere, coupled with an author visit, is a great way to bring some attention to your theatre program (click here to see the local NBC coverage of the premiere of High School (non) Musical at the Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics). I will likely be looking for a fall-winter premiere for Tiny Tim Runs the Marathon, a comedy ideal for a high school, college or community theatre program. Want to find out more?

YouthPlays.com, a great place to find plays for young actors and audiences, continues to progress, though the website redo is taking longer than we'd like (which always seems to be the case).

In addition to our MySpace page, we now have a Facebook group. Just click here to join us and keep up with all of the latest news!

We still have a few openings for interns (official or unofficial). If you're a high school or college student or early-career playwright, here's your chance to get mentoring for your writing and writing career in return for research and other work you can do from your home computer. Send a bio or resume, along with a writing sample (one-act play preferred--if you have one for young people, great, but if not, any play is fine) to info@youthplays.com, attn: Internship.

When you produce a play, do you take production photos? If you've produced one of mine, I would love for you to send me some. Many people don't realize just how important these photos are. Pictures can make the difference between a play that stands out in a catalogue or on a website--and gets productions--and one that doesn't. In other words, your quality production photos can help me pay my rent. (I especially need photos for Dear Chuck, but I'm excited about receiving photos for ANY show.) Don't have any photos? How about a testimonial? A sentence or two about the positive experience you had with one of my plays can help persuade someone else to give it a chance. Please take 5 minutes today, and some photo or testimonial love!

This month, I'm featuring a mix of plays, some large cast, others small and ideal for short play festivals. Check them out!


THE COOKING GENE. Drama. 10 minutes. 2 males. When a high school home economics family budgeting assignment requires each student to choose a pretend husband or wife, a gay teen chooses his boyfriend to be his husband.

VITAL ORGANS. Comedy. 15-20 minutes. 2 females, 3 males with some gender flexibility. A recovering transplant patient determined to stock up before he leaves the hospital. Doctors supplementing their salaries by selling an organ or two. A kleptomaniac kid on the loose. A soup-cooking candy striper right out of Sweeney Todd. Calling it a health care crisis would be an understatement... Available from YouthPlays.com.

4 A.M. What's it like to be awake when the rest of your world is asleep? Meet an early-morning jogger, a lonely short-wave radio DJ, a modern Romeo and Juliet, the monster under the bed and many others as a series of teen characters, through scenes and monologues, search for connection in the magic hour. Written specifically for teen actors. Dramedy. 30-35 minutes. Flexible cast of 6-30+ actors. Non-printable perusal copies are available through YouthPlays here, while Playscripts handles royalties here.

High School (non) Musical. Comedy. 75-80 minutes. Flexible cast of 14-50+ actors. Join Toy Boatin, Cryin, Shitzu, Gaberella and the rest of the gang in this outrageous parody of the Disney hit. Ideal for teen performers, college and community (or professional) theatres.

Imags from the (L) North Myrtle Beach High School (Little River, SC) and Hagerty High School (Oviedo, FL) productions of Thank You for Flushing...

Thank You for Flushing My Head in the Toilet and other rarely used expressions takes aim at one of the worst problems affecting schools today, as a pair of bullied students wrestle with whether the only way to escape their situation is to turn into bullies themselves. Written specifically for teen performers. Dramedy. 30-35 minutes. Flexible cast of 10-50+ actors.

In After Math, my most produced play, a student mysteriously disappears in the middle of math class. What happened? As those left behind try to find some answers, they slowly realize that no one noticed him until he was gone... Written specifically for teen performers. Dramedy. 30-35 minutes. Flexible cast of 8-40+ actors.

Thank You for Flushing..., Foley Intermediate School (Foley, MN; Apr 1-30)
High School (non) Musical, Marion C. Early High School (Morrisville, MO; Apr 2-4)
HS(n)M, Lac Qui Parle Valley High School (Madison, MN; Apr 5-6)
HS(n)M, Durant High School (Plant City, FL; Apr 16-19)
TYFF, Pine Grove Middle School (Edson, AB; Apr 17-24)
From Shakespeare with Love?, Veritas Academy (Austin, TX; Apr 17)
HS(n)M, North Texas Central College (Gainesville, TX; Apr 18)
4 A.M., Edwin Parr High School (Athabasca, AB, Canada; Apr 18)
TYFF, Cardinal Carter Secondary (Leamington, ON, Canada; Apr 21-22)
HS(n)M, Durand Junior High (Durand, IL; Apr 24-26)
TYFF, Murray Middle School (St. Augustine, FL; Apr 25-26)
HS(n)M, Pigeon Forge High School (Pigeon Forge, TN; Apr 27)
HS(n)M, Greater Lowell Technical High School (Tyngsboro, MA; Apr 29)
HS(n)M, Ruth Ann Street Theater (Kingsport, TN; May 1)
HS(n)M, Fannin County High School (Blue Ridge, GA; May 1-3)
TYFF, Hampton High School (Hampton, NB, Canada; May 6-8)
TYFF, Harrison School for the Arts (Lakeland, FL; May 9)
HS(n)M, Lomax Junior High School (La Porte, TX; May 12-15)
After Math, Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School (Maplewood, MO; May 14)
TYFF, Staley Middle School (Frisco, TX; May 14)
TYFF, Belmonte Middle School (Saugus, MA; May 14-16)
HS(n)M, Blanche Ely High School (Pompano, FL; May 14-17)
From Shakespeare with Love?, Wahkiakum High School (Cathlamet, WA; May 15)
HS(n)M, Capital Area Productions (East Greenbush, NY; May 28-29)

I was going to make a cheesy Lord of the Rings allusion and say "one line to rule them all." Luckily, I didn't. Oh wait. I did. Too late now. But it's not too late to come up with a great one-liner for your play. A one-liner is part organizational tool, part sales pitch--the idea is to give us a sense of who's in the play and what the conflict/problem will be, without giving away the ending. Make it active. For example:

Two teen lovers must overcome the enmity of their families to be together. (Can you figure out what play that might be?)

We know now that the play will be about a pair of teenage lovers and their battle to be together, despite the feud between their families. It's not to say some other things won't happen in the play, but the one-liner helps you "center" the play around this dramatic action, to make sure that this central story keeps driving forward. Having trouble formulating a one-liner? It probably means that you haven't quite figured out what the play is about yet. Happy writing!

Tiny Tim Runs the Marathon. An abandoned set of crutches. Tiny Tim in training to run the marathon. A chance to inspire millions, unless...somebody else already has that job. With the powers-that-be backing Oliver Twist, once lowly orphan and now panic attack-ridden pitchman for juicers and cereal who is forced to endlessly reenact his walk to London and his days in the workhouse, Tiny Tim may not make it to the starting line. And remember, if you're interested in staging the premiere of this play when it's ready (and it's looking like a 70-80 minute comedy at this point), let me know!

4 A.M. the musical! That's right--I'm at work on a full-length rock musical for teens based on my one-act play, 4 A.M., collaborating with accomplished composer/lyricist Mark Governor. Look for it either in late 2009 or early 2010.

Stay tuned for much more news in the coming months... Have a great April!