tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24019399773214546852024-03-14T02:33:04.189-07:00Valentinoa play in verseDavid Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-37527012640292905822010-07-01T11:59:00.001-07:002010-07-01T12:06:43.008-07:00Valentino review: "Amazing writing!"The sixth review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the Hollywood Fringe Festival is the most positive one yet. HFF Panelist Craig Shaynak saw the show closing night. He says, "what amazing writing. Kudos to David Wisehart for his clever and complex script," and adds, "there were some very funny and clever turns of phrase."<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/350">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-65137848207167963512010-07-01T11:37:00.000-07:002010-07-01T11:42:22.536-07:00Valentino review: "a unique theatrical voice"The fifth review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the Hollywood Fringe Festival is by HFF Panelist Chris Salazar, who attended the opening night performance. He says the play "succeeds on many levels. It offers a unique theatrical voice and a platform for strong ensemble acting. Also it tells an intriguing story."<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/131">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-56590055536832439932010-07-01T11:21:00.000-07:002010-07-01T11:36:39.185-07:00Valentino review: "beautiful piece"The fourth review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the Hollywood Fringe Festival is short and to the point. HFF Panelist Cindy Marie Jenkins calls the play a "beautiful piece" and gives praise to performers Sam Fleischer (Machiavelli) and Lachlan McKinney (Ramiro), but the best quote is: "In the title role of Valentino, Renato Biribin, Jr. wipes the floor with his victims, both physically and mentally."<br /><br />Love it!<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/37">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-61455655295864178532010-07-01T10:36:00.000-07:002010-07-01T10:41:18.155-07:00Valentino review: "full of beautiful poetry"The third review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the Hollywood Fringe Festival comes from HFF Panelist Gregory Crafts. He writes, "Wisehart's script is full of beautiful poetry overflowing with striking imagery and clever witticisms." The verse, he says, is written "with skill and proficiency" and the story is "brimming with passion, action, adventure, and suspense." He also praises the performances of Renato Biribin, Jr. (Valentino) and Summer Dare Litwin (Lucrezia Borgia).<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/50">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-7452315235518913622010-07-01T08:40:00.000-07:002010-07-01T08:46:41.115-07:00Valentino review: "So many clever lines!"The second review of Valentino: a play in verse at the Hollywood Fringe Festival comes from HFF Panelist Jacqetta Szathmari, who admits right off that she's a "sucker for verse." After noting that the script is full of clever lines, she raves, "The story had it all — love, hate, vengeance, scheming, bloody murder, a decent body count, fratricide, a crooked philandering Pope, seduction, sword fights." She goes on to call Valentino "a driven man who is not afraid to get medieval," and adds, "If you are looking for big drama — here it is."<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/59">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-53266532334906099142010-07-01T08:33:00.001-07:002010-07-01T08:39:32.712-07:00Valentino review: "Absolutely riveting!"The first posted review for <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the Hollywood Fringe Festival comes from HFF Panelist Pam Noles, who calls the show "absolutely riveting." The story, she says, is "excellent, filled with political and personal intrigue, high drama and some serious bad-ass wordsmithing."<br /><br />Nice!<br /><br />She goes on to say that the verse "flows with the ease of conversation," and praises the performances of Renato Biribin, Jr. (Valentino), Summer Dare Litwin (Lucrezia Borgia), and Neil Fleischer (Pope Alexander VI).<br /><br />Read the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view_review/3">full review</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-16299493497475712482010-06-21T21:15:00.000-07:002010-06-21T21:24:58.630-07:00"Valentino: a play in verse" — audience reaction<span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> opened this past weekend at The Hollywood Fringe Festival in a world premiere production at The Complex in Hollywood.<br /><br />Audience response was enthusiastic. Here's a video interview with the audience, cast, crew, and a couple of play-crashers:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I607EkseBuM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I607EkseBuM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />For more information: <a href="http://www.valentinoplay.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span></a>David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-42554116126705912802010-05-11T13:47:00.001-07:002010-05-11T13:50:48.827-07:00Tickets on sale now for "Valentino: a play in verse"You can now buy tickets for the world premiere of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view/34">Hollywood Fringe Festival</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/738085">Buy now</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-91929098156423448792009-12-08T09:18:00.000-08:002009-12-08T09:22:47.824-08:00Valentino Serialized on Twitter<span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> will be serialized on Twitter. "140 Days of Valentino" runs December through April, and starts today. <br /><br />For ease of reading, and later reference, the tweets will be archived each day on this blog.<br /><br />Read <a href="http://twitter.com/valentinoplay">140 Days of Valentino</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-54219760826769498722009-12-05T09:47:00.000-08:002010-01-15T07:39:49.947-08:00Renato Biribin Cast as ValentinoRenato Biribin will play the lead role of Duke Valentino in the world premiere production of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Hollywood-CA/Valentino-a-play-in-verse/210005228335?ref=ts"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span></a> at the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view/34">Hollywood Fringe Festival</a>. The festival takes place in Hollywood, California June 17-27, 2010.<br /><br />In the play, Duke Valentino must face the sins of his past in order to protect his family. Brilliant and ambitious, Valentino wages a war to reclaim the Papal States for Rome, but he is haunted by the memory of murdering his brother. His beloved sister, Lucrezia Borgia, may already be plotting his destruction. Now his mercenary captains have formed a conspiracy against him. Valentino's only hope for survival lies with two Florentine men of genius: Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli.<br /><br />Renato Biribin recently played the lead role of Pericles in <span style="font-style: italic;">Pericles, Prince of Tyre</span> at the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-67117702966153246842009-12-04T07:53:00.001-08:002009-12-04T07:54:19.024-08:00Valentino on TwitterI've set up a Twitter account for the play. You should follow me here: <a href="http://twitter.com/valentinoplay">Valentino: a play in verse</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-34657056455673710082009-11-30T00:24:00.001-08:002009-11-30T00:33:28.387-08:00Rachel Stoll to Co-Produce "Valentino: a play in verse" at the Hollywood Fringe FestivalRachel Stoll joins the team for the Hollywood Fringe Festival world premier of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span>. She will co-produce the show along with David Wisehart. Rachel will handle the budget, freeing David to focus on his role as creative producer.<br /><br />For more information, become a fan on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Hollywood-CA/Valentino-a-play-in-verse/210005228335?ref=ts"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span></a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-84824751613177337792009-11-30T00:19:00.000-08:002009-12-01T20:07:34.589-08:00Radio Interview with David Wisehart about "Valentino: a play in verse"[Radio Transcript, air date 2/15/07]<br /><br />Paul Strickland: Well, hello, and welcome back. This is "Thursday Matinee" and I'm Paul Strickland, your host on your hometown station AM 1220 KHTS.<br /><br />Well my guest today is David Wisehart. Now let me tell you how I met David. You know, we have this wonderful college up here called the College of the Canyons and they have so many programs that they offer. And one of the things they do, they actually allow community involvement in some of their plays, along with the students on campus, and they perform them at the Performing Arts Center and also at the Black Box Theatre, which is really a state-of-the-art black box theatre. If you have never been there, you should really go and see something performed there.<br /><br />Anyway, I actually was trying out for something over there and I met this man who actually has written, believe it or not — this is just amazing to me — a play in verse. And the play is 82 pages long and it's all in verse, from the period of Italy in 1502. I mean, it's just amazing. And not only is it in verse, but it's also written in the language and the thoughts of its time. It's amazing, David. How could you ever do this?<br /><br />David Wisehart: Hi, Paul. Thank you.<br /><br />Well, it took about three years to write. And, you know, I did a lot of research, I had actually recently left a job. I was working in Hollywood, and was working as a Producer in interactive entertainment and videogames, had saved up some money, and I had always wanted to be a writer. And I had always written on the side, but I want to write professionally, I wanted to devote my life to it. That was my passion.<br /><br />I left the corporate world, left Hollywood, spent basically three years living off my savings, traveled to Italy, read most of Shakespeare, read a lot of Italian stuff, studied Italian, read Machiavelli — this play is based on a story from Machiavelli — and basically, you know, just immersed myself in that world, and came up with a language that I thought would fit the time and the period and the play I wanted to write.<br /><br />PS: In verse.<br /><br />DW: In verse, yeah.<br /><br />Actually, the verse form is ottava rima. It's a verse form that comes out of Renaissance Italy and before that from the troubadour tradition in Provencal France, in the Occitan language. And Giovanni Boccaccio, who was an Italian poet, popularized it in Italy. At the time that I'm writing of in the play, which is 1502 — that's sort of the height of the Italian Renaissance — it was one of the more popular forms, along with the Petrarchan sonnet.<br /><br />One of my characters is Lucrezia Borgia. The story is about the Borgia family. Lucrezia, after the events in the play, went on to become a patron of the arts in Ferrara, and one of the people that she patronized was Ludovico Ariosto, who wrote a long epic, Italian epic, in ottava rima, which in part talked about Lucrezia Borgia. But the whole thing was written in this verse form that I was reading at the time, and got really sort of sucked into it, and hooked into it, and I thought, "Wow, this is really great." And it's a way to do a verse play that's not faux Shakespeare, that's not Elizabethan, but has that heightened language, has the feel of the Italian Renaissance.<br /><br />In verse, I think the form sort of influences, in some ways, the thoughts. I think if you write in Elizabethan you sort of think in that sense. If you write in prose, you think more like a common man. The form sort of dictates, to some extant, or influences, the kinds of things you write about. And this is written in rhyme, its written — in English — the iambic pentameter line.<br /><br />PS: Now let me ask you this, David. That's really a great explanation, and I want to go back to that, but I want to ask you, now is this the first time this is being performed?<br /><br />DW: At C.O.C. It is the first time. It'll be performed for the New Works Festival. It will be performed in March. The dates, the general dates, are March 22-25. There will be a number of plays. It's eight plays. This will be one of them. It will not be performed in it's entirety, but several scenes. This is a full-length play. The other plays are short plays. Probably two separate evenings. We're still working out the schedule, but the dates are the 22nd through the 25th in the Black Box Theatre at the C.O.C., which is where we're going to be rehearsing and working on it.<br /><br />PS: Will it be in the evening or in the afternoon?<br /><br />DW: I believe there will be evening and matinees. It's Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I believe the weekends will have matinees as well. The exact schedule is yet to be determined, but those are the days.<br /><br />PS: Well, I know that the first Thursday in the month, what I call "C.O.C. Day," I have people come over from there and they tell me what's coming up, so they'll tell us, I'm sure, about this. So this is very, very, very interesting. And so you will get to see your own play. It must be a quite a feeling.<br /><br />DW: It's very exciting. I wrote this very much in a vacuum. You know, had sent it out. When I finished — it took about three years to write, like I said — I sent it out to a number of the major regional theaters around the country, and nobody was interested in reading it. And then I saw a C.O.C. bulletin about how the New Works Festival was for the first time opening itself up to the community, and not just to the college — I was not a C.O.C. student at the time — and I thought, well, this'll be a great chance to hear actors actually perform it, and I submitted it, got it accepted, and I've had a chance now to hear some of the student actors both audition on it, and in the Winter Session actually repeat the lines. I had done some readings for family and friends, and I kind of had it in my head, but to actually hear real actors, trained actors, speak the lines, is just absolutely amazing.<br /><br />PW: That was my next question. I know it's one thing to write something, and then to actually hear or see it being performed, or both. Just to hear their version, their interpretation, that doesn't always gel with yours, does it?<br /><br />DW: Well, so far we've done mostly cold readings. They haven't had a chance to really deeply rehearse it. It doesn't exactly match what's in my head, but that's also the nature of theater. It's a collaborative art. The actors bring their own sensibility to it. They bring their own physicality, they bring their own voice, they bring their own conception of what the play is about, and the director obviously has an influence on that as well, in terms of the pace, what to emphasize —<br /><br />PS: Well, he's the one that actually brings the two together, the director.<br /><br />DW: Yes, yes.<br /><br />PS: And I know that must be exciting for you, to be involved in all of that.<br /><br />DW: It's incredibly exciting. And sort of sitting back and watching that, and stepping away from it and seeing other people take it over. It's actually very thrilling.<br /><br />PS: We forgot to mention the name of your play. It's Valentino. This is a play in verse. We're talking with David Wisehart. And we're going to hear even more from him. And we'll be right back on your hometown station, AM 1220 KHTS.<br /><br />— COMMERCIAL BREAK —<br /><br />PS: Hey, we are right back on "Thursday Matinee," and I'm Paul Strickland, your host, and this is your hometown station AM 1220 KHTS. And we're visiting with David Wisehart, a playwright who has written a play, Valentino: a play in verse.<br /><br />He was telling us all about that kind of verse, and this is a play that will be performed for the first time at the New Works event over at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center. And that's coming up soon.<br /><br />And Valentino is something that David had written in verse and it takes place in Italy in 1502, and he actually took a verse form that was used around then, is that right?<br /><br />DW: Yeah, it's the ottava rima verse form. Not that well known —<br /><br />PS: What exactly is that verse form?<br /><br />DW: What it is, is an eight-line stanza, iambic pentameter — so, if you're familiar with blank verse in Shakespeare, that's sort of the basics of it. It has an alternating rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c. So there's a couplet at the end. And what I do in the play is, you know, there are some monologues, some speeches —<br /><br />PS: All with one character saying that.<br /><br />DW: — where you'll have that, but in a lot of it I break it up into dialogue. So when you're listening to it in the theater, you will sort of lose the sense of it being in rhyme and pick up the sense of it being just the characters. And there is always that cadence underneath it, you've got always that iambic pentameter. It's like a heartbeat that runs throughout the entire show and sort of propels everything forward. And you've got the rhymes, and what the rhymes do for you is it builds anticipation and release. So if you're listening for it, you're sort of anticipating what that rhyme might be, but eventually you're going to lose that sense of it and they come as surprises.<br /><br />PS: Listeners, when you hear this, it's just amazing. This is a man who gave up his job and took three years in writing this play. It's 82 pages. And it's just absolutely a beautiful piece of work here, and now you're going to get a chance to see this, locally, right here in Santa Clarita, for the first time, and for him it's the first time, too.<br /><br />DW: Yeah, it's great.<br /><br />PS: It's just amazing. And you know what I was thinking as you were talking, David, it just crossed my mind, that in 1502 there was absolutely zero technology, so all people had was the mind and thought and reading and thinking —<br /><br />DW: Yeah, it was a very interesting time. The Renaissance was — everything was changing.<br /><br />PS: Everything was changing at once. And the arts brought them through.<br /><br />DW: Right. To give you a sense of the time, there are two relatively famous people who are characters in the play. The play is about the Borgia family —<br /><br />PS: Leonardo —<br /><br />DW: Leonardo da Vinci is a character. Leonardo had worked at this period designing war machines for Cesare Borgia, who is Duke Valentino. He was known as "Valentino." And he hired Leonardo da Vinci to draw maps, to build fortresses, and to build war machines, most of which probably weren't built, but the designs that we think about — flying machines, and those kind of things — came out of this period, when he was designing war machines. He was not actually painting much. He was doing a lot of anatomical studies because there was warfare. Valentino was, you know, killing a lot of people, so there were corpses laying around. He was, you know, doing dissections. But this was very sort of —<br /><br />PS: Nothing like that happens today.<br /><br />DW: No, no, no, no. But it is a very sort of volatile period in the Renaissance, and the Borgia family, they were the rulers of the Church. The interesting thing is, the father was the pope and he had children, and the children were trying to take over — Valentino was trying to take over Italy and carve out a duchy for himself, and he was sacking all these towns.<br /><br />He is actually — and one of the things that drew me to it — if you're familiar Machiavelli, Machiavellianism, Machiavelli's The Prince, the story comes out of that. Machiavelli was an envoy, a diplomat, for Florence to the court of Valentino, and he greatly admired Valentino. And what we think of as Machiavellianism, this sort of ruthless power politics —<br /><br />PS: Not really, but it still works today.<br /><br />DW: — comes not from Machiavelli himself, but the people that he observed and particularly from this character, Valentino. So he was both brilliant and treacherous. He spoke five languages. He wrote poetry. He was a patron of the arts. And he conquered a great deal of Italy, and everybody sort of admired him. He was tall, handsome, all these things. Everybody said, "Wow, this is a great guy." But he was also ruthless in a lot of ways, too. So he was very Machiavellian.<br /><br />PS: But I think he was very aware of what people thought about him, so he used that.<br /><br />DW: Oh, yes. That's a big part of it as well.<br /><br />PS: You know what was so interesting, one of the interesting things with Machiavelli is to "befriend your enemies" so you always keep them at hand.<br /><br />DW: Keep your enemies close. "Your friends close, and your enemies closer." Yes.<br /><br />PS: That's something that I've never forgotten. And that still works. Many of the things he wrote about, you can use.<br /><br />DW: Yeah, it's human nature. It's one version of how to look at human nature.<br /><br />PS: Early psychology.<br /><br />DW: Right. One of the things that got me interested in this was the Godfather films. I was at UCLA in film school and had an entire class on the Godfather films, and Francis Coppola stepped in and was talking about the making of the films. He was a guest, and he talked about how Mario Puzo had based the characters of the Corleones on the Borgia family, and I didn't really know who the Borgias were. And so I researched them and found they were sort of the proto-Godfather family. They were sort of a crime family in the Renaissance. So there's a little bit of that kind of family dynamic that you see in a contemporary setting in The Godfather, in a historical setting was these characters as well.<br /><br />PS: Well that sounds like that sparked you on, right?<br /><br />DW: That was a big spark. I was a big fan of the Godfather films, and became more and more interested in that period, and —<br /><br />PS: And you "went to the mattresses!" And you had so much fun. And now we can see this at the C.O.C. Performing Arts Center, right?<br /><br />DW: Yes, at the New Works Festival in March. We're in rehearsals now. And we're just finishing up with final casting and really looking forward to the whole rehearsal process, and watching all the other plays as well.<br /><br />PS: Oh, my gosh. Well, that's so exciting. David, you know, I'm so glad you came to visit with us. And I look forward to you coming back when we're very close to the show actually being performed, if you don't mind, then we can really renew people's interest and get more and more and more people over there to see you, David Wisehart. And David, I know that you'll be very successful.<br /><br />DW: Thank you, Paul.<br /><br />PS: We hope that this will just lead you to the stars.<br /><br />DW: The first step, thank you.<br /><br />PS: The first step. Thank you very much. And this is your hometown station AM 1220 KHTS.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-969222653083807312009-11-25T02:01:00.000-08:002009-11-25T02:03:41.048-08:00Valentino on FacebookTo promote the Hollywood Fringe Festival staging of my play, I've set up a Facebook page for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Hollywood-CA/Valentino-a-play-in-verse/210005228335?ref=nf"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span></a>.<br /><br />Become a fan!David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-31400031464876590502009-11-23T10:12:00.000-08:002009-11-23T10:21:35.125-08:00Valentino Gets a Project Page on the Hollywood Fringe Festival WebsiteThe Hollywood Fringe Festival has approved <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> for inclusion on their festival website. You can see my project page here: <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view/34">Valentino: a play in verse</a>.</span><br /><br />The next step is to find and secure a performance venue. Several Hollywood theaters have already joined the Hollywood Fringe Festival. No doubt more venues will be joining in the months ahead. I think <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> would work best in a traditional 99-seat theater, but other venues are certainly possible. I've acted in Shakespeare in the Park productions, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> could do well in a similar outdoor setting. We'll see what develops.<br /><br />The deadline to secure a venue and pay the festival fee is April 1, 2010. I need to start checking out spaces and raising funds.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-45901907310845347232009-11-23T09:26:00.000-08:002009-11-23T09:35:36.466-08:00Valentino at the Hollywood Fringe FestivalI've decided to stage <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> at the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/dashboard/home">Hollywood Fringe Festival</a>. The festival runs June 17-27, 2010.<br /><br />To date, the play has been workshopped at the College of the Canyons, received a public reading at the Valencia library, and been published through Lulu. I have also performed monologues from the play at a College of the Canyons actor's showcase.<br /><br />The next step is to mount a production. I'll be posting updates about the show here.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-33952679938220120202008-08-14T01:14:00.000-07:002008-08-14T01:22:00.816-07:00Doollee NotedI just noticed that I now have a profile on doollee.com, "The Playwright's Database." It lists both <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca: a play in verse</span>.<br /><br />I don't know who submitted the info, but that's pretty cool. I'm guessing that they were tipped off by my profile on <a href="http://www.laplaywrights.org/meetourmembers.php?do=view&users_id=497">The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights</a>.<br /><br />Check it out: <a href="http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsW/wisehart-david.html">doollee.com</a>David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-26148779821673805062008-08-11T21:42:00.000-07:002008-08-11T22:01:20.449-07:00Valentino Monologue at Master Class Showcase<span style="font-family:georgia;">Thursday night I performed a monologue from </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Valentino</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in the Black Box Theatre at the College of the Canyons. It was a lot of fun, and I got some nice compliments.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Here's the monologue.</span><br /><pre style="font-family: georgia;">VALENTINO:<br /> His mind<br />Was made for battle, bloody rendezvous.<br />He worked on war machines of every kind.<br />He fought Marcellus, saving Syracuse<br />With lever, fulcrum, pulleys. If I find<br />One man like that — by God, I’ll never lose.<br />In you I see the spark of Archimedes.<br />If you design the tricks, they’ll sign the treaties.<br />The Greeks relied on rocks and spears and arrows<br />Till Archimedes built machines for war.<br />He knew the ancient secrets of the Pharaohs,<br />Plus many things no man had known before.<br />When fifteen thousand Romans sailed the narrows,<br />A fleet of sixty war ships came to shore.<br />The Greeks were just about to call it quits,<br />But Archimedes always kept his wits.<br />With massive mirrors focused on the sails,<br />He cursed the Romans, burst them into flame.<br />The blazing waters filled with cries and wails.<br />He kept them churning, burning. Still they came.<br />With mighty catapults he sent them hails<br />Of heavy stones, to maim their men and claim<br />Their bones. The battle raged until they saw<br />The terror of the Archimedes Claw —<br />An iron hand, suspended from a tower,<br />To hook their hulls and lift their ships away,<br />Then smash them down with God-like power,<br />All roiling, toiling, boiling in the bay.<br />Now doomed and damned, they found their final hour<br />As sunset met the dying of the day.<br />When Archimedes saw that bloody swell,<br />He knew he was the architect of hell.<br />Surviving Romans cowered in disgrace.<br />As Archimedes laughed, dead bodies swirled.<br />He stood above the battlements to face<br />His fallen enemies with flags unfurled,<br />And shouted to the wind, “Give me a place<br />To stand and, by God, I will move the world!”<br />Which illustrates the power of the lever.<br />And you, my friend, are equally as clever.<br />You are my General of Engineering.<br />Come, ride beside me on my noble quest,<br />And through the centuries they’ll be revering<br />Your name — Leonardo da Vinci! Best<br />War engineer since Archimedes! Cheering<br />Your genius, which will now be manifest.<br />When under fire and standing at the brink,<br />Then wonder, “What would Archimedes think?”<br />It’s not the force, but where applied, and when.<br />Some men believe raw numbers turn the tide.<br />I’d rather have the odds against us, ten<br />To one, if you’re the one man at my side.<br />The greatest wars are won by brilliant men,<br />And you will be my weapon, multiplied.<br />I love my Spanish sword, and all men praise her,<br />But nothing holds an edge like Ockham’s Razor.<br /></pre>David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-39312163122833377442008-06-19T23:58:00.000-07:002008-06-20T22:56:59.900-07:00Shakespeare in the Park<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1CaD4Pth2Vk/SFyYIGLNgOI/AAAAAAAAAGE/Os7vet-GaAY/s1600-h/shrew_webad.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1CaD4Pth2Vk/SFyYIGLNgOI/AAAAAAAAAGE/Os7vet-GaAY/s400/shrew_webad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214209733452202210" border="0" /></a><br />I'm playing Baptista Minola in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Taming of the Shrew</span>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-6302227872110563232008-01-09T19:18:00.000-08:002008-01-09T19:29:03.724-08:00New Works Festival 2008I submitted three plays to the College of the Canyons <a href="http://www.canyons.edu/departments/theatre/newworksfestival/">New Works Festival</a>, which was last year's venue for <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span>.<br /><br />Two of my plays were accepted.<br /><br />Sadly, <a href="http://www.davidwisehart.com/francesca.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca: a play in verse</span></a> did not make the cut. It's still a work in progress, and I only submitted Scene One, so maybe next year.<br /><br />My two plays that were accepted are: <span style="font-style: italic;">Endgame</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">U.N.</span> I'm looking forward to seeing them staged May 21-24, 2008.<br /><br />Two out of three ain't bad.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-26230362543174891242007-11-27T18:42:00.000-08:002007-11-27T18:54:59.688-08:00Francesca Submitted to New Works FestivalYesterday was the submission deadline for the <a href="http://www.canyons.edu/departments/theatre/newworksfestival/">2008 New Works Festival</a> at College of the Canyons.<br /><br />I submitted Scene 1 from my next verse play, <span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca</span>, plus two other short pieces. <span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca</span> is still very much a work in progress. I've written several scenes, and lots of snippets for the second act, but the first scene is the only one I'm happy with at this point.<br /><br />I should find out by the end of the year if <span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca</span> makes the cut.<br /><br />If you're interested in reading Act One, Scene 1, it's posted here: <a href="http://www.davidwisehart.com/francesca.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Francesca: a play in verse</span></a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-45340339884135271522007-11-08T00:30:00.001-08:002007-11-21T16:52:41.127-08:00New Works Festival 2008Last year <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Valentino: a play in verse</span> was staged at the College of the Canyons New Works Festival. I plan to submit a different play this year. The deadline is November 26.<br /><br />Playwrights interested in submitting should check out this website: <a href="http://www.canyons.edu/departments/theatre/newworksfestival/">New Works Festival</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-42227472338070046232007-10-12T23:12:00.000-07:002007-10-12T23:13:29.788-07:00Tartuffe at College of the CanyonsNext month, in addition to writing verse dramas, I will be acting in one. I'm playing the title role in Moliere's <span style="font-style: italic;">Tartuffe</span>. Performances are November 14-18, 2007.<br /><br />For tickets and additional information, check out <a href="http://www.canyonspac.com/tartuffe.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Tartuffe</span> at College of the Canyons</a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-19127773224462138972007-10-11T18:29:00.000-07:002007-10-11T18:43:58.215-07:00Valentino at Online BooksellersSo my book is finally starting to appear on the websites of online booksellers.<br /><br />The listings lack cover art and they claim by book is unavailable (though you can purchase <a href="http://www.lulu.com/content/485931"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> at Lulu.com</a>).<br /><br />I'll have to contact the sites to upload artwork and correct the listings, but just seeing "Valentino: a play in verse" on Amazon.com is a big step forward.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1430302917"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> at Amazon.com</a><br /><a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=1430302917"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino</span> at Barnes and Noble</a>David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2401939977321454685.post-45257978902067860402007-10-11T18:21:00.000-07:002007-10-11T18:27:43.711-07:00Valentino on Google Book SearchSeveral months ago I submitted my book to Google Book Search.<br /><br />This week, googling around for references to "Valentino," I noticed that a preview of <span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span> is now available from Google.<br /><br />Very cool!<br /><br />Check it out:<br /><br /><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2-uGsxcgIW8C&pg=PP1&dq=valentino+a+play+in+verse&sig=H1RV5fIB1bY8c5JhRd3zrUc7NII"><span style="font-style: italic;">Valentino: a play in verse</span></a>.David Wiseharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01438917127132239969noreply@blogger.com0