By Daniel J. Collins Multi-hyphenate author Nicholas Belardes writes what he knows—the ecological landscape of Central California, the study of climate change and crisis, birds, the Chicano experience—and then blends and turbocharges it with the unknown, crafting energetic and complex works that combine the best elements of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. A graduate of UC Riverside Palm Desert’s Low…
The world came into black and white, not like a movie, but the way a dog saw it: low to the ground, up the ass, running with no purpose/filled with the urge to find myself somewhere in the zig-zag path of movement my head bobbing incessantly, my tongue catching the taste of petrol in the air slowly, I let the…
After When I finally left the stage to little more than polite applause, I had no strength of will to wipe the makeup off, nor any desire to shed the costume as dear to me as skin. In years past, I’d have moved beyond today in minutes and stepped outside to take a long walk home—all thoughts on tomorrow, sure…
Thomas James Boudreau is a playwright whose plays include If I Cleaned Everything, No Jacket, The Campaign, and Astral Projection. His work has been staged by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and developed by the Actors Studio Drama School. Boudreau earned his BA in English from MCLA and is currently pursuing his MFA in Playwriting at the Actors Studio Drama School. He is…
Granite with Pinon Freckles It’s possible the guy at the bar was just an admonishment. The rain and the heat were strips of plastic hanging in the doorway. A box of pizza left on a corner of the bar, and an electric pot of water with lukewarm hot dogs. You could smile. You could fit a balled hand in the…
Christine J. Schmidt writes in various mediums, but mostly plays and screenplays. Her work has been developed and produced at Skylight Theatre, Ammunition Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, The Blank, The Parsnip Ship, The NJ One-Minute Play Festival, and others. Her full-length play, Charlotte Stay Close, had its world premiere production at Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA in September 2019. She founded and was…
Bethany Leigh Greenman is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, dramaturg, and stand-up comedian from New Jersey. She obtained her BFA in Playwriting at Ohio University. A Virginia Hahne scholarship recipient, she produced a reading of her full-length play, TEMPLE, at the Undergraduate Playwrights’ Festival. Since moving to Los Angeles, she has worked as a production assistant for multiple shows, including Abbott Elementary.…
I heard when you got to New York you went about picking up every blonde woman in a white dress and a beret looking for me. I only knew of your dark leathery hand sliding into the ninth floor of my hotel window to cradle me like that night we met atop the world and you permitted me breathe in…
What She Doesn’t Want She doesn’t want to complain. That in itself makes things quite difficult. She only gets to walk the path of beauty once, and she doesn’t want to do it in rags. She doesn’t want a dog and she doesn’t want a gun, not even for protection. She doesn’t want to have to beg for light, and…
Gossip The man who lives in the shack in the woods is the planter of weeds. He wears a fisherman’s hat and carries a burlap satchel. When he steals chickens, he puts them in this satchel. When he steals eggs, he puts them in the hat. His heart is flies on a rotten apple. His ethics are the eyes of a dead sheep. He…