God’s Puppets Reading May 21
New play reading on May 21! Tickets on sale now.
Following a March postponement due to Covid (which is somehow still ruining everything), the first public reading of my full-length play God’s Puppets will take place on Wednesday, May 21 at 7pm at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon NY. Tickets on sale now!
SUMMARY: Pauline, a young Presbyterian pastor revives the church’s long-dead puppet ministry as a means to address her being treated differently than her pastor husband. Using puppets like the creepy singing child "Little Ruthie" to tell stories about women in the Bible, Pauline doesn’t realize the chaos her feminist puppet ministry will create in both the church and her marriage. Launching her into an unanticipated crisis of faith, Pauline has to confront the question: Is God pulling the string or someone else? Recommended for ages 16+.
Magic It Up coming in May!
New children’s musical Magic It Up is coming to NY in May! Get details here.
My new children’s musical Magic It Up — book by Gwynne Watkins, lyrics by Betina Hershey, music by Sunny Knable, based on a concept by Betina Hershey, will premiere in May. The show will be performed by the Garden Players at Church in the Gardens in Forest Hills, Queens. Like all of my collaborations with the Garden Players, this show is written to accommodate a large cast of kids — in this case, over 50! — with named parts for everyone.
SUMMARY: What happens when kids get magic? They magic everything up…but that’s only the beginning. They’re off on a quest filled with discovery as they reunite the mythical forest creatures and find the magic within us all. Let’s get out of the scarcity mindset and discover that the more we learn and share, the more magic we create!
Welcome to my website relaunch!
I have made the bold decision to stop neglecting my website. Here’s what I’ve been up to!
Gwynne (second from left) with her fellow playwrights from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Community Bake-OFf
The pandemic took a toll on many things, and this website is certainly among the least important of those. However, after spending the intervening years, writing, working with a wonderful nonprofit, and making websites for other people, I have decided it’s time to stop neglecting my personal site. So welcome back! I can’t promise regular updates but I will certainly try to keep the important stuff current.
In the category of “Things I Didn’t Post About When They Happened,” above is a photo of me with the other winning playwrights of the 2024 Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Community Bake-Off, a delightful short play festival that I was also selected for in 2020. That one was on Zoom, so it was a joy to experience these new plays in person!
Also in the interim: I collaborated on two new children’s musicals for the Garden Players, wrote a socially-distanced Christmas pageant that was produced by lots of churches, took a break from journalism, and started working as a teaching artist and team member at Compass Arts Creativity Project in Beacon. Thanks for joining me on this journey, whoever you may be. More to come!
The 33 Best TV Couples of All Time
Some Valentine’s Day fun for Parade.
Some Valentine’s Day fun for Parade. I’m not the first person to write this list, but I’m pretty sure I’m the first one to put Worf & Dax, Maria & Luis, and Eve & Villanelle side by side. Read The 33 Best TV Couples of All Time.
How Prison Theater is Changing Lives
In two articles for Reasons To Be Cheerful, I look at the incredible effects of arts programs in prisons.
I’ve been writing lately for Reasons to be Cheerful, the solutions journalism website founded by musician, activist, and all-around fascinating guy David Byrne. Their goal is to bring some optimism to news media, backed by hard data that shows how people are really changing the world for the better. It’s a wonderful mission that I’m happy to be a part of, and it gave me an opportunity to write about a subject I’ve been obsessed with for a while: theater in prisons.
Curtain call photo of Rehabilitation Through the Arts’ production of the musical ‘1776’ at Sing-Sing
Creative Freedom explores how prison arts can be a radical tool for rehabilitation.
An American Revolution at Sing-Sing describes the experience of seeing a Broadway musical performed by inmates, for family, friends and correctional officers.
New Christmas play! You know, for kids.
The latest in my series of reverent-irreverent Christmas pageants is now available from Beat by Beat Press.
The latest in my series of reverent-irreverent Christmas pageants is now available from Beat by Beat Press.
Called “A Very Mixed-Up Christmas Pageant,” it’s about what happens when all the pageant costumes disappear before dress rehearsal and the pastor, in a panic, tells the kids to wear their Halloween costumes. Is it still a Christmas pageant if Mary is dressed as Captain Marvel, Joseph is Sheriff Woody, and their donkey is a dragon? This short play, with traditional hymns, will make you ponder the true roles that everyone plays in the Christmas story — and bonus, you can use whatever costumes you have on hand. Preview it (for free!) and buy performance rights and accompaniment (for cheap!) at Beat by Beat Press.
While you’re there, check out my other nativity plays, Wow! and The Mysterious Animal.
Welcome back!
This website has gotten a redesign and refresh for spring 2019, so take a look around! More stories, links and other features are on the way. Meanwhile, here are some highlights of the past couple months.
This website has gotten a redesign and refresh for spring 2019, so take a look around! More stories, links and other features are on the way. Meanwhile, here are some highlights of the past couple months.
I got Emily Blunt to sing ‘My Shot’ in her Mary Poppins voice.
An interview with the original Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, Mary Badham.
Yahoo Movies & 'Mad Men' Update
With "Mad Men" coming to an end, I've added a complete archive of my coverage from seasons 4 through 7A, including interviews with cast members about nearly every episode.
With "Mad Men" coming to an end, I've added a complete archive of my coverage from seasons 4 through 7A, including interviews with cast members about nearly every episode. Meanwhile, I'm writing full-time for the wonderful folks at Yahoo Movies. Check out some of my recent features below!
Interview with David Robert Mitchell, Director of "It Follows"
Fact-Checking "Fifty Shades of Grey" with S&M Experts
Where Did Best Original Song Go Wrong?
The Creepiest Moments from "Return to Oz," in GIFs
Inside "Blue Valentine"'s Fight for an R-Rating
An Appreciation of "Duplicity"
Composer Alexandre Desplat on his 8 Oscar-Nominated Movie Scores
Why "Frozen" Isn't Bad for Boys
Find more on my author page.
New Articles at Yahoo Movies
I've been writing essays about female superhero movies, All That Jazz, Brangelina, the best summer movie you haven't seen yet, and why blockbusters need more crappy roles for women, plus interviews with Mood Indigo director Michel Gondry, original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star Elias Koteas, Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors the Russo brothers, comic book legend Maggie Thompson, and a botanist with strong opinions about evil movie trees. For these and more, visit my author page at Yahoo! Movies.
I've been writing essays about female superhero movies, All That Jazz, Brangelina, the best summer movie you haven't seen yet, and why blockbusters need more crappy roles for women, plus interviews with Mood Indigo director Michel Gondry, original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star Elias Koteas, Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors the Russo brothers, comic book legend Maggie Thompson, and a botanist with strong opinions about evil movie trees. For these and more, visit my author page at Yahoo! Movies.
Yahoo Movies
I'm writing over at the newly relaunched Yahoo Movies website. Check it out!
I'm writing over at the newly relaunched Yahoo Movies website. Check it out!
Space Pirates!
Space Pirates, the sublimely silly children's musical I wrote with Denver Casado and Betina Hershey, returned to its original stage this weekend for four performances by the Garden Players of Forest Hills. We're hoping to make this available to schools as soon as August; it's written for a large group of kids to perform, with many featured parts. Contact me if you'd like more information!
Space Pirates, the sublimely silly children's musical I wrote with Denver Casado and Betina Hershey, returned to its original stage this weekend for four performances by the Garden Players of Forest Hills. We're hoping to make this available to schools as soon as August; it's written for a large group of kids to perform, with many featured parts. Contact me if you'd like more information!
Mad Men season has begun!
My weekly cast interviews are ongoing at GQ Magazine. I'll soon be posting the archive of those to this site, so stay tuned!
I also discussed the Season 7 Charles Manson theory with a serial killer expert, which got a lot of attention at Vulture. You can read it here.
Esquire's False ADHD Conspiracy @MadeMan
My response, as the parent of an ADHD boy, to Esquire's wrong-headed scare piece "The Drugging of the American Boy." Read it at MadeMan.
My response, as the parent of an ADHD boy, to Esquire's wrong-headed scare piece "The Drugging of the American Boy." Read it at MadeMan.
What Will An R-Rated "50 Shades of Grey" Look Like? @Cosmo
Personally, I think it's a mistake to make this movie R-rated, but decide for yourself.
Personally, I think it's a mistake to make this movie R-rated, but decide for yourself.
Good News for GodSpam
I'm in the process of migrating my blog GodSpam -- religion in pop culture, from a Progressive Christian perspective -- to the website Religion Dispatches (that's .org). Just getting warmed up, but you can read about Noah, Lena Dunham, Louis CK and more here.
I'm in the process of migrating my blog GodSpam -- religion in pop culture, from a Progressive Christian perspective -- to the website Religion Dispatches (that's .org). Just getting warmed up, but you can read about Noah, Lena Dunham, Louis CK and more here.