Ep. 37 – David Hopkins Pt. 2

In this episode I continue my talk with my indie fantasy author David Hopkins. In this episode we talk about David buckling down and committing to fantasy fiction. We cover a bunch of stuff: David’s experience with Patreon, working with his team of collaborators, how his wife April is essential in offering feedback, how he has learned about his “target audience,” why he doesn’t do book trailers, crafting well-rounded characters, the upcoming release of his 700-word (plus) novel The Dryad’s Crown and a lot more. This is the second and final part of our two-part conversation.

NOTES | Media/ concepts mentioned:

Click HERE for Brad McEntire’s website

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Buy one of my plays… HERE

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Ep. 36 – David Hopkins Pt. 1

In this super-sized episode I talk with my friend and colleague, David Hopkins. He is an indie fantasy author. Over the last few years, he has built a solid author platform (sleek re-designed website with pop-ups, e-mail newsletters, Patreon, team of kick-ass collaborators, etc.) and is selling his goods as a self-published author. He is growing an expanding community of readers and fans and is set to release his largest, most ambitious project yet later this year. However, his career has been delightfully circuitous and relatable. In this first of a two-part discussion, Hopkins and I talk about his first attempt at playwriting, self-publishing, writing for comics, journalism as a uber skill and 1960s burlesque.

NOTES | Media/ concepts mentioned:

Click HERE for Brad McEntire’s website

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Stitcher

Buy one of my plays… HERE

Ep. 35 – Remembering Sir Peter Brook

Sir Peter Brook, the English Stage and Film Director, passed on last July at the age of 97. He meant a great deal to me as a theatre practitioner.

Brook’s career spanned seven decades. In 1974, he turned away from England and the commercial theatre world to open Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. The Bouffes du Nord was opened as a theater in the 1870s, and had a long history of trying to find its raison d’être, until Peter Brook, along with Micheline Rozan, took over the place and made it the seat of his International Centre for Theatre Research. Brook was tireless in his questioning of the basic concepts of the theatre: what is its purpose? What is the relationship between the audience and the actors? How is language used? 

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Ep. 34 – Extrinsic Motivation and Four Plays

The “Summer of Four Plays” Challenge that I set off to accomplish at the beginning of the summer has come to an end. Here’s how it turned out and what I learned from the experience.

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Buy one of my plays… HERE

Ep. 33 – Epiphanies and the Ft. Worth Fringe

Making little narrative discoveries about my solo show and a short debriefing of the 2022 Fort Worth Fringe Festival.

NOTES | Media/ concepts mentioned:

Robert’s Eternal Goldfish website

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Ep. 32 – Denver Fringe: A Short Debriefing

Brad McEntire in Robert's eternal Goldfish at the 2022 Denver Fringe

June 23-26, 2022 I was in Colorado for the Denver Fringe, a fringe theatre fest in its third year. I took my solo show Robert’s Eternal Goldfish. It was really nice to be back out in the world with my one-person shows once again after the last few years. Here’s a snapshot of the experience.

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Ep. 31 – The Future of Theatre is Asking Better Questions

Beyond any technological advances, the thing that Theatre might excel at in the future is doing the thing machines (computers, smartphones, A.I., the internet) cannot… asking better questions.

Plus, a brief update on the Summer of Four Plays project.

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Ep. 30 – Summer of Four Plays

Over the summer of 2022, between mid-May and Mid-September, I am attempting an ambitious challenge. I plan to create four distinct theatre projects completely from scratch. Due to the nature of my lifestyle (full time dad, other projects, travel, etc.) and practicality of the time available to me, this challenge is well outside my comfort zone. Updates to come on whether I succeed or not.

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Ep. 29 – The Dinklage Cyrano

I recently got a chance to see the 2021 movie Cyrano, a new cinematic adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. The movie features Peter Dinklage in the title role. It is directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Hanna, etc.) and adapted by Dinklage’s wife Erika Schmidt (from her stage adaptation).

As a Cyrano super-fan, I try to see as many stage productions and movie versions as I can. well, I have some thoughts, both positive and negative about this latest musical treatment of the great play.

NOTES | Media/ concepts mentioned:

Cyrano (2021) trailer: https://youtu.be/5e8apSFDXsQ

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