Scott Head Shot

For more regular updates and rants, visit http://shasplim.livejournal.com.

September 9, 2008

Inferno Remount: Inferno Sonata enjoyed an extremely successful Fringe run in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Victoria. The August Assembly will be remounting the play in Edmonton between October 16-26 at the Catalyst Theatre. As a bonus, the evening will also feature my slapstick comedy Truth Factory, about the machinations of two hapless headline writers at a tabloid newspaper. Truth Factory is directed by Janine Waddell Hodder, and stars Cody Porter and Ryan Hughes. Watch www.indie5.ca for more information.

August 11, 2008

Exeter MFA: Very exciting news! I have been accepted to the University of Exeter's MFA in Staging Shakespeare programme! That's Exeter, UK, by the way; a convienient distance from Bristol (where my wife will be doing her research), Stratford-on-Avon, and London (home of the Globe)! I was accepted for October 2008, but I chose to defer for 1 year, in order to secure funding and to participate in about a million exciting theatre projects here in Edmonton (more on these soon). But as of October 2009, I am Britain-bound!

March 27, 2008

Lots and Lots of News: Where to begin? Shadow Theatre has confirmed that it will be producing A Year of Winter from March 12-29, 2009. Also, Walterdale Playhouse has picked up my tailor-made melodrama, Black Hearts in the Green Room, for production as part of their 50th anniversary season. The curtain will likely rise on that play in December 2008. Between those two premieres, and my rapidly-approaching Fringe tour, it's going to be a very busy year for my playwriting persona!

Speaking of the Fringe tour, here are the official dates:

And the play? Inferno Sonata is a darkly dreamy poetic journey into the soul of the mad playwright-turned-alchemist, August Strindberg. It's a one-man show (I'm the one man) that uses rich language and theatrical illusion to explore the greatest secrets of the cosmos. I'm hitting the road on June 15, and driving back and forth across this huge country of ours, with my stage manager (who is also my wife) along for moral support.

Speaking of my wife, she's received funding for two years of research in Bristol, England. She's moving there in September; I plan to follow a year later, which means 2009 may be my last year in Edmonton.

January 11, 2008

APN Reading: Alberta Playwrights Network presents a public reading of A Year in Winter on Sunday, January 13, at 7pm at the TransAlta Arts Barns. Admission is free. This play has been optioned for production in Shadow Theatre's 2008/2009 season, so this reading is a chance to be among the first to hear what will undoubtedly be the runaway hit of Edmonton's next theatre season!

October 30, 2007

Publications: Signature Editions is publishing my play "Purity Test" in an upcoming anthology entitled Three on the Boards (it's a collection of three-actor plays). Apparently it's up-coming rather soon -- maybe even before the end of the year! And AU Press is working on an anthology of plays which were premiered at Walterdale Playhouse -- including "The Trial of Salomé"! That collection probably won't hit shelves until fall 2008 (just in time for Walterdale's 50th anniversary).

October 4, 2007

New Courses: I've accepted a fourth course in the winter term: in addition to the two English 101 courses and the Sci-Fi course, I'll be taking on Drama 247: Introduction to Oral Communication. It's a weird hodge-podge of voice studies, monologue work, literary analysis and public speaking -- for Business students. It's also at 8am three days a week. Am I nuts? Probably. But it will be my first official Drama course -- so, between that, and the six week Playwriting Adaptation intensive I'll be running for Alberta Playwrights Network in February and March, I'll finally get my fill of theatrical pedagogy. Plus, I'll probably have enough moolah to take my Strindberg show on the road next summer. Huzzah!

August 31, 2007

Fall Courses Begin: Back to the grind! I'm teaching two English 101 sections this year, plus the long-awaited Science Fiction course in the winter term. But I will still (hopefully) have lots of time to develop the many writing projects I've had on the back-burner for a while now. Occasional updates can be found here; or visit my blog for more frequent posts.

June 21, 2007

The Trial of Salomé: Walterdale Playhouse is presenting my new play, The Trial of Salomé, from July 4-14, 2007. It's a racy, hilarious romp through the psycho-sexual sub-basement of 1918 London, starring Canadian actor-dancer Maud Allen. See you at the show!

April 22, 2007

Spring!: Antony & Cleopatra had an outstanding run. The teaching term has wrapped up. My lifelong buddy Tyler got married this week, and my just-as-lifelong pal Jevon is getting married on Friday. Then Sheila and I are off to B.C. for a couple of weeks, kicking off spring in style. I'd say we've earned a break.

If you're interested in keeping up with my misadventures and all the random emissions of my mind, I've started up a new blog at http://shasplim.livejournal.com. Check it out, drop a line, let's keep rearranging those zeroes and ones until they make some sense.