Last night was the second installment of Playwrights Pub Nite, our every-three-month slow-motion pub crawl where playwrights get to meet, hang out, drink beer, catch up and have conversations where you don’t have to stop and explain who Brecht is.

For reasons that I no longer remember but that I think had to do with most plays running on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we had this one on a Wednesday, which meant that a few people were unable to make it because they either had work conflicts or are big-shot writers for Killing My Lobster and had a meeting.

But plenty still came, and the mellow environs of The Bitter End were a great complement to the evening. I got a chance to finally meet Octavio Solis, who may be the coolest guy ever. Super-friendly and interested in anyone and everyone. It was great to talk to him.

And of course, Marisela was there, Erin Bregman biked in, and even M and our housemate Jeff, who still owes me for the beers I bought him. (His trick is, he buys the first round, then suggests you open a tab, then disappears to buy a fish from a nearby fish store when the bill comes. Luckily, I know where he leaves.)

Next time will be in another part of town, quite possibly on a Saturday again, probably in August. So block out every Saturday for the next four months, just to be sure you can make it. And if you are a playwright and want to be invited, don’t be shy. Email Marisela with the secret code, “I like beer; put me on the list.”

I really loved their version of Moliere, so perhaps my expectations were too high, but for this one, I pulled an Alan.

I agree with everything he said in his post, from the acting and singing being superb to the story just not working and the contemporary political jokes being way out of place, so rather than repeat his post, I’ll link to his.

I’ve spent most of April doing rewrites on several plays (and making notes for what may be the next one), so I haven’t seen a whole heck of a lot. But it looks like May is gonna be overflowing with opportunities. I can’t guarantee I’ll have time to see all of these shows, but here’s what I’m hoping to see:

• Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class at A.C.T. (Apr 25 - May 25)

• Steven Epp and Dominique Serrand’s Figaro at Berkeley Rep (Apr 25 - Jun 08)

• The Fully-Improvised Theater: The Musical by Un-Scripted Theater (May 01 - May 31)

• Dan Wilson’s Sweetie Tanya at EXIT Theatre (May 02 - May 24)

• John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore by Impact Theatre (May 02 - Jun 07)

• Best of PlayGround Festival at Thick House (May 08 - May 25)

• Steve Yockey’s Octopus at Magic Theatre (May 10 - Jun 08)

I’ve added a few links to the blogroll:

• Cass Brayton, playwright
• Mike Daisey, monologist
• James Comtois, playwright
• Steppenwolf.blog, theater company blog

Do you think maybe I spend too much time reading blogs? Funny, someone else told me that just yesterday.

The Playwrights Foundation has announced the playwrights to be featured in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. They are: Claire Chafee, Katori Hall, Marcus Gardley, Dominic Orlando, Geetha Reddy and Jen Silverman.

The 31st Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival will run from July 25th to August 3rd at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. I highly recommend getting a season pass because each playwright has a staged reading early in the festival, then works on the play for a week, and then has a second reading where you get to see the changes. You at least want to see each play once, and it’s really cool to see what changes are incorporated along the way.

Congrats to all the playwrights, with special congratulations to Geetha and Claire, both of whom I know and admire and am now jealous of.

Theatermania has an article that Jason Grote’s 1001 won’t be coming to Marin Theatre Company this year, after all. My guess is that it’s partially because Berkeley Rep is doing Mary Zimmerman’s THE ARABIAN NIGHTS and they may not want dueling Scheherazades. Bummer! I was really looking forward to seeing 1001; it’s an amazing script. (Don’t ask how I got to read it; I have friends.)

Update: Jason Grote posted on his blog that we WILL get to see 1001, just not until 2009. And not for any nefarious reasons:

1001 is getting postponed until the 09/10 season for entirely pedestrian reasons having to do with production, scheduling, etc. This is a real postponement, not a “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” postponement, and I’m on board for it. I’m disappointed, of course, but so is the company — we all want the production now. … So don’t worry, folks, this has nothing to do with Middle East politics (to my great dismay, 1001 has yet to actually offend anybody anyway). Nor does it have anything to do with a fear of programming unconventional work, unless by “unconventional” you mean “big and hard to produce.”

So good news and bad news. We will indeed get to see it; just not until way off in the future.

Hey! Chad Jones mentioned this blog in Theater Dogs. I believe he said something like:

One of my favorite local bloggers is San Francisco playwright Tim Bauer, whose Direct Address directly addresses local productions as well as the daily life of a — you guessed it — San Francisco playwright.

It just so happens that his blog is one of MY favorite blogs. Which means you could click on my link to his post, then click on his link to my blog, then click on my link to his blog, and get lost in a never-ending cosmic circle that could very well lead to nirvana.

It’s worth a shot. Give it a try, and if you make it to a dimension where there’s no infinitude of space or consciousness, email me and I’ll link to you.

Check me out, being all “opening night guy.”

Yes, regular readers know that my standard move is to show up on closing night and then come home and rave about a show that you can’t actually see. Well, I’ve reformed! (Plus, I got comps.) So I was able to attend Kevin Fisher’s MONKEY ROOM on opening night.

As usual, I can’t be an impartial critic. Not only did the director of this play, Mark Routhier, direct my play I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS in the Best of PlayGround festival, but this is also “a presentation of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Initiative,” and I’m a Sloan Initiative commissionee. Oh, and the lead is friends with a friend of mine. And I’m sure there are about six other conflicts of interest that a true journalist would have to disclose. So I’m biased. Sue me. (Note: Don’t actually sue me.)

Okay, so that’s all out of the way. Now, did I like it? Why yes, I personally liked it quite a bit. Like, it was one of my favorite plays of the Magic’s season, right up there with Betty Shamieh’s TERRITORIES.

MONKEY ROOM is about a woman who must simultaneously run a lab that’s working on an AIDS vaccine, fight for its funding when her mentor is replaced by a squirrely bean-counter, handle her screw-up post-doc lab assistant who’s more concerned with the monkeys than the science, and deal with a long-simmering romance with a geneticist who works in the building. It’s both comic and dramatic; the acting is stellar; the science is fascinating but doesn’t overpower the emotional arcs of the characters; and there’s a bunch of offstage monkeys.

I only wish my friend Les “Monkey Boy” McGeehee was in town and could check it out. He enjoys a good comic drama, and he loves him some monkeys. If you think you might, as well, the show runs until May 4.

So, my last post utilized foreshadowing, a literary device often used in playwriting. I said, “Maybe I’ll change my blog template.” And I did, which you may have noticed, unless you’re super-tech savvy and subscribe to this blog via RSS.

No need to chime in on it. It’s the same template used by approximately 10,000 other WordPress users, so it’s clearly popular. It features clean, contemporary typefaces and a generous use of white space to convey the brand attributes of — sorry, slipped into day-job mode.

Anyway…enjoy.

Thanks so much to everyone who weighed in on my little “professional name” poll.

I got comments and emails from people who know me, people who don’t, people who’ve heard my name or seen my plays — and the near-universal response is to leave well-enough alone.

I think I agree with Peter: “There is a nice youthful perkiness to ‘Tim’ that aligns with your writing very well.” I’m also quite pleased to see that Alan is reading my blog, and thinks I’m “masculine.”

I’ll go with my heart, and broaden the “male playwright name” exception to one syllable first names with two syllable last names. It’s Sam Shepard, Tom Stoppard, Joe Orton, Steve Martin and Tim Bauer.

Then maybe I’ll change my blog template.

I have a request for the readers of this blog. Please post a quick comment and give me your thoughts on this close-to-trivial question:

Resolved: Tim Bauer should change his professional playwriting name to Timothy Bauer.

Here are my thoughts:

PRO

1 - When I introduce myself in person as “Tim Bauer,” people often think I said either “Jim Bauer” or “Ken Bauer.”

2 - “Tim Bauer” sounds like a guy you’d have a beer with. “Timothy Bauer” may sound more like a playwright.

3 - I’ve always thought “Timothy Bauer” has a nice rhythm to it.

4 - Male playwrights are usually “Edward” or “David” or “Richard” or “Peter” or “Kenneth” or “Matthew” or “Christopher.” (Except for Sam Shepard and Tom Stoppard. I guess if your last name starts with “S” and ends with “D,” you’re exempt.)

CON

1 - I have the tiniest bit of name recognition in S.F. as “Tim Bauer.”

2 - Places where I’ve submitted before may open new files for “Timothy Bauer” and not cross-reference the glowing coverage in their “Tim Bauer” file.

3 - I’d have to learn a new habit and start to introduce myself to people at festivals and readings as “Timothy.”

BONUS

1 - People who know me would still call me Tim, which means they’d get to have the same thrill that friends of Robert DeNiro get from calling him Bobby and friends of Philip Seymour Hoffman get from calling him Phil. (Side note: Ask Mariella about her Phil Hoffman story.)

CONCLUSION

What say you, Peter or Prince or Marisela or Cheshire or one of the other 32 people who apparently read this blog, according to yesterday’s stat count (which surprises the hell out of me. Who are you people?)

Please chime in if you have an opinion. Or if you don’t. Thanks!

Thursday night, I went with my friend Rick McKern to see Berkeley Rep’s production (and the American premiere) of Will Eno’s TRAGEDY: a tragedy.

Now, here is the thing. As a non-reviewer, non-critic, blogger-type guy, I believe it’s my duty to let you in on stuff that affects my mindset going into a show. Like, was I pissed off because I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t park? Had I already read the play and so I knew how it was going to end? Was I sitting in front of an old lady who kept unwrapping candies all through the show?

(And what’s up with the freaking candy? Seriously, can’t you people make it an hour without a butterscotch? And if not, can’t you unwrap ten of them and put them in a baggie in your purse?!) (Errr, yes…when I was at the Aurora last month, I was sitting in front of an old lady who kept unwrapping candies all through the show.)

So with this show: my expectations had been lowered way, way down by someone who shall remain nameless (because I don’t want to embarrass Aaron). I was told about patrons falling asleep or walking out; about how the play starts strong and devolves into nothing; about how boring and overrated Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing) was.

Is it any surprise, then, that I ended up liking the show? I thought the comedic parts were often hilarious, the language often dazzling, the acting unbelievably good. I thought there were parts that were brilliant satire, parts that were nonsensical, and parts that were profound.

Yes, I think the play’s about 20 minutes too long. Ideally, it’d be a Fringe Festival piece that lasts about 50 minutes. (And being in the fringe instead of a subscription-based regional theater might mean fewer sleepy or confused people.)

So maybe it’s an expectations game thing. But maybe not: Rick liked it quite a bit, too, and he didn’t even know what we were seeing. Maybe it’s just a good, intriguing, challenging, slightly too long piece from a good writer.

I hope I didn’t just raise your expectations.

Monday night, I saw an In The Rough reading of Marisela Orta’s play WOMAN ON FIRE. Marisela’s also a poet, so the language and images were predictably gorgeous. Plus, the Playwrights Foundation pulled together a fantastic cast, so the whole thing was great. (And it was fun to catch up with Aaron Loeb, Peter Nachtrieb, Garret Groenveld, Jonathan Spector and Amy Mueller, who will all now end up at this blog when they google themselves.)

Marisela’s having an awesome year, y’all. Which you’d know if you’d been reading her blog. From appearing on the cover of Theater Bay Area Magazine as an up-and-coming playwright to residencies at Marin Theatre Company and Playwrights Foundation. Plus, she’s a cofounder of Playwright’s Pub Night, which makes her A-1 tops in my book. I predict quite a few productions up-and-coming.

Congratulations, Marisela!

And it’s Loretta Greco. They announced it today, although I found out on Friday at the Lit Committee meeting. Hmm, I guess we’ll see if the Lit Committee still exists in a few weeks, once the new A.D. starts making changes.

And, more important for me personally, I guess it also remains to be seen how much further my Sloan Initiative commission will go. So far I’ve turned in a first draft to the Magic and got some good notes. I’m working on a second draft and hope to see it in a Science On Stage reading in a few months. Assuming, again, that the Science On Stage series still exists in a few months….

But enough about me. Here’s a little bit about Loretta Greco for those who didn’t see Blackbird or Speed-the-Plow at A.C.T., which she directed (and which I thought, along with The Goat, were the best things A.C.T. did in the past few seasons):

Loretta Greco has previously directed the world premiere of Morbidity & Mortality for Magic Theatre and Speed-the-Plow, Blackbird, and Lackawanna Blues for ACT. Her New York premieres include: The Story, Lackawanna Blues, Two Sisters and a Piano (Public Theater); Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen, Touch, Gum (Women’s Project); Meshugah (Naked Angels); Mercy (Vineyard Theatre); A Park in Our House (New York Theater Workshop); and Under a Western Sky (INTAR/ Women’s Project). Regional credits include [a bunch of stuff you can read about here].

Will the Magic still be a new works, development-based theater? Will it still accept plays from any Bay Area playwright? Or will it switch to agent-only submissions? We shall see….

Check it out. The New York Times liked a show. And it just happens to be our own Peter Nachtrieb’s.

Yee-ha! Dare I say that there might just be a little San Francisco takeover going on in the theater world? Adam Bock, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Eugenie Chan, Betty Shamieh, Garret Groenveld, all doing well in New York. Aaron Loeb, Dan Hoyle, Marisela Orta, Mark Jackson, many more, all kicking ass here.

We may be in the middle of one of those times where, ten years from now, some grad student does a paper on “The San Francisco School Of Playwrights” and talks about how we all changed theater for all time.

So start taking notes. You don’t want to be like one of those Beat poets who got stoned and forgot exactly what it was that Allen Ginsberg guy was always going on about.

And come to the next Playwrights Pub Night (which me and Marisela and hopefully Peter this time will start planning in a few weeks, for a May unveiling). Meet some of these people before they all become too good to hang with the likes of you.