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Books I Read in 2022

**The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee. Easy to digest and well-reasoned arguments as to how racism bleeds public goods, harming all of us.

**Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran. Beautiful, campy, nostalgic, heartbreaking. A vision of pre-AIDS New York gay culture through the enduring characters of the fabulous Sutherland and the tragic Malone.

The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T-Rex and How it Shook Our World by David K. Randall. Overwritten and oversold. Not much story here, despite Randall’s attempt to make you think otherwise. I largely disagreed with his assessment of the private thoughts of his protagonist, paleontologist Barnum Brown.

**The Overstory by Richard Powers. (Finished) Subtle, methodical, deeply thought through and far reaching. Much like its topic — the trees — this novel requires time, and investment. But the healing lessons that both process and product leave you with is well-worth it.

The Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Starts out very strong, frays at the end. But is in many ways the prototype to how space empires have been depicted ever since.

**Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland. Fascinating and fast read despite the enormity of its scope. Holland’s argument is that we live in an inescapably Christian world. Not only is he probably correct, I found myself rather relieved to know that.

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Simple, sweet, of another time.

**Radicalized: Four Tales of Our Present Moment by Cory Doctorow. Thoroughly enjoyable. Four bite-sized short stories of a Black Mirror depiction of our modern world. Juicy and imaginative.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. (Started) The American City in this instance is my home city of Milwuakee. It’s giving me an on the ground look at the fabric of the city that I never knew about growing up. A story of the cycle of homelessness and substandard housing.

Books I Read in 2020

**How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell — The perfect book to begin a new decade. A remarkably well articulated argument and “how-to” for resisting the attention economy. Her solution is not simply to unplug from social media, but rather to train your focus on the bigger picture. Odell highlights the importance of natural ecologies as a primary teacher of the necessary elements for thought, innovation, and intentional action. Those elements include: diversity, interconnectedness, and context (i.e. time and space). A must-read for anyone needing to come up for air from the constant deluge of #FOMO, political news, and social media.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt — an epic and incredibly detailed story of a young man who’s life is irrevocably altered by a terrorist attack in a museum and his resulting act of art theft. I was struck by how intricate each (wildly diverse) element of Tartt’s world was depicted. The research alone must have been staggering. And then there’s her plotting, which always lifts you up and breathlessly sweeps you forward at just the right moments. 

Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals that Get Standing Ovations by Steve Cuden — a tepid analysis of the story building-blocks that make up musicals. This book is less of a “how-to” and more of a loose compilation of all the elements Cuden deems must be present for any successful musical. However, Cuden mostly regurgitates ideas from other, better books on (mostly screenwriting) story structure without offering anything particularly novel or insightful himself. The book is then padded with 250 pages of reverse-engineered story beats from 40 musicals that no more give one instructions on how to create a show from scratch than describing a cake teaches one how to bake.

**Scoring the Screen: The Secret Language of Film Music by Andy Hill — a detailed, yet never tedious, analysis of major film scores and film scoring technique. Hill’s passion for the subject is infectious, and the way he uncovers the harmonic language of film music is akin to a magician revealing a trick: the magic remains, only now in the form of mastery. Definitely a technical read and will not be suitable for the music illiterate. 

Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein — a truly fascinating and fairly brisk read, Klein describes what so many of us know to already be true — the country is polarized into parties, and the parties act in two very distinct and antithetical ways. But his explanation as to why that’s the case, and even more importantly how logical it is, is fascinating and worthwhile. I found myself feeling relieved at finally being able to put words to the phenomena I witnessed daily in the news. You’re not crazy, it really is happening, and Klein tells us why, and even suggests what we might try to do about it.

El Alquimista: Una Fabula Para Seguir Tus Sueños by Paulo Coelho — hadn’t read this book since High School, and decided to re-read in Spanish in effort to help me progress with the language. I was struck again by the layered nuance that this seemingly simple parable contains. It’s the epic story of a young shepherd in Spain who dreams of a buried treasure at the Pyramids in Egypt. Within the tale of a young man following his dreams is the lesson of a life fully lived, at one with Soul of the World and trusting in your Personal Story.

**How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi — Kendi’s book should be required reading for high school students (and anyone out of high school) across America. What makes his book so effective is the simplicity with which he defines his terms (racist vs. anti-racist, etc), and the disarming choice to use his own racist thoughts and upbringing as an example. What could easily be a touchy subject for many is wrapped cleverly within the coming-of-age journey of a young Black man. Kendi brings his reader to a new understanding about the pervasive stranglehold of racist ideas, its connection to racist policies, and the simple change in perspective required to become an anti-racist.

“I Want” Song — The Horror!

The other day I received an email with a question about writing an “I Want” song. I thought it would be helpful to make a post about it, for anyone who might have similar questions about this very important requirement for any musical story.

“Hi, My name is ******* I’m a young composer. How do you exactly do an “I want” for a horror musical?

Inquisitive Young Composer

What a great question!

Continue reading “I Want” Song — The Horror!

Austin Film Festival Semifinalist!

My latest stage comedy, Free Speech Zone, is a semifinalist in the 2020 Austin Film Festival, Playwriting Category.

Free Speech Zone tells the story of an absurd on-campus confrontation between Megan Wallace, a conservative college sophomore, and Deborah Sprecher, a liberal English teacher. The fallout from their actions reach the highest levels of the university administration and state government, ultimately subverting the freedom speech for everyone involved.

For information on the script, please reach out!

The Book That Prepared Me for 2020

At the beginning of each year, I start a list of books that I’m reading. As I finish a book, I write a little blurb about it and add it to the list. Then at the end of the year I publish that list. This year, in January, I read a book that was recommended by Austin Kleon, an artist and author who’s weekly newsletter I subscribe to and love.

I never could have guessed just how much this book would prepare me for 2020.

Continue reading The Book That Prepared Me for 2020

“In Strange Woods” in Vulture

Vulture featured In Strange Woods on their *quite exclusive* list of 8 Podcasts to Listen to this Fall. 

It’s an unbelievable honor to be featured along with offerings from Gimlet, NPR, The New York Times, and KCRW.

The other exciting bit of news that broke with that article was the announcement that our podcast will be out in November of this year. That may seem like a century from now in 2020-adjusted terms, but it’s just around the bend. We are furiously working our way through post to bring you an incredible, unique listening experience crafted purely for audio.

To stay up-to-date with all things In Strange Woods go here.

BIPOC Musical Theater Writers

The Off-Broadway cast of “A Strange Loop”

Because of some of my posts about race and musical theater, every now and then I get asked to recommend BIPOC Musical Theater Writers or shows written by BIPOC writers. Usually these are from white educators looking to expand their curriculum, or white writers looking for collaboration opportunities.

I thought I’d post some names I’ve recommended as well as links to their sites (if they have one). If you’re looking for Composers, Lyricist, and Bookwriters of color — this is a good place to start.

But this is not a comprehensive list by any means. I encourage anyone who is looking to work with or write about writers of color to do their research, engage with their network, and don’t stop looking if at first you’re unsuccessful.

Continue reading BIPOC Musical Theater Writers

On Decentralizing Privilege in Your Writing

Since the death of George Floyd, I, like so many others, have dived deep into the great work of unlearning and re-educating. That lifelong effort toward true empathy and active support is in many ways synonymous with the work of any artist who must inhabit lives separate from her own. (Speaking of active support — click here for a list of BiPoc Musical Theatre Writers you should know.)

One of the key acts that white people have been instructed to take on is that of “decentralizing whiteness,” or “de-centering privilege.”

In overly simply terms, we live in a society where white is considered the norm (along with male, Christian, able-bodied, heterosexual, etc.). In most contexts, any deviation from this category is considered “different,” and often “less than.” Because of this, we distribute resources and power first and foremost to people who fit the norm.



De-centering those privileged categories means first recognizing no category is better than any other, and subsequently distributing resources in a more equal (or even equitable) manner. In arts and entertainment, that means more equitably share the stage with non-whites, non-Christians, non-males, etc, in all the work that we do from here on out.

However, as a white male writer, decentralizing myself in my own work seems impossible. Even in instances where I am amplifying the voices of under-privileged people, I am still the storyteller. I am still ultimately centering my perspective.

In grappling with this conundrum, I’ve kept returning to one idea – “Default White.”

Continue reading On Decentralizing Privilege in Your Writing