DC Playwrights

Take a simple sentence. A typing drill. Nine words. 37 letters. What do the words mean? How are they related? How is meaning conveyed? Inspired by the texts of Lewis Carroll, Donald Rumsfeld, and George Bush and concluding with the inspirational metaphorical tropes of Barack Obama, the work presents five characters in search of meaning at an absurdist linguistic tea party.

When:
- Saturday July 18 @ 2:45pm
- Sunday July 19 @ Noon
- Friday July 24 @ 9:30pm
- Saturday July 25 @ 9:30pm
- Sunday July 26 @ Noon

Where:
Redrum - at Fort Fringe
612 L Street NW, Washington DC

Tickets can be purchased at:
607 New York Avenue, Washington, DC
or online at http://shows.capfringe.org/shows/26-Michael-Merino-The-Quick-Brown-Fox-J...
This production presented as a part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival.

The Emerging Voices Playwright Competition has recently named Maybe, a short play by Michael Merino, as a winner in their inaugural competition. Along with four other works, the play will receive a staged reading at the historic Lincoln Theatre on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7PM.

Merino’s play addresses the impossibility of clear and precise communication. The work involves two actors (Man and Woman), whose only words are "yes" and "no," respectively. An additional character called Stage Directions provides guidance regarding inflection and the actors' movements.

Winner of the Theatre Oxford's 10-Minute Play Contest in 2007, Michael Merino's play, Seat Yourself was performed October 9 through 12 at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center in Oxford, MS.

For nine years, Theatre Oxford has presented the work of some of the finest up-and-coming playwrights from all over the world. This year, Theatre Oxford presented a program of the 2007 - 2008 winners of the 8th and 9th annual contests.

Performed earlier this year in Paris and Washington, DC, théâtre du jour comprises two comic shorts written and directed by Michael Merino.

The first work, Seat Yourself, explores the frustrations of fine dining and "the euphemism." The second work, Pompa y Circunstancia, concerns a bizarre commencement ceremony, where two brothers mis-communicate about what to wear, life, and lunch.

The cast includes Perry Leopard, Randy Maggiore, and Claudia Baumgarten. The shows are at the Skull Club Theater located at 1003 N. Spain Street, New Orleans, LA 70117.

My one-act play, "Pi Yao and the Farmers' Daughters," will be presented as part of the 33rd Annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival.

When: July 19th, 3PM
Where: The Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 West 42nd Street) in New York Cit-tay!
Who: My director will be the ever-lovely Clara Barton Green. Cast TBA.
What: The hard life of Midwestern farmers gets even harder when a mythical Chinese monster seduces their daughters and eats their money.

More about the festival here. Come see my play! It will rock your world for 15 delightful minutes.

The Inkwell (www.inkwelltheatre.org), DC's newest company devoted solely to the nurturing of new plays and playwrights, as part of the The Source Festival, presents a 10 minute play writing class.

DC Playwright's Michael Merino (the squirrel guy) wrote a piece for this week's eXtreme eXchange Adopt-a-Candidate show, which got written up by one of the Huffington Post bloggers.

Well done, Michael! Now get a job, slacker.

“i wasn’t going to tell you –“
“i already know,” said the squirrel.
“know what?” i asked.

“gore got the nobel.”
with consolation i remarked,
“only half a nobel,” i added.
“he deserved it, i guess,”
guessed the squirrel.

“but he’s already got a grammy,”
i groused.
“i thought it was an oscar,”
said the squirrel.
“you’re right.”

“who won the prize in physics?
that’s the only category i care about,”
asked the squirrel.

“mind if i take this?”
asks the squirrel.
“yes,” i say.
“it might be important.”
“are you saying having dinner with me
isn’t important?”

“now who are you texting?”
i ask.
“some people,” confesses the squirrel.
“why?”
“to find out what they're doing later,”
he adds.

“you’re the reason i hate cell phones
and the people that own them.”
“they’re very convenient,” says the squirrel.
“allows you to stay in touch with people,”
he explains.
“in case there’s an emergency.”

“scrambled eggs with brains,”
squirrel tells the waitress.
“you might want to get something else,”
i suggest.
“those are squirrel brains, you know.
and besides, i thought squirrels
were vegetarians.”

“but i like brains.
i find them attractive in squirrels,”
he explains.

“you might get jacob-creutzfeldt disease.”
“what’s that?” he asks.
“mad cow,” i tell him.
“just order the mediterranean omelet.”

squirrel calls the waitress over
and asks if the eggs contain squirrel brains.
“i’m jacob schmirnoff-intolerant,” he explains.