or,

Episode 4: A New Hope.

It’s been, oh, a good 30 years or so since my last post. I’m hoping to remedy that as our millennium reaches 10…it turns out I have a lot to say, and when I don’t say it, I do things like buy Scotch and lose hair.

Playwriting has been quite the bugaboo for me lately. I wrote a few plays in 2009, including one hour-long kids’ musical and a few that were produced off-off-Broadway. But on the whole, I’ve become a cliche – the playwright who avoids playwriting. At times, I’ve avoided writing altogether. I’m not sure why, but I think insecurity and a touch of self-flagellation have something to do with it. This isn’t rare – no matter how many productions my plays get, no matter how much genuine success I might achieve, every time I sit down to write I will always have a nagging voice that says “all your past success means exactly nothing right now.”

The voice isn’t wrong, of course…success doesn’t make anyone good at what they do. But experience, practice, the genuine desire to learn…yep, there’s the rub. But the voice doesn’t want that. It wants passivity, surrender. It wants me to choose anything over active writing – Facebook, the Food Network, Wii Sports Resort, Smithwicks (all worthy opponents, of course).

But I’m getting a little tired of the voice. It’s time to create – plays, music, essays, thoughts, feelings, anything, really. I’ll also update this site in general, restoring my old posts, adding photos, hyping new productions. Hopefully, this will become an addiction that will take the place of some that cause much more damage in my life.

Thank you, my faithful readers. You are welcome to comment at will, but I must warn you that I get loads of fatty spiced ham in my comment sections, so it may not get posted right away. In the meantime, feel free to send me an email at matt (at) mattcasarino (dot) com.