Two big launches in fall 2022 (+ new work in progress)

Whoa – how are we more than halfway through summer??  Time grows more mysterious every year. And, I think, more precious – in a “deeply inhabiting” way not a “clinging” way.

With that in mind, I am thrilled to be launching two projects into the world which have been my focus for the past three years.  Some poetry readings/music shows in the coming weeks, too – but first the two big launches:

LAUNCH #1:  A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff, (which, as many of you know, began as a theater show in NYC ten years ago and is now a full-on feature film) has its official theatrical premiere on September 1 at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland Oregon!  $10 tickets are available now ($8 seniors/students/kids) – includes a live Q&A with our filmmaking team, including me, after the showing.

(For those of you not in Portland, exciting sneak preview news: we also signed a streaming deal – yay! – and the film will be available in the US/Canada starting in fall; official details coming soon.)

LAUNCH #2: Even God Had Bad Parenting Days (my first prose book!), a collection of short personal essays about early parenthood through the lens of Jewish texts, traditions, mysticism and ritual – out from Behrman House Press on September 6. It’s available for pre-order now.

One of the biggest things you can do to help a book succeed is to pre-order, so if you are interested in reading for yourself or giving as a gift, there’s no time like the present! Here are direct links for indiebound (which works with your local bookstore), Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

And now a glimpse behind the curtain at work-in-progress. I’m very excited to continue work on the Girls in Trouble show (currently titled Girls in Trouble: A Feminist Mystery Play).  We had such a wonderful work-in-progress showing at the Oregon Jewish Museum in June – thank you to the Museum, & the lovely audience!  & I’m especially grateful to these wonderful artists who joined me onstage & behind the scenes.

I’m thrilled to say we’ve received a grant from Portland’s Jewish Women’s Giving Circle to continue developing the show in 2022-23, in continued collaboration with fabulous director/dramaturg Nessa Norich. This funding allows me to hire amazing artists like those pictured here to help me develop the show and bring it to life onstage. If you are interested in supporting the development of this show, or any other project, I always welcome tax deductible donations through Fractured Atlas.

Here’s a round-up of live upcoming events:

Wednesday Aug 3 – Poetry reading (with other poets!) for Pedalpalooza bike ride
Starts at duck pond @Laurelhurst Park at 7:30 and goes from there
(poets join the ride & one of us reads at each stop; I’m on the 3^rd stop I think?)
Free & open to all!

Wednesday Aug 10 – One Page Wednesday reading w/Janice Lee in Estacada OR
7-9pm at Harmony Baked, 221 SW Wade St.
Estacada OR 97023
With a one-page open mic beforehand!

Thursday Sept 1  – A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff, theatrical premiere! 
Hollywood Theatre (PDX), $10
($8 seniors/students/kids), tickets here!

Sunday Sept 10 – Girls in Trouble duo show
(at a backyard concert series in SE PDX, w/poets Chrys Tobey & Lara Messersmith-Glavin; address forthcoming)

(Early November: Save the date for A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff in Victoria BC!)

And lastly, a sweet bit of poetry news: “Sunday School,” a poem from my first book, Divinity School, was featured on the Best American Poetry blog this week. So nice to see it get some love…poetry time is cyclical, like everything else!