In Memory of Marjorie Bicknell

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Marjorie Bicknell was one of the most selfless and giving people I have ever met. In a cutthroat industry that often requires playwrights to be shameless in the promotion of their own work, Marj – though quite an accomplished playwright herself – dedicated so much of her career to giving a leg up to the rest of us.

As the Philadelphia representative for the Dramatists Guild, Marj was unwavering in her dedication to obtaining as many opportunities for local playwrights as she could. As Secretary and website designer for MusiCoLab, Marj persuaded us to grow into our current nonprofit status, and filed all of the paperwork to make it happen – this despite her not even being a composer herself. She just loved musicals, and wanted to see more of them happen here in Philly.

Marj was a pivotal voice in one of the most defining and important conversations of my career: After a reading from my musical “Fresh!” at the Philadelphia Dramatists Center, I had questions for the group (and the women especially) about my whether or not I had succeeded at bringing an honest and nuanced voice and experience to a character with a history of sexual assault. This turned into an impassioned and extremely illuminating conversation about the nature of advocacy in theater, and what our responsibilities are as playwrights when presenting a painful and life-altering experience that we ourselves have not gone through. I’ll carry that conversation with me in anything I go on to do, and will always hear Marj’s passionate voice in my head.

Speaking of voice Marj’s voice: Marj was also my voice student (she could sing a mean “When You’re Good to Mama” from Chicago), and far more importantly, my friend. She was a voice of support and encouragement when things got hard, and a loving and empathetic presence at all times. I can’t even truly process that she is gone – and the world is a worse place without her.

Rest in peace, Marj. Your absence will always be noticed, and you will always be very, very missed.

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The Titanic Just Claimed Five More Lives. When Will We Learn The Lesson?

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Human arrogance. Luxury over safety. Repeatedly unheeded warnings. The refusal to follow established industry protocols in the name of speed and innovation.

These are the tragic flaws that sank the RMS Titanic. And over a century later, that ship and those very same flaws just claimed five more lives.

I’m not writing this to demonstrate irony, and certainly not to express schadenfreude. I’m genuinely sad that these people died. But the worst kinds of tragedies are the kind that are preventable. There weren’t enough lifeboats on the Titanic because the White Star Line feared they would be an eyesore to the first class passengers; and there was not adequate testing on this submarine – the Titan – because the CEO of OceanGate decided that third-party safety tests and certifications were too expensive, stifled innovation, and were unnecessary in international waters.

Well, that CEO is dead now. He piloted the vessel, and even though he had no choice in the matter, the captain went down with the ship.

But as sickened as I am by the choices he made that brought four other people down with him, I mourn his death, too. As a child, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut to explore the vastness of space – but because he had poor vision and needed glasses, he could not pursue his dream, and instead turned his gaze to the seas. His tragic flaws were such human flaws: Hubris. Stinginess. Impatience. And Greed.

Nature is a formidable foe. And in the long run, it tends to get its way. The sky was just pink and orange for a week, the sun so obscured by smoke that at times it could be looked at with the naked eye. Temperatures are rising. Wildfires are burning. Ocean levels climb higher and higher. Droughts and famines abound, and we, as a species, are… trying (vaguely) to cut down on how many plastic bags we use.

It’s not enough.

My hope is that this entirely preventable tragedy will serve as a metaphor and reminder for all of us that the flaws of humanity will bring all of us down if we don’t come together as a species to keep them in check. It’s not about saving the planet – the planet will be just fine without us. But if we want to save ourselves, we have to evolve into something better than we are.

My heart goes out to the victims of this tragedy, and all their friends and families. Yes, they were wealthy adventurers who chose their insatiable thirst for novelty over their own safety. But I don’t believe that should come with a death sentence. We may never know the exact details of how they died, but we can be quite sure that it was awful.

May we all be spared a similar fate.

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HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, “ONE GRAIN MORE”!!!

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It’s hard to believe it’s been a full decade since I brought together my most talented friends and students to make a parody with an absolutely ridiculous premise (fun fact: Les Miz does not contain *one single song* about food allergies, despite their obvious connection to post-revolutionary French insurrections).

Since then, the video has won multiple awards, and was featured in hundreds of print and online publications, where it has been hailed as “The funniest nutrition video ever made!” and “…a must, must, must watch!”

I want to give a huge thank you to all the fans of this film. From the strangers who still approach me at Whole Foods to ask if I know how to milk an oat, to the company that mailed me spaghetti and meatballs in a bag (which may have actually been an assassination attempt by Big Gluten), to the dozens of people who have proposed to Megan and/or Lily via YouTube comment – you are all so deliciously weird and wonderful, and we love you (though I’ve been told the proposals are a hard pass).

And a special thanks to you, the friends and fans who have shared this video repeatedly and given us the opportunity to get this passion project onto the screens of well over half a million people. We are so grateful, and this video would never have been successful without you.

We hope you’ll celebrate with us by having another watch below – and if you want to share the video/this post, you won’t hear us complaining ;-)! We hope you get a few minutes of pure laughter – especially those of you with food allergies that have never been anything to you but a danger and a burden. I wanted you on the inside of the joke on this one – and I could not ask for better people to have there with me.

A few specific shoutouts: first, to Lily Bayrock, my brilliant co-director and dear friend, without whom not only would this video never have been made, but I would never have even had the lived experience needed to conceive it. You made every single shot of this video better with your direction and flawless performance, and your impeccable attention to detail always leaves me floored.

To Megan Ermilio (“The Dairy Chick,” according to the internet) and Michael J. DeFlorio – you were my voice and acting students when we made this. Words could never express how proud I am of you every time someone boasts about your performances (which is often). You are amazing performers, and true friends.

Thank you to Dena Blumenthal and Bernie Langer for filming and lighting this thing. Whenever someone tells me how blown away they are by how polished and Hollywood-level quality this video is, I tell them that is entirely thanks to you. And you did it all in two days, with one camera, two lights, and a partridge in a hypoallergenic pear tree.

Thank you to Matthew Dorsch and Elizabeth Filante Sanders, our production assistants, for all the quick set changes and blacking out the windows (sorry again about the damage to your house, Mom and Dad) and being our hands and eyes and ears when we were in front of the camera. We asked so much of you, and you did even more.

Thank you to my amazing mother, Anita Bihovsky, who overheard me singing impromptu Les Mis parody lyrics while baking gluten free cookies (spoiler alert: they sucked) and told me that, on this particular occasion, what I was singing was actually pretty funny, and I should go write out lyrics for the entire song. And thanks to my dad, Ron Bihovsky, who along with my mother took our (mostly) temporary destruction to their house and windows and roof pretty well, all things considered. We could never have made this video without your support.

I hope so much that you all enjoy watching or re-watching “One Grain More,” and be sure to check out its unofficial sequel about the 2020 Covid Quarantine, “Trapped Inside the House.

You can also find lots of fun behind-the-scenes material, including bloopers, Q&A, interviews and press coverage, at www.onegrainmore.com!

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Gun Law Issue, Or Mental Health Issue? (It’s Both.)

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“It’s a mental health issue!!”

First of all, it’s a gun issue. Shocking fact: no mentally ill person has ever committed a gun shooting without a gun.

This monster in Texas bought two assault rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition legally, just days after his 18th birthday, without any waiting period or a permit needed to carry them in public. You not only wrote the laws that allow that, Republicans – you regularly campaign on how proud you are of them. You’re literally still doing it right now, with 19 kids and two of their teachers not even buried in the ground yet!

Second: Yes, it is also a mental health issue. But considering that you Republicans are the main ones who have been closing and/or de-funding psychiatric facilities for years (shifting hundreds of thousands of these mentally ill people you say you’re so concerned about into homelessness, for which you then accuse them of irresponsibility and laziness), and refusing to require insurance plans to provide access to good outpatient mental healthcare. And the very fact that you only start screaming about mental health when there’s a mass shooting adds to the stigma of mental health conditions to begin with, which further deters people from seeking help in the first place.

So fine. Republicans: it’s a mental health issue (in part). But even then, it is still very much your fault.

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“Hadestown” Review (AKA I went to a show! I remember shows!)

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Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the tour of the Broadway musical “Hadestown” at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia – only my second live show in over two years!

I was blown away literally the minute the show started. I was listening to this incredible, fast, jazzy bass line, and I thought to myself: “Is that a …. trombone?”

And it was. But it wasn’t being used in any way that Juilliard told me was allowed, or even possible.

And that was the gist of experience for me: the thrill of being exposed to an incredible type of music that I didn’t even know existed. Jazzy and haunting. Upbeat but dark. Fun and devastating. New Orleans meets folk meets Motown and spirituals and musical theater – with captivating and stunning visuals and performances to match.

The story itself is a wildly creative take on the Orpheus and Eurydice story, which is my favorite Greek myth (that’s what I loosely based “Paperweight” on as well). It’s such a beautiful story, and already contains so much symbolism about the nature of love and trust and doubt in relationships. But on top of that, Hadestown adds in terrifying and biting commentaries about industrialization, menial labor, xenophobia, and so many other topics that are more than a little bit pertinent these days.

Go see this show if you get a chance, on Broadway or on tour. It’s a truly unique experience.

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