Blog
That’s me, a Korean War recruit, stationed in Lenggries, German (Bavaria). Working as a clerk typist for Officer Records. And writing news releases for back-home newspapers. After hours, I worked on my plays and wrote some poetry for the U.S. Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes. I worked on an advanced, state of the art, word-making machine they called “a typewriter.” I believe. I can’t recognize myself as I was then, but I remember the eye glasses. God, I loved those glasses. FG
Gagliano Projects In Development
Gagliano Projects In DevelopmentTo Gaglianoriff.com followers, who might be intrigued by these fragments—(that were aborted pre and pro Covid Pandemic). Why were they aborted? Who knows? But reading these fragments anew, I’ve become interested in all of them again. Why? Perhaps the zeitgeist now...
A UKRAINE ODYSSEY (2005)
A recently discovered chronicle, chronicling the beginnings of my Ukraine visits and connections — while giving the Ukraine reading/performances of my play —“My Chekhov Light,” — in Kirovohrad (via Kyiv) in 2005, and at the Chekhov Festival in Yalta, 2012
“Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” My plague diversion on the dying last words of the famous.
Leading to a new theatre piece, “Club Faustian” — Or, “How have you managed to walk so far/ with your head up your ass?” . . . As one of my back-burner Covid-19 “reconnecting-with-the classics” projects, I’ve been re-reading the works of playwright, George Bernard Shaw (GBS), and came...
New Lyric: “When The Island Of Kacòw Disappeared, Oh Lord!”
. . .that relentless, flooding, plastic wave. . . and the journey of the Piper clan. . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [After being turned on by the Ken Burns PBS TV series on Country Music, I began developing a country music story-lyric. My subject: The Great Pacific...
21 Club Memories
[Facebook Essay: March 13, 2021] I WORKED AT THE "21 CLUB" FOR A WEEK! THEN THEY FIRED ME!As part of a sad story about how Covid has decimated restaurantsand clubs, the New York Times today published a story about thelegendary “21 Club” (21 West 52nd Street) that has closed down. Itstarted as a...
ON BULLSHIT — AND MY STINK FANTASY IN THE AGE OF TRUMP — AND MY STINK OPERA DEVELOPING. . .
When CNN political reporter John King used the word bullshit in the discussion following the Trump second impeachment acquittal trial, I was delighted that the word wasn’t bleeped out — or finessed to the feebler BS. Bullshit is the perfect word for our time: The “bull” parts of the word are the...
On “Last Words”
[Facebook essay: 28 August 2020] On “LAST WORDS” (My Latest Plague Diversion, Leading To “Pub Faustian”) . . .I’ve been re-reading the works of playwright, George Bernard Shaw (GBS), and came across his last words: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard” — a phrase used many times since GBS’s death. (An...
The Moment (New Song)
THE MOMENT © (ASCAP) Lyrics, Frank Gagliano Music, James Rushin (Demo track below: Jonathan Mousette, vocal; James Rushin, piano) Sometimes I'll glimpse it,Maybe at night,Often when I'm sitting all alone.Sometimes I'll sense it,Out there in space,Even when I'm talking on the phone.Sometimes I'll...
Holographing the Playtext
ANGLES OF VISION FROM A PARTICULAR PLAYWRIGHT, ABOUT THE SPECIAL PRESSURE COOKER THAT IS DRAMA. by Frank Gagliano Beginning quotes and notes toward a book: HOLOGRAPHING THE PLAY-TEXT (or DEMONSTRATING THE PLAY-TEXT) — a new approach for theatre practitioners who have to bring a text off the...
Knickers
Based on autobiographical material,with a goodly mix of fantasy (Screenplay? Novel? Opening Section?) NARRATOR (Voice over) In those days you wore knickers. In those days you played marbles. . . and a game called Skelly. . . You’d kneel on the knees of your knickers and you’d shoot your...
My Five Days with Chekhov
My Five Days With Chekhov: The 2012 International Anton Chekhov Conference, Chekhov Museum, Yalta/Crimea By Frank Gagliano THE DRAMATIC QUESTION There is always a dramatic question, of course. And the dramatic question, from the moment I arrived in Yalta was this: “Would they understand it? THE...
I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!
I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!" by Frank Gaglianoplaywright So I'm throwing out boxes of stuff from my garage (summer of 2009 project) and I decide to explore one box before I dump it and --LO! --I find it: The lost souvenir program from the American Theatre Wing's 1957 "Command Performance--Serenade to...
Interview #2: FROM A RECENT UKRAINIAN QUESTIONNAIRE
On March 15, 2005—just three months after the Ukrainian Orange Revolution—I gave a reading/performance of my play, “MY CHEKHOV LIGHT,” in the Regional Art Museum in Kirovograd, Ukraine. In many ways, it changed my life. Pavlò Bosyy, a native of Kirovograd, and a visiting professor of Design in the...
Interview #1: FROM A RECENT ON-LINE INTERVIEW
1. Mr. Gagliano, What made you want to work in the professional writing field? •As is usual with me, it’s never about planning. I tend to fall into things. I was always interested in the entertainment field, though; did some performing as a young, young man and suddenly started to write. I guess,...
CHINA JOURNAL: PLAYWRIGHT IN BEIJING (Intro & Part 1)
Introduction: This journal covers the making of the BIG SUR production; the teaching of playwriting to English speaking Chinese students; and includes my conducting English conversation classes with large groups of adult Chinese, who are part of the enormous working engine that is China business,...
China Journal: Part 2
I KNOW JOE AND I ARE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH WHEN THE AGING HIPPIE IN “BIG SUR”—WITH THE ARROW IN HER FOREHEAD?—MAKES HER ENTRANCE FROM STAGE LEFT. In BIG SUR, Jeremy Chester’s very first hitchhiker steals Jeremy’s car at gunpoint and leaves Jeremy stranded in his underwear. A local cop, who had...
China Journal: Part 3
After leaving Joe, I stop at the newsstand that is open late and I pick up a copy of China Daily, an English edition of daily news. The newsstand is located on a part of the campus that has produce stands, restaurants, a bank and other buildings which, during class changes, is teeming with foot...
China Journal: Part 4
WHAT IMPRESSES ME MOST ABOUT THE PLAYWRITING CLASS IS HOW FAST THESE CHINESE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH GET IT. WHAT CONTINUES TO IMPRESS ME ABOUT JOE GRAVES IS HIS ABILITY TO RUN A PROGRAM, TEACH, DIRECT AND BUILD A FIRST-RATE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE LEAD CHARACTER, JEREMY CHESTER, IN MY PLAY, BIG SUR....
China Journal: Part 5
SILLY TONGUE-TWISTER EXERCISES FOR THE ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASSPEKING UNIVERSITY/SPRING SEMESTER 2007 1) Ends of words must all be said, said Ed, who read with dread the final consonants put there to break his head. 2) Violent Willy vividly wishes his windows were very wide. 3) Very wild are...
China Journal: Part 6
(ALL THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS ARE REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE PLAYWRIGHTS) Among the many imperatives for the playwright, one of the most important is to get his/her drama off the ground as soon as possible. I call this "the-why-is-this-day-different-from-any-other-day”pressure. What...
China Journal: Part 7
(Beijing Journal/Part Seven)IN WHICH I FIND MY GROOVEIN THE ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASS FOR ADULT EDUCATION CHINESE STUDENTS— IN WHICH I LECTURE ON THE TURNING POINT FOR AMERICAN DRAMA IN THE 1960s, AND I HAVE AN EPIPHANY— IN WHICH SHANGHAI FISH INTRODUCES ME TO LU XIN AND HIS “CALL TO ARMS” — AND,...
