Don’t Eat Paper! honored at two Los Angeles film festivals

On March 1, 2024 at the Chinese Theatres in Los Angeles on Hollywood Blvd, the script for “Don’t Eat Paper!” was names Best Fantasy Romance Screenplay at the Golden State Film Festival.


And earlier at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival (held at LA Live), the same screenplay was named Best Screenplay – 3rd Place.

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A play reading of THE MASTER AND THE MAGICIAN

A Play Reading of THE MASTER AND THE MAGICIAN Written and directed by Julius Galacki

When: May 22, 2021 at 3:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Free, but you must Register in advance for this reading:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOqqqzgvEtMjqJ2HwIrI1qA1ccQ7KAu4

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the play reading.


“I must snare this hare before she becomes rabidly aware.”

In the style of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and other classical comedies, the play is chock-a-block with word play, alliterations, internal rhymes and couplets, physical buffoonery and mistaken identities. “THE MASTER AND THE MAGICIAN” is a fractured fairy tale for adults.

On the final night of a magician’s life, she seeks to pass on her knowledge to an heir, while at the same time playing a last game of hearts with a puckish fairy spirit in which they use four lovers as pawns.

However, underlying the comedy and farce are serious disquisitions into love, gender, the nature of leadership and especially the metaphor of the artist as magician.

Starring: Gabriella Biziou, Riley Conrad, Will Dixon, Caroline Quigley, Demitra Sealy,
Roy Vongtama and Mari Weiss. Stage directions: Judy Victor

Rehearsal photos:

Caroline Quigley, Roy Vongtama and Gabriella Biziou in a scene from the play
Will Dixon as Prince Daufon

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R.I.P. Michael Brooks

Very shocked, surprised and saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Michael Brooks – writer, leftist political commentator and humanist – at age 37. I didn’t watch all of the time, but when I did I was always impressed by his intelligence and knowledge. I particularly liked his interviews with professors like Cornelll West, Harvey Kaye and Adolph Reed, leaders like Lula and other like-minded folks.

I’m surprised how much I’m crying today. I listened to a lot of remembrances today. A common refrain was how many people said how giving he was, how encouraging, how helpful to other people. He didn’t see them as competition but rather as allies. In unity, there is strength. One of the things I learned that he never spoke about when I listened to his show: he grew up very poor, and fought very hard to not just rise up out of it, but that it was something he wanted no one to go through. So, his progressive values, which could sound so intellectual because he was so well-read, came from a deep emotional belief and genuine compassion. I always thought that was true, but to know the history, it just made it more real. He also had a great laugh. (I’ll admit that I didn’t find him as funny as other people did, but I found his sense of humor and joy very enlivening.)

Here’s one of the best things Michael Brooks said, and lived by: “Be ruthless to systems but be kind to people.”

Read more here: https://heavy.com/news/2020/07/michael-brooks-dead/

Meagan Day at Jacobin remembers: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/07/michael-brooks-remembrance

Michael Brooks (1983-2020) got a chance to meet former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva early this year after advocating his release from prison.

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“A WIFE IN THE SHADOWS” online play reading – May 16, 2020 2 pm P.S.T.

Announcing an online play reading of “A WIFE IN THE SHADOWS” on Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 2 PM PST on Zoom

Register in advance for this play reading:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtduyurTIuHtZMUG6k68f0Kt5jsa4JKisO?fbclid=IwAR0y5JNIjnz0pjBZ-wVQJw86Mwl_Jzak4McUrki_7XcrSBI8p3CD-O0qbeU

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the play reading.

Synopsis: It is just after World War 2, and Sian and her husband Joe love each other, but each has been changed by their wartime experiences. For Sian, working in an aircraft factory was the beginning of an evolution of consciousness. At first, however, she can only act on her feelings for her tempting next-door neighbor, Katrina, in a filmnoir fantasy where Sian is the detective and Katrina is the femme fatale. Meanwhile Joe struggles with both PTSD and survivor guilt. Sian eventually finds the courage to accept her sexuality and risk everything in real life.

About the Playwright: Julius Galacki is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, NYU’s Gallatin School of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Yale School of Drama – Playwriting dept. His monologues have been published by Smith & Kraus. His plays have been read or produced Off Off Broadway in NYC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Connecticut, South Carolina and Hawaii.

Starring (in order of appearance): Demitra Sealy, Gabriella Biziou, Adam J. Smith, Marieve Herington, Cutty Cuthbert, Debralee Daco, Annika Marks and Ingrid Walters

reading of THE FRISCO FLASH – TOMORROW – Sunday Oct. 14, 2 pm, Hollywood, CA

THE FRISCO FLASH. It will be on Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm at the Second Stage at the Broadwater , 6320 Santa Monica Blvd. (between Lillian Way and Vine) in Hollywood. Free.

Young Jack Thompson – ca 1928
Young Jack Thompson vs Jackie Fields in their 2nd fight in Chicago
Here are some rehearsal photos:
Jared Poe (Young Jack Thompson and others) and Gregory Battle (Scipio Thompson and others) after rehearsal
Josh Breslow (playing Jackie Grant – a fictionalized Jackie Fields) and Adam J. Smith (playing various boxing managers and the older version of Jackie) after rehearsal
Brian Pope whp will be reading stage directions

Los Angeles, Theatre