Forty years of writing, and what I have to show for it . . .
This is the home page of J. Weintraub. On the pages attached to this site you will find listings of what I have published along with links (blue) to stories, poetry, and other things.
In the meantime, until I think of something else to make this homepage more interesting to any reader who wanders by, here's an excerpt from "An Investigation into the Life of Henry Frank, Screenwriter," from my appearance at the Tuesday Funk reading series in 2011.
In the meantime, until I think of something else to make this homepage more interesting to any reader who wanders by, here's an excerpt from "An Investigation into the Life of Henry Frank, Screenwriter," from my appearance at the Tuesday Funk reading series in 2011.
Recently . . .
On May 6, 2013, my one-act play,“Vietnam Zippos,” a dramatization of the material presented in the book of the same name by Sherry Buchanan, had a second production under the directorship of Tyler Tidmore and under the auspices of Blank page Theatre and Default Gallery as part of the program "Conditions of the Human Heart." Tyler assembled the same cast--John Tervanis, Orly Rose Schlesinger, Joseph Roark, and Cedric Bagwell--that had performed the piece for American Blues Theater as part of their “Ripped-From-the-Headlines: Election Edition” program on Nov. 5, 2012. The program, along with live musical and comedy performances, also included short plays by Tennessee Williams, Bob Tucker, Orly Schlesinger, and Jill Elaine Hughes.
In the spirit of fostering a dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian communities and poets, Edward Morin, a co-editor of the anthology, and I performed a dramatic reading of poetry from Before There Is Nowhere to Stand at the Friends Meeting House (Ann Arbor, MI) on April 14. Later in the afternoon, we were joined by George Khoury, a co-translator of several of the poems, at the bookstore Book Beat (Oak Park MI) for a second reading. We hope to schedule additional readings in the Chicago area. The book contains works from around the world, including poetry by Alicia Ostriker, Naomi Shihab Nye, Samuel Hazo, J. Weintraub and many other award-winning writers, and copies are available for $20.00 here : http://www.losthorsepress.org/778/.
On March 22, 2013, my one-act play, "Security, Inc.," was part of Theatre One Production's "Slice of Life: New Works Play Festival." It was performed at the Alley Theatre, Middleboro MA, under the direction of Peg Holzemer. Earlier, in November 2011, the play was produced as one of the five featured at Chicago Dramatists "10-minute Play Workshop," and was directed by Keira Fromm, with Randy Steinmeyer and Leslie Frame in the lead roles. This was my second play to appear in the festival, which featured "Easter Sunday" in 2011.
Two of my three audio productions, scheduled for this year and produced by James Sedgwick and Rachel Cavic of Scattered Sounds Productions, are now available for downloading as part of Season 2 of the"Unhinged World" series. Inaugurating the season is "Exit 34,” a short radio play with Michael Liebmann as The Driver and Gaye McNown as The Passenger. "A Visit to the Catacombs,” a dramatic reading, is an adaptation of a story of mine first published in Karamu (Spring 2007) and casts Ryan M. Sero as the narrator. Both audios feature music of Kevin McLeod of Incompetech.com. A third radio play, "The Intervention," will follow shortly.
Note: To listen to and download either of the above, click on the blue titles.
And, this past year, 2012:
My one-act “The Wedding” was produced by Second City for “Best of the Tens” program, Oct. 25, Nov. 1,
8, 15, 2012. It was directed by Jeremiah Howe; the other playwrights in the program were Pat Curtis, Paul Pasulka, Steve Peterson, Peter Thomas, and Scott Woldman. The play was also produced by Chicago Dramatists, for the “Saturday Series” (10-minute Workshop; Dir. Jeff Poole), June 23, 2012.
My short story "Everything Is a Miracle" (title taken from Pablo Picasso's truism: "Everything is a miracle; it is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar") is now available in the 2012 edition of Bluestem (formerly Karamu), the literary review of Eastern Illinois University. Joining me in the issue are such award-winning authors as Elizabeth Swados, Kathleen Spivack, William Greenway, Mark Wisniewski, and scores of others. Copies can be purchased for $10 each here: http://www.bluestemmagazine.com/?page_id=49
My poem "Naples, Florida" appears in Deep Waters (Outrider Press), an anthology of writings on all aspects of rivers, lakes, streams, beaches, emotional "deep waters" and more. Copies are available for sale at $18.95, and include work from such award winning authors as Lyn Lifshin, Gretchen Fletcher, Pat Gallant, Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick, Karla and Claudia VanGerven. The poem was read, along with those from other contributors, at this year's Printer's Row Literary Fest.
“The Year the Padres Won the Pennant” (a story depicting the disastrous effect on a marriage of the Chicago Cubs meltdown in 1984) is available in Suicidally Beautiful: A Collection of Sports Stories (Mint Hill Books) and may be purchased from Amazon for $16 or $13 from here: http://www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php. My rendition of the story at the March 6 Tuesday Funk reading (a slightly edited version) can now be seen on YouTube here. The story has also been adapted into a radio play and was part of Love, Sex, and Other Nightmares, a program of staged readings, performed on April 22nd at Chicago Dramatists. Directing the play was Jason Fliess, and starring in the roles of David and Dana were J. Christopher Brown and Jill Olson.
In the spirit of fostering a dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian communities and poets, Edward Morin, a co-editor of the anthology, and I performed a dramatic reading of poetry from Before There Is Nowhere to Stand at the Friends Meeting House (Ann Arbor, MI) on April 14. Later in the afternoon, we were joined by George Khoury, a co-translator of several of the poems, at the bookstore Book Beat (Oak Park MI) for a second reading. We hope to schedule additional readings in the Chicago area. The book contains works from around the world, including poetry by Alicia Ostriker, Naomi Shihab Nye, Samuel Hazo, J. Weintraub and many other award-winning writers, and copies are available for $20.00 here : http://www.losthorsepress.org/778/.
On March 22, 2013, my one-act play, "Security, Inc.," was part of Theatre One Production's "Slice of Life: New Works Play Festival." It was performed at the Alley Theatre, Middleboro MA, under the direction of Peg Holzemer. Earlier, in November 2011, the play was produced as one of the five featured at Chicago Dramatists "10-minute Play Workshop," and was directed by Keira Fromm, with Randy Steinmeyer and Leslie Frame in the lead roles. This was my second play to appear in the festival, which featured "Easter Sunday" in 2011.
Two of my three audio productions, scheduled for this year and produced by James Sedgwick and Rachel Cavic of Scattered Sounds Productions, are now available for downloading as part of Season 2 of the"Unhinged World" series. Inaugurating the season is "Exit 34,” a short radio play with Michael Liebmann as The Driver and Gaye McNown as The Passenger. "A Visit to the Catacombs,” a dramatic reading, is an adaptation of a story of mine first published in Karamu (Spring 2007) and casts Ryan M. Sero as the narrator. Both audios feature music of Kevin McLeod of Incompetech.com. A third radio play, "The Intervention," will follow shortly.
Note: To listen to and download either of the above, click on the blue titles.
And, this past year, 2012:
My one-act “The Wedding” was produced by Second City for “Best of the Tens” program, Oct. 25, Nov. 1,
8, 15, 2012. It was directed by Jeremiah Howe; the other playwrights in the program were Pat Curtis, Paul Pasulka, Steve Peterson, Peter Thomas, and Scott Woldman. The play was also produced by Chicago Dramatists, for the “Saturday Series” (10-minute Workshop; Dir. Jeff Poole), June 23, 2012.
My short story "Everything Is a Miracle" (title taken from Pablo Picasso's truism: "Everything is a miracle; it is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar") is now available in the 2012 edition of Bluestem (formerly Karamu), the literary review of Eastern Illinois University. Joining me in the issue are such award-winning authors as Elizabeth Swados, Kathleen Spivack, William Greenway, Mark Wisniewski, and scores of others. Copies can be purchased for $10 each here: http://www.bluestemmagazine.com/?page_id=49
My poem "Naples, Florida" appears in Deep Waters (Outrider Press), an anthology of writings on all aspects of rivers, lakes, streams, beaches, emotional "deep waters" and more. Copies are available for sale at $18.95, and include work from such award winning authors as Lyn Lifshin, Gretchen Fletcher, Pat Gallant, Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick, Karla and Claudia VanGerven. The poem was read, along with those from other contributors, at this year's Printer's Row Literary Fest.
“The Year the Padres Won the Pennant” (a story depicting the disastrous effect on a marriage of the Chicago Cubs meltdown in 1984) is available in Suicidally Beautiful: A Collection of Sports Stories (Mint Hill Books) and may be purchased from Amazon for $16 or $13 from here: http://www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php. My rendition of the story at the March 6 Tuesday Funk reading (a slightly edited version) can now be seen on YouTube here. The story has also been adapted into a radio play and was part of Love, Sex, and Other Nightmares, a program of staged readings, performed on April 22nd at Chicago Dramatists. Directing the play was Jason Fliess, and starring in the roles of David and Dana were J. Christopher Brown and Jill Olson.
Upcoming . . .
My radio play Exit 34 is tentatively scheduled to be performed publicly by Tunafish Productions, July 15. More to come soon.
Also, my poem, "Performances" will be included in the Outrider Press anthology Music in the Air, with a tentative reading to be held at Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest (formerly Printers Row Book Fair) in early June.
Also, my poem, "Performances" will be included in the Outrider Press anthology Music in the Air, with a tentative reading to be held at Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest (formerly Printers Row Book Fair) in early June.
