To all MouseMuseians (a new term I’ve conjured up for all followers of things MouseMuse and lovers of the well told tale) - We are about to embark on a new season of Storytelling that should bring our audiences to the floor, either with tears or laughter.  Three evenings of entertainment at the Fairfield Museum and Historic Center.  Three additional evenings at the Gaelic Club in Fairfield.  Shows, produced by MouseMuse, of a slightly different tale, at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport.  Over 50 storytellers will grace the stages in the coming months and weave their tales of love or lust, travail and travel, work, non-work, mistakes, blunders, histories, comedic encounters and, who knows, perhaps alien adventures.  Like a story strapped to the hood of an Indy race car, we fine tune the engine, coach the driver, check the oil, fill the tank and set them loose.  We never know exactly who’s coming in first, who might have a technical problem, or even bump into the guardrail along the telling. 10 minute bursts of insight, passion, escape, and hilarity.  Join us as we set forth on six months in a row of storytelling extravaganza!

Leave Town & Country for an Evening

Repost with addendum. We have been playing to capacity at TWO BOOTS of BRIDGEPORT. Now, coming, other programs using real life experiences as their core. http://thebijoutheatre.com/blog/

MAY 23, 2012

Today is an important day for Mousemuse. We are hitting the streets of Bridgeport's ambitious revival district at Bijou Square. Once upon a time, Manhattanhites winced about attending cutting edge arts events in what was called "alphabet city." Now, they have to lineup for tickets to cutting edge entertainment or theater that doesn't cost $175 a ticket like Broadway, but is just as thought provoking.

Yes, in Westport we've embraced the arts. But the emerging artists have little or no center to simply gather. Restaurants are sprouting again in Westport. Gorgeous women and magazine men. Good hype and vibe at the Spotted Horse late at night. Then where to? A rock band at the Duck? Maybe. A little upstairs music at a couple of places. Jazz Jam at WAC in folding chairs with a plastic glass of wine? No ambience, but sometimes exciting if you could walk there and feel the "club" vibe.

But how about a little culture? Are the art galleries planning to stay open. Is our town Madison Avenue? Is Westport ever going to properly develop a venue with a stage. Town Hall has the auditorium, and a black box theater that's privately run, but budget constraints are real as Westport focuses in on our gem of an educational system.

How did Brooklyn and SoHo and Alphabet City develop into vibrant places? Cheap real estate and someone with vision. Lots of someones. Youth could afford to live there and work there. Later they'd move out to the burbs and wonder why they felt "dead."

We are so insular we've forgotten to look a few (metaphoric) blocks up the road. That's where Bridgeport has, for the past ten years, been quietly putting its future in the hands of artistic visionaries like Phil Kuchma. The Kuchma Corporation has put its money and passion behind the redevelopment of Bijou Square. Kuchma and MouseMuse are meeting on Friday, May 25th. MouseMuse and Kuchma's team are heading into a momentous time. If you stop thinking of Bridgeport as if it is Hell's Kitchen, (and you know that Hell's Kitchen is now unaffordable) you will realize that it's a city much closer to you than New York, some of the best places like Two Boots and the Bijou were recruited by Kuchma to start up a quality arts community. It's an opportunity for our fans to not only dine out with the swells, but an opportunity to get real, and to generate ideas.

Our Vibrant Group Makes In-Roads to Support Writers Working in Solitude

Last Wednesday's Writers' Cafe was a blast, as always. Ina presented the critiques without the writing, and the writers she and Margaret had paired up using the anonymous forms.

For those who don't know about this... writers  who are members of the non-fee based group, but who communicate with us and/or attend some meetings are invited to submit up to 1500 words as a blind submission for a critique by another writer, not necessarily in the same genre. It was valuable to hear the critiques, which gave each writer something to think about vis a vis our own writing, and our writers agreed that this was what they were looking for. These critiques stood alone from the writing and were handed out to the writer afterwards.

• Quite a bit of bragging, which we encourage,  went on - I think we even made enough to pay for the coffee and cookies...Each step forward means donating a dollar if you want to feel good about your own progress.

The MouseMuse storytelling program, Stories on the Green, (which branched of the original writers artists cafe)  has been picked up for another winter season at the Fairfield Museum and History center. Finalizing all of next season's dates at various venues and posting them is the challenge for the next two months. A writing contest is in the works. Stay tuned.

We bought stage lights  for our multiple venues which make all the storytellers look wonderful. (These are also available to rent at fabulously inexpensive rates, if you need them. Get in touch with Ina@mousemuse or Rozannegates@optonline.net.  Rozanne is the tech expert should you need one.

Check our mousmuse programs page for updates as they are added www.mousemuse.com

And finally, MouseMuse Storytelling has its own n radio program at WPKN (89.5FM). The show airs Monday, February 27 at 11:00 pm. Bill Bosch and Ina will be hosting live to introduce the programs and the best of our years worth of Storytelling culled from  recordings. MouseMuse will be airing the storytelling recordings and as we progress we will develop on-air readings by writers. Stay tuned as we find our way around this one. We have programming freedom, but planning this requires much attention.

MORE BRAGS

Elsie Ferrara has been asked to contribute to a booklet of Lenten Reflections by her church.

Jane Sherman is working hard on her memoir. An excerpt from it will be published in the next issue of the Weston Magazine (and in all its associated magazines, 8 in total).

Valerie Austin gave us her new favorite word: sesquipedelian, explaining that it means characterized by long words, or long-winded. She's determined to avoid this in her writing.

Dee Andrian will be joining some 20 other actors/writers to read from her memoir at the Westport country Playhouse in a performance entitled, provocatively, Under the Covers. The performance will take place on may 4 and 5.

Lisa Calderonewas set to launch her new website Mahjongg Memoirs yesterday (Sunday). Designed as a tribute to Lisa's mother on her birthday, Lisa is now looking fro other memoirs of Mahjong, to publish on the site. She asked writers to look at the site and give her any feedback/suggestions they could. (I've seen it; it's fascinating and I think Lisa could give us all some tips on how to produce a really professional site.)

Sophie Barnes read two minutes of her first ever fiction writing. Until now she's been writing memoir.

Leslie Chess Feller joined the group and asked who would be interested in starting a grandmother's writing group. Most of us declined but since Leslie is a new grandmother, we applaud her. If we forgot your brag, please contact us. It's a voluble group. Fun, vibrant and full of ideas.

Among the more general announcements:

The Fairfield Museum and History Center is presenting Thinking Outside the Box: original 10 Minute Play Fest on March 4 and 11. organized by Jeanine DeFalco, founder of the Falcon Repertory Company these short plays have been written by Connecticut writers. Ina wondered whether our writers might like to stretch their play-writing muscles by trying to write a 10 minute play too.

In addition, Lisa is Founding and Executive Editor of Mason's Road, the literary magazine of Fairfield University, and announced their new reading period. Submissions have to be in by May 15.

Among the more general information:

Here's the link to find out more about Poets & Writers submissions database
http://writeconnexion.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/looking-for-somewhere-to-submit/

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 14. See you there 🙂

HOW TO BE PART OF THE BLIND CRITiQUE PROCESS : At this particular point we welcome all writers who have attended one or more of our monthly meetings and whose participation within a group has been felt to be positive and adherent to professional standards.

Submission Dates for Writers Artists Collaborative Blind Submission Process:

The Writers Artists Collaborative provides a monthly opportunity to get blind feedback on pieces we’re writing. We submit a piece or work-in-progress anonymously, and that piece is matched with a reviewer who briefly describes what hit the target, was missed or didn't grab them. Pieces are also rated with a number between 1 and 10 (with 1 being "needs a rewrite" and 10 being "will win a Pulitzer" -- well, at least we can dream!) and discussed, time permitting, at our Writers' Cafe.  Please visit www.mousemuse.com for more details.

March Deadlines:

• Submit pieces: By midnight on Thursday, 3/1/12

• Anonymous pieces sent to reviewers: Tuesday, 3/6

• Reviewer comments due electronically: by Tuesday, 3/13, 5pm

• Discussion: Wednesday, 3/14, during our March Writers' Cafe

April Deadlines:

• Submit pieces: By midnight on Friday, 3/30/12

• Anonymous pieces sent to reviewers: Tuesday, 4/3

• Reviewer comments due electronically: by Tuesday, 4/10, 5pm

• Discussion: Wednesday, 4/11, during our April Writers' Cafe

May Deadlines:

• Submit pieces: By midnight on Friday, 5/4/12

• Anonymous pieces sent to reviewers: Tuesday, 5/8

• Reviewer comments due electronically: by Tuesday, 5/15, 5pm

• Discussion: Wednesday, 5/16, during our May Writers' Cafe

We are homing in on our agenda for our Writers' Cafe meetings which have become wonderful sharing points, but many people don't have the time in the middle of the day. In all fairness to them, we are trying to stick to an agenda that takes the best of the best and helps you all stay in touch at other times.

• 12:30pm to 12:40pm: Arrivals and Making Tea (10 minutes?)

• 12:40pm to 12:50pm/1:00pm: Introductions and Brags... what writing success have you had during the last month (could be about 30 seconds to 1 minute/person, so 10 to 20 minutes?)

• 1:00pm to 1:10pm: Writers Artists Collaborative and Mouse Muse Updates/News (5 to 10 minutes?)

• 1:10pm to 1:40pm: Blind Submissions Discussion (30 minutes?)

• 1:40pm to 1:50pm/1:55pm: Two-Minute Readings (10 to 15 minutes, figure about 5 to 7 people per meeting?)

• 1:55pm to 2:00pm:

Email: Margaret H. Wagner <margaret_wagner@hotmail.com> for submission forms and any other information.

Thanks to all, Ina@mousemuse