A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of producing Julie Jensen's TWO-HEADED at the John Anson Ford...what a terrific play that was. And just last month I saw Julie in Salt Lake at my old theatrical home: The Salt Lake Acting Company. My dad and I caught the 30th anniversary edition of SATURDAY'S VOYEUR, a show that my brother and sister and I did a couple hundred performances of.
Anyways, Julie just published a book that lives up to its title: PLAYWRITING BRIEF AND BRILLIANT. It reminds me of the Ars Poetic of Horace...it's to the point, it's funny, and it's full of practical advice. As I told Julie, if I were teaching at the moment I would fill a full shelf at the college bookstore with her book and put the REQUIRED label right in front of the stack. You can read it in an hour, and it is absolutely inspirational...and I think it's got things to say to playwrights and to screenwriters and storytellers of all sorts.
Julie hails from little Beaver, Utah...which is also the birthplace of my old pal David Howard (he dreamed up GALAXY QUEST), Butch Cassidy, and Philo T. Farnsworth. I wonder what it is about the water in that town...
Make Julie smile! Make yourself smile!
