some unreal goings on!

friends of the unreal — here, very belatedly is a copy of my newsletter with A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Enjoy!

Discussed: SBH Bulletin — May 2023– Early summer night’s dream come true!

Friends, Romans, Countrypersons — Wait, that’s not the right Shakespeare play! 

But seriously friends, Shakespeare was on my mind a lot this past weekend, as I prepared to participate in my first live reading since covid outside the Bard’s Boutique in Bayview on Whidbey Island last Sunday. It went great! It was so fabulous to present to real audience members, who weren’t muted in a little box on a screen and who could react in real, audible time to my work. People laughed! A LOT! I guess I’m funny! I always thought I was, but without the actual audience reaction, I think I had started to doubt my abilities. 

But something else wonderful happened.  As I rehearsed my set (yes, I rehearse pretty extensively, so as to give as smooth and emotionally connected a reading as possible), a vibrant memory came back to me.

I suddenly remembered being very young (I realize now that I was 5), and seeing a magical story on the tiny black and white tv that my parents had in their one bedroom apartment in Manhattan. The acted out story told of a magician who lived all alone on a deserted island with his daughter. The magician had two spirit-servants. One was a beautiful and strange spirit who spoke in soft tones and who could fly, while the other was horrible and scary — a monster-like lizard man covered with scales– with a low gravelly voice. Everyone in the story spoke so beautifully, even the monster-man! They used words in magical and incredible ways. I couldn’t understand everything they said, but I could understand enough.

I was spellbound. 

“What is this story, Mommy?” I asked my mother. 

“This is a story by a man named William Shakespeare,” she told me. “And the story is called The Tempest.” 

I realized that my love of magical realism emanates from this moment: from a story about the sea and about spirits; about exile and reconciliation; about a fractured family that is healed; and about a magically infused place where indeed a “brave new world” is possible.* A place where fiction and poetry co-mingle without contraction. No wonder I’m a magical realist AND a poet!
This memory also gives me new insight into Mr. S, who was himself something of a magical realist. Ghosts, sprites, and monsters lurk in even his most realistic plays. As Island Shakespeare artistic director Olena Hodges remarked in my discussion with her after the reading, the unreal always shadows the real in Shakespeare’s plays. . . there is always the unseen by some, but seen by others as magically possible. 

This reading continued its magical trajectory! My friend Deborah Nedelman, an accomplished novelist and painter — read her own brand new fairy tale about a monster-child who does not behave like a proper monster, and the whole reading experience was truly a joy. 

So what’s next for yours truly?

Well, speaking of magical realism, I’m delighted to announce my new book!!!!

Journey to Merveilleux City is a not so cozy comical mystery featuring Mackinnon Torres, an almost credentialed K-12 teacher and pipe band enthusiast from San Dimas, who encounters an irritating goth girl named Alison on a luxury vintage train heading north from Massachusetts to Quebec. Did an old man actually disappear off the train, or is it merely Alison’s acid flashback? What does Diamond Williams, emerging poet, think of these crazy entitled white people? What will Happy Travel Vlogger, May-Bel discover as she records her journey to her youtube fans in China? There are many suspicious looking characters, including an evangelical cowboy rodeo star and a woman who looks very much like a member of the Trump Family. What the heck is going on? Who can be trusted? And what has happened to Allison’s octopus tattoo? 

Coming in November from Picture Show Press!  Many many thanks to beautiful poet and publisher and fellow dancing girl press alum,  Shannon Phillips, who had so much patience and good will as I wrangled and re-wrangled this manuscript!

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK, which is my first attempt ever at writing in a genre that I love, the weird mystery! Yes, there’s a bit of magic in it. I hope you love it! 

Stay tuned for giveaways, events, and participation opportunities!  You know how I love a group reading…. and this book is made up of monologues, so…. get your voices ready…. 

One more thing: 

Want to take a class with me? Stay tuned for my Magical Realism intensive offered at Hugo House this coming fall. Can’t make that one? Stay tuned for THE LATE SHOW, 2. Coming to you on zoom with me and my magical co-teacher Deborah Nedelman.

 Here’s wishing you a magical beginning to the summer. 

 Stephanie

*That term is coined in the play by Miranda, Prospero’s daughter.