The Play’s the Thing. Then there are Wings.

The beginning of “Finding Mr. Rightstein,” my full-length play, was among the pieces accepted to the ESP Short Play Festival in Frederick, Maryland by Christine Mosere, the talented artistic director. It was read on June 23 and June 24 at Sky Stage, an outdoor theater, by ESP actors, Gillian Shelly Lawler and Dan Jacoby, and directed by Aaron Angello.

It was my first in-person reading. I love what I saw on the stage. I sat in the audience anonymously hearing more laughter than I’d hoped for—particularly in the “creepy date” scene--and gasps at my more painful dialogue. At the end of the show, Christine introduced me. Audience members approached me with kind words, asking if the whole play will be done there. They’d be back.

Me too.

My husband and I enjoyed Frederick. Warm, welcoming people, good restaurants, a super library, and lovely shops. Onto Harpers Ferry where we hiked up to Jefferson Rock—what a view—walked through the town, and learned Civil War things.

We spotted an Anchor Bar outside Frederick. Buffalo wings. The first Anchor Bar is in Buffalo, my hometown. Oh my! We stopped there for lunch on our way back to NYC. They had beef on weck, too, which Jonathan got along with wings.

Good and fun and oh so Buffalo. For me though, the play’s the thing.