I'm so excited to announce that FROM THE DEEP has won the Boston University Cultural Endowment grant, and the funds will go to support the production of FTD at Boston Public Works in March 2015 at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theatre. 

I wanted to also thank our fearless director Lindsay Eagle, for her excellent grant writing skills, and for helping us organize and apply for this wonderful grant. I would also like to thank Sara Bookin-Weiner and Charles Linshaw for their contributions to the proposal and our upcoming outreach and eduction platforms through the play.

FROM THE DEEP is also the 2nd place winner of the Kennedy Center Latinidad Playwriting Award, the winner of the Pestalozzi New Play Prize, and a semi-finalist at nuVoices Festival. Through the Kennedy Center and the merits of the play, I was able to attend The O'Neill as a Playwright Observer and Kennedy Center Fellow at the 50th National Playwrights Conference.

(I am reposting the blog I wrote for Boston Public Works here. Just for you!)



Cassie M. Seinuk is P2.

So many of you--my friends, colleagues, peers--have been the victim of me sharing the Boston Public Works Indiegogo campaign with you and asking you to show your support and donate. I hate doing it, I really do. We all do.  It’s like that time when your great aunt gives you money for Afikoman (see Jewish translation below), and you really want to sneak a peak inside the envelope, but have to wait until later, and you’ve cleaned up from a five-hour Passover seder to finally peek inside that envelope and look for dollar signs. It’s the same thing really, but just like you don’t want to humiliate yourself by greedily ripping open the envelope and slobbering on it like Cookie Monster would a chocolate chip, asking your great aunt Silva (name changed to protect the family) for $25 seems incredibly rude. 

Even more so, asking best friend Jennifer (name changed to protect the grad student), is even more awkward and, let’s face it, terrifying, because that means you’re saying , hey, person who would never ever give me money as a gift, can I have money as a gift?  

So… you know, it’s not easy. It’s even weirder when you message someone on Facebook, like your flat-mates  from 2007 in Scotland (location changed to protect the ultimate playlist makers), asking them to support your dreams… they might even ask, who is this? We don’t like doing it. It’s not fun. It’s squirmy sometimes.

BUT in the past three years since this Indiegogo/Kickstarter/Crowdsourcing phenomenon began, I too have been broke, often unemployed, and constantly weighing theatre tickets over meals, playwriting books over cups of coffee, and of course, donating to your campaigns over a drink with friends.  No, this isn’t I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine… but wait, isn’t it? Isn’t that what the whole crowdsourcing phenomenon is about??? That’s what I always thought… Pretty much until now. I always thought if I gave 10 or 15 or even 25 here or there to your I'm-Making-My-First-Record Campaign, or Building-My-Own-Restaurant, or Starring-In-My-Own-Web-Series campaign, that I would one day, when I needed it, get some sort of “pay-it-forward”-cute-Haley Joel Osment-return of the favor. Was I really so wrong to think that? I support you, you support me? Maybe. But that’s besides the point, I support you because, frankly, I believe in you. I do. I really do. I’m still the girl sitting with my face glued to the TV screen watching the VHS tape of Mary Martin in Peter Pan clapping my hands off, screaming, “I believe in fairies!” (Many of you fairies turned out to be some of my best friends…) Look, for those of you to whom this rant applies, I believed in you. I had one less iced latte, whiskey drink, or, dare I say, ice cream (for those of you who really know me you know how serious that is) so that I could support you!

Regardless, it doesn’t mean that if I didn’t donate to your campaign, or if you never had a campaign to begin with, that this whole rant above doesn’t apply to you. It does. It applies because remember that time we went out for dinner and for whatever reason I took the bill? Or that time we went out for coffee and you needed two more bucks and they didn’t take credit cards? Or that time I got you, again dare I say, COMP TICKETS! (Sorry, I was loud just there). Or that time you were in a show and I came, or you needed a friend and some cookies and I was there with a bag of rainbow cookies form that bakery in Spring Hill (location changed to protect my co-kitty-mamas), or that time I met with you for extra time to run lines (you all know who you are)… It’s not because I wanted to be repayed someday, it really isn’t, that’s not the way the world works, clearly, but it’s because I cared about you, and believed in you, and wanted to support you.

Look, this whole blog isn’t about donations over $36, really it isn’t even about donations over $18, and actually it’s really about donations of $9.  It’s about 9 bucks a playwright. 9 bucks! 9 smackeroos! That’s all I am asking of you. Because believe me, I do know what it’s like to be waiting for the next pay check, and boy do I really hate asking you guys who are in my shoes, but then I think about myself, and how many times I buy a beer or an iced chai latte, and how I can take that money this month, or week, and put it towards the first season of Boston Public Works, where my dear friend Cassie aka Frass aka Cashew aka Cah aka Cass aka Cassiopeia aka Nuk aka whatever you call me, will have her first EVER full length production (that runs for more than two days as a thesis project – all you Runners out there, no disrespect, H.D.C!) … get to the point Cassie! 9 bucks. Right?

Here are some things you can buy for 9 bucks:

• 2 Starbucks Grande Iced Caramel Macchiatos
  
• 1 sandwich at Diesel Café in Davis Sq.
  
• 1 frozen yogurt with a bunch of toppings if you go to a self-serve place and don’t realize how much stuff weighs…
  
• 2 small ice creams in cups at JP Licks
• 1 can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray, Fresh Scent - 19 oz. Spray Can 
•  1 book at a book store (and a cheap book, most paperbacks are up to 12.99 these days) 
• 1 HD download rental on iTunes!

 Look how many things cost only 9 bucks!   Here are some things we will need to buy for our shows that will cost 9 bucks or less! 

• Small hand props – like a blue ball in FROM THE DEEP
• A bag of Ping-Pong balls also in FTD! 
• A clock! 
• A wrench! 
• A wine glass! 
•  Costume pieces - T-shirts, shoes, most clothing from thrift stores like Goodwill are under $10! 
• A hat!  

 These things I listed are things Boston Public Works will need in just a few months! So when I ask you to donate, think about those things, if you can’t give us a million dollars, I mean. If you are prepared to tell me, Cassie, I'm waiting on a check, or Cassie,  I’m unable to support but I’ll shout out, or Cassie, I’m gonna ignore you right now – Please don’t. Please think about the sets of Ping-Pong balls I’ll be needing in February, or the Goodwill hat that a character in John’s play might wear, or a wrench Jesus will use to fix a car in TURTLES, or a wine glass that Emily’s character will sip from… Think of those items. And then think, can I give enough to cover the cost of one small prop or one small costume piece? We need those things, almost as much as we need the theatre to do our plays in, and the lights to hang, and the royalties to pay the playwrights…(just kidding on that one).   

 If you can spare two Starbucks drinks, or one sushi roll, or make one sandwich at home this week instead of your favorite sandwich shop, the whole Boston Public Works gang will shower you with our undying gratitude. We really will. We are very good at playwriting, but we are also very good at showing our love.    

Thank you! 

I’m going to get back to stalking you all on Facebook now…   Love the very awkward and kooky curly,   Cassie aka P2  

 (PS: Afikoman, meaning "that which comes after" or "dessert” is a half-piece of matzo which is broken in two during the early stages of the Passover Seder and set aside to be eaten as a dessert after the meal.)


Click here to donate 9 bucks!

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Just like our friends 13P, The Welders, and the others popping up all over the country, we are putting the power back in the hands of the playwrights, and hoping to change the way art can be made! Not only are we forging a path for ourselves, but we are leaving behind a road map so that you too can do it!

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I just wanted to say thank you to Gregg Henry and all the folks at the Kennedy Center for all the amazing workshops and panels at Nationals, and for the wonderful unforgettable experience. I am so honored to receive this award, and it was very special bringing it back to my family, and knowing that my grandfather is up there smiling. I left feeling a nerdy sense of the American Dream in my hands... if that's a feeling... and inspired to write harder!

I also wanted to thank my mentors at Lesley for all their guidance on FROM THE DEEP, and my writers group Interim Writers Accomplice for all their eyes and ears. I also want to thank the actors and directors who have collaborated on the play with me thus far. And also my husband Mike for spending Passover in DC with me, and supporting me in the audience as I accepted the award (and tried really hard not to fall down the steps or cry). Lastly, My family for their love and encouragement -- it was great to come back to Passover to your support and love... and then play WallyBall like a champ.

I also want to give a shout out to my KCACTF Region 1 Posse. Nick, Abbey, and Steph, you guys are awesome, and I was so glad we all got to go to Nationals together and represent our kickbutt region! Congrats on your awards! And all the other finalists at Nationals, I look forward to staying friends and hearing about all your successes in the future!