Tooting My Own Horn on NYE

As we close out 2012 in a few hours, I just spent an hour or so putting together a CV of my writing and performing from the past year. I often feel lazy and unproductive so doing something like this is a good exercise to remind myself that I did do something this year. (Add to it the fact that all this was accomplished around a full time day job and I feel a little better about myself.)

The biggest thing for this year was that I started talking about Breath & Bone/Orts Performance as an actual, forming (and re-forming) entity. Hopefully, next year if I do this, there will be more than just two entries that note BB/OP as the company behind an event.

This list also highlights my array of obsessions. Dance, comics, religion . . . yep, it's pretty much all there, often with an LGBT flavor (thanks to OutSmart Magazine). Where I could, I included web addresses. (I'm copying and pasting this from a word processor, so I didn't do the hot link thingie this time. Hope it all still works.)

Needless to say, posting this is also to let whoever might see this know what I do, my interests, and that I'm always looking to do more . . .

Without further ado, my 2012 CV:

January

PUBLISHED (COMPETITION WON) "Always June," DiverseWorks Slinging Ink fall 2011 competition. http://diverseworks.org/2011/slinging-ink-online-fall-2011-%E2%80%9Calways-june%E2%80%9D-neil-ellis-orts/

February

DIRECTED Staged Reading of When the Stars and Moon Collide, a one act play by John Cash Carpenter for Unhinged Productions' DramaRamaThon, February 2, 11

PERFORMED is/not a performance loop for The Art of Sacrifice, a lenten art show at St Stephen's Episcopal Havens Center, February 24-26.

March

PUBLISHED "The Little Dog Laughs" (profile of Brazos Bookstore) in Arts + Culture Houston
http://artsandculturehouston.com/the-little-dog-laughs/

April

PUBLISHED "Shepherd to Homeless Sheep" (interview with the Rev. Megan Rohrer) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/04/shepherd-to-homeless-sheep/

PERFORMED: "All the Ways" (original song/chant) at the Houston Fieldwork Showcase, April 15.

May

PUBLISHED Review for CORE's In the Mood 2 . . . Dance! on Dance Source Houston http://www.dancesourcehouston.org/Writings/20112012Season/42012COREsIntheMood2Dance.aspx

PUBLISHED "Kevin Keller Conquers Comics" (interview with Dan Parent) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/05/kevin-keller-conquers-comics/

PUBLISHED "Hologramps to the Next Generation" (part one of an interview with George Takei–-web exclusive posted May 15) for OutSmart Magazine
http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/05/hologramps-to-the-next-generation-an-interview-with-george-takei/

June

PUBLISHED "Internment Camps and Other Musical Ideas" (part two of an interview with George Takei) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/06/internment-camps-and-other-musical-ideas/

PUBLISHED "Called to Break Rules" (interview with the Rev Amy DeLong) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/06/called-to-break-rules/

PUBLISHED "The Three Beginnings of a Texas Poet Laureate" (profile of David M. Parsons) web exclusive on Arts + Culture Houston http://artsandculturehouston.com/the-three-beginnings-of-a-texas-poet-laureate/

July

PERFORMED in reading of Wolf Cry Wolf by Kevin Kautzman (Production Assistant; read stage directions and provided sound effects) New American Voices Play Reading Series, Landing Theatre Company

August

PUBLISHED "The Adults Around" in Letters to My Bully, edited by Ifalde Ta'Shia Asanti and Azaan Kamau

September

PUBLISHED Review of NobleMotion Dance and David J. Deveau's Spitting Ether on Dance Source Houston http://www.dancesourcehouston.org/Writings/20122013Season/83112NobleMotionSpittingEther.aspx

October

PUBLISHED "Transposing to the Key of Queer" (interview with Dylan Edwards) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/10/transposing-to-the-key-of-queer/

PUBLISHED "A Blessing Ceremony for Same-Gender Relationships" (interview with the Rev. Lisa Hunt) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/10/a-blessing-ceremony-for-same-gender-relationships/

PERFORMED in Wanderland a dance for film by Ashley Horn, opened October 12, 14 Pews

PERFORMED in Richmond Hall a site specific performance by Deborah Hay, Richmond Hall, The Menil Collection, October 13

PUBLISHED Review of Vault's Thread in Dance Source Houston http://www.dancesourcehouston.org/Writings/20122013Season/101912VauLtDanceCompanyThread.aspx 

November

PUBLISHED "A Texan, A Japanese, and a Missippian Walk into a Dance Studio" (profile of Jesus Acosta, Shohei Iwahama, and Nick Nesmith) in OutSmart Magazine http://outsmartmagazine.com/2012/11/a-texan-a-japanese-and-a-mississippian-walk-into-a-dance-studio/

DIRECTED/PERFORMED in Jill Alexander Essbaum's Necropolis as part of Questions and Declarations (performance ending a HopeWerks Residency at Hope Stone Studios) November 16, 17, 18 (Breath & Bone/Orts Performance)

PUBLISHED "Five Degrees of Separation Diverging from One Commonality" in Blue Rock Review (reading presented at Blue Rock Studio, November 24)

December

PRESENTED Long Night, Joyous Light: A Winter Solstice Happening, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and surrounding neighborhood, December 21 (Breath & Bone/Orts Performance)