Greasemonkey

After several well-received iterations of Greasemonkey on stages across the United States, as well as being a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting, the story of Mara, her men and her cars are now on its way to the big screen. ​With a nod from the 2017 Puffin Grant in Film for its stage-to-screen adaptation, the team of Greasemonkey is currently looking for partners, sponsors and investors to make sure the film can be shot on location in California's East Bay in 2021.

After the passing of her much-beloved dad, Mara takes over his vintage car restoration shop. She finds herself responsible for running a garage full of men, as well as filling her father's very big shoes. And as glad as she is to continue his legacy, she also pines for love, for romance, and perhaps more importantly: for family, especially now that her father is no longer around. ​​A story about loves and cars, old and new.

​Inspired by the writings of folks such as Alice Walker, Noel Coward and James Tipton.​
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​Check out our Feature Story on GREASEMONKEY in the EAST BAY TIMES.

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Origin

It started with a book called Bleeding Hearts: Love Poems for the Nervous and Highly Strung, compiled by Michelle Lovrie, full of lusty, yearning, unrequited, beautiful love poems. I walked the dog around the hills of my hometown in the wake of losing my momma. A story began to form based around these love poems. I flew back to NYC. After many weeks scribbling in a notebook on the N train, out came a story about a love triangle in Northern California, featuring a female protagonist.

It has gone through many incarnations over the last seven years through several staged readings (2009, 2011, 2012), discussions over coffee with friends and fellow playwrights - the original four characters became eight. The character 'Mara' morphed from being a PhD in feminist literature to running a garage restoring classic cars. We had our first fully staged production in NYC in 2013.

It's my biggest wish to take this story back to my roots: my hometown, in the Bay of North California. We plan to film it as a feature in 2021, and truly pay homage to the roads and people of the Bay Area.
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I sure do wish my parents were still here to see it.