"A Place For All Your Tears"
by Benjamin Fortier
Despite best efforts
I just wanted to quit
The unnatural process of
Pretending to align
Our differences -
By posing as a vessel of
vulnerability,
But I was terrified
to lose you,
And continued the
drowning sessions.
Native Rhode Islander and proclaimed Renaissance Man, USMC Iraq veteran Benjamin Fortier is a multi-talented writer, musician, and technology geek. He is currently in school (again) studying computer networking and cybersecurity. His day job is in service to his rescue dog, Princess Peppa Pig the American Bully. He is the author of Stones of the Wooded Valley and The Silent Whispers of Omens. You can follow him here.
This week on the Savage Wonder podcast…
Lindsay Partain is an internationally published and produced Oregon playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild. She holds her BA in Theatre from Pacific University and is a resident artist of Theatre Viscera. She was selected to be part of the Ashland New Play Festival's 2022 New Voices Cohort, her 10-minute play, "Cookie Cutter Christmas" was selected as a top-10 semi-finalist for VetRep Theatre's 2022 Play Writing Competition, her 10-minute play, "Last Dance with MJ" was selected for the 2022 Lanford Wilson New Plays Festival, and her new full-length play, "The Light Keepers" will be part of Willamette University Theatre33's 2022 Summer Reading Pop-Up Series this August. Recent publications include: "The Way You Made Me" and “Siren Songs” (Next Stage Press). Her body of work can be found on New Play Exchange.
Find Lindsay on the New Play Exchange.
Follow Lindsay here.
Most non-profits - especially non-profits in the arts - have a sugar daddy.
And we’re open to offers.
But there is something egalitarian about this organization. We want a diverse and robust ecosystem of support - from veterans to artists, from veterans supporters to art-lovers. We don’t want to exist because one person or one company thinks we should exist. We want to exist because all of you believe we should exist.
While we absolutely appreciate Substack paid subscriptions and/or acts of great one-time generosity, we’d like to offer the best way to support us. Be one of our monthly donors. Yes, we are busy. We work seven days a week to build a platform for veterans in the arts. That means:
— our Parlor on Quaker Avenue which provides low-to-no cost tickets and professional comedic theater each Saturday night
— our Savage Wonder Festival of Veterans in the Arts (year 2 to be announced in the somewhat near future!)
— Our ongoing free content like our podcast and this literary blog.
— And I’m not even getting into our impending full play productions or some very exciting micro-festivals we’re planning (I’m not being coy, trust me. We’ll talk about them a lot when everything is locked in!)
For the cost of one Dunkin Donuts cold brew each month, you can show us your support. I mean, you can show your support to the tune of one Buick each month and we won’t complain - but just buying us a cup of coffee each month - or half your Netflix subscription, if you prefer - shows us that you value the content being developed by veterans in the arts. So what do you say? Are we worth $5/month to you? $10? $20?
If we are, thank you. And if we haven’t earned that value for you yet, thank you for giving us the chance to prove it to you.
We build the VetRep platform with you in mind. It’s been a privilege. And we’re only getting started…