I am trying to be a good man. To be what you ask of me.. what you deserve. And some say to pray but I have prayed.. I have begged so hard to unknow it to pull myself away.. Unhinging from the culprit making something anew out of what that part of life left behind.. Because I can’t go back to who I was even if I wanted to. So I push and push creating gaps between me and the pieces that I know are no good.. between the moments that hurt me then and the ones now that hurt you.. Digging out the shrapnel, healing the wounds. I do so well for a little while until I feel the walls crumbling and the facade fading.. the pressure building to run. And I only go to her because she does not know what I was like before and so I feel unafraid to be who I am now. But I know that I don’t love her like I love you .. It’s just that when I’m with her I can be less and she won’t even know the difference as she has nothing to compare it to. You don’t know it but you are also changed and I feel so much humiliation knowing that it was me that did these things that made you.. Yes, I have prayed.. .. until my knees bruised and bled and my voice no longer belonged to my body. So heavy and full of shame, pleading to, by any means, not be what they made of me. I have prayed until I no longer know how to believe in God. And I suppose that’s fitting for the thing that I have become and cannot cast away. For even though I want to be a good man… The devil that they helped create won’t allow me to.
The Blood and the Bones is the pseudonym for a former lover of a US servicemember. Follow her here.
We’re sold out. That’s right, we have no tickets left for our remaining performances of Meteor Shower. So let’s get a jump on our staged reading of Ira Levin’s legendary Broadway comedy/thriller Deathtrap.
If you want the best date night possible…if you want drinks, dessert, a hilarious live performance, professional actors, an intimate unforgettable space, and pay-what-you-can tickets…if you have a Saturday night available…it simply does not get better than this. So come on out and join us at our Parlor on Quaker Avenue for our staged reading of Ira Levin’s legendary Broadway comedy/thriller Deathtrap.
Don’t know Deathtrap? It was the winner of the 1978 Edgar Award for Best Play and record holder for the longest-running comedy thriller on Broadway. It’s about Sidney Bruhl - a successful Broadway playwright with writer’s block and a recent spate of box office failures. Desperate to break his dry-spell, Sidney finds hope in Clifford Anderson, a student in his seminar class who has submitted a thriller script, cleverly titled Deathtrap as well. Can Sidney convince Clifford to collaborate and give him co-credit? Or is there a way to cut Clifford out altogether and get sole credit?
We expect Deathtrap to be sold out - so get your tickets now! As always, you’re welcome to show up and hope for a cancellation. But if you really want to see the show, why not book now and save yourself the uncertainty?
This week on the Savage Wonder podcast…
Out of over 180 full-length plays, Anton Sattler's poignant drama LOCAL GODS placed second in our playwriting competition.
Our judges said the following about LOCAL GODS: "Authentic, panoramic, fascinating. Lots of terrific detail and dialogue and chock-full of story and characters. A haunting story about the interaction between the services and how humans can and can’t show care for each other."
It is a promising start for a playwright only two plays into his career. But then, Anton has been a promising writer for a long time.
Anton is a combat-decorated Marine Corps veteran based in Queens, NY. His second play, LOCAL GODS, won the 2020 Bridge Award from Arts in the Armed Forces. Sattler’s first play, THE BOROUGH, was a semifinalist for the Bridge Award and the Theatre 503 International Playwriting Award in 2018.
Anton grew up in Monroeville, PA. He studied film and fiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh and was the first student to win both the Taube and Montgomery Culver awards for a trilogy of short stories in 2002. After graduating In 2002, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, deploying twice to Iraq with Third Battalion, Seventh Marines. After leaving active duty, Anton produced the critically-acclaimed Korean War documentary CHOSIN, among other film, TV, and digital projects. He now works in the tech and media space in New York City in order to fund his writing habit. Anton lives with his wife Jacqueline Kittivarakul in Forest Hills, Queens.
I couldn't have had a better time sitting down and talking with Anton. It hopefully won't be the last time. I think there will be plenty more reasons to talk as his career progresses...
Follow Anton here.