I’m taking a brief break from talking about money and the economy and doing a PSA for some art here. I’ve been fortunate enough to be included in the Plays and Playwrights ’09 anthology put out by the New York Theatre Experience. It’s the 10th year the series has been running thanks to the good work by Martin Denton and Rochelle Denton. They work really hard at helping the small theaters of NYC get exposure and a bit of deserved legitimacy.

It would be great if you clicked HERE to order your copy of this book. It’s only $15 through the end of February if you order through the nyte website. The money goes directly to the New York Theatre Experience, which sends out the largest number of reviews in the city. They also produce podcasts of folks who might not normally get heard and maintain some spiffy blogs. They’re also damn nice people.

This is only slightly shameless self-promotion on my part. While my play American Badass is included, the money from the sales of the book goes to the nyte non-profit. I’ll put it to ya like this: as John Clancy says downtown theater is the research and development wing of the American theater. Without nyte that R&D would come to a screeching halt. If that happens, I’ll have to go back to my high school and beat up all the jocks. This will get ugly people.

You get 11 plays for $15. What more could you want? Also on the shop.nyte.org website, is the anthology including my gf’s play Antarctica (P&P ’08). Each time I sit down with one of these books, I’m reminded of what I liked about discovering something new in theater. There are so many unique voices. The styles and the subject matter cover a lot of ground.

If you’re a drama teacher who needs some good material that you haven’t heard 100 times, check this out. If you’re sick of TV, grab one of these and feed your head. I looked at this one and there’s several pieces about our national and personal identities. It feels very present. And it’s just freaky to see my bio followed by this thing I wrote.

It’s great as a Valentine’s gift or as a pleasant surprise. So order today. You can do it the old-fashioned way and call 212-217-9627 (before 10pm, let the people sleep) and order directly from Rochelle. She a really nice lady and she’ll be delighted to hear I sent you or hit the shop.nyte.org website.

And you would be supporting getting my work out into the world and I would be eternally grateful.