News and Events

2009 Events and Publications

Playwriting News for 2009:
My newest full-length play, The Heart of the Matter, had its premiere production at Barnstormers Theatre in Grants Pass, Oregon in May, with an encore weekend in July. “Feathered Friends”, a monologue from this play, was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors competition, sponsored by The Ohio State University. May was a busy month: another recent full-length play, Treed, had a staged reading at the Eco-Drama Festival at the University of Oregon after receiving an Honorable Mention in the national Earth Matters on Stage competition, and I presented readings from my play, Hat Tricks, (a finalist for the 2008 Pregon Book Award in Drama), as part of a Portland Literary Arts tour. Girl Talk, Hot Flashes, and Hat Tricks had productions in a variety of locations, and a monologue from Hat Tricks, is forthcoming in 2010 in the anthology, Samuel Goes Solo: Monologues from French’s 2008 Collection. Productions and readings of short plays and monologues include “Monkeyshines” (from Tilt) by the Maryland Community Theatre Festival, “Junk Yard Dog”(from Hat Tricks) by the Uvalde Texas Arts Council, “Vocabulary Lesson” (from Hat Tricks) by the Second Act Troupe, Wimberley, Texas, and “Homecoming” (from The Heart of the Matter) by Mixed Company productions in Ashland.
 
Teaching is always high on my list of things I love to do, and this year I taught a new class at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Southern Oregon University was called “Theatrical Playtime”. My older students, including those with no previous writing or improvisational experience, brought enthusiasm and resourcefulness to every class, and we had a very fine time!

Poetry News for 2009:
In addition to the publication of poems in Umbrella, Kritya, and Quill and Parchment, “What They Dream About at the Shelter” was published in the anthology Empty Shoes. (Proceeds from sales are used to help the homeless.) I gave readings at several venues in Oregon, including Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Writers on the Edge in Newport, Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, The Dancing Otter Café in Grants Pass, the Gallerie Karon in Ashland, and The Jewish Museum in Portland, and also participated with other poets at the William Stafford birthday celebration at Southern Oregon University and Horizon Institute’s Poetry Month event at Ashland’s Bloomsbury Books. Although poems from Another Rude Awakening are usually the requested focus of readings, I also enjoy using these occasions to introduce new work— both poems and dramatic monologues. I’ll be adding poems to the poetry page in the next weeks.

Dori Appel on YouTube

Dori reads several poems from anthologies and her collection of poetry, Another Rude Awakening, including The Future, My Grandmother's Education, Points of View, When You Got Top Billing, and In the Rose Test Gardens, Portland, Oregon.