WTC Fundraiser Book BLUE SKY--Just 5 Copies Left!

For WTC VIEW Onstage at 59E59 Theaters, I put together a limited edition photobook that was on sale as a fundraiser at the theater to help raise money for our show.  Now that run has wrapped up, I have just a few copies left of the book which I'm selling to finish paying off all our bills.

The book, BLUE SKY, is a collection of photos I've taken over the last decade of blue skies, echoing that magnificent sky over New York City on the morning of September 11th. The book is a beautifully bound, hardcover, 40 pages long with more than 60 full-color images.  I have also signed each copy on the frontis page as well. Above is a picture of the book and below are some images featured in its pages.

The book costs just $40, which includes shipping too.  If you're interested in purchasing one, just write an email to "me@briansloan.com" for details.  You can pay by check or PayPal, whichever is most convenient.  Thanks again for your support of WTC VIEW....it was a great success!

Washington DC, 2003

Jones Beach, 2006

Playland, 2009

Palm Springs, 2002   

                                                           Lower Manhattan, 2008

The Window Is Ready For WTC VIEW's First Performance

This is a picture from our set for WTC VIEW. This is the window which features the said view in the show.  I shot this yesterday after our final dress rehearsal. It's not, however, one of our actors but Brian Prather, our set designer who put the whole thing together along with his students up at Ithaca College. It has all turned out beautifully.

Today is our first public performance of the show up at 59E59 Theaters, with showtime at 7:30pm.  It's very exciting after 7 years to have reached this point of the show's off-Broadway premiere.  Everyone on this production has worked so hard to make it all come together, namely our director Andrew Volkoff and the incredibly talented cast of actors who are bringing new life to this show.

Our official press opening night is Tuesday May 24th. To those in the NYC area, I hope you can come see the show. It is truly something special.  Tickets are still available at www.59e59.org for our 3 week run, though we have a couple nights that are already sold it. I will be attending all the shows this weekend and our opening on the 24th. We also have talkbacks with me and Andrew after the shows on the 25th and 1st.  Hope to see you there!

NEXT, The New Yorker & Other Press Hits For WTC VIEW @ 59E59

We got some press hitting today, namely a listing in The New Yorker's "Goings On About Town".  That was amazing!

We also got a great write up in NEXT magazine's current issue, which has a nice picture of me and our two male leads, Nick Lewis (right) and Patrick Edward O'Brien.  This was based on an interview I did with Dan Avery, the magazine's Senior Editor which happened the day after Osama was killed. We talked about the effect that would have on references in to Bin Laden in the show but how I decided not make changes to those references as the play is squarely set in the last week of September 2001.  No editorializing from the future...

We also got a listing in The Advocate from Brandon Voss, who put WTC VIEW on his Hot Sheet of the top 10 things in entertainment on his radar this week. These mentions have double our ticket sales in the last 24 hours. So if you want to see the show, I encourage you to get your seats now.....only 18$ and selling fast.  They're available online at www.59e59.org/next.html.

The Final Countdown For Crowd-Sourcing On WTC VIEW

Today is the final day of our crowd-sourcing campaign on IndieGoGo to bring WTC VIEW to the stage this spring at 59E59 Theaters. The good news is that we have raised nearly 10K in the last 6 weeks.  The bad news is that we still need to raise another 10-12K to make the show happen.  But the good news is....time has not run out yet!  We still have until midnight Friday April 22....which is actually 3AM because IndieGoGo runs on PST (based on Seattle, of course).  So you can still donate!

Even better news is that, this morning, we got a matching fund challenge.  A generous donor has pledged 3K if we can raise 3K today.  That means we need to get to the 12K level in the final hours of our campaign.  And that's not so hard really if you break it down.  All we need are 150 donors giving $20 a piece.  Or 300 donors giving $10.   So much math right?!   It's all about the numbers...today at least.  But next week I'll have some very exciting news about our cast for the show, which will be officially announced on Monday.

In the meantime, check out our final video for the campaign on IndieGogo....my tour of the area around the new World Trade Center complex rising in lower Manhattan.  Thanks for your support! :)

WTC VIEW Playwright Brian Sloan's Walking Tour Of The New WTC from Brian Sloan on Vimeo.

Tickets On Sale Today For WTC VIEW's Off-Bway Premiere

Tickets are on sale today for the return of WTC VIEW to the stage!  The show will open on May 19th at 59E59 Theaters as part of their 5th Annual Americas Festival.  This is a grouping of 7 plays that are original works by new American playwrights...like me! :)

WTC VIEW will be running from May 19-June 5 for a total of 16 performances. Tickets at $18 each and are available through 59E59's website.  You can also purchase seats at TicketCenter.  For more details on the show, please check out our Facebook page and LIKE it as well.  And, of course, we are still in the midst of our big fundraising drive for the show.

We have only 17 days left to raise about 20K....the key to crowd-sourcing is that everyone gives a little instead of a few fat cats giving a lot.  This is a non-profit production at a non-profit theatre and this is the only way we can make this show happen...other than winning the lottery. So please donate if you can and help us bring this show to audiences here in New York this spring.

Additional Shows For WTC VIEW Off-Bway

Big news today--we have 10 additional shows that have been added to our four-week run off-Broadway this spring at 59E59 (pictured here).  The dates remain the same, May 19-June 12, but now we have additional shows on weekends as well as shows on Tues/Wed night too! Tickets go on sale next week at their website above.

This is very exciting news for us because, the first time this was staged WTC VIEW in the Fringe, it was an extremely limited run.  We had a total of 9 scheduled performances but then we lost 2 of those to the famous Blackout of 2003.  Good timing right--a show about disaster gets its own unique utility disaster mid-run!  Oy.  Anyway, with just 7 shows that first time out we had great audience response to the show but, by the time word of mouth and reviews got out, it was over.  We had the chance to add some shows at the end that the Fringe provided but our cast, being so talented, were booked for other gigs and we had to end the run prematurely.

Anyway, now we will have a total 26 shows at 59E59 Theaters which will give audiences and reviewers plenty of time to find us this time out.  We just started our casting process this week so stay tuned for news on that front.  And if you have donated to our IndieGoGo crowd-sourcing campaign, do so TODAY....give what you can, or give what you can't :) It's the only way this show is going to happen. Thanks so much! 

We Need YOU To Help Bring WTC VIEW Off-Bway This May

As I previously reported here last month, my play WTC VIEW is getting its off-Broadway debut this spring at 59E59 Theaters.  To make this happen, today is the start of a 6-week fundraising campaign to raise $25K by the end of April and we need your help.

This is not a traditional fundraising campaign. The traditional model is all about finding the smallest number of large donors.  But with crowd-sourcing it's the reverse: We are looking for the largest number of small donors via social networking, with the hope that we can get 1,000 donors kicking in 20 bucks as opposed to 20 donors with a 1,000 bucks. Not many people have a cool grand lying around these days.  But a $20...or even a $10? That's a little easier to swing.  Also, since we are a fiscally sponsored project through Fractured Atlas, donations to WTC VIEW are tax deductible too.

So please check out our campaign which went live today on IndieGoGo.  I also put together a short video in which I talk about my inspiration for WTC VIEW and why I feel strongly that now is the time to bring this show to New York audiences as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. However, the only way this is going to happen....I repeat the ONLY way....is if you give.  WTC is a small non-profit play at a non-profit theater and we are depending on these tax-deductible dontations for our production budget.  The other thing you can do, that would be a huge help, is share our IndieGoGo campaign with your Facebook friends of Twitter follows and LIKE our Facebook page as well.  The direct link is: www.indiegogo.com/wtc-view  

Thanks so much and stay tuned for more updates on the show, including casting news, and also some more videos too.

"WTC View" Gets Its Off-Broadway Premiere This Spring

I have some exciting news to report today....my first full-length play, "WTC View" is getting it's off-Broadway premiere this coming May at the prestigious 59E59 Theaters.  The show will have a four week run as part of the theater's 5th Annual Americas Festival, a celebration of new work by American playwrights.  Yes...that would be me! :)  The show will be directed by my good friend and artistic collaborator on this project Andrew Volkoff, who directed the original production in 2003.

For those who don't know, "WTC View" was inspired by my true 9/11 story....which actually happened on 9/10.  The last thing I did before going to bed that night was place a roommate ad online for my apartment downtown.  Though I left for the safer confines of my boyfriend's place in Brooklyn the next day, strangely enough, people actually responded to the ad on September 12th! When I got back to the apartment a week later, there were multiple messages responding to my ad. Fortunately, I saved many of those messages and, in my journal, kept copious notes about what life was like living downtown in the weeks and months following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. And then, in March of 2002, thought this might be an interesting way to dramatize what life was like in NYC during those strange days of September 2001.

The show was originally done in the NY Intl. Fringe Festival in 2003.  With only 6 performances, the show made its mark critically and with audiences as well, who responded strongly to the piece.  A few years later, a filmed adaptation came out starring our original cast (including Michael Urie, from UGLY BETTY).  And now, nearly 10 years after 9/11, the show will get its first full production here in New York.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have this opportunity to get the show onstage here.  Anyway, there will be more news about all this in the coming months.  For now, you can check out the show's Facebook page for more info, pictures and updates as they become available. And make sure to LIKE us and/or become a fan too. Thanks for your support!