Douglas Whaley

Well, it’s happened!   “The Turkey Men” has opened and the reviews are in.   The biggest one is from the Columbus Dispatch, and it is reprinted below.   Other online reviews are similar.    On Facebook playwright Jonathan Hole said: Last night, the first preview of The Turkey Men by  Douglas Whaley  at Evolution Theatre Company- it is fantastic in every sense of the word- when I first heard the premise I thought "how is that going to work?" and last night learned the answer- beautifully. I love stories that connect the past and present and Douglas has written a unique one that made the audience last night cheer. Director David  David Allen Vargo  and a terrific cast, Loretta Beth Cannon , Fia Friend,  James Harper ,  Jonathan Putnam , and  Ross Shirley  are a playwright's dream. Leaving last night I said hello to someone and without missing a beat they responded "what a great show!" and I whol...

In November of 2009 I had a heart transplant and (as is required by law whenever anyone has a major event of this magnitude) I started writing a blog the following month.  Now, ten years later, my blog has reached the milestone of having attracted over one million pageviews in that period.  I am very pleased with that. My blog posts are all little essays on varied topics from personal stories to advice/lectures/warnings on a multitude of things.   The blog has attracted fans all over the globe, totaling to over 170 different countries.   The emails I get and/or the comments appended to the various posts are fascinating.   They run from praise to condemnation, corrections, suggestions on new things to address, and occasional stories that tell me how the posts affected lives.   Of course I’ve written posts about the history of this blog in the past:   “ The Second Anniversary of This Blog: Greetings to the Planet Earth ,” D...

Starting with preview performances before audiences on Wednesday and Thursday, October 16 th and 17, and with an official opening night on Friday, October 18 th  , my play “The Turkey Men” will have a professional production as Evolution Theatre Company’s final show of its season here in Columbus, Ohio.   Information about the play, including cast and crew, can be found at https://www.theturkeymen.com/ . In a prior blog I reported the circumstances that led to the creation of the play [see “ My First Play Will Be Produced Next Year ,” May 29, 2018; https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html ]. That post describes the play in some detail, but, briefly, it is a comedy/romance that deals with a serious subject.   I had learned of two Civil War soldiers who met at Camp Chase, a prison in Columbus for Confederate captives, with one guarding the other, both quite young.   Suddenly the war ended in...

While (inexplicably) there really are gay Trump supporters, their backing cannot come from what his administration has done for gay people; it must come from believing that his actions on the economy and particularly things elevating the upper class make up for his disdain for the LGBTQ agenda.   I suppose if they’re wealthy enough it doesn’t matter to some gays that Trump will destroy lots of other values they should treasure. Yes, Trump actually has some gay friends. Years ago he attended Elton John’s wedding and commented that all people in love should be allowed to get married.   But it's not an issue on which he has strong feelings, and, of course, he does need to keep his base happy if he’s going to be reelected.   Thus whenever anything gay arises that his administration must deal with, the gays are dumped without a thought.   Transgendered people in the military?   They’re out—too expensive to pay for all thos...