A Long Way to Go

Since 2019 I’ve made the trek to Valdez, Alaska, to the Valdez Theatre Conference. It’s eight days of staged readings and other events such as a monologue workshop, a ten-minute play slam, evening productions on the main stage, and the Fringe, which takes place in a small park outdoors under the evening sun. Here’s a note that I wrote on Facebook as to why I go so far.

Valdez, Alaska, June 9, 2025

One of the more frequent questions I get asked by friends and fellow theatre people who have not been to Valdez is why spend all that money and go so far just to have a reading of a ten-minute play?

It's a good question. Valdez, Alaska, is literally at the end of a very long road into the wilderness. When you add traveling about 4,000 miles just to get to Anchorage where you need to catch a bus or a plane or rent a car to go another 300 miles to a small town on the edge of Prince William Sound and often through inclement weather -- my friends and I drove through rain and snow on Saturday -- you do kinda wonder if it's worth it.

If all you plan to do is hear a play reading, then perhaps not. But the readings are just a part of the experience. Being with like-minded people who all have different ways of telling stories and seeing how to they do it is intensely informative to me as both a writer and a person. Sitting at a table, either in one of the local restaurants or in the convention center and listening to these friends, hearing of their journey to the place where they get to share their ideas and insights -- or just hearing about their life, their job, their family, their favorite baseball team, or doing a tarot reading over lunch -- is the reason I come here. Making art, be it painting or sculpture or music or the written word, is often a solo effort even when you're collaborating. But sharing and hearing is the the sustenance that keeps us going. Art is meant to be shared not just at an exhibit or a reading or performance, but with those who also create it in their own way.

So, yes, it's not cheap to come here, and it takes a lot of effort to get here (including adventures in finding a hotel room when there's a software glitch and you end up at another hotel at 1:00 a.m. Alaska time). But I've never regretted it, and to quote the old song, if the weather outside is frightful, the fire of creativity is delightful and nourishing. I have met the cast of my reading on Wednesday, and my friend Danny is working on his monologue from "Ask Me Anything." I've got lots to do to get ready, and a lot of listening to do in between. So let it snow or rain or whatever the clouds bring us. I've already booked my room for Valdez 2026.