This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Ava Love Hanna: Hi, I'm Ava Love Hanna. I wrote SECONDHAND SOUL, the play you're gonna hear today, and you're listening to Gather by the Ghost Light.

[0:19] Jonathan Cook: All right, good day, everyone. This is Gather by the Ghost Light. Original stories for Radio Theater. I'm Jonathan Cook, your host, producer, and sometimes voice actor on this thing. Welcome back. It's October, and tomorrow is Halloween. And I couldn't let this month go by without giving you guys a fun little spooky story. But first, let me take a moment to fill you in on all the cool things that have happened since the last episode. Alright, so last weekend we had our first live recorded events. We recorded the full-length play Kingdom on stage in front of a sold-out audience, and it was absolutely amazing. You know, the cast, the crew, the audience, we all had such a great time, and that full recording will be released soon on this podcast.

And ladies and gentlemen, there are more live events being planned. This is only the beginning, my friends. Also, we have some big news that was announced this week that Gather by the Ghost Light is now a part of the Broadway Podcast Network. So we're now on their platform that's full of many other theater-related podcasts. You know, it's the perfect home for us, and it's a great opportunity for the future of Gather by the Ghost Light. And honestly, it's all thanks to you, all of you tuning in, all of you listening, all of your support, the Broadway Podcast Network. They noticed, and you have my gratitude. Alright. Now let's get a little spooky. So let me tell you about the play you're gonna hear today.

This one was written by Texas-based playwright Ava Love Hanna. Ava is a professional writer, published playwright, and an award-winning speaker and storyteller. She also produces and hosts her own podcast called Stories Found. And today, you're gonna hear her play called SECONDHAND SOUL. You're about to meet M and Vi, a couple in love who just moved into a new house. And when M gives into temptation and uses Vi's Ouija board to try to come out to her dead mother, well, she finds herself bargaining to save her soul from what she accidentally summons instead. Now, gather on the ghost light, sit back and enjoy. This is SECONDHAND SOUL, written by Ava Love Hanna. And be sure to stick around after the story to hear an interview with this writer.

[2:51] Vi: What are you doing? Is that oh yeah, it's a Ouija board. I found it in my old stuff at my parents' house. You know, while I was there, I heard there are junior high gym teacher passed away. Maybe we can use it to ask him what hell it's like.

[3:04] Em: No, absolutely not. I don't want to mess with that stuff. Also, that's really mean. Uh I liked him.

[3:11] Vi: Like a gym teacher?

[3:12] Em: What? Gym teachers are our enemies.

[3:16] Vi: I feel like I don't even know you right now. That man wore tiny shorts and made us run around in circles for hours for literally no reason.

[3:26] Em: Okay, his shorts were very short, probably unnecessarily so, but we didn't run for hours.

[3:34] Vi: We ran for 30 minutes. It was good for us.

[3:37] Em: No, it was torture. In fact, it's well known that running was used as a type of torture.

[3:43] Vi: They didn't torture people with running. Where's my phone? I'm gonna look that up.

[3:46] Em: No, wait. No. We are getting off track here. Please remove your weird devil board from our house. We just moved here and I don't want it filled with ghosts and demons and whatever else you conjure up.

[4:00] Vi: Sit, play with me. It's a family tradition. My sisters and I did this every time we moved into a new place. We'd explain to the ghosts that we were very cool people and ask them not to watch us in the shower.

[4:12] Em: I really don't want to mess with this. My parents were weirdos who told you everything was a sin.

[4:19] Vi: They were wrong. You ready? Let's do this.

[4:21] Em: Yeah. I love our new house. I want this to be a happy place, which is why I don't want you filling it with ghosts, including the ghosts of our past. Let the gym teacher rest in peace. He was probably buried in those shorts, you know. Don't you want to ask him?

[4:41] Vi: No. Also, these things don't even work. How many dead people have you talked to?

[4:46] Em: What? They do work. This one was sold by the expert occultists at Hasbro. They wouldn't be able to sell something fake.

[4:53] Vi: That's not true. Companies sell fake stuff all the time. Dummies buy it anyway.

[4:59] Em: When did your worldview get so bleak? Everything is exactly as it says it is. Also, if Ouija boards are fake, then you can't be scared of it and you have to play with me.

[5:09] Vi: Okay. Sit tight. I'm gonna find some candles and some snacks. We are gonna do this right. I'll be right back.

[5:18] Em: This isn't scary. This is just a silly kid's toy. It's weird though. Who looked at this and thought talking to dead people was a wholesome childhood activity?

[5:31] Vi: Alright. I'm gonna give this a shot. Hello. Spirits? Um if anyone is listening, this is M.

[5:44] Em: Oh! Whoa! Did you hear that? This is perfect weather to commune with the spirits.

[5:51] Vi: Yeah. Um, are you coming back? I think I've almost found the candle box.

[5:57] Em: Uh-huh. Nope. Just albums. False alarm. Oh, but I found my Dave Matthews record. Yes!

[6:04] Vi: No! I said nothing horrible in this house. Heathen.

[6:09] Em: Alright. For real this time. Spirits. This is M. Hello? Can I ask for someone specific or do I leave a message? So, uh, I'd like to speak to my mom. I want to tell her I met someone. And she probably won't be happy about it, but that I'm happy and I love her. Oh wait. She's in conservative heaven, and they've probably banned Ouija board messages there. So I guess I'm happy speaking to anyone. Oh, but no demons. My parents warned me that demons are always first in line with these things and are always just waiting to come get your soul. That sounds so dumb when I say it out loud. But uh just in case I'm not interested in any demons today. Uh please. Oh my god, it is is is that you if there are spirits talking to me, please give me a sign. Um uh knock on something.

[7:11] Damon: Oh hello yes.

[7:20] Em: Hi, you asked me to come?

[7:22] Damon: What what? Uh I did.

[7:24] Em: Yeah, you said just knock.

[7:26] Damon: Oh my god, I did. Who who are you?

[7:28] Damon: I'm Damon.

[7:30] Em: Damon?

[7:31] Damon: I guess that's one way to say it. I prefer Damon, though.

[7:34] Em: Damon. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my oh my god. I I came about the soul? Uh can I come in? It's really pouring out here.

[7:43] Damon: Soul? I I love the rainy weather, but I hate getting wet. Feels so gross.

[7:49] Em: I'm I'm sure you're used to warmer climbs.

[7:52] Damon: Yeah, I am. How did you know that?

[7:54] Em: Oh, I know too much stuff.

[7:56] Damon: Uh okay, listen. I think there's been a mistake.

[7:59] Em: I can't believe my parents were right.

[8:01] Damon: Are you saying you've changed your mind about the soul?

[8:03] Em: Come on, please don't do that. I came all this way. I was really looking forward to bringing it home today.

[8:09] Damon: I feel bad. I do, but I just don't think I want to part with it.

[8:14] Em: I need it. Also, my girlfriend will be really mad. I did this without her.

[8:19] Damon: Oh, I get it. Listen, let's do this. I can wait until the storm passes, and then we can take a look at the soul, see what kind of condition it's in. You can talk to your girlfriend about it, and then we can make a deal.

[8:31] Em: Okay.

[8:35] Damon: Oh, hi! I didn't know we were expecting anyone.

[8:37] Em: Yeah, I came by. To welcome us to the neighborhood.

[8:43] Damon: Right, Damon.

[8:46] Em: Yeah, sure, that's something I'd like to do. You have a lovely home.

[8:51] Damon: Well, thanks. Sorry, everything's a mess. We're still unpacking. Please have a seat. I'm 90% certain there's a couch in this room, but really anything could be a seat if you try hard enough.

[9:02] Damon: No worries. Is it okay if I take off this wet coat? I'm not used to this weather. I'm more of a dry heat kind of guy.

[9:09] Em: Of course. M, what you take is coat to the kitchen. There's towels in there.

[9:14] Vi: No, um o okay. Sure. I'll just take this nice normal person's coat to the kitchen. In our house. I I can I can do that.

[9:24] Em: Okay, good. Sorry, she's being weird. I found my old Ouija board and she's pretty skittish about that kind of stuff.

[9:32] Damon: Ha! I always wanted to play with one of those. My parents wouldn't buy one. Said you'd summon demons.

[9:38] Em: No, said it was fake.

[9:39] Damon: Monsters.

[9:40] Em: Exactly. So, what do you do for a living, Damon?

[9:43] Damon: I'm a fitness instructor.

[9:45] Em: A fitness instructor.

[9:47] Damon: As in at a gym?

[9:49] Em: Like a gym teacher? Where people run? D do you make people run, Damon?

[9:55] Damon: Uh sorta. I encourage people to run, yeah.

[10:00] Em: I see. Exercise is good, right? Tearing muscle fibers, growing new ones, tearing people apart and rebuilding them is my whole job.

[10:08] Vi: Oh my god! It's torture.

[10:10] Damon: That's one way to look at it. Is it okay if I use your restroom?

[10:15] Em: Sure. It's right through that hallway. Second door on the left.

[10:22] Vi: That guy is evil. He seems so nice, but he's the worst kind of person. And he's here in our home. Our home. I I don't understand how this happened.

[10:32] Em: Yeah, I know. I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you about Thanks. Just needed to wash my hands. You would not believe the stuff that gets on my hands at work.

[10:42] Vi: Uh-huh.

[10:43] Em: I can imagine.

[10:46] Damon: Oh wow.

[10:48] Em: My throat is really dry, Vi.

[10:50] Vi: Um, can you get us all some water, please?

[10:53] Damon: Sure.

[10:53] Em: Ice?

[10:54] Vi: None for me.

[10:55] Damon: Of course not.

[10:56] Vi: Uh, room temp is fine.

[10:58] Damon: Okay.

[10:59] Damon: One cold, delicious water for me, and two room temp waters for weirdos coming right up.

[11:07] Damon: So about that soul.

[11:10] Em: Can I at least take a look at it? Make sure it's in good shape.

[11:12] Damon: What?

[11:14] Em: No, that's weird. I just want to make sure it's in good condition.

[11:17] Damon: You should see what some people do to their souls. I mean, they can take a lot of abuse, but still.

[11:22] Em: I assure you, mine is fine.

[11:25] Em: Pristine even. You'd be lucky to have it.

[11:28] Damon: I mean, um, no. You don't want this old thing. It's all old and used.

[11:31] Em: Uh, used souls are great. They last forever, you know. Oh, sure, some people prefer new, but I prefer older ones. They have more character.

[11:43] Damon: And I don't have the stress of having to break them in.

[11:45] Em: Break them in?

[11:47] Damon: Break what in?

[11:48] Vi: Uh, the b-babies!

[11:50] Em: I think he's talking about babies.

[11:52] Vi: What? You're making babies run now? That is too far.

[11:56] Em: Damon, I told you this guy is the worst.

[11:59] Damon: Oh my god, sorry about that. The glass slipped out of my hand.

[12:02] Vi: No worries. I'll just go dry off again.

[12:08] Em: That man is evil.

[12:10] Vi: I know. Look, I need to tell you something. I think I've ruined our lives, and I really don't want you to be mad at me, especially because I'm probably about to go to hell. But while you were getting snacks, which you were doing because you're so thoughtful, and I love that about you. I love everything about you. I've always loved you since the moment I first saw you in our junior high gym class.

[12:30] Em: But my parents said I couldn't go to heaven if I kissed girls, so I never said anything back then. But I played with the Ouija board by myself to try to tell my mom about us, and I think I summoned a demon on accident, and I am so sorry.

[12:43] Vi: You've loved me since junior high gym class.

[12:47] Em: Yeah.

[12:49] Vi: That's why I didn't mind the running.

[12:52] Em: Or the gym teacher. It was the one place I knew I would get to see you every day.

[12:58] Vi: That is really sweet. But it doesn't matter now, though, because he's here for my soul.

[13:03] Damon: Oh, good, you told her.

[13:04] Em: Yeah, I'm here to buy the soul. Can we make a deal?

[13:08] Vi: I told you I need it. I have too much to live for. It's not for sale.

[13:13] Damon: Wait, you're here to buy the soul?

[13:17] Vi: What day is it?

[13:18] Damon: It's Saturday the fifth.

[13:19] Vi: Why?

[13:20] Damon: Oh! I am so sorry. I thought we were meeting next week on the 12th.

[13:26] Vi: What? You planned this? You were going to sell my soul to a demon next week?

[13:32] Damon: It's still pronounced Damon.

[13:35] Vi: No!

[13:37] Damon: I'm selling my old Kia Soul.

[13:40] Vi: This must be the guy I've been texting with about it.

[13:42] Damon: That's me, the soul guy.

[13:44] Em: Oh my god.

[13:49] Vi: So I didn't summon a demon then.

[13:53] Damon: Oh, that is such a rule.

[13:56] Vi: So this guy is evil then.

[13:58] Damon: Oh, he's still evil. He's a gym teacher.

[14:00] Em: Hey.

[14:01] Damon: But it seems like maybe I've been wrong.

[14:05] Vi: I owe a lot to gym class.

[14:08] Damon: See? Running is good for you.

[14:10] Em: No! Get out, vile demon!

[14:13] Damon: That was SECONDHAND SOUL, written by Ava Love Hanna. It was performed by Chelsea Glass as Em, Amy Thorne as Vi, and Evan Cook as Damon.

[14:24] Jonathan Cook: Alright, so with me now is the writer of the story you just heard. She's a professional writer and playwright and an award-winning speaker and storyteller. She's also the artistic director and co-host of the podcast called Stories Found. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Ava Love Hanna. Ava, thanks for being here. And how are you?

[14:43] Ava Love Hanna: Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. You've done a lot of creative things. Give us the lowdown of what we'll call it the synopsis. You know, every play has a synopsis. So, what is the synopsis of you and a brief introduction of how you got into writing and theater and all that?

[15:02] Ava Love Hanna: Well, so I was originally a theater major and I was an actor, and then as I was going through college, I ended up joining a speech and debate team and sort of moved into communication. So I was doing communications in English and I was a writer, and then I sort of tell everyone my villain origin story is that I went to grad school for poetry because I hate money, I guess. And so I actually spent a lot of time and money learning how to write as few words as possible, which is super actually kind of handy as a playwright. But I ended up sort of as a how I became a playwright. What happened is I was writing professionally, and I wrote an essay, which is kind of crazy. It was called The Vagina Mommy Incident, and it was a parenting essay about my four-year-old asking about genitals, and it went hilariously wrong.

And so I ended up submitting it to a show here in town called The Listen to Your Mother Show. And when I was there, I met another storyteller named Max Langert, and he was in a playwriting group here in Austin called Scriptworks, and I joined and we did a friend show together. And I was like, hey, you know what? Maybe instead of being on stage, I can write for the stage. And that was it. I just immediately started getting produced, which I assume is how it happens for everyone. Just that's it. You just fall right into it.

[16:28] Jonathan Cook: So your play, SECONDHAND SOUL that everyone just heard, you know, you got these two ladies. One of them finds a Ouija board and is very thrilled and excited about playing it with her friend, and the friend's a little more hesitant because she just wants it out of the house because she's always been told they're demonic and evil. And then you take us on this farcical path of mistaken identity where the character Em, being naive about Ouija boards, she thinks she really summoned a demon because this guy shows up knocking on their door. Crazy enough, when I was reading plays this past month or so, I read there was a bunch that I read that had a Ouija board in it.

[17:06] Ava Love Hanna: Oh, how weird.

[17:07] Jonathan Cook: I know, I was like, is the universe trying to tell me something right now? What's happening? And so, but out of all the ones I read, they're all good. But out of all the ones I read, it felt like your play was the one that would kind of benefit most from an audio play version. Like I could just hear different effects that I wanted to use, and so here we are. So while we got you, what is the kind of background on this story? How you came up with the idea, any fun background trivia you have? Just tell us about the script and how you got it on paper and all that.

[17:37] Ava Love Hanna: Sure, sure. So this script, SECONDHAND SOUL, has sort of a winding path. I think all of our shows do, right? I had written a show a few years ago called Big Brad Wolf, and it was a fun show. It's been pretty popular, and it was produced by Playwrights Roundtable in Orlando. They did a fantastic job. And my director for that show was Bethany Dickens Asuff, and she's just an amazing human being, and we became friends. And through one of her posts, she had talked about a writing challenge with Threshold Theater that happens every November. And every playwright should do the Threshold Theater Challenge. It's starting soon. Matthew and the group over there, they put out this whole month of like these really amazing prompts.

And I don't normally like writing to prompts, but there's something about the way they construct them. This month is just the most productive month ever. And so last year, the very first day, they had a prompt that said, I may or may not have summoned a demon, but don't worry, he's friendly. And I thought that was so funny. I was like, okay, I don't know if I can write on this today, but I'm gonna use this somewhere. A little side note, like I'm a parent and a writer and a producer, and so I'm super busy all the time. So in order to commit to my writing to showing up to the page, I have to get up at like five in the morning during that month. So I was delirious and laughing, and I started thinking, well, what's like the stupidest way that I could accidentally summon a demon?

And I thought about the Ouija board because it's a toy, you know. And also, I guess, you know, I was raised Mormon, pretty strict, so I didn't, I never got to have a Ouija board. So I thought, well, I'm gonna play with this as an adult. And so I sat down to write for Scriptworks. We have a challenge on top of it. November's a busy writing month for me. They do a challenge where we have like a bake-off. They give you three ingredients, and you have to include those. Plus, there's some rules that limit your cast, and you have less than 24 hours to write a play. So I sat down with that idea in mind, and I was like, you know what? I think this is gonna be it. And it just happened. And the rules for Scriptworks this year were it had to have an odd family tradition, a character who becomes something non-human, and a vinyl record.

And you'll be able to hear all three of those things if you go and listen to it again with that in mind. You know, it's funny when we were recording it at the end where Vi gets a little more sincere and she's like, Oh, you thought I'd love me in gym class, and we're we call so for that last page where when we did those takes, we're like, all right, this is the hallmark moment. Let's do this.

[20:11] Jonathan Cook: Exactly.

[20:11] Ava Love Hanna: Well, every comedy has to have, well, at least in my opinion, that comedies should have heart, right? Like, you know, the jokes are like this sort of Trojan horse, and as soon as you let your guard down, surprise, there was empathy inside. So that's usually how comedies work. Everyone knew exactly what tone we were going for. Alright, hallmark moment. And it's like, okay, we know how to do that.

[20:32] Jonathan Cook: Exactly.

[20:34] Ava Love Hanna: Well, and that was one thing I was gonna add. It's, you know, most of my work tends to be autobiographical. So there's always a few things in there that are for my life. And people, when you tell people, like, oh, my shows often have autobiographical moments, they two things happen. Like, first, sometimes they get really terrified because then they start immediately wondering like, has anything happened between the two of you that will show up in that show? Or and then two, they sort of look at you and they're like, Oh, are you okay? I'm a comedy writer, of course I'm not okay.

[21:02] Jonathan Cook: So what's the production history of this play? Because I know when I first came across it, I saw it other playwrights that I know were sharing a poster for a reset theater, and I saw your play, SECONDHAND SOUL, and I saw your name and I was like, I recognize that name.

[21:18] Ava Love Hanna: We're not because we had never we we hadn't we hadn't connected yet at that point. I was like, yeah, and then looking on new play exchange, I thought, oh, you're the host of Stories Found that I've listened to several episodes of that. So as soon as I made that connection, um, and I was kind of hesitant to reach out to you because I'm like, she has her own podcast where she does something similar. She may want to. Yeah, it was the same with me. And I was like, she might want to just save it for her thing, but you know what? I'm gonna ask anyway. And you were you're I'm glad that you HSM could be.

[22:12] Ava Love Hanna: So a few months go by and everybody's kind of like, I haven't heard anything. And then around February, they go, Oh, hey, your show is selected. So I've been lucky enough. It's really fierce competition because Austin has some absolutely amazingly talented playwrights, but I've managed to be in it like three or four times now, and they selected SECONDHAND SOUL for production. We did it as part of a multi-week showcase out of Ink, which is what it's called. Fantastic cast. And what's funny is the character who played Vi in my show with Scriptworks, she was terrified of Ouija boards as well. So and I ended up giving them all small Ouija board gifts, and she was like, uh-huh. Um, so it was produced there, and then I met Taylane through Mad Lab and she had helped form the theater reset group.

And she'd asked me to send over a couple of scripts. And I said, Well, I literally wrote this like last night. So I sent it that and Mascot. They picked up Mascot for the first festival they did, which is they literally made a mascot head. It was phenomenal. Um, and then they reached out and said, Can we do Mascot again? And can we do the other script SECONDHAND SOUL? I said, Oh, of course, of course. I love your group. And so, um, yeah, SECONDHAND SOUL is a play I didn't mean to write, and it's just sort of had a kind of a pretty warm reception. I'm excited about. So yeah. Cool, cool.

[23:35] Jonathan Cook: Uh, I do want to talk about your podcast, Stories Found.

[23:39] Ava Love Hanna: Sure, sure. Uh, give us uh what is that? Uh how did you start that? And um, you know, kind of go over your guidelines for that and writers out there that want to submit works to your podcast. Uh, let people know what to do and just your whole process for uh for for what you do on that.

[23:55] Ava Love Hanna: So um with Stories Found, we started as just a regular sort of we were going to be an in-person theatrical production company. We wanted to focus, we focus only on comedies, so we only produce comedies. We produced one of my plays. I say I don't produce my own work, but we started with one of my shows um for a French festival here. It's called Bad Neighbors, and which has also gone on to be produced by other theaters, but um we did that production, and then I guess about three weeks later, COVID shut everything down, and we weren't that's a great start to a theatrical production company where we're only doing comedies on stages. Um, since my husband is an audio engineer and we have tons of cool gadgets and I have a background in public speaking, we said, okay, well, let's start doing stuff online and playing with our friends that way.

And so we started Stories Found where we have um we feature funny plays, sketches, and stories from just amazingly talented humorists. And um we work with professional actors. We have a ton of fun. Our last two submission calls were earlier this year. Um they were sort of on top of each other for one minute and 10 minute plays, and we got over 1100 submissions. So my eyeballs are still recovering. Um we booked up our season, but we still have spots that we you know will allow room for. So if you have a show that is a between one minute and 10 minute comedy, a little over is fine. Um you can send it to submissions at storiesfound.com. We're always looking to meet new humorists. Our only rule is, you know, not too many characters, and of course, it's gotta be a comedy. You would be surprised how many dramas we get. But um, yeah, comedies only. Good stuff.

[25:36] Jonathan Cook: So you're starting season three of that from what I saw.

[25:39] Ava Love Hanna: Yes, this is our third season, and we're doing it a little different this year. Normally we would sort of like, you know, we would kind of have rolling open submissions and we take some shows and go uh from there. But this year we have our whole season planned out. And like I said, we've left spaces for new artists that we may meet, or if we want to do a holiday call, which we're gonna do soon, because we love holiday themed shows. But um yeah, it has been tremendous getting I've met some of the most amazing playwrights and storytellers, and it's just it's been a wild ride. It's been a lot of fun.

[26:12] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, I I I know that feeling. I have um since starting this, I've met uh so many players, playwrights that I just seen their name over the years because they've been in festivals with me over the past few years, it's like I've gotten to get on here like this with you and and meet them, you know, virtually. Um some of them in person, because some of them are in Atlanta, uh and they have shows there. So yeah, it's been uh such a great networking opportunity. So new playwrights will reach out to me, they'll say, Oh, how do how did you get started and what do I need to do? And I will tell them, I'm like, look, um, you sort of fall into it at a point. You keep writing, of course, you show up to the page, but you build community.

Um I I again, I end up in the festivals. Mark Harvey Levine and I will joke, or like we we refuse to do festivals unless the other one is in there because we can't we keep ending up in the same festivals. And then I have them on the podcast here, and I'm like, I I guess this is slowly becoming just a 100% Mark Harvey Levine podcast. But um, yeah, just building community and and keeping in touch with these really, really great creative people that you meet. Um, I can I can really connect the dots. Almost every one of my productions has come from a different production where I met someone and then they went on to do something amazing and they and they kept me in mind. And so um, yeah, God, I love I love our theater community.

[27:27] Jonathan Cook: Yes, it's so good. Uh so when you are looking for submission calls, uh, do you have any go-to uh places on the internet that you go find stuff like that?

[27:38] Ava Love Hanna: Um, well, so we usually, like I said, we've been lucky enough that enough people listen to us and love us and want to be on the podcast. And I'm in a few writing groups that we will post a call. And I love the playwright uh marketing bench, but don't ever post a call during bench month. Um, unless you really, really want to read like a hundred shows a day. Um so we've been fortunate enough that between those groups and and posting to the different, you know, Facebook groups and and NYC playwrights that we we get more than we can handle, but we're we're we read everyone. We one rule that we have for our reading committee is we treat every script as though um we were submitting it to someone else the way we would want our script to be handled.

So if you send your script to us, we will read it and we'll take good care of it. And so um, but yeah, I mean, if people want to look at our website, they can they we have a submissions page, it has all of our our guidelines and what we're looking for. We really we're just looking for all different kinds of comedy. So yeah.

[28:40] Jonathan Cook: Good deal. Uh so do you have anything you can plug? Do you have anything coming up? Any shows going on? Where can people see your next play in a theater near them?

[28:51] Ava Love Hanna: So I always have stuff in productions. I one of the things I'm excited about is every year I'm involved with I've been lucky enough to be involved with theater roulette with Mad Lab. Big Brad Wolf is being produced there, and they've changed the date to December. So I'm super excited to be there again with Mark Harvey Levine. He's always in every festival I'm in. Um that and then just really really excited, pouring a lot of time and effort into our current Stories Found season.

[29:18] Jonathan Cook: So all right. So where can people find you? What's your website? And are you active on social media or anything like that?

[29:25] Ava Love Hanna: I'm far too active on social media. You kind of gotta be promoting Stories Found because I I need to hire a social media person because like with Gather by the Ghost Light is like I it feels like I'm always on there trying to push something. Uh so I'm sure you I'm sure you go through the same thing. It's the worst, honestly. I social media is love hate, and I always feel like, you know, I've got a teenager and I always feel like he does it better than me. I'm about to hire him, but he's like, no, gross. Um, yeah, no, I'm always on social media, uh, Instagram, Ava Love Hanna or Stories Found ATX. Um, you can find me on my website, which I need to update, but it's AvaLovehanna.com, or you can go to storiesfound.com. And yeah, you just type in my name, you can find me pretty much anywhere.

[30:10] Jonathan Cook: Excellent, excellent, excellent. All right, you do cool stuff. Uh keep doing it, keep creating. Uh, I can't wait to uh to dive into season three of Stories Found when you start releasing those episodes and everyone listening, uh, go over to Ava's podcast. It's called Stories Found. It's all comedies, that's what she takes, and uh they do a great job over there. If you like the audio plays you hear on this podcast, you'll love uh the stuff you hear on Stories Found.

[30:33] Ava Love Hanna: So, Ava, thanks for being here, and uh hopefully we can elaborate again in the future.

[30:37] Ava Love Hanna: Great. I look forward to it.

[30:39] Jonathan Cook: Thank you all for listening. And if you are associated with a theater and you would like to produce the play you heard today on your stage, send an email to gatherbytheghostlight@gmail.com or contact the playwright directly at her website, AvaLovehanna.com. And if you would like to have some cool Gather by the Ghost Light merchandise, t-shirts are available at the merchandise link in the show notes and the year one and year two books, which are both also available at Amazon. And Tro Doctor Music, as always, is provided by artist JK47. And if you enjoy this podcast, you know, maybe you're a longtime listener, or maybe this is the first episode you've ever heard. Let us know. Please leave us a rating or a review in all the places that you can, and also be sure to follow Gather by the Ghost Light on social media to stay up to date on new episodes. I'm Jonathan Cook, and as always, stay safe, and I'll see you next time. We gather by the ghost light.