Elaine Liner - writer, editor, knitter, painter, seller of things
Recently...
My solo show, Sweater Curse: A Yarn about Love ... in Rockwall (TX), Mesquite, Dallas... and soon at the Crude Fringe Festival in Oklahoma City! To book this one-hour "knit lit" comedy, see contact info below.
Productions of Finishing SchoolRecent productions at Elkhart (Indiana) Civic Theatre (actors Dave Dufour and Gail Janssen in the leads, pictured at right) and Fungus Amongus Players in Dassel, Minnesota, played to great reviews and capacity crowds. In January 2019, my play made its Nebraska debut at Lincoln Community Playhouse.
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As a contributor...In bookstores and on Amazon, this book offers 101 examples of writers who used "yes" to empower and challenge themselves.
My chapter, "My Year of `Why Not?,'" starts on page 200, all about the year I spent writing and rehearsing my first play, Sweater Curse: A Yarn about Love. And then making my debut as solo actor and playwright at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival on the planet! |
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Woohoo! Another Dallas-area book club has just adopted my novel 2084: An American Parable for its monthly "read." I love meeting readers and hearing comments, questions and critiques. Want the book for your book-reading group? Click on the cover and order from Amazon. It's priced low to get more copies sold! And when you read it, please leave a review. That's what helps indie novelists like moi.
More about this book:
In 2084, one political party runs Washington, D.C., and only one religion is legal. Can 21-year-old Waring Foster break free of a repressive, ultra-rightwing regime and find her way out of the cult of President Rex Evangeline?
Dallas Voice critic Arnold Wayne Jones says, "The messages in this book are not subtle; subtlety is for people who have time to spare. Liner is saying, `We don't.'"
This fast-moving dark literary parable of repression and rebellion leads to a twist inspired by Orwell, Bradbury, Serling and Chayefsky. I call my book "dyst-hope-ian" -- meant to terrify you about what could happen if we don't resist ... with the hope that it never, ever does.
More about this book:
In 2084, one political party runs Washington, D.C., and only one religion is legal. Can 21-year-old Waring Foster break free of a repressive, ultra-rightwing regime and find her way out of the cult of President Rex Evangeline?
Dallas Voice critic Arnold Wayne Jones says, "The messages in this book are not subtle; subtlety is for people who have time to spare. Liner is saying, `We don't.'"
This fast-moving dark literary parable of repression and rebellion leads to a twist inspired by Orwell, Bradbury, Serling and Chayefsky. I call my book "dyst-hope-ian" -- meant to terrify you about what could happen if we don't resist ... with the hope that it never, ever does.
Sweater Curse:
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My one-act play combines my love of knitting and great knitters of literature with my stories of grappling with unraveled relationships and knotty romances. From Penelope knitting her shroud for Ulysses, to Madame DeFarge, to Bette Davis in Now, Voyager, I weave the history of knitting into my personal, very woolly experiences trying not to repeat patterns that lead to unfinished sweaters.
Performed to five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and 2014, and then in successful runs at the New Orleans Fringe, Dallas Solo Fest, San Antonio Classic Theatre, Granbury Opera House and many other venues, Sweater Curse is a one-woman literary rom-com -- with lots and lots of sweaters. Run time is 55 to 75 minutes (length is whatever you request). I bring my own scenery (all yarn-bombed and/or crocheted/knitted by me), a soundtrack of knit-related tunes and the easiest lighting cues ever (basically UP and DOWN). Want to book me for your theater, group, organization, school or church? Find my contact info at the bottom of this page. |
Finishing School (a two-act comedy about life's second act)
Dave Dufour as Al, Gail Janssen as Wizzer, in Elkhart Civic Theatre's production, September 2017. Photo by Mel Moore
My comedy about old guys, flirty women and all the strange, wonderful, sometimes hilarious aspects of growing old and not realizing it, come together in this two-act, four-character (and one voiceover) play that had its world premiere in 2017 at the wonderful Elkhart Civic Theatre in Bristol, Indiana.
The play has been published by Dramatic Publishing, but if you want a reader's copy, contact me at the email address listed at the bottom of this page. Read it! It's hilarious! And no bad words!
The play has been published by Dramatic Publishing, but if you want a reader's copy, contact me at the email address listed at the bottom of this page. Read it! It's hilarious! And no bad words!