Personal Statement: I write on two fronts: as a playwright and soap opera critic. I like to think of my 10-minute plays as Legos: each can stand alone, but can also be put together in various combinations. In all of my plays, nothing really happens as the characters simply talk, but at the end of ten minutes, everything about their relationship has changed.

I'm a lifelong fan of soap operas. I began writing about soaps in the early-1990s, my premise being that soaps should be taken as seriously as any other form of popular culture.

But being a fan doesn't preclude criticism and analysis. My essay, "The Ironic and Convoluted relationship between Daytime and Primetime Soap Operas," will be published next year in the anthology "The Survival of the Soap Opera; Strategies for the New Media Era" (University Press of Mississippi).