Trying Something New

I feel like I run into the same problem with every script I write. I start out with one idea or sometimes a line. I can get six or seven pages into the play and then blamo! I get stuck with the plot. I think the main reason for this block is my overall lack of foresight. An idea or a line is a good way to start, really the only way to start, but it doesn't write a whole play...unless you only want it to be four pages long. Maybe with some scripts I need to start planning a trajectory.

When I moved to Seattle, I set up a space next to my desk as my "writing center." It has a white board and cork board. The white board for exactly the thing I mentioned above and the cork board for potential inspiration photos. While the cork board hasn't been used yet, I think the white board is getting a good start:This is my first attempt at really planning before I start writing. Usually I just write and go back and rework the plot later.

Let's see how this goes. Every new writing day is an adventure.

And then...

A draft!

Finally, after months of struggling to get some sort of inspiration, months of pulling up blank word documents and eventually closing them after many exasperated breaths, I finally have completed a draft of The Last Tree. I can feel the creativity coming back into my finger tips, surging through my body. I think the draft is the proof.

When I closed the word document yesterday, I must admit I felt a sense of accomplishment. Usually, this is considered contrary to how theatre works. My college costume design professor always used to say "Theatre artists don't finish, they just stop." I do believe that's true. Plays go through draft after draft after draft and even after the play is in performance or published it can and will change. Of course, the same is true of acting.

But the point is, I have a draft of something that I can take to a reading, to have read. I feel connected to my art once again which is something I have been lacking. Maybe it is the inspiration of meeting with other people. Whatever it is, it's working.

Speaking of connecting, a group of friends and I are trying to get together to read and act and all that good stuff. Professors always told us we were going to have to create our own opportunities for theatre. We always believed them but I don't think we knew what that meant.

I think we're starting to.