Still in inspiration searching mode currently. I have a location and some thoughts percolating but I'm trying to round it out. So far, it's really just one character in my head who isn't even a key to the main, to be determined, conflict.
And a wrench in the system: I've lost one of my actors. I mean, to be honest, it's not a big wrench as I don't have a single word of actual script written down yet. The director has offered to step in as the fourth in the cast in case I need him. So, this means I get to decide if I want a three person script or a four. Decisions, decisions.
In other news, it pays to have incredibly intelligent friends.
Text from my friend Jordan: "Have you looked at preraphealite paintings for lust? It's interesting to see how they depict the human form in a way that is both sexual and not."
And that went immediately onto my list of places to look for inspiration.
There has been a bit of a search change though. Actually expansion is a better word for it. The topic has expanded from sexual to money. Because after all, money makes the world go around. (Thanks Liza.)
Edit (10:11): Greed has more to do with money...duh. Although, it'll probably still appear in my play. So...there's that.
Ten hours left. Coffee is happening...NOW.
9.21.2012
Double Shot: THE THEME
Double Shot is filled with the seven deadly sins this year. My sin: Lust.
Here's what I've done so far:
1. Looked up the definition of Lust - 1. intense sexual desire or appetite 2. uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite, lecherousness 3. a passionate or overmastering desire or craving 4. ardent enthusiasm; zest, relish
2. Looked up lusty songs on the internet. So far, I like Dance Inside by All American Rejects and Slow Like Honey by Fiona Apple the best.
3. Eaten an entire box of Macaroni and Cheese.
Next up:
1. More lusty songs.
2. Comb through the Pinterest board titled "Writing Inspiration" and hope for some.
3. Look up lusty historical notes and maybe some sonnets.
4. Go the opposite direction of all that.
5. Eat more and start in on the coffee.
And it's only been an hour...
Here's what I've done so far:
1. Looked up the definition of Lust - 1. intense sexual desire or appetite 2. uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite, lecherousness 3. a passionate or overmastering desire or craving 4. ardent enthusiasm; zest, relish
2. Looked up lusty songs on the internet. So far, I like Dance Inside by All American Rejects and Slow Like Honey by Fiona Apple the best.
3. Eaten an entire box of Macaroni and Cheese.
Next up:
1. More lusty songs.
2. Comb through the Pinterest board titled "Writing Inspiration" and hope for some.
3. Look up lusty historical notes and maybe some sonnets.
4. Go the opposite direction of all that.
5. Eat more and start in on the coffee.
And it's only been an hour...
Double Shot: Year Two
I'm using Double Shot as a reason to get back into my blogging because, as you all know, it's been too long. And also, I'll need a way to procrastinate.
To begin--
I will be perfectly honest. I'm worried about the sophomore slump with this one. Keep that in mind.
To continue--
Here is my list of things you need to be successful with double shot:
1. A dinner of Macaroni & Cheese (the Annie's bunny shapes) and chicken nuggets
2. Coconut water
3. Coffee
4. Loaded Baked Potato chips
5. Chocolate covered almonds
6. Pocky
7. Coca-Cola gummies
8. Raspberries
and if things get really desperate...
9. Liquor and/or wine
Notice it's all food and all in hopes of staying awake through the night.
My next post? THE THEME. And more procrastination in talking about how to successfully write this ten minute script in 11 hours.
Stay tuned.
To begin--
I will be perfectly honest. I'm worried about the sophomore slump with this one. Keep that in mind.
To continue--
Here is my list of things you need to be successful with double shot:
1. A dinner of Macaroni & Cheese (the Annie's bunny shapes) and chicken nuggets
2. Coconut water
3. Coffee
4. Loaded Baked Potato chips
5. Chocolate covered almonds
6. Pocky
7. Coca-Cola gummies
8. Raspberries
and if things get really desperate...
9. Liquor and/or wine
Notice it's all food and all in hopes of staying awake through the night.
My next post? THE THEME. And more procrastination in talking about how to successfully write this ten minute script in 11 hours.
Stay tuned.
7.25.2012
Final Week
Five weeks? Five weeks since my last post?! I (happily) blame Blood/Sailing for this!
Blood/Sailing has entirely been my life for the last three weeks, if not for longer than that. The Sunday after opening week I curled up on my couch, not to be bothered until I could recover from the two weeks of non-stop physical/emotional/metal action that I had just put myself through. Honestly, I'm not sure I ever fully recovered. Once the soreness wears off and I can open my eyes completely again, we move right back into the show. But the tiredness is expected to wear off because...we only have one more weekend left! One show tomorrow (8pm) and two shows (8pm and 10pm) both Friday and Saturday night. (Get your tickets SOON. It's a small house and we have a lot of enthusiastic people coming.) Then the show is closed.
To say this show has been a rewarding experience is an understatement so I'm just going to refrain. We have both reached our Kickstarter goal (Don't worry! You can still support us until Saturday.) and received a review at this point, one that just affirms my love of the show and what it means for an audience...a "wonderfully terrifying experiment." (You can read that review here.) Furthermore, I'd rather not try to analyze the experience before it is over. That may and will come later. Whether it's internally or outwardly, only time will tell. I will say this though, I'll miss it. I'll miss the hell out of this evil volcano factory.
Now to learn how to relive my life again (with new and exciting projects...info to come).
Blood/Sailing has entirely been my life for the last three weeks, if not for longer than that. The Sunday after opening week I curled up on my couch, not to be bothered until I could recover from the two weeks of non-stop physical/emotional/metal action that I had just put myself through. Honestly, I'm not sure I ever fully recovered. Once the soreness wears off and I can open my eyes completely again, we move right back into the show. But the tiredness is expected to wear off because...we only have one more weekend left! One show tomorrow (8pm) and two shows (8pm and 10pm) both Friday and Saturday night. (Get your tickets SOON. It's a small house and we have a lot of enthusiastic people coming.) Then the show is closed.
To say this show has been a rewarding experience is an understatement so I'm just going to refrain. We have both reached our Kickstarter goal (Don't worry! You can still support us until Saturday.) and received a review at this point, one that just affirms my love of the show and what it means for an audience...a "wonderfully terrifying experiment." (You can read that review here.) Furthermore, I'd rather not try to analyze the experience before it is over. That may and will come later. Whether it's internally or outwardly, only time will tell. I will say this though, I'll miss it. I'll miss the hell out of this evil volcano factory.
Now to learn how to relive my life again (with new and exciting projects...info to come).
 |
| Blood/Sailing - Photo by Cassandra Gallagher |
6.26.2012
Visual Explorations of Character
In Blood/Sailing I play a child caught on the wrong end of an adolescent love triangle with catastrophic consequences. She's a child trying to do right, go by unscathed, while still trying to find a way to make a human connection when she isn't sure how to begin. She's an outsider in an outside world, full of questions that seem to have answers that are too monumental to comprehend. She just has to survive. She has to.
Blood/Sailing is a show all about stunning visual communication. (We use the word "stunning" a lot because, trust me, it is.) Because of the lack of dialogue, I found that exploring character in my standard way (using a lot of words - writing long and involved back-stories, analyzing every moment and so on) wasn't working for me in this process. So, I tried to approach my character work in the same way we approached creating this show: through visuals. I can't say they are stunning visuals like the show, but they definitely helped me understand other levels of my character. And through these visuals I was able to move into exploring my character's back-story is a way that I'm more accustomed to (using a lot of words - writing out the long involved back-story, analyzing every moment and so on). The combination of these two ways to approach character are paying off I think. Regardless, I feel more confident than I've felt in awhile. And more taken care-of. Thank you, Blood Ensemble.
I plan to do more of this sort of thing. Maybe a collage next time. It's cathartic and productive both at the same time.
Want more info?
(see) Tickets
(support) Kickstarter
(learn) Blog
(like) Facebook
Blood/Sailing is a show all about stunning visual communication. (We use the word "stunning" a lot because, trust me, it is.) Because of the lack of dialogue, I found that exploring character in my standard way (using a lot of words - writing long and involved back-stories, analyzing every moment and so on) wasn't working for me in this process. So, I tried to approach my character work in the same way we approached creating this show: through visuals. I can't say they are stunning visuals like the show, but they definitely helped me understand other levels of my character. And through these visuals I was able to move into exploring my character's back-story is a way that I'm more accustomed to (using a lot of words - writing out the long involved back-story, analyzing every moment and so on). The combination of these two ways to approach character are paying off I think. Regardless, I feel more confident than I've felt in awhile. And more taken care-of. Thank you, Blood Ensemble.
 | |
| back-story exploration. (c) 2012 |
 |
| moment exploration. (c) 2012 |
I plan to do more of this sort of thing. Maybe a collage next time. It's cathartic and productive both at the same time.
Want more info?
(see) Tickets
(support) Kickstarter
(learn) Blog
(like) Facebook
5.27.2012
It's in our blood.
And now, my thoughts on a gorgeous theatrical beast: Blood/Sailing.
A note: Part of this post actually comes from some publicity paragraphs I wrote to help with marketing the show. Some of the post is new.
Another note: Some of this post may seem eerily similar to a post I wrote while I was in c.1993 at Annex (this post). But that's what I love about devising. In some ways, every collaborative experience is very much the same. In other ways, every collaborative experience is different than anything you have ever worked on before. That being said...
This is like nothing else I’ve ever worked on. For audiences, I think it’ll be like nothing else they’ve ever experienced. It will be full of stunning visuals, moments of sadness, laughter, face-melting live music and genuine theatrical poignancy in an amazing venue. Blood/Sailing is an experience for this creative moment in time. A great one. There is some serious theatre going on here.
And you can tell we're invested. It's in our blood.
A note: Part of this post actually comes from some publicity paragraphs I wrote to help with marketing the show. Some of the post is new.
Another note: Some of this post may seem eerily similar to a post I wrote while I was in c.1993 at Annex (this post). But that's what I love about devising. In some ways, every collaborative experience is very much the same. In other ways, every collaborative experience is different than anything you have ever worked on before. That being said...
Sometime during college, I realized my passion (within theatre) is
generative and collaborative work, or “devising.” Over the last five years or
so, I’ve been involved in creating no less than six generative theatre pieces
and am so pleased to add Blood/Sailing
to the list. (Six may not be the right number. I've lost count. I like devising THAT much.) There’s nothing more satisfying than taking your art into your own
hands while being lead by creative, intelligent, and talented ensemble such as
Blood Ensemble.
I should explain what Blood/Sailing is. I think the Blood Ensemble ladies actually explain it best so I'm using their description of the show fromm their blog:
"Blood Ensemble and heavy metal band Smooth Sailing announce
“Blood/Sailing,” a show that combines experimental theatre and live
heavy metal music and performs July 12-28th at the boom! theatre space.
Blood Ensemble and Smooth Sailing intensely collaborated to create this
show that that will draw audiences from both Seattle’s music and theatre
scene.
“Blood/Sailing” is a story of despair, violence and redemption. Mr. Clementine, an eerie skeleton man, runs a sweatshop buried deep in a volcano. The children that work there have never seen the sun and never learned how to play. Using songs from Smooth Sailing’s debut album XO as well as brand new music written for the show, the show is full of stunning visuals and face melting music."
“Blood/Sailing” is a story of despair, violence and redemption. Mr. Clementine, an eerie skeleton man, runs a sweatshop buried deep in a volcano. The children that work there have never seen the sun and never learned how to play. Using songs from Smooth Sailing’s debut album XO as well as brand new music written for the show, the show is full of stunning visuals and face melting music."
The concept for this show is uncharted territory for me. As a theatre
artist and playwright, I usually rely heavily on the written and spoken word.
This show relies on a collaboration with metal music before words. And I must admit I’m not very familiar with metal music. But, I am QUICKLY
becoming a fan. Smooth Sailing’s music is great overall and perfect for this
kind of work: full of tension, emotion, levels. Personally, I’m enjoying the
challenge of creating of show based on stunning visual pictures set to a
distinctive soundscape. Words come later. Words come only when necessary.
There is an incredible darkness to this piece that I think contemporary audiences are not used to. As an ensemble, we have not shied away from violence, despair, overwhelming tension, and high emotion. These are reality, real parts of life. And, in my opinion, we really need to explore them. I think often in theatre, we try to hide from these themes...or mask them. Sometimes that is necessary and makes a statement in and of itself. But we're going full throttle into the darkness. We're driving the bus straight to the gates of hell and frolicking all the way.
This is like nothing else I’ve ever worked on. For audiences, I think it’ll be like nothing else they’ve ever experienced. It will be full of stunning visuals, moments of sadness, laughter, face-melting live music and genuine theatrical poignancy in an amazing venue. Blood/Sailing is an experience for this creative moment in time. A great one. There is some serious theatre going on here.
And you can tell we're invested. It's in our blood.
Want to know more and/or support us? Visit:
Between April & May
Tidbit: I recently went to Bellingham for an event called Back2Bellingham. It's an annual alumni and family weekend at my alma mater, Western Washington University. One of the events during this weekend is a kegger in the library. Yes, a kegger in the library. It's a popular event and an opportunity to run into a lot of people you haven't seen in a long time. I happened to run into a former boss of mine. She asked me what I had been up to. I talked about work and training for a half-marathon. Then I sort of off-handed said I was doing shows and what not in my "free-time." The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Me: I'm pretty busy I guess.
KC: That's the way it's always been.
Me: (laughter) Yeah, I guess so.
That being said, I've been pretty busy. I've been working a lot. Probably nearly 50 hours a week a lot. It's a time of transitions for Book-It. We've had some shake-ups at work (good shake-ups, people getting great opportunities kind of shake-ups) and that has meant that there has been more work for everyone. I suddenly found myself responsible for way more stuff than I bargained for. Trial by fire. In the last three months, I have learned so much. Good news is, we're getting some new people in and my work-load should diminish...ever so slightly.
Not to worry though. Even with all the work, I've still kept myself busy on the artistic front as well:
1) I applied for my first grant recently. I'm trying to get in the habit of looking for funding and at least making an effort to get my work out there. Grants require a lot of planning, as I've learned from working in development. Applying for grants taught me a good lesson in the last couple of weeks: You have to say no to other people and take time for yourself and your work. Writing is often very solitary but applying for grants is even more so and you have to give yourself time to make it the best grant application you can. Saying no to periphery activities is an important lesson for anyone to learn.
2) I've been in rehearsal roughly three times a week for an upcoming show called Blood/Sailing. Later today, there will be a specific post about that experience.
3) It is reading time for NorthNorthwest. I haven't counted every entry specifically yet but I'm pretty sure we have over 500 ten-minute plays to read. Good news is, I have a bang-up team of readers helping me. Bad news is, I still will be reading every single ten-minute play myself. Since I am the senior editor, I feel it is my duty to know every play that has been submitted. Now to set aside the time to do that...
4) Grad school is on the near horizon. I'm ready to go back to school. I know I have so much more to learn about my writing, getting work produced, and myself. I plan to be applying this fall and hope to attend somewhere next fall. Regardless, I think it is time to see where my life takes me beyond Seattle. Damn. I need to sign up for the GRE.
5) One of the one-acts from my reading (There Were Butterflies) will be in the August NPA...next to a play by Allison Gregory. That's a little nerve-wracking. Anna Townes and I are going to be performing it, like we did in the reading, but this time I have asked Ashley Johnson to be our director. I "directed" all the pieces in the reading so I think it'll be nice to have a outside eyes on this one. There may be a few edits before then. We'll see.
There you go. That was the time between April & May.
Me: I'm pretty busy I guess.
KC: That's the way it's always been.
Me: (laughter) Yeah, I guess so.
That being said, I've been pretty busy. I've been working a lot. Probably nearly 50 hours a week a lot. It's a time of transitions for Book-It. We've had some shake-ups at work (good shake-ups, people getting great opportunities kind of shake-ups) and that has meant that there has been more work for everyone. I suddenly found myself responsible for way more stuff than I bargained for. Trial by fire. In the last three months, I have learned so much. Good news is, we're getting some new people in and my work-load should diminish...ever so slightly.
Not to worry though. Even with all the work, I've still kept myself busy on the artistic front as well:
1) I applied for my first grant recently. I'm trying to get in the habit of looking for funding and at least making an effort to get my work out there. Grants require a lot of planning, as I've learned from working in development. Applying for grants taught me a good lesson in the last couple of weeks: You have to say no to other people and take time for yourself and your work. Writing is often very solitary but applying for grants is even more so and you have to give yourself time to make it the best grant application you can. Saying no to periphery activities is an important lesson for anyone to learn.
2) I've been in rehearsal roughly three times a week for an upcoming show called Blood/Sailing. Later today, there will be a specific post about that experience.
3) It is reading time for NorthNorthwest. I haven't counted every entry specifically yet but I'm pretty sure we have over 500 ten-minute plays to read. Good news is, I have a bang-up team of readers helping me. Bad news is, I still will be reading every single ten-minute play myself. Since I am the senior editor, I feel it is my duty to know every play that has been submitted. Now to set aside the time to do that...
4) Grad school is on the near horizon. I'm ready to go back to school. I know I have so much more to learn about my writing, getting work produced, and myself. I plan to be applying this fall and hope to attend somewhere next fall. Regardless, I think it is time to see where my life takes me beyond Seattle. Damn. I need to sign up for the GRE.
5) One of the one-acts from my reading (There Were Butterflies) will be in the August NPA...next to a play by Allison Gregory. That's a little nerve-wracking. Anna Townes and I are going to be performing it, like we did in the reading, but this time I have asked Ashley Johnson to be our director. I "directed" all the pieces in the reading so I think it'll be nice to have a outside eyes on this one. There may be a few edits before then. We'll see.
There you go. That was the time between April & May.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)