Relief

(Wow. Three posts in one day. Don't worry. That'll probably never happen again.)

I just got a call from my cast. It sounds like they are really enjoying the show. That makes me feel ever so slightly better about my work.

An overnight festival is a sort of stress I've never really felt before. I would totally do it again.

Script Sent!

I did it! I finished the script. It took me three full rewrites and watching a 3-hour Julie Andrews movie (Star! - watch it.) to get something on paper I felt like I could send off. Turns out I didn't really need all those snacks I bought. I was too busy concentrating.

Something I learned from this experience (yes, already): it's good to take time with your inspiration. This time around my inspiration was a little factoid about one the actors in my cast. She is a big Julie Andrews fan. For whatever reason, that sparked my interest tonight. And that's why I spent so long watching a movie I hadn't seen before, instead of rehashing one I had seen before. I wanted a glimpse further into the head of my actor and the head of Julie Andrews.  And because of both of those explorations, I got the best glimpse into my character's head.

Another thing I learned: breaks are good. Time away from the script always makes the time with the script that much better and more productive. And showers are good for waking up the mind and body.

I'm really unsure of how the script turned out. But it was an experiment. I did the best I could in the time I had. That's what is really important, right?

Now to sleep (it's 5:00a.m.) and then off to Tacoma tomorrow evening to see the show. I have such a hard time watching my work but that's a blog post for a different day.

Double Shot

I shouldn't be doing this. I should not be taking time away from my twelve hours to write a ten-minute play to pen a blog. But surprise, surprise. I am.

I am currently writing for the Double Shot Festival which will take place in Tacoma over the next two days. Our prompt was sent to us barely 45 minutes ago. I took the time to brew a pot of coffee, set up a pad of paper, and create a new playlist. By all accounts I'm ready to do this.

Now.
To hope for real inspiration. To look at pictures, listen to music, put some T.V. on in the background and hope that lightning will strike me.

I might go through more than one pot of coffee.

I'm excited. I've never purposely written a script in such a short amount of time. I have been on the acting end of this, but quick writing side is new territory for me.

I'll update in the morning. Because I'm sure I'll make it to sunrise.

Stepping in Rivers

My own writing has really taken a backseat these days. I'm not actually complaining as I have been filling my time rehearsing for a show. What show you ask? This show: c. 1993 (you never step in the same river twice). It's a collaboratively created theatrical event ("show" is not exactly the right word) that will include ballroom dancing to a boy-band song, Sleepless in Seattle told through word balloons, and a Nirvana mash-up to name a few things.

In many ways, I feel like I was built to be a theatre cross-trainer (a term I lovingly stole from a professor of mine). I've never wanted to be just an actor or just a playwright. In fact, I think as theatre artists, we do more harm to ourselves than good when we try and label ourselves like that. Devising gave me a good opportunity to use all of my skills, some I didn't know I have. And I've been trained by (what I think are) some of the best. Now, having been a part of roughly five collaboratively created theatre pieces in the last four years, I am no stranger to this sort of work. All of those experiences have provided me with the opportunity to develop my skills so usually when I walk into something like this I feel incredibly prepared.

With c.1993, I must admit, I feel a little out of my league. Being a show of entirely found texts, a lot of singing, and a moderate amount of dancing, I'm flexing muscles I haven't flexed in a long time...if ever. Because of that, I am valuing my experience in this show a lot. I guess I had gotten kind of cocky when it comes to devising. I figured since I had done so much of it, anything would be cake. What I seemed to have forgotten was that for every different theatre artist there is a different way to approach devising. I had been devising with roughly the same group of people for a long time. A group of people I grew to love, understand, and collaborate with very well. Of course there had been some conflict; you don't create theatre without conflict. In the end the product was usually something I could be very proud of.

It was time to step out of my comfort zone. It was time to be introduced into a new way of doing collaborative work. It was time to get to know a whole new group of people with a different style of working. And I didn't even know it.

This show is going to be awesome I think. I love the cast/crew and we're working together pretty well. It's definitely going to be an interesting experience for our audiences.

So.
See it.

Reflection

Artists reflect in the most interesting ways.

Today is the tenth anniversary of the attacks on the United States we now refer to simply as 9/11. I began the day with this facebook status: "i've been trying to find the right words to say how i feel about today. maybe it's more perfect that i can't find any words. remembrance. always." 

I think now I have some words. Maybe not words so much as a reflection. 

A couple of days ago I discovered the New York Times video feature called "The 9/11 Decade: Artists Reflect" (linked above). NYTimes discussed the tragedy and the last decade with eight artists from various artistic disciplines. I've watched most of the videos so far (and will surely make it through all of them). I think it is so interesting to listen to the way an artist processes an event of this caliber. For the most part, it seems, they find away to connect with 9/11 on a personal level, a concentrated level instead of in a big picture way. I encourage you to watch these videos. 

I too connect with 9/11 in as personal a way as I can. It's how I make sense of the world in general and the only way I know how to make sense of such a big event. As a playwright, I have attempted to tackle the subject focusing on the aftermath of 9/11 on the relationship of two sisters. The younger sister, Joni, is struggling to move on with her life when there is no one left to take care of. The older sister, Claire, is struggling to be the guidance for her floundering younger sister.

Joni focuses on remembrance: "You never had to sit down with mom's grief either. You weren't here to watch any of it. 'Don't bother your sister at school.' She said that almost daily. She desperately wanted you to be around but she didn't want to bother you. She was spiraling. She did the opposite of this. She stopped eating. She stopped getting out of bed. Then she stopped breathing. I had to sit there and watch her disappear. Once we decided papa was really gone, her soul left with him. It was her empty body that stayed behind. Those five years were the most painful of my life. There was nothing I could do for her. No amounts of walks in the park or old movies. No amount of reassurance could ever bring her back from the rubble." 

Claire seeks retribution: "Oh, enough with that already! Listen to me. I did take the easy way out. I was afraid.  It was easier to redirect my anger into something else. Law. Law is intense and requires all the energy you have. And I chose International Law. I had a whole world of things to learn. It distracted me; it still distracts me. And that way, if it comes down to it, I can prosecute the people who fucked up my family. But no, you are so right Joni. I never sat down with my grief, as you put it. Because sitting down with your grief adds two hundred pounds and makes you useless to society. But I‟m sure you know something about that."

I think I tend to lean more towards remembrance, as Joni does. I personally, didn't know anyone on the east side of the country. The most personal connection I had to the World Trade Center was a desire to visit Windows on the World, a restaurant at the top of the one of the towers. My mom and I had decided that for my graduation present we would go to New York City and that would be one of our stops. 

But that was still years away. When the first plane hit the first tower I was in my first week of high school. The minute my mom opened the door and said "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center and they don't think it was an accident," my life was dissected in two. A cliched as it sounds there was innocence before, and fear, cynicism, and adulthood after. Most days, I honestly do not remember my life before 9/11 because it seems to me, it has always been this way. This is the world I operate in and I do my best to get by. Scratch that, I do my best to figure out how I can thrive in modernity. 

As a person, I'm still exploring ways to make sense of what happened ten years ago and 3000 miles away from where I was at the time. As an artist, the same is true. 

Everyone has a different way of dealing with a tragedy. Some dwell, some run, some are touch and go. Some people's lives have stopped and will stop in the future because of 9/11. My goal is simply to honor the memory and delve into the story in anyway I can. My goal is to listen to the collective silence that settles over the country every now and then. It is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

Can you hear it? 

The power of good feedback.

I feel like the creative wheels are turning like a hamster on crack running feverishly in its cage. The show has yet to even begin rehearsals and the ideas are percolating. I'm trying to keep them at bay and not get too many preconceived notions in my head about the topic or the way the process is going to be. So, in the mean time, I'm putting my energy towards other creative endeavors. Or, at least, I should be.

One of them is this year's edition of NorthNorthwest. Trust me, it's coming. Slowly but surely it is coming. It will be here. By the end of summer, it will be here.

Otherwise, I'm working with a group of lovely ladies to try and put together a showcase of my work. Those lovely ladies are as follows: Anna Townes, Emily Kight, Amanda Woodard, and Shannon Erickson. They've been patient in waiting for me to get all the one-acts into workable form. In fact, it was (and still is to some extent) taking so long that I finally called them together regardless of the state of completion of these one-acts. In fact, I called them together because of the state of completion of (one of) the one-acts.  I was stuck, utterly stuck on my 9/11 one-act I'm working on. I was hoping for help.

Having the ladies together in one room reminded me of the power of good feedback. In a few short hours, a couple of readings, a lot of wine and cheese and some tangential conversation, they gave me enough jumping off points that I currently feel a little overwhelmed but in the good way. As a playwright, there is always a risk in asking for feedback. You have to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em so to speak. It may not be the advice you need to help you along, it may not be advice you even want but if you have the right group of people working with you, helping you, the advice/feedback/comments can make all the difference in your process (and give you a kick-ass title). These ladies are the right group of people.

So, we're getting closer. The original plan was to have Related Strangers (that's the kick-ass title) fully produced by the end of summer. Unfortunately, for some good reasons, that looks like an impossibility. However, I think we can get a full staged reading up by the end of the year and produced by spring...? Hopefully. But we are moving, in a forward direction even.

[Good] Things are Happening

I'm in a show.

I must admit that is a statement I didn't think I would get to utter for some time yet. Still, as of yesterday afternoon, this statement is all mine.

I'm in a show.

Excuse my excitement and almost disbelief. I'll get to the good stuff now. The show is called c. 1993 (you never step in the same river twice) and it will be at Annex Theatre on Capitol Hill in Seattle. (more info here) It's a collaboratively created show based on events in 1993 and the idea that men who are bad boys are often idolized while women who are the same are considered "hot messes."

This is the kind of work I crave, love, hope for. I think I'm made to be a "theatre cross-trainer" as Rich Brown would put it. I mean, in the last four(ish) years I have been in five collaboratively created shows. It'll be a great adventure as I don't know most of the people in the ensemble as I have in the past.

It'll just be good to be in the creative atmosphere again. And yes, there are more good things happening but that'll have to be for a different post.