Catching up

Wow. It seems as if it has been a month of Sundays since I last wrote here -- and it nearly has. I was last reporting on the progress of the production of Conversations in a Cafe. And then that production happened, and there was no time.

I think it is safe to say that the production went quite well indeed given all considerations. I really, really enjoyed the process and learned so much along the way. I felt that our cast got along quite well especially given how I have seen other casts/crews go in productions. I've never been so intimately involved with all aspects of a production before, so maybe I'm kidding myself, but I thought we created a supportive environment for everyone to do their best -- and I think they did.

There were of course a few challenges here and there -- lights not quite working the way they should, a door that didn't always want to stay shut, a challenge with the flooring in one particular spot (though overall, the flooring idea really worked quite well). And one audience that should have been declared dead on arrival. But generally speaking, we had decent audiences who had nice things to say when the shows were over, a lot of really helpful volunteers, some fun gatherings and all in all, I thought a very positive experience. And now I am working to uncover theater companies out there who might be interested in reading and/or doing the show, and getting the script out there.

The end of strike and a couple of weeks of figuring out what to do with everything from the show led directly into seeing a short script of mine done as part of the second Horror Anthology in Greensboro (part of the Playwrights Forum projects). So, in short, October was a heck of a good month from a playwriting standpoint! But it was all very time-consuming, so very little writing got done, really, from August until mid-December.

Somehow, despite the schedule, we also managed to see quite a bit of theater during this time period. At Triad Stage, we caught a very good Glass Menagerie and a favorite of ours, Educating Rita, along with a good if not totally great Christmas Carol. Theatre Alliance offered a very good Cabaret and a fun Winter Wonderettes. Open Space hosted Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, featuring one of our fave actresses.

Clemmons Community Theatre presented Never Too Late; Stained Glass Playhouse featured Cameron Williams and others we knew in And Then There Were None; and we got to see Tommy Trull's new The Immersibles at GTCC.

Perhaps of the greatest personal interest in the late fall was the latest work-up of Harry Connick, Jr.'s musical version of The Happy Elf, worked out in Maryland with hopes of a Broadway future. Wonderful and creative lighting design: Andrew R. Cissna. We of course had to go and see it.

And that brings us up-to-date, here just into the new year with more playwriting stuff coming up soon! And I'll write about that in a short time.