The musical aspects

One of the discussions Kathy and I had during our Ashe County retreat this past weekend related to the kind of music used in support of a stage play that is not a musical. With a few exceptions, I have always been a firm believer that the right music, used in a proper fashion, can further and support the theme or "story" of a play quite handily. Our discussion focused primarily, though, on the plays I have or am in the process of writing.

What I have found interesting and challenging is that, with my first play (Conversations in a Cafe), by the time I was done writing it, I had pretty much a full set of "soundtrack" songs that I would use at the beginning, intermission and end of the show to help tell the story. With my third script partially completed (The Good Life), I already have three songs in my mind that I would certainly use to illustrate the theme if I were producing or directing the play.

And for my second play (All About Faith), at this very moment, I have: absolutely nothing.

Perhaps it is the deeply serious, and sad for me, thematic material. Perhaps it is that pop or rock 'n roll music doesn't really often address the kinds of issues "Faith" presents. Perhaps I just don't know the right songs.

But even though it is unlikely I will ever direct or produce a production of this show, I like to have the "whole package" in my mind, or at least pocket, before presenting it to others. After our discussion, and given that we'll have an opportunity for some exposure to it on July 5th in West Jefferson ("Christmas in July" event), I'm going to undertake a closer study of bluegrass music. If there is some appropriately moody or serious or mournful tunes -- and as Kathy suggested, even some bluegrass versions of traditional hymns such as "Amazing Grace" -- perhaps then I would have some ideas of the "Faith" soundtrack. Given the play's story setting in the east Tennessee mountains, it seems like the right direction to take. (The action of the play is actually in a women's prison in Nashville, but the story happens in the mountains.)

We'll see how that turns out!

Good play year at the Tonys

The now-completed 2008 Tony Awards didn't exactly have a lot of surprises in the play category: "August: Osage County" took best play along with best director and lead and featured actress wins -- well-deserved -- and "The Seafarer" took a win for actor Jim Norton as featured actor. We were lucky enough to see both shows, and both deserved recognition. Though I will never quite figure out why neither David Morse nor Ciaran Hinds, the OTHER two leading actors in "Seafarer" got nominations in the acting category, it's nice that this production at least got some recognition.

As for the entire category of musicals: is it just me, or was it a pitifully weak year for musicals on Broadway? I certainly liked Patti LuPone in "Sweeney Todd" a few years back, but did we need another "Gypsy" revival this soon? And the big winner of the night -- yet another of many revivals for the year, "South Pacific." "In the Heights" and "Passing Strange" seem to have been reasonably well-received, but seem to me to be a litle bit niche-marketed. Would some additional folks with some original ideas and some other folks with the producer bucks AND the guts to get behind something not already written come along with some new stuff, please?

She won't forget THIS anytime soon!

I just had a phone call from Kathy (my wife), who is attending a conference in Boston at the moment. She had just returned from a Boston Pops concert at Symphony Hall -- apparently Fidelity, the sponsors of the conference, are major donors with the Pops. Not only did she get to tour the light booth and hit a couple of the light cues, she had the likely once-in-a-lifetime experience of being the Guest Conductor for the Pops' performance of "Stars & Stripes Forever." She was positively bubbling on the phone, and who can blame her? My highlight today was going to the Post Office and KFC. Wow! What a fun memory. She's just hoping someone took some pictures for proof purposes.

And now for more waiting

As anyone who knows me at all could tell you, patience is one of those virtues that completely passed me by. So imagine me patiently waiting, now, as I anticipate not hearing one way or the other about my bid for a grant to produce my FIRST play until October 1 or thereabouts. Add to that the sending of the script for my SECOND play to Washington, DC, and waiting to see when my son can show it to a theater company up there, and then wait until they read it and respond, one way or another. Even if I have to manufacture it, I am going to have to find any number of things to keep my mind off those matters!

We will be traveling a bit over the next few weeks, including catching the three roughly 90-minute segments of the Source Festival's 10-minute play offerings in DC -- these are being lit by Andy, and they just sound interesting in any case. And we have a play at Triad Stage, a play at Kernersville Little Theatre, and a play at Barter Theatre to see between now and July 4. That should help to keep my mind occupied. I hope.

Peace and quiet

It really is amazing how much a little peace and quiet, with few distractions, can make in the progress on a writing project. Conveniently, I wrapped up the article on antiquing in Greensboro late last week, and also got to see the printed treatment of the Triad Stage/Bloody Blackbeard piece in Greensboro Monthly late on Friday. It's really fun, and excellent photos, too! So all of that was put behind me BEFORE leaving for the Log-Inn (our second home for a little less than a year, at about 3200 ft. above sea level in Ashe County, NC).

Anyway, I have worked through, and over, three of the four scenes in ALL ABOUT FAITH, addressing further thoughts, comments and suggestions and generally seeking not only to smooth it out but add some running length to it. I'd like the final product to run around 90 minutes beginning to end. It's getting closer but it's not quite there yet, though I have yet to attack scene four and time it.

But in a quiet, otherwise unoccupied house with a view of trees and distant ridges from the loft window, I find it easier to keep my mind on task. Even if I'm taking a break before timing Scene Three to enter words on my blog!

Play-ing and working

While I'm waiting for the new issue of Greensboro Monthly magazine to hit the stands (and the web site), with its profile of Triad Stage and the upcoming "Bloody Blackbeard" musical, I've meanwhile been wrapping up the writing of a piece for August on antiquing in Greensboro. For an enthusiast of things old, you can imagine that researching that article was fun for me!

We've made our seat reservations at Triad Stage for "Blackbeard" (we recently "named" a couple of the seats in their theater, too), and have done the same the next night for KLT's production of "HONK!" We already know we like the music for HONK!, so we're looking forward to seeing how the show turns out here in Kernersville.

I also get to deliver some newly-acquired equipment to the load-in for HONK! tomorrow morning at the Kernersville Elementary School Auditorium. We've been working, through grants and special donations, to upgrade our light and sound equipment over the past two years. Next, we turn our attention to computers from THIS century.

And then, off to check in on the mountain home and do some final play script work. Not that it's that much cooler up there, according to the Weather Channel. If nothing else, it's time to switch the humidifier from "winter" to "summer" setting!

A long leap forward

Thanks to some very special people, I am now revising and taking some useful leaps forward on the script of my second play, "All About Faith." On Sunday afternoon, Cheryl Roberts, Mikey Wiseman, Kelly Wallace, Macon Shirley, Lee Huggins and Myla O'Brien visited the house and read the script out loud. Kathy, as always, was the hostess supremo, while I took notes and basked in the sound of the play in the hands of actors (instead of just me in a back room somewhere muttering to myself.)

While I am still chiefly pleased with the overall direction and content of the play, our guests offered a number of thoughts and suggestions that I think will only help to add clarity and fill in holes in the script that may have been filled in inside my head, but not on the page. I am still thrilled overall with the direction of the show, and how people reacted to it outside of the four walls of our house. Now, I have a week or so to whip it into shape further -- then send it to DC with Andy to see if a company up there might like to produce it.

Patience is a virtue. I'm told.

Thanks again, guys, for letting me hear the play in your voices!