Writing and viewing

Just a check-in report to let the readers know that I've completed my brush-up revision of "All About Faith"; am partway through editing the new short script for a 10-minute alternative version; and hoping to return to working on "Patent" soon. In other words, the writing work is moving ahead at a healthy pace, which is exciting.

I'm also looking forward very much to having some of my favorite actors and friends in the house this coming Sunday to give "Reunions" an out-loud read-through. Always fun, and always informative about a script-in-progress.

In the meantime, we got to travel northwards to D.C. and see two plays on this immediate past Thursday and Saturday.

First, our son Andy worked as associate lighting designer on a brand-new musical being presented at Ford's Theatre, called "Liberty Smith." First, I will say I enjoyed the concept: a young man in the time of the Revolutionary War -- and the "what if" proposition was, what if some of the events credited to certain well-known individuals by history were actually suggested, or aided, or done by an uncredited individual. What if Paul Revere, for instance, was too inebriated to make his famous ride -- and Liberty Smith did it in his place? I'll give no more away, but it's a fun idea.

Anyhow, the voices and the music generally were quite excellent; sets, costumes, lighting, sound, ditto. Concept generally well presented, though some of the silliness could have been cut to make the show 15 minutes shorter, and a distance better. We enjoyed, though.

Secondly, we made our long-awaited trek to the newly-renovated Arena Stage and saw Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." I thought it was awesome -- all four actors strong, and especially the leads Amy Morton (Martha) and Tracy Letts (George). Very well done. And absorbing. It's a bit confusing to me, and to critics in D.C. and NYC, why no one raised their hand and took this production to New York. But right now, anyway, it doesn't seem to be happening. Curious.

The writing goes on!

I am pleased to report that I did complete a first draft of another short play, though I may go back and do another version of it that fits in the 10-minute category. This one fits in the 16.5 minute category currently.

I'm also doing some revision of "All About Faith," with a little bit of addition to the third and fourth scenes. Nothing too major, just adding a few points that have occurred since the January reading, and hoping to address one comment that I thought was valid after due consideration. Continuing to try to find a home for that script and for "Conversations." Speaking of which, also considering working up an alternative version of that to reduce by one the number of scenes in the first act. We'll see ....

So anyway, seems to be primarily a time of revision. Plus working on "Patent" again, which I have concluded will probably wind up as a one-act script. I don't have any one acts, so that should be fine.

We have a variety of theater going excursions coming up, plus Kathy has committed to stage managing KLT's upcoming musical, so we should be able to stay pretty busy for the next few months!

Onward and sideways

I would have said onward and upwards, but things seem to be going along sideways at the moment, so ....

Anyway, as previewed in the last blog, we did go to the Broach Theatre for the first time ever, to see "Crimes of the Heart." After all, we've only been in the Triad since 1986. It seemed like time.

More recently, we caught the Sondheim musical "Assassins" at Theatre Alliance, which I found more entertaining overall. I had a quibble or two with the structuring of the play itself -- which builds nicely to a rousing choral number and suddenly shifts one character to a lead one and kind of brings the show to a screeching slowdown for a time before rebuilding itself to the finale. An odd show overall, as I'm sure many audiences would feel, but as one who enjoys looking at the dark side of the American psyche as well as the brighter side, I found it just fine. And several of our friends and acquaintances were in it and did well, too, so even better!

The writing continues to plug along - though I've not found a home for anything recently, so hence the "sideways" comment above. I did, however, finish up a draft of something to submit to the Evening of Short Plays (which is going to have a common set again, which is roughly the same as having a theme). And I am partway through another short play script -- an idea cropped up in my head while I was working on the EOSP submission, so I will write this out while it's fresh in my head. Then, perhaps, back to "Patent" to see if I can finish that one. Progress is good! (You can borrow that sentiment if you'd like.)

While the muse is speaking ....

I have come to the conclusion over the past four-plus years of "trying my hand at playwriting" that only a total idiot would ignore the muse when she (or they, in the case of multiple characters) is speaking to you. And I have to say that the past few months, the muse and/or the characters have been talking a lot, and that is a very good thing.

Both the boys and girls of "Reunions," my new full-length play, were good enough to keep chattering away until I reached a point I thought I could cut them off. They may be now changing a few of their words here and there (an inevitable part of re-reading and editing the first draft), but that's fine. They came up with things to talk about, insults to toss and revelations to share, often with little or no help from me. That's one of the little miracles of writing I enjoy so much! They take on characteristics and minds of their own, and sometimes surprise even me.

Anyway, "Reunions" is now nearly completed in preparation for a first full reading in mid-April. I still need to do the out-loud read and edit of the two men's scenes, but the women's scenes are completed and mailed to the appointed actors. I also got to hear the first four pages of scene one at Forum last Wednesday night, and hope to have enough woman actors at next Forum to hear part of scene two also. I'm enjoying the process!

Furthermore, I had a good writing exercise and experience last week. A good friend highly recommended (not that I'm saying she's pushy or anything) that I write and submit something to a new 10-minute play contest up in Virginia. And so I did.

The challenges involved were: 1). it was writing to a set theme, which is not a favorite thing of mine; 2). it had to be a play that could be considered family friendly. So there goes sex, swearing and too heavy a theme. All of the things that snuck into "Reunions" in one way or another.

Nevertheless, "At The Shrine" came off the computer by the end of the week, and with some slight revisions and Kathy's reading (she called it "cute," which is probably a good thing given the particular contest), off it went. We'll see if it strikes anyone's fancy. The event's in August, so it shouldn't be an endless wait one way or the other.

And then my other "need," in my opinion, was to get something going on a 10-minute play for the next (September) Evening of Short Plays submission. While not exactly a theme, the fall EOSP is once again going to have a common set. But to my pleasure, an idea finally floated into my head and the two characters started talking to me again this morning. (Sometimes, I feel like I'm just a transcriber of these peoples' babbling away). So there's a chance, anyway, that I'll have something to submit. Not due until the May 15-July 15 submission window, so I feel good about the odds.

And then I should start writing on prior projects again!

Meanwhile, we did finally, after all these years, make our way to our first show at Broach Theatre in Greensboro on Saturday night. It was a production of "Crimes of the Heart," directed by Stephen Gee, who also directed that show for KLT way back in 1991 (which starred, among others, Kathy Cissna and Myla Tucker, now Myla O'Brien).

I think I would choose the word "disappointed" to describe my overall reaction. The theater itself reminded me a little bit of some of those slightly iffy off-Broadway theaters in New York where you see stuff like "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" or "The Fantasticks," which is not entirely a compliment. And while there were some good actors in the group, the production was not destined to make it to my list of best shows I've seen in the Triad in 2011, even though it's early in the year. Just not that awesome, I fear. The ensemble never quite gelled.

But there's plenty of additional theater-going coming soon, so ... always a chance of awesome right around the corner.

Playing right along

I'm pleased to report that, in addition to playgoing, I have been keeping busy working on one full-length script while doing the necessary research for a short or one-act play I hope to create soon.

The full-length play is called "Reunions," and it deals with five men and five women talking in the aftermath of their 10-year, and then their 20-year high school reunions. These characters have been pretty good about continuing to "talk" to me over the past couple of months, and I am within viewing range of the end of the two-act show. First draft, anyway.

Meanwhile, I have been reading a lot of history books, on both sides of the "issue," and last week paid a visit in person to the historic site of the Civil War-era Andersonville (Camp Sumter) prisoner of war camp. A sobering visit to be sure. Lots of the men who died fighting the war on both sides didn't die on the battlefield. They died in prison camps of which Andersonville just happened to be the most outstandingly awful example. I hope to write something interesting about that piece of man's-inhumanity-to-man history.

The Andersonville visit was tied to a stop in Atlanta, Ga. to attend two days of the Southeastern Theatre Conference. I may not have found it terrifically helpful to me as a playwright, but it certainly was heartening to see a strong interest in the theater continuing among the young and supported by the organization, and the interest is both on and off stage. Some of us worry about where the next generation of theater actives and theater attendees will come from, especially as certain political figures seem hell-bent on destroying any fiscal support of arts of all kinds from various levels of the government. They should -- but they never are -- be ashamed.

We have also continued to be sitting often in a theater watching something. Most recently, a fine production and an enjoyable "talk back" of "The Sunset Limited" at Triad Stage; a fun, family-friendly "Headin' for the Hills" at Kernersville Little Theatre; and a road trip to see new friend Mike Elliott perform in "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Oak Ridge, Tn. Playhouse. One of our favorite plays, it was also updated to a 1960s Manhattan/Connecticut setting, which had us worried - but it worked out fine.

And soon, another show: we attended the fundraiser for the City Arts Drama Center in Greensboro recently, and won a silent auction item with two free tickets for the Broach Theatre -- which we had just been saying we had never visited. So next: "Crimes of the Heart" at the Broach!

And more theatrical experiences.

We've been maintaining our active theatre-involved lives since the "All About Faith" reading wrapped up on Jan. 28th. Greensboro Fringe Festival 2011 had us back and forth to the GSO Cultural Center several times. We saw both "The Couch" and "Silent Pictures" there -- and then a very fun production of "Dearly Departed" at Twin City Stage.

I also was involved with the Evening of Short Plays #24, which occurs at the end of the Fringe Festival (this year, on the second weekend of February.) My short play "Communication Gap" was chosen as one of the 10 short plays. So I got to be involved in auditions/casting with Randy Morris, my director, and attended the first full rehearsal of the two-actor script. I was able to discern at that first rehearsal that Randy and both actors (Artemis Jameson, also one of the playwrights, and Skyler Whitfield) "got" the concept and the show just fine. I didn't feel any need to bother them further!

So on the 10th (Kathy and I) and the 11th (just me), we took in all 10 shows -- mine was the production opener each night. A lot of fun, and certain plays (as is usually the case) impressed us more than others. It was also fun to see Myla acting in one of our favorites.

It has been an intriguing and delightful five months since "Conversations" opened -- two full length and two short scripts found their way onto a stage. Exciting!

All About Faith reading -- success!

I'm pleased to report that our staged reading -- OK, somewhere between a stage reading and a staged reading -- went well at Theatre Alliance on Jan. 28. We had a decent sized audience, who were very attentive indeed. And virtually everyone stuck around for the talkback afterwards, which was a surprise. Good comments, good feedback and everyone seemed to take something away from the play. I couldn't have asked for more!

We then reconvened at the Village Tavern with cast, crew, friends and a couple of special guests from the "Conversations" cast as well. What an excellent group of people to work with!

So, where thanks are due (so many of them): Myla for directing, Kathy for stage managing, Mallorie for lights and sound. Cast: Cheryl Ann Roberts, Carson Elizabeth Gregory, Michael Shapiro, Cameron Williams, Kenny Gaylord and Angie Barnes. Plus all the help from Theatre Alliance, too. You are all the greatest! Now, we'll see if we can find someone who wants to produce it ....

Anyway, it was a great learning experience again -- and of course, working it out in rehearsal and on stage helped the script, too. So glad we were able to work this project out.