It was a great reading!

I have to say that it is such a pleasure to bask in the post-experience bliss of having hosted, along with my lovely wife, a reading of a new script by actor friends and acquaintances. There was also a lively and informative discussion of the play itself afterwards ("The Good Life," full-length play #3) that offered some great ideas and adjustments that I will make to the script before it gets sent out.

Cheryl, Lee, Ken, Myla, Macon and Tana -- plus my live-in actor, Kathy -- you know who you are, and please know that you're appreciated. It may take me a little while to beat it into submission, but your reading and your reactions will help me to formulate some new thoughts on the fine tuning of the script and, I feel quite certain, make it a better play in the end. Thank you!

And as we are nearing the mid-point of January, I feel reasonably certain that some kind of news, pro or con, from several of the submissions are bound to break just about any time. Fingers are crossed, except, of course, when keyboarding, like right now.

I continue to think (or is it dream?) that 2009 is going to be the year when some of my words are going to spew forth on a stage, here there or somewhere. And I hope that's a good thing!

Excited about the new year

We have, fairly peacefully, slipped from 2008 -- which I think most folks won't miss -- into 2009. For Kathy and me, it included a first: attending a theatrical performance timed and specifically meant to include a welcoming of the New Year. It was apparently Open Space Cafe Theatre's second year to do so. It was a premiere production of "Miss Gulch Returns," which will return itself for a regular run at the Theatre from January 8-24. Along with a piano player, it stars Macon Shirley in a one-man musical that studies the post-"Wizard of Oz" life of the ornery Miss Gulch of the movie. Fun, cute lyrics, not the easiest music in the world to sing -- we had fun, and they simply stopped the second act for about ten minutes to ring in the year.

For me, now that we've made it to 2009, there should be some information forthcoming over the next few months about the various shows I've written and put out there, starting - hopefully - soon. Further, a group of hardy and hearty friends will be at the house on Jan. 11th to read through "The Good Life" for me. Immediately thereafter, or as soon as I can make final brush-up changes, I have a place to send it for a possible review/possible production, which even if it doesn't pan out, is exciting.

Then some fine day, I need to get back to work on the started-but-a-long-way-from-done full-length and 10-minute play ideas I have floating around. Though I have some paying non-fiction work I must get completed before much will progress on those projects!

Looking forward to a good 2009 of playgoing!

Revisions the latest

I'm very pleased to report that I did actually take another reader's comments into consideration and reworked portions of"The Good Life" while I was off at Carolina Beach. The revised version is now prepared for a reading by a group of friend/actors in January -- and then the finished draft will be off to at least one point of review as soon after the read-through as I can complete the brush-up.

Meanwhile, hopefully, some word on a couple of the works out there in contest-land will have been received, and maybe things will move forward an inch or two!

We caught the sweet "Christmas Bus" performance by Kernersville Little Theatre performers on Saturday night. Not overwhelmingly attended, unfortunately. My theory is that the current state of the economy is not going to do any of the arts any big favors over the next year or two. Time to tighten down the hatches and kick into survival mode for a while!

Hmm. We've slipped into December, always a busy month, and haven't blogged a bit about the progress of the various plays. Would that be because there has not, as yet, been any progress to report? That would be ... accurate.

It's not through any lack of desire or anything, but though I have the beginnings of a new 10-minute play on paper, the concept of another 10-minute play in my head, and I reported earlier that a full-length script had been commenced, nothing further has transpired. Part of that is due to all the other December activities and some play going (we enjoyed "Black Comedy" at Third Stage in Greensboro, and I thought that "Beautiful Star" at Triad Stage was "nice"). Part of it is due to researching and writing for a new paying project. The rest of it is lack of time and, in some cases, desire.

As I was saying to another writer the other day, sometimes when you've put lots of hours into projects and nothing has, yet, borne fruit, it's hard to maintain the desire to write MORE work that isn't going anywhere, yet. I'll get past that at some point, but right now, other than the second, only-in-concept 10-minute play, I don't have any burning desire to move forward with projects in play world until something moves forward on the work already done.

The reason for the one 10-minuter is that there is a program called "The Seven" in New Mexico that, this year, surveyed all its playwrights and others via e-mail, and then conducted an e-mail vote from selected theme ideas to come up with the 2009 final theme. All plays are written about that theme, so if I'm going to submit an entry, I've gotta write a 10-minuter to that theme. So there's actually a target there.

And I got some useful commentary on "The Good Life" the other day, so hope to do some rewriting on that script BEFORE we have a private reading in mid-January.

So while it's not full speed ahead, something is happening while I wait on responses to the various entries floating around out there. By the end of January, I hope to know something about at least one of them. Maybe.

Waiting ... um ... patiently.

I truly wish I had something earth-shattering and exciting to write for the blog, but right now, I've been too busy on home and yard and other home and yard and "real" (i.e., paying) writing projects to do any new writing on the next play (though it got a little "head" time a couple days back that might turn into a title and a clearer direction).

Instead, I'm waiting on some kind of word, some day, about all the various possibilities to which I have sent the two completed full-length scripts, and the one ten-minute play. There is a vague chance I might hear something about one of them BEFORE January 1, and then one of the places makes its choice ON January1, so at least some kind of a status report should occur by then.

And meanwhile, as mentioned before in this blog, I wait. Gah.

I do have a week away in December, however, which could be productive both for the play writing and some other pieces I will be working on (paying work, yay!). And then some friends will help, as they have before, with an out-loud reading of play #3 in mid-January. That should be both fun, and put me in a position to touch that script up and try to put it out there, too.

And then, maybe, one of them will crop up on a stage somewhere!

A little free time is great

I haven't posted for a bit because my wife and I were busy planning and packing for our 30th wedding anniversary trip -- eight chiefly dry days in Ireland, including Dublin, Waterford, Galway and the Connemara peninsula. Fun trip, didn't hit anybody in the rental car, lots of pints of ale and a few good pub visits. Though Ireland has less by way of pubs and more that are like a pub but presented as a bar/restaurant.

And as I have found before, sometimes a few days away from a computer and other chores is good for the brain. By the time I got on the plane back from Dublin to Philadelphia (7.25 hours flight time), I had an idea for a 10-minute play, and by the time I got off the plane, the first draft was completed. It got typed in once back at home, and read/timed, and added to slightly. Now it is more or less finished. Love it when things go easily!

I had determined already that no script was doing me any good gathering dust -- and then once everything I had "finished" was sent out somewhere, I quickly decided that I needed MORE material to take advantage of the various contests/competitions out there in playwright world. So now working on getting that reading moving on "The Good Life," and have a new 10-minute script I can get in the works somewhere. It almost feels like progress!

And we move on

Well, as I've probably already stated, writing is a challenge in itself, and then there's the joy of trying to do something with it when it's done. Unfortunately, I received the news yesterday that the county Arts Council once again decided not to give me a grant to produce my first play. Too bad. I'm going to be interested in seeing who DID get the grants, after all the glad-talk that encouraged me to submit again and, in effect, put that script in limbo for another very long six months. If once again, there was no literary grant at all, I might just be, um, lightly perturbed. [Addendum: as it turns out, I was not the only literary grant request, but once again, the "panel" failed to give ANY support to a literary project.]

But if nothing else, it put me in action to research and continue pushing the finished scripts out the door to other potential readings/productions/reviews locations and gather from online sources additional possible future outlets. I had actually mailed "Conversations" to one new play contest several days ago, and "Faith" went in the mail to another location late last night. Even negative responses can, I guess, be a form of inspiration.

Meanwhile, I started working towards a private reading of "The Good Life" and maybe, after other work gets done, I'll be back to the new play as well. There seem to be a fair number of theater company new play-reading ops out there. Now I just need additional material if this concept is ever going to become a reality.