So, here on April 23, I've reached the intermission of MISS, a new full length play. During the 30 Day Challenge, I didn't actually write for about two weeks as I wrapped up the school year - which included finals and the Belhaven Theatre Festival (during which I had readings of two different works).
Miss has been an interesting process, taking much more time than I'd wanted to. I had hopes of repeating my feat of writing a first draft very quickly - Anathema's first draft was done in just over a week (with many rewrites to come afterward). This one has been much slower in developing, and still, though I've reached half-way, there's a lot I don't know about what's going to happen later in the play.
But so far, I think there's something interesting in this play that I can continue to mine. Sometimes, I can get 15-20 pages out and then I'm no longer interested in these people.
Now that work has lightened up, the hope is that I can get back to writing every day, and perhaps reach the end of this story soon (at least before the end of April...). With so many other projects on the burners for this summer, it would be ideal to at least get this off my plate ASAP. Then it can sit in a drawer for a while.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Updates and Upcoming...
Who'd of thought that my first post for 2013 would be Easter Sunday...
Since my last posts were regarding Granite, an update would be worthwhile: the internet staged reading and subsequent publication are still forthcoming, after a couple of setbacks in that process on the administrative end. I do hope that good news is on the way on that front.
I have a couple of projects that I've agreed to and are in various stages of progress, and I will be updating information about those as time wears on - some of them are yet to be announced officially, some are more exploratory, so we'll leave those for now.
Here's what's coming up in the next few weeks.
Two staged readings during the Belhaven Theatre Festival next week:
Granite will be read on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:15pm along with a script by John Maxwell called Mary and Martha. John and I will be a part of discussion afterward about writing plays that deal with faith.
The Long Surrender will be read on Thursday, April 11 at 7:30pm.
In the meantime, the next major project that I'm taking on is the 30-Day Writing Challenge for the month of April. This is an inaugural event in honor of the late Jack Gilbert, who previously ran ScriptFrenzy, a one month screenwriting challenge. This is a group of Frenzy-ists doing this in honor of Jack.
So, the plan is to write every day during April. Which means this starts tomorrow.
I have decided that I didn't want to do too much pre-work, so I haven't been mapping the plot out, or anything like that. But I do think that I'm going to write based on an idea I had last summer during the Glen East playwriting workshop with Arlene Hutton. I have long since lost all of my notes on that idea, so I'm largely starting over, but the base of the story is a rocky return home for a small-town Mississippi girl who'd ran away to Chicago.
So, you're likely to see some updates on here - maybe not daily, but I'm going to try to journal through the process, post when I reach markers (act break, finished draft). Who knows - if I finish a draft of one play, I may start another one...
Since my last posts were regarding Granite, an update would be worthwhile: the internet staged reading and subsequent publication are still forthcoming, after a couple of setbacks in that process on the administrative end. I do hope that good news is on the way on that front.
I have a couple of projects that I've agreed to and are in various stages of progress, and I will be updating information about those as time wears on - some of them are yet to be announced officially, some are more exploratory, so we'll leave those for now.
Here's what's coming up in the next few weeks.
Two staged readings during the Belhaven Theatre Festival next week:
Granite will be read on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:15pm along with a script by John Maxwell called Mary and Martha. John and I will be a part of discussion afterward about writing plays that deal with faith.
The Long Surrender will be read on Thursday, April 11 at 7:30pm.
In the meantime, the next major project that I'm taking on is the 30-Day Writing Challenge for the month of April. This is an inaugural event in honor of the late Jack Gilbert, who previously ran ScriptFrenzy, a one month screenwriting challenge. This is a group of Frenzy-ists doing this in honor of Jack.
So, the plan is to write every day during April. Which means this starts tomorrow.
I have decided that I didn't want to do too much pre-work, so I haven't been mapping the plot out, or anything like that. But I do think that I'm going to write based on an idea I had last summer during the Glen East playwriting workshop with Arlene Hutton. I have long since lost all of my notes on that idea, so I'm largely starting over, but the base of the story is a rocky return home for a small-town Mississippi girl who'd ran away to Chicago.
So, you're likely to see some updates on here - maybe not daily, but I'm going to try to journal through the process, post when I reach markers (act break, finished draft). Who knows - if I finish a draft of one play, I may start another one...
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Granite is selected!
My submission from the 31 plays in 31 days contest, Granite, has been selected for publication in an anthology and an Internet staged reading! Very pleased and honored that my play was chosen, and looking forward to hearing more details about the reading.
www.31plays31days.com
www.31plays31days.com
Friday, November 9, 2012
scenes for Christmas
So, I'm working on a couple of short scenes for a Christmas program for a church here in Jackson. (More details on the performance as it comes together and gets closer...)
I yet again find myself in the situation of writing scenes that have already been cast. Not sure why it takes the pressure of impending rehearsals to force me to write, but it works every time.
I've got one sentimental scene, one a bit heart-wrenching, and one shaping up to be very comedic. It will be in a evening full of music and poetry, so should be a fun time for the holidays. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it more than once...
I yet again find myself in the situation of writing scenes that have already been cast. Not sure why it takes the pressure of impending rehearsals to force me to write, but it works every time.
I've got one sentimental scene, one a bit heart-wrenching, and one shaping up to be very comedic. It will be in a evening full of music and poetry, so should be a fun time for the holidays. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it more than once...
Friday, October 19, 2012
A Birthday Present
Today is my birthday. And for my birthday, I get to watch my play The Mayfair Affair performed at The Wesleyan School's Wolf Players! I did get to see the show last night, so I know that it will be a great performance, and I will laugh at all of my own stupid jokes that make me laugh no matter how often I hear them. And I'm spending part of the day on campus here, so I get to be a sort-of celebrity for a day (which always feels good). Then I'll get to go to dinner with my family, and some friends. There are worse ways to spend a birthday.
Worse ways to spend a birthday that I can think of right now:
Worse ways to spend a birthday that I can think of right now:
- Russian gulag
- trapped in a mine
- space jump
- public flogging (either real or metaphoric)
- Chuck E Cheese
I actually went to a Chuck E Cheese birthday for a non-child and it was a lot of fun - on a Tuesday; today is a Friday, which would be insane.
I'll stick with watching my play be performed.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Granite - a rewrite
Granite
Here is the rewritten version of Granite - play #31 of my submissions to the 31 Plays in 31 Days project. I just submitted this rewrite for consideration for the project's Internet Staged Reading and for publication in the ensuing Anthology.
Since this was yet another play where I started writing not having much idea of exactly where I was going, the chance to consider rewrites and really dig back through the script was really helpful. Since the main image of the script turned out to be the block of granite, I made some adjustments to the placement of Litha's speeches, so that she starts the play now. I was able to expand and complete more of the stories of the other three, and put some more touches into the scene descriptions to clarify what it is we see on stage. I definitely like this more after the rewrite. Might almost be worth staging...
Here is the rewritten version of Granite - play #31 of my submissions to the 31 Plays in 31 Days project. I just submitted this rewrite for consideration for the project's Internet Staged Reading and for publication in the ensuing Anthology.
Since this was yet another play where I started writing not having much idea of exactly where I was going, the chance to consider rewrites and really dig back through the script was really helpful. Since the main image of the script turned out to be the block of granite, I made some adjustments to the placement of Litha's speeches, so that she starts the play now. I was able to expand and complete more of the stories of the other three, and put some more touches into the scene descriptions to clarify what it is we see on stage. I definitely like this more after the rewrite. Might almost be worth staging...
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Rewrites. And Writes.
So, I'm working on a rewrite of one of the 31 Plays- due by Oct 15, but I can only turn in one, so I need to pick which one to send. This resubmission will be considered for an "Internet staged reading" and possible publication.
I'm also trying to pull together a couple scenes for a short play for December. I have a start, and think it could come together soon enough to have a workable draft in time to move forward with that project.
I'm also trying to pull together a couple scenes for a short play for December. I have a start, and think it could come together soon enough to have a workable draft in time to move forward with that project.
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