Vanishing Point

I know I appear to have disappeared as of late, but I still exist. Really. But rather than writing or reading blogs, I've been trying to get the first act of my new play, Constant State of Panic, ready for this Saturday's workshop/open rehearsal in Rhombus's Six Views/Same Shape new play festival (Saturday, 2pm, Boston Playwrights Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. Free.).

(The Festival runs April 24-27, and if you're in Boston, you should definitely check it out--we've got reading and workshops of six new plays, plus a roundtable discussion on models/methods of new play development, featuring Gary Garrison of the Dramatists Guild, Ilana Brownstein (literary manager of the Huntington Theatre Company), and Kate Snodgrass (artistic director of Boston Playwrights Theatre and who helps run the BU graduate playwriting program), plus artistic directors Joe Antoun and Jacqui Parker.)

The good news is that I did manage to get the act done in time before we left for Florida (which is where I'm writing this) and before a quick read-through with my cast (who are terrific). We get back from Florida just in time for Six Views to start.

I also needed to type up the new beginning to my new novel for my fiction group, which meets next week (so I had to send them the stuff before we left on vacation). I'd thought it was all typed and edited, but I remembered falsely--it was all handwritten scribbles. (Turns out there were 28 typewritten pages when I was done.)

All that, plus a whole bunch of family stuff, getting ready for vacation, coaching Kira's soccer team, and trying to prepare for teaching White People Challenging Racism at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (starting next Wednesday--I've barely even had time to think about it). I'm mostly just been trying not to panic.

So far, so good. Now I just need to clarify exactly what we're going to do in this whole "open rehearsal" on Saturday. I think I have an idea, but I'll be a little more relaxed with a plan on paper.