May Day Play Day: Open and Shut (and a link to the script)

10:48pm, Saturday. Well, the show has opened and closed. I had no trouble staying awake, thanks to good performances and a Red Bull right before the house opened. All four shows went well. We had a receptive crowd, close to capacity (which is especially impressive considering it's Memorial Day weekend). My show went second, and it held its own with the other plays. My actors did an especially fine job, really bringing in some emotional depth in front of the audience. Moments that I'd been doubting came off very nicely, and the first half of the show really sailed by. I can see where I need to cut at the end, but even so, it was a powerful play, and not one where you'd say, Oh, well, what would you expect, he wrote it in the middle of the night.

This afternoon, I was just so exhausted when I got home. I felt like the play really sucked and how were we going to pull it all together in time. Blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. (Tracy says I was exactly the same the last time I did this event.) The nap this afternoon helped a lot.

I got back to the theatre, mid-way through our tech. Unfortunately, we lost some of the fun sound stuff I'd hope to have at the beginning, just because the CD player wouldn't cooperate. Oh, well. The actors were pretty solid on their lines by the time I got there at 6, and once tech was over they ran it three or four more times.

Here is my cast (photo from last night: Shaun Butler, Kyla Astley, and Mikey DiLoreto).

Kudos to them and my director, Brian Anastas, for working their asses off all day and night (and being completely off book on a 15-page play by 8pm). Thanks to Mike Manship and Colleen Rua for sponsoring the whole event.

I don't usually post my scripts online, but I know folks have been following the growth of this play. So I've posted the script on line: click here to see a pdf of A Bright New Morning. I'm still sleep deprived, but this is pretty much the script did tonight, plus a few small additional cuts.

I definitely learned that I'm not good at cutting down a script on no sleep. Lots of other lessons, too, but for the moment I just need to get some sleep.

May Day Play Day: off to tech

5pm, Saturday. Had a good day of rehearsals today. Met director at 9am, actors at 9:30, worked straight through until 1:30pm. By that time we had the whole thing blocked and had a chance to run it a few times in the space. After being up for almost 36 hours in a row, definitely wished that I was a more brilliant writer. The script is okay, but I was trying to do a lot and didn't succeed at it all. We'll see how it looks at 6pm at the tech. This afternoon the actors were already starting to get off book as well as handle the blocking. What a lot to do in such a short period of time.

I'm just up from a 2 1/2 hour nap and am pretty out of it. Hopefully can snap back to wakefulness by the time I get to the theatre.

May Day Play Day: made the deadline

Okay, well, I got the script off to my director, before the 8am deadline. We'll see he thinks. We're meeting at 9am at the theatre, and then have a few hours of rehearsal. Then, with any luck, I'll be able to get a nap.

I did make a few more changes, but some of my time got sucked up trying to download a sound effect, which then got all screwed up. 6am computer screw ups after being up all night are not fun.

I need something to eat.

May Day Play Day: revisions, A Bright New Morning

5:08 am. I had a little nap, until 4. Since then I've been reading aloud and revising. It's still awfully bitter and dark, but I'm afraid that's just what it is.

I'm a little worried that the language is a little loopy and flat, and likely to get the actors caught in circles. I only have a little while to work my way out of that, and it's not as easy as it sounds (on no sleep, at 5am).

I wonder if the piece is subconsciously drawing inspiration from Laura Harrington's Boston Theatre Marathon piece (which I liked). It's somewhat post-apocalyptic. In some ways it's an odd post-Katrina piece, I suppose. Too soon to say.

I have staging in my mind that should work with what we've got at the theatre, using a ladder and cinder blocks and the umbrellas.

I'm glad to have a title, A Bright New Morning. We'll see how it all goes in rehearsal. I'll look at it for a another hour, I guess, and see what I can do with it.

May Day Play Day: draft 1

3am. Well, I'm starting to nod in my seat here. Might be time to break out the Red Bull. Hard to say.

The good news is that I have a first draft, coming in a little over 13 pages. Not bad. It's much darker and more oblique than I wanted. More static physically, too. (Where that sheet of rules?) But there's definitely conflict, in an odd triangle. I'll take a ten-minute nap, I think (or a little longer) and then read it over and see how I can make it much better.

Can I make this into something that sizzles? Rewrites ahead. (I have hours and hours ahead.)

May Day Play Day: some progress

1:43am. I've got about 8 pages. Pretty rough, and much darker than I'd like, and I'm not sure I see how it ends, though I have an idea. I might need to backtrack and add some complications. The dialogue is fairly sparse, but I like that the characters know each other, and the stakes are high (life or death). I don't know if the stage business will work completely (if it doesn't, I'm going to have to do some some creative thinking on my feet tomorrow morning). I like that the setting is unusual (I got so tired of seeing living rooms, hotel rooms, and table and chairs at the Marathon), though it's a bit abstract feeling (thank you Mr. Dali).

I'd really like this to run closer to 15 minutes, but I feel a ways away from that at the moment, and it's late enough that the words are coming pretty slowly. The characters aren't nearly as clear as I'd like. Still, I think I might have a draft by 3am, with time to revise by 4am, if I'm lucky. I'd like to be at 12 pages by 3am, but I'm not sure. I'm not super sleepy, but also not super clear headed either.

Okay, that's enough break. Back to work.

May Day Play Day: a start

It's 12:30am. I've got two pages, plus I found a sound effect online that I might want to use. I have character names, and know how they're related to each other, at least for now. There's a grudge involved, but I'm not sure exactly what. Despite having them stranded, I have an idea for a whole bunch of stage business, but I'm not quite sure how it all works out.

Need to keep pushing ahead. With some luck, the next hour will prove fruitful.

May Day Play Day: noodling

Okay, it's 11:20pm and I'm back home from the theatre. I got to meet my actors and director, all of whom are fairly young, in their 20s. Promising bunch. The actors each did a monologue for us, which was helpful. I've got one who can speak Italian, another can play guitar, and a third can stand on her head, box, and speak French. Hm. I remembered to bring my camera and took photos and short videos of each, which is very helpful. Once the actors left, the playwrights spent time poking around the space, looking at props and entrances/exits.

The item we were given for inspiration is a Salvador Dali image--melting clocks on a dessert and beach. Hm.

I have until 8am to come up with a script, and I'm supposed to meet with my director at 9, the actors at 9:30.

Right now I only have a few pretty vague ideas and no definite characters in my head just yet. There are a bunch of props that I really like--empty liquor bottles, a box of umbrellas, a fishing pole, cinder blocks, a ladder, that have caught my interest. For some reason, water is really on my mind, though that seems to be awfully serious, and I'd prefer something comic. I have an idea floating around in my head, about islands and stranding and floods, but I'm worried that it all leads to a very static stage, so I'm resisting.

I figure I need to actually be typing pages by midnight and better have most of a play by 2am or 3am. This is a very frightening thought.

I've got a can of Red Bull in the fridge, two dark chocolate candy bars (already ate one), and a loaf of bread for PB&J.

Time to go stare at the blank screen for a while.

May Day Play Day: rules of the road

Though I have no idea what I'm going to write tonight, I find it helps to set up some ground rules for myself before I start. (I'm sure I will break some or all of them before the play is finished.)

• Balance the roles. All three actors will want fairly even stage time, and it's only fair to try to make that happen. No one wants to spend all Saturday working on a walk-on.
• Make it visual. Scripts written in a hurry can tend to be on the talky side. I need to get a good look around at the theatre to see what sorts of props and costume pieces we have available. Consider the actors' talents (juggling, magic tricks, etc.). The audience needs something to look at. Bright colors are good. Try to use some stage magic. (But at the same time, any physical bits have to be VERY simple and readily available.)
  
• Don't be afraid to use sound. Sound effects are probably out, but think about things that the actors might do that helps make a soundscape.
• Make it active. Have the actors engaged in doing something active. The audience wants to see action. Strong action will help move the story forward and keep the actors from getting lost.
  
• Conflict and tension are critical. This is true of all plays, but especially important in this case. It's hard to learn a short play in a single day, but it's a lot easier if you're character is actively engaged with everyone else on stage.
• No long monologues. Actors are only human.
• No blackouts. I hate these anyway, but they're deadly in a short play festival, because they confuse the audience. The audience does not like to be confused about when the play is over.
• Use the whole space. Examine the entrances and exits and make good use of them. For god's sake, don't write a park bench or cafe table play.
• Beware repetitious dialogue. The rehearsal period is so short that convoluted dialogue, or looping dialogue is guaranteed to get the actors lost when it comes time for the show.
  

I'm sure I'll think of a few more.

(Last time, my play The Sky is Falling, was about a woman who goes home to say goodbye to everyone after her guru tells her that the rapture is coming and they're about to be taken into the mother space ship. At the end of the play, the guru and the grandmother end up going off on into space. I think I managed to stick to the rules above, but still have a play that was fun, whimsical, and fluid in terms of time and space.)

May Day Play Day: prologue

Tonight is the start of May Day Play Day. This is a24-hour play making festival run by the South City Theatre Company here in Boston. Tonight four playwrights (including me) will meet with four directors and a dozen actors at the Devanaughn Theatre. We'll pick from a hat to see who works with whom. After that, I'm supposed to spend all night writing a short play. In the morning, my director and actors will take over and rehearse like crazy. At 8pm the show will be fully blocked, memorized, and ready for an appreciative audience.

I did this five years ago, and it was a hoot. Especially interesting was that the rehearsal process felt like any other, but merely compressed: initial excitement, fumbling, semi-mastery, everything falls apart when it's time to go off book and do the blocking, nervousness starting to focus the minds, exhaustion gets people a little punchy, and suddenly the lights come up and the magic of theatre brings the whole thing together.

I try not to come in with any preconceived notions of what I'll write. I especially enjoy writing with specific actors in mind. In some ways, this feels like a more necessary kind of theatre, one that takes all of the artistic collaborators into account from the beginning. (I need to think and write more about this someday.)

When I meet the actors tonight, I will ask the following questions:

• What talents (besides acting) do you possess? Can you juggle, sing, play guitar, do cartwheels?
• Do you speak another language besides English?
• Are you a fast memorizer?
• What have you always wanted to do on stage?
• Can I take your picture?

I think those will give me a good start, and something I can lean on at 2am. (I'm gonna need a big bag of dark chocolate.) I'll check in with more posts as the eveng progresses

Sheep to Shawl (and May Day Play Day)

I'm going to take part in a fun event over Memorial Day weekend: the May Day Play Day, produced here in Boston by the South City Theatre Company. I did this a few years ago and it was a blast (these types of 24-hour festivals are becoming increasingly popular).

What happens is this:
At 8pm, five playwrights are brought in to be randomly paired up with directors and actors. The writers are given a common theme or props or some unifying element that they have to include in the script.

After this, the writers go off and write all night long. (Or they just stay there in the theatre, which is more fun.) This is exciting at first, then scary, when it gets to be 2am and you realize that the idea that you've been working on might not seem quite so brilliant anymore, but there's no going back.

In the morning, the director shows up at the theatre, ready to read a brilliant new 10-15 minute play.

The actors show up and rehearse all day with the director, memorizing the lines and blocking the show.

Around 5pm, the tech director arrives and finds out what sorts of light and sounds cues are required.

At 8pm, the shows are fully mounted for an appreciative crowd.


The whole event has kind of a crazy energy, and the audience tends to pick up on it right away. The play I wrote in the first May Day Play Day, The Sky is Falling, has gone on to be published and gets done by lots of students.

If writing plays isn't your thing, you might want to check out the Sheep to Shawl Contest at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival in Waynesburg, PA, on May 19th. (You just missed the one in Maryland). In just about three hours, teams will shear their sheep, card the wool, spin the yarn, and weave a shawl. That makes putting up plays seem easy.