In The Thick Of It (and how I learned to stop worrying about climbing)

Images from the plays I've been working on in this 18-month stretch.

There's a certain inherent dissatisfaction that can be part of having an artistic career, and playwriting is no different. There's never much money, there aren't many production slots, and there's always a hope for the next "bigger" thing. Maybe this reading will lead to a production, maybe this production will catch the attention of someone in New York, maybe an off off Broadway show will move to Off Broadway, maybe Broadway will come calling. Maybe the next reading will lead to a production at an NNPN theatre, or a LORT theatre. Maybe the show will get a positive review, in someplace important, maybe someone will notice my work, will notice me.

I confess to having these thoughts. They're not particularly productive. They haven't caused any of these things to happen. Thoughts like these are good at adding to a general sense of unease and anxiety. And though they generate pressure to perform, I'm not convinced they lead to the creation of better work. They do lead to a general far-sightedness, that lifts the eyes up to the horizon and removes focus from the people and work sitting right in front of me.

As much as I have ambitions of "bigger" things for me and my work, I haven't spent much time thinking about such things lately. My attention has been completely absorbed by the work at hand, and I feel like I'm the luckiest writer in the world. I'm in the midst of an 18-month stretch of working on seven different full-length plays and musicals, with more than a dozen readings, workshops, and productions of those seven plays. (A few of the scripts were written a while ago, but they're getting readings and productions now.)  Sometimes it feels like creative whiplash, trying to unlock the mental bin for Lost in Lexicon and then switch the next week/day to Lab Rats and then back to Distant Neighbors.

I don't know that any of these productions or readings are designed or likely to lead to something "bigger." They might not be impressive to people higher up the theatrical food chain. But I don't care. I love the sensation of being completely immersed in the warm (and sometimes turbulent) waters of theatre and creation. I love getting to work with collaborative artists from so many different companies. With the exception of Clockwise Theatre in Illinois and Liminal Space in London, all the companies I'm working with are here in Boston, so I'm getting to work with people who part of the community where I live. I'm engaging with an audience of theatre goers who surround me every day.

More and more, I'm realizing that the place where I want to be is exactly where I am, and the thing I want to do is what I'm doing right now. I'm working, I'm creating, I'm part of a creative community that gives me an electric jolt every day. I'm not spending so much time looking ahead for what's next, I'm just trying to make the most of where I am right now, and enjoy every minute of it.

I've found the whirlwind I've been looking for, and I wanted to say that I'm here and I'm grateful.


(Special thanks for that whirlwind need to go to: In Good Company, Clockwise Theatre, Tumblehome Learning, Argos Productions, Liminal Space, Fresh Ink, Theatre on Fire, and the Bostonian Society.)

Huntington Workshop of Flight was a big success

The past two weeks really flew by as I workshopped my play, Flight, with the Huntington Theatre Company.  Talk about intense.  I was in rehearsal pretty much every other day from 10-6, and then on my off days, I was either writing or at the farm all day.  To find the time to make changes in the script, I'd typically get up at 5 a.m. and work until 9 (with a break for getting Noah ready for camp) and e-mail the pages to the producer and stage manager, so they could distribute them to the actors at 10.  I'd typically bring in 20-30 pages with changes every day of rehearsal (many changes were small).

Patrick Curran, Philana Mia, Cassie Back, David Anzuelo

Our cast of Patrick Curran, Philana Mia, Cassie Beck, and David Anzuelo, were immensely talented and hard working.  Led by director Jessica Bauman, we picked our way through the play, scene-by-scene, beat-by-beat.  I wanted them to ask me hard questions about their characters and they did, with the result being a constantly improving script.

Jessica Bauman, Rachel Carpman, Bethany Ford

I'm very grateful to my director, Jessica Bauman, for all her insights and guidance, and to dramaturg Rachel Carpman, for always being ready for a new question (often it was just: "does that make sense to you?"), and to stage manager Bethany Ford for keeping the whole process running smoothly.

We had a final public reading of the script on Saturday afternoon, for an audience of about 50 people.  (Kudos to them, by the way, for being so responsive and attentive.)  I felt like the reading really kicked ass.  The actors were sharp and the audience seemed to really follow the play and the emotional roller coaster of it.  Most of all, it was gratifying to pack the script back up, after we had so thoroughly unpacked and disassembled it, and find out that not only did it still work, it actually worked a lot better than it did before.

I'm grateful to the entire staff of the Huntington for putting this Summer Workshop series together and giving four playwrights the chance to really get elbow deep into their plays, to try to find out how they work and how to improve them.  Thanks to Lisa Timmel, Charles Haugland, and Bevin O'Gara for getting the funding and making it happen, and to line producer Rebecca Bradshaw for running the workshop.

Now I need to keep making a few more changes to the script and find a way land a full production of it.  Some questions about a script can only be answered with a full production.

Elements of a Useful Reading

Back on September 17, as part of the Rhombus Readings, I put together a reading of my play, Flight, at Boston Playwrights Theatre.  It ended up being a very useful experience for me, as a way to see how much progress I'd made on changes and to get ideas for what to do with it next.  I got to thinking about what make up the essential elements of a useful reading.  Here are some of what I needed on that day:

A good chariot.  Here's my bike and bike cart loaded full of all the stuff I needed for the event--a big pile of scripts and binders, snacks, donation jar, and more.  (Really, I just wanted to put up a photo of my bike and cart.)

A space.  We are incredibly fortunate here in Boston to have the Boston Playwrights' Theatre.  They put on all new work (by writers with links to Boston University) in their two theatres, and they also provide cheap and free space to other organizations putting on readings or productions of new plays.  Rhombus has its regular meetings at BPT, and this was our second reading series held in the space.  I don't know what we'd do without the folks at BPT.

Actors.  I was extremely fortunate to have a cast of Luis Negron, Elise Manning, Brenny Rabine, and Michael Buckley.  They spent a whole afternoon with me, reading and discussing the script.  Even though our time was limited, they gave me important insights into the characters and the play as a whole.  Working with actors of such high caliber is critical for a new play.  Though it's possible for a strong performance to cover over weaknesses in a play, I really want the script tested by people of the highest skill level.  (And these four were also terrifically nice people.)

A hardworking director, and a friend to read stage directions.  Here is my director, M. Bevin O'Gara, going over notes with Alexa Mavromatis, who is a fellow Rhombus playwrights and who read stage directions.  I've had the good fortune of working with Bevin before, on a reading of Constant State of Panic.  She's super smart and was able to make the most of the time we had, and also helped me find our cast.  Someday, we'll get to work on a full production together. 

Yummy snacks.  Good snacks make for better readings.  Everyone is in a better mood after a home-baked brownie.  I like my actors and audience in a good mood.

An audience.  For our reading, we had about 20 people in the house.  They were good listeners and very responsive.  In some ways, for a public reading, a good audience is the most important part.  For a comedy, I always say there's no point even having a reading for fewer than 20 people.  You won't be able to judge laughs.  I worked pretty hard to get people in the seats, but it was still a struggle.  Saturday evening readings in September are a tough sell.  There's just too many full productions going on in September, as the season hits full swing.  I probably would have had a better crowd with a Saturday afternoon reading.  Or a different time of year.  I'm not a big fan of formal talkbacks after readings, but instead prefer mill-abouts, where we all eat snacks and talk about the play informally after the reading.  I got lots of useful feedback from the folks who attended.


That's about it.  I mean, you also have to have a script ready for a reading, copies of that script, a good way to take notes (I used my LiveScribe pen).  Having a little cash to pay the actors is helpful, if you can swing it.  (I can't afford to pay them what they're worth, but at least can give some gas money.)   I love that the tools to developing new plays are so basic and accessible.  It's not rocket surgery.  It's just a matter of bringing people together who are willing to spend some time on an interesting project.


Thanks to everyone who gave their time to help my make Flight a better play.  (I'll have another reading in NYC in February, from the id theatre.)

The Rhombus Readings are this weekend!

Don't miss The Rhombus Readings this weekend.  We've got an exciting line up of new plays that we've been working on for the past year or two.  I'm delighted to get to hear my new play, Flight, read on Saturday night.  I've got a terrific director (M. Bevin O'Gara) and cast.  I've been making big changes since I brought the play to the Seven Devils Conference in Idaho.  (Even though my stay was cut short, due to family tragedy, I've stayed in touch with my director and dramaturg and the id theatre folks.)  And I've been working on the script in my Huntington Playwriting Fellows group, as well as in Rhombus.

Now I need to hear it in front of an audience again.  That's where you come in.  (And by audience, let's be honest, 5 people isn't much of an audience.  Now, 20 people, in a small theatre, that's an audience.  So bring a friend or two.) 

It's free.  It's fun.  And there will be good snacks.  (I'll bake brownies.)


All the readings will take place at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston


The Fakus by Joe Byers
Friday, Sept. 16
8 pm
A sinuous tale of three canny people and one large sum of money on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. All of them are deadly earnest. Trust is for sale to the highest bidder. Every heart has its price tag. Featuring Nancy E. Carroll, Paul Melendy, and Craig Mathers.

Flight by Patrick Gabridge
Saturday, Sept. 17
8 pm
Sarah spends her days in the airport, finding comfort in its organized chaos, forced anonymity, and careful security. Little does she know that beneath its clean and shining façade, the airport - like the world outside it - is littered with lives torn apart by loss. Caught in the crossfire of the airport's lost souls, Sarah discovers there is no such thing as an innocent escape. Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara, featuring Elise Manning, Luis Negron, and Brenny Rabine.

The Embryos by Ginger Lazarus
Sunday, Sept. 18
4 pm
Mommy and Daddy love their embryos. Love them so much that when in vitro fails, they decide to take their precious blastocysts home and care for them like children. All might be well, except that "Leggo and Eggo" have voracious appetites and uncanny abilities beyond their developmental stage. When they run amok, the poor would-be parents are faced with a choice: save their embryos from the world, or save the world from their embryos. Directed by Barlow Adamson, featuring Robert Murphy and Lisa Tucker.
(There's a fun interview with the embryos from The Embros on the Playwrights Perspective blog.)

Update: DC, Kindle, and QueryTracker Interview

So I've been on the run all week since getting back from DC on Sunday night, just keeping busy with a zillion different things (broken clothes dryer, teaching a worm composting class, lots of snow shoveling, and some writing).  Here's a few quick things:

• The DC trip was great.  As usual, the folks at Madcap, led by Managing Director Shawn Helm, took good care of me and my work. (And so did my friends, Dawn and Chip, who let me crash at their house, and Frank, who drove me home after the Friday show).  On Saturday, we gathered with the cast (Annie Hunt, Kate Hundley, Mike Rodriguez, Jack Powers, and Carl Brandt Long) and director (Paul McLane) around 11am and worked through my new full-length play, Flight, scene by scene, in rehearsal.  It was just the right kind of process for where I am with the script right now--lots of discussion and questions.  Real focused time, to think about the script both in the detailed moments and overall.  At 3pm, we had the reading for a small crowd, followed by a brief discussion.  After going through the script one step at a time, it was useful to finally,read it straight through, and get a sense of flow.   I was left with lots to think about, and took pages and pages of notes, that afternoon, that night, the next day, in the airport.  This week, I've been making more and more changes to the script.
  
• I had a great time at the Madcap Winter Carnival performances.  There's still one weekend left, if you're in town.  I was pleased with how Escape to Wonderland turned out, and all the plays were fun.  The Saturday show was particularly sharp, with a warm, sold-out house.  I was particularly fond of Paul Bunyan vs the Tree Conservation Coalition, a short musical by Shawn Northrip, who wrote Cautionary Tales for Adults and the Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles, which I saw at a Winter Carnival a few years ago and still think is one of the funnier plays I've ever seen.
• My play Blinders is now available for the Kindle, here.  The publisher for Blinders, Original Works Publishers, is trying something new.  I'm very curious to see if people have an interest in buying and reading plays as e-books. 
• There's an interview with me about how I found my new agent for my novels, up on the querytracker.net site.  Querytracker is an immensely useful tool for fiction writers, as they try to find agents and publishers.  They sometimes publish "success stories" about writers who use their site, so there I am. 

That's about all the excitement for me. I should probably start stretching, so I can get ready for more snow shoveling. I like to shovel snow (don't tell anyone), and since we live in Boston, we've been getting plenty of chances this winter.

Heading to DC for Madcap and Flight

This weekend, I'll be visiting Washington, DC, where the Madcap Players are producing my play Escape to Wonderland as part of their Winter Carnival Festival.  They're also putting together a reading of my play, Flight, this Saturday, at 3pm, at the H Street Playhouse (1365 H Street, NE). I'm still working feverishly on rewrite to the play, trying to make the most of the reading opportunity.  We've got a great cast and director--I expect to have fun and learn a lot about the play.  (It's about a young woman who lives in the airport, to escape the trials of life and loss.  Her problems follow her there, in some very dramatic ways.)

If you're around, I hope you'll come join us.

Just Ask (how to get a new play reading)

Next weekend, on Saturday the 22nd, I have a reading of my newest full-length play, Flight.  Madcap Players in Washington, DC,  is putting the reading together, actor/director Paul McClane will direct.  I'm going to be down there to see Madcap's Winter Carnival festival, where they're producing my short play, Escape to Wonderland.  The reason I'm getting this reading:  I asked.

I'm not saying that as playwrights we always get what we ask for (if only that were true).  But sometimes, we need to remember that it's all right to ask for what we need.  Especially if we already have a relationship with a theatre (Madcap staged my full-length play, Constant State of Panic, last January)--we can't be shy.  In this case, I asked for something that hopefully won't be too complicated--they already have a bunch of actors around, they already have a space that's rented and available.  And even more importantly for getting a Yes, we can hopefully use it as a way to increase publicity for the Winter Carnival--my hope is that some people who come to the 3pm reading will stick around for dinner nearby and come back and see the show at 8pm.  It certainly gives us an excuse to send out a few more e-mails.

For me, I'll get to hear my whole play read in front of a small audience, by very talented DC actors.  And, of course, I'll be able to show Madcap what I'm up to with this new play (and I already know they like my work).

There are a lot of one-act festivals out there, and I'd love to see more playwrights work with theatres to do readings like this, where the cost and logistics can piggyback on existing projects, and everyone wins.  It can be a bit of extra expense and organization, but it's much easier and cheaper than putting together a whole staged readings festival.  And it allows the relationship between the theatre and playwrights to deepen, beyond just the production of the ten-minute play.

I'm a big fan of playwrights putting together their own staged readings--it's a way to get what you need, when you need it, instead of waiting around for someone to do it for you.  But working cooperatively with a theatre is even more effective, because it builds and strengthens vital relationships.