Checking in...two plays produced...thoughts and feelings
Ha-lo, all. It's been a while; my apologies. I've been ridiculously busy, with my visit to Florida, work, and helping produce Five: The Sum of Our Difference festival. I feel as if I have to be careful about what I write this time, b/c I know people who read this who might be, let's just say affected by what I say. First of all, I went to Florida, and I had the worst trip there ever. My poor nephew, 5, has had a terrible cough for over a month, and even with cough medicine and an antibiotic, he still felt lousy, and he was off (meaning he had a quite a few meltdowns, due in part to his father being out of the country on a trip for his 40th birthday). My niece, 3, just gave up her binky (bop/pacifier), and was very upset and had difficulty sleeping and cried a lot. My poor sister had to run between rooms, trying to get the two to fall asleep or keep them apart during the day when they started fighting over X-Box, a beach ball (I kid you not), or their TV show or DVD in the car. So she was very stressed, I was tired and needed some peace and quiet, which I didn't really get, and so I was pretty sad or frustrated most of the time. My sister and I did get to go shopping in the outlet mall a couple of times, and had a wonderful time in Las Olas, near Ft Lauderdale, but aside from that, and working out, it was NOT a good trip, and that was terribly sad for me. I actually couldn't wait to go home, and I can't say that's ever been the case for me.
Coming back, I was wiped out, and work was insanely busy. Not only had I been away for five business days, but I had been very sick (cold number 4) before vacation, and so the work had piled up. And during this time of catching up, the Five Festival began, so I was at the theatre in Boston til 9 or 10pm (or later) for three days in a row, getting home at midnight one evening, and I can't do that. It's just too hard for me. As to the festival itself...well, I did all I could with the p.r. and I got us in the Boston Globe, twice, in prominant areas, so that was a coup (along with a few other local papers). But the festival itself was exhausting, although more so for Rich and Amitesh, the producers (I am only an associate producer). Tech was very difficult--this hasn't been the easiest show to put up, with five different directors with very different visions and demands--and as for my play, well, let's just say that I respect the director very much but his vision and mine are very different. Could I have been more involved with the overall design and so on? Maybe. I just didn't know how much input I could have, and I still don't. Often, the production is not locally held, and so you hope and maybe see the DVD, if possible, and if not, well, you hope it went well. In this case, I was so close to the festival that I think perhaps I could have said more (though I was also very sick during the crucial time for rehearsals, so I kind of had to stay away, whether I wanted to or not). I see the play and I feel somewhat distanced from it.
There are aspects I like a lot, and aspects I really don't, and I guess I just have to take the good with the bad, learn from it, and if/when the piece gets another production (hopefully the latter), I will understand more about it and how to talk to the director about it. I'm a big proponent of lights up, lights down (i.e. keep it simple, props and lighting-wise) and just focus on the characters, their relationship, and the dialogue. I guess that's why I am the writer, not the director or the tech specialist, but that's just how I feel. Anyway, we are getting decent to very good houses, and that's due in part to my efforts, so that makes me feel happy. The festival overall is strong, and the audience seems satisfied. I'm proud of what we've accomplished, so I have to look at is as a whole, and when it's over (next Saturday), I'll simply move on. I also got to see one of my 10-minute plays produced in Natick, MA, and that was interesting, b/c I had had nothing to do with this play, aside from revising a few lines, per the director's request (I agreed with all of them and made them), and I liked the producion quite a bit. Very simply staged, with a park bench and a pad of paper/pencil, and the actors, in particular the teenager, did a great job and it was well-directed. In fact, one of the director's friends, affiliated with a theatre in Lowell, would like to act in it with her teenage daughter, which thrilled me no end. We'll see if that happens. In the meantime, I got to do some networking and just enjoy the evening (though I didn't feel too well, so that made it harder to really get into it), and Anna, Debbie, and Monica, an established playwright who also had a play in the festival, and a damned good one, came along, so that was fun as well. T
he weather here has finally become beautiful, with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s and early 80s, so you can't help but feel better. But I'm sort of looking forward to the end of the Festival--and who knew I'd say that?!--because it's hard to watch my play and yet I really need to be there every night, since I helped produce the festival and have friends coming every night (I realize this is typically not the norm). I haven't written at all for about a month, BUT I am taking a week off in early July, and will really get down to it then. And I'm trying to stay level (not that I do this very easily) and look forward to future submissions (one can only hope) and more writing. Now I'm off to yoga, which I haven't been able to do for four weeks, and I'm sure that hasn't helped. I bought new workout gear, so that should put me in a better mood. (I also haven't been able to work out much, since I've been sick, but I hope to get back on track this week, beginning this week.) And...well...there you go. Go, Sox, and go, Sue. Oh, and pick up "The Time Traveler's Wife" if you haven't read it yet. It's a beautiful, unexpected treatise on the relationship between a man, Henry, who time travels, but in doing so gets to experience his future/present wife, Clare, and his own life in a number of different ways. If I were a novelist, THIS is the novel I would wish to write.
Coming back, I was wiped out, and work was insanely busy. Not only had I been away for five business days, but I had been very sick (cold number 4) before vacation, and so the work had piled up. And during this time of catching up, the Five Festival began, so I was at the theatre in Boston til 9 or 10pm (or later) for three days in a row, getting home at midnight one evening, and I can't do that. It's just too hard for me. As to the festival itself...well, I did all I could with the p.r. and I got us in the Boston Globe, twice, in prominant areas, so that was a coup (along with a few other local papers). But the festival itself was exhausting, although more so for Rich and Amitesh, the producers (I am only an associate producer). Tech was very difficult--this hasn't been the easiest show to put up, with five different directors with very different visions and demands--and as for my play, well, let's just say that I respect the director very much but his vision and mine are very different. Could I have been more involved with the overall design and so on? Maybe. I just didn't know how much input I could have, and I still don't. Often, the production is not locally held, and so you hope and maybe see the DVD, if possible, and if not, well, you hope it went well. In this case, I was so close to the festival that I think perhaps I could have said more (though I was also very sick during the crucial time for rehearsals, so I kind of had to stay away, whether I wanted to or not). I see the play and I feel somewhat distanced from it.
There are aspects I like a lot, and aspects I really don't, and I guess I just have to take the good with the bad, learn from it, and if/when the piece gets another production (hopefully the latter), I will understand more about it and how to talk to the director about it. I'm a big proponent of lights up, lights down (i.e. keep it simple, props and lighting-wise) and just focus on the characters, their relationship, and the dialogue. I guess that's why I am the writer, not the director or the tech specialist, but that's just how I feel. Anyway, we are getting decent to very good houses, and that's due in part to my efforts, so that makes me feel happy. The festival overall is strong, and the audience seems satisfied. I'm proud of what we've accomplished, so I have to look at is as a whole, and when it's over (next Saturday), I'll simply move on. I also got to see one of my 10-minute plays produced in Natick, MA, and that was interesting, b/c I had had nothing to do with this play, aside from revising a few lines, per the director's request (I agreed with all of them and made them), and I liked the producion quite a bit. Very simply staged, with a park bench and a pad of paper/pencil, and the actors, in particular the teenager, did a great job and it was well-directed. In fact, one of the director's friends, affiliated with a theatre in Lowell, would like to act in it with her teenage daughter, which thrilled me no end. We'll see if that happens. In the meantime, I got to do some networking and just enjoy the evening (though I didn't feel too well, so that made it harder to really get into it), and Anna, Debbie, and Monica, an established playwright who also had a play in the festival, and a damned good one, came along, so that was fun as well. T
he weather here has finally become beautiful, with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s and early 80s, so you can't help but feel better. But I'm sort of looking forward to the end of the Festival--and who knew I'd say that?!--because it's hard to watch my play and yet I really need to be there every night, since I helped produce the festival and have friends coming every night (I realize this is typically not the norm). I haven't written at all for about a month, BUT I am taking a week off in early July, and will really get down to it then. And I'm trying to stay level (not that I do this very easily) and look forward to future submissions (one can only hope) and more writing. Now I'm off to yoga, which I haven't been able to do for four weeks, and I'm sure that hasn't helped. I bought new workout gear, so that should put me in a better mood. (I also haven't been able to work out much, since I've been sick, but I hope to get back on track this week, beginning this week.) And...well...there you go. Go, Sox, and go, Sue. Oh, and pick up "The Time Traveler's Wife" if you haven't read it yet. It's a beautiful, unexpected treatise on the relationship between a man, Henry, who time travels, but in doing so gets to experience his future/present wife, Clare, and his own life in a number of different ways. If I were a novelist, THIS is the novel I would wish to write.
posted by Sue B at 2:40 AM
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