Brief check-in

Hi, all. Not much to say tonight. Things have been status quo. It's suddenly gotten very cold (50s during the day, low 40s at night) and I hate that (and having had no heat last night and this morning, though the problem has been rectified, I doubly hate it). I had two infected toes, and took antibiotics, but I know you don't really care about that. :) I also had a bad stomach virus (had to go home in a cab on Wednesday, since I couldn't even walk a block to the subway!) so this hasn't been the best week (and the amount of food I've eaten, after the virus went away, clearly shows that). Otherwise, though, work has been fine, and I have this Friday through a week after Monday off, meaning about 10 days to write (and watch movies from NetFlix, the best service EVER) and hang out and read and work out and relax. I'm looking forward to it; I want to write a cafe play, and I hope to do that, and start my full-length, during this vacation. I have sent out a number of plays to a number of festivals, and will hear back sometime soon about some of them, so I'll have more to report at that time. I hope (pray?) that I have some good news to share (b/c it won't be pretty if I don't :--P). I have tried rewriting my play "Control" (name to change) a number of times, after leaving it alone for three or four months, but it just isn't happening, and I'm frustrated. I don't seem to be able to find the needed groove, and I can't figure out why. I know how to write dialogue. That isn't it. I guess I just don't know what the play is about, and the harder I try, the further I get from whatever it's about. I also tried writing a play about one shoe for a festival and that, too, was difficult, so much so that it's on hold for a while (maybe forever). So don't ask me what the deal is; I guess I'm just trying to hard, eh?

I did see two plays this weekend that sort of inspired me. One, Mauritius, by Theresa Rebeck, is about a woman who finds a very expensive (possibly) stamp collection and what happens as a result. It's not that plot driven, but the characters are so well written and the dialogue so naturalistic and snappy that you are captivated the entire time. The other, A Night in November, written by Marie Jones, is a tour de force, a one-man play about a Protestant man in Northern Ireland and what happens after he attends a soccer match (aka football) with his father-in-law. The star, Marty Maguire, plays 30 characters and imbues nearly every one (though he doesn't do the female characters nearly as well as the male, which is a bit of a bummer) with great life and passion. The main character is fascinating and you are with Kenneth the ENTIRE TIME. I was so impressed with both the writing and acting and again thought, THERE YOU GO. That's great theatre. That's what *I* want to do. I just haven't found a way to get there yet, but I'm going to keep trying.