Catching up

More of the same since the last posting: learning lines and the like. Now up to the top of page 21, the piece currently ends in the middle of 22 so I have a page and a half left!!! Won't that be a holiday, when I get that last bit down . . . hopefully tomorrow. Then I can focus on other aspects of this thing, such as who these people are and history and the like. I have done some exploration of that and made some choices; no, I'm not telling, but these kinds of things will make the performance richer. The reading is a week from Tuesday, so I should be able to do that baby off book.

Also, a bit of news on my other solo piece about O'Neill's father (it does have a title of course: The Red Hand of O'Neill). Cynthia, the AD of the Pelham group, Supporting Characters, asked if anyone had stuff to submit to the Samuel French festival in NYC. I suggested that if her hubby, Fran (who was very happy with the piece when he read it one night at the workshop)wanted to perform the piece then she could submit that. I figured he'd be much too busy with other shows for this to happen, but, as luck would have it, he got back to me a day or so later saying that he was in fact eager to do it . . . now it has to be submitted and accepted, if that happens away we go. If the Woodstock Fringe thing happens in August I will have to keep a low profile with this one, but it should be fun to see what Fran does with it . . .

All this talk about solo pieces got me thinking about the genesis of my interest in the form; and I remembered that the O'Neill piece really wasn't my first shot at solo work. Damage Control started as a solo piece, then I made it into a two hander (well, three, but the girl has no lines). To give you a frame of reference, Damage Control was read at the Burning Coal Theater in Raleigh in 1999, so it's been in my head for a while this idea of solo shows, sort of composting until it became the rich soil that it has become. Old Hickory certainly won't be my last of these, but I intend to ride this one as long as I can . . . as I've said before, who knows what may come of it . . . if nothing else I'll get to present my work with no filters . . . the ultimate in artistic expression, if that doesn't sound too high handed.

A rehearsal tonight . . . can't wait!