At Death's Door

I got home last night after an exhausting/exhilarating rehearsal, eager to plop into bed and listened to our phone messages; there was one informing me that At Death's Door is a finalist in the Playwrights First competition at the Players Club in NYC! I've entered before, but I don't think I've made it to finalist before. As you can guess I'm very happy about this. ADD is one of those plays that I started a looonnnggg time ago and then set aside after writing myself into a corner after one act. Some time later (years for sure, maybe three or four) I read over it again while looking for something to jump start a writing slump and figured what the hell, so I started in on it again. It was read in process in all three of the groups I'm involved with and had a full reading last May in Dobbs Ferry.

I had completely forgotten about even entering this competition, but it was a welcome shot in the arm. I wasn't sure if the play would be too weird for them or not, but I sent it in anyway . . . like in sales: you don't spend someone's money for them. In this case, you don't want to make their decision for them and if I hadn't submitted it then there's no chance at all. The thing that makes it weird is a disappearing dying mother. It's never really explained what happens to her, but I think the journey is kind of fun. I had real problems figuring out what to do after the first act, when they find the mother gone from her bedroom. In the original version, she walked into the room and out the door. In this version she just disappears. Try explaining that one. At any rate, I went through a lot of writing and rewriting to find that second act, but it's there. The reading last year wasn't as successful as I would have hoped, but I did some trimming after that and I think that helped.

When I told my daughter about it this morning she said 'You should have sent them Thirty Odd Years'; which of course is a one act. I told her though that the main character in ADD, Othel Ray, is sort of the same character in some ways as Uncle Lee: the irrascible old coot. Of course, I hate to think of these guys as irrascible old coots because guess who I write them for!

Back to Old Hickory. Last night's rehearsal was entirely the last part of the play and we made immense progress. It was good to finally work on the exchanges between the Ex and Jimmy because that has been the three hundred pound gorilla in the room as far as I'm concerned. Acting a scene with two characters, one actor, is scary; but Wallace is helping a lot. We really focused on the last moments of the play too, complete with some changes that I didn't agree with at first, but being the team player that I am, I'm willing to let go of preconceptions and do what's best for the piece. I trust Wallace or I wouldn't be doing this in the first place.