Postcards

I got the postcards for Old Hickory yesterday and I'm going to start sending them out Monday-ish. I also plan to carry them with me wherever I go so I can lay them on people as I meet them.

But the big news is, I got the Strategic Opportunity Stipend from the state! It's half of what I asked for $300 instead of $600 but still, that's something. I'll use it to pay for the postcards and postage for example; as well as tolls and gas and such for rehearsals and the shows, so it will help. Nice, especially in this time of underemployment!

I did some work on the piece the other day, and I think it may be the final additions needed. I think I wrote previously about needing an earlier example of the Ex correcting Jimmy, which would make the 'clausteriphic' line make a bit more sense, so I worked something in and I think it'll work. Kind of funny, and not out of step with the rest of the piece. So now I have to brush up the new part and learn both it and the only other remaining new stuff I haven't learned yet . . . excellent.

It's been a few days since I posted so I don't know if I mentioned that Wallace found an intern for the summer . . . that'll take a lot off his head, and it'll help me too as it'll give me someone on book to keep me on the path, as it were. don't know when we'll start with the rehearsals, but I ain't bringing it up . . . I don't want to drive Wallace crazy and when he calls we'll get it on . . . wow . . . this will be a memorable summer!

Speaking of driving him crazy! He corrected me on my email signature that it is Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre and Song . . . not 'the' Woodstock Fringe Festival. So I made the changes; or thought I did, cause the next time I emailed him he shot back a response: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S THE WOODSTOCK FRINGE FESTIVAL OF THEATRE AND SONG . . . NOT DANCE! THERE'S NOTHING ABOUT DANCE IN THERE!

So I looked at my signature and noted that, sure enough I had spaced out a bit ( I guess), anyway, I sent him a major mea culpa and definitively fixed the damn thing this time. The poor child has a lot on his plate and it doesn't take a lot to hit his buttons so to speak.

A grand unveiling

I hit Bette with the new pages the other day. I was running lines while she watched the book. It went pretty well actually, but more significantly she gave me some feedback that really unblocked an artery here.

I think I had mentioned that I wasn't really sure about the grandmother/grandfather stuff. I really wanted it to work, but I wasn't sure it was working. Bette had a great idea: she suggested moving it back a couple of pages in, so that people get a real sense of who this guy is and get totally sucked into the piece and then tell this story. The way it was before, the second page is all this monology stuff; which may sound weird since the whole thing is a monologue, but it really doesn't feel that way to me; to me it feels like . . . well storytelling. The grandparents bit always felt a bit less organic.

Now it feels better. I also am jettisoning some stuff about killing chickens that always messed me up while learning it and won't really be missed. Now if I can just come up with some malapropisms and a place to put them I think the piece will be ready to roll. Oh! And Bette really liked my zen moment in the woods as well. I'm happy about that because I think it adds something essential to the character, especially coming as it does right at the doorway to the big confrontation!

I'm getting my proof for the postcards today . . . can't wait to see them and get them out there!

Progress . . .

Work is moving along. I now have about thirty pages and that should be just about it. There may be a tweak or two to here and there, but it's pretty much where it needs to be, I think. One of the things I really wanted to void was making changes just to make changes. If it doesn't add to the story then it shouldn't be there. That has been my challenge and fear with the stuff I added about Jimmy's (and my) grandparents. It was sounding to my ear like a monologue in the midst of this flow of language. I had to confront that and face the possibility that it might not work. I think I have fixed it though. The reason he talks about the grandmother of course is because she gave him the knife and he loved her a lot; then talking about her naturally leads (I hope) to talking about his grandfather her husband . . . and this is where I thought there might be trouble because as much as I love the bit why was it there? I may have arrived at a solution this morning though because all this talk about how hard his grandfather worked and how little he got paid for it, convinced Jimmy not to be a farmer. Now I just have to be sure that the thing about the chickens isn't out of step with the rest, I don't think so though because it shows a side of Jimmy early on that maybe we need to see.

My other challenge is something that I've always felt it needed; or at least since the OMT performance: Wallace had the idea of Jimmy misprounouncing 'claustrophobic' which turns out to be a nice way of upping the ante in his big confrontation with his Ex as she jumps all over correcting him. I felt it needed more of that, but couldn't really figure out a) where and b) a word that he might use that would be easily screwed up. I may have found a solution though in having him tell about her correcting him whenever he says something like 'tater' or other simple words like that. I do think it has to be referenced earlier though, no matter what the word (s) ultimately chosen are.

Finally was able to get contact info other than a home phone number for Avy Kaufman. She is one of the busiest casting people going right now and I met her when she was working on Matewan in 1986. When I later moved to NYC she also got me some work on a German TV show of some kind or other. At any rate, my agent got me the info and I sent her an email and he followed up later with an email of his own . . . as he so succintly put it: now we wait.

I'm getting postcards made as well . . . I'd really like this thing to fly . . . and I'm not worried about the performance end of it . . . I just want it to have as much chance as possible to have a life after this!

Now I have to stop blogging and get back to learning them damn new lines!!!!!!!!

Work to do!

So I ran OH yesterday, with new material added, and it went pretty well . . . until I checked the time! Forty three minutes!!!!! What?! It was forty minutes in April. I've added probably close to ten pages . . . What? Ok, so maybe my pace was a bit too fast. I'll try it again today and see what happens. If I have to write more I will . . . I'm sure I can think of a sordid misadventure from my sordid past that would make for a nice sordid addition to the play. But what a shock! Only three minutes longer? You could have knocked me over with a feather.

But ok. Not the end of the world. The pace was more like a speed through I guess. I didn't realize that at the time, but I guess it was. So take a deep breath . . .

Anyway, enough of that. I've talked to a few people who are coming. If someone hasn't been to Woodstock for a while, it really is a good excuse to go . . . and it's a nice setting for this show, kind of a backwoodsy feel to it.

Yesterday I was in the hammock (my favorite place by the way) writing and came up with some good stuff. There's a story I've always wanted to have in a play but could never find the right one: I was in the woods one time and saw this leaf disengage from its branch and slowly, almost like slow motion, drift to the ground. And then when it hit the ground, though it was maybe fifty feet away, I could clearly hear it. That seemed like a real zen kind of moment to me . . . and I've always wanted to incorporate it into a piece . . . so I am trying it in the section about the place in the woods where Jimmy buries his dogs, which is kind of a sacred place to him anyway. I think/hope it works. Heaven knows we need the time!!!

I also added some stuff suggesting that the ex didn't much care for Jimmy's family . . . if I need to beef anything up this might be where I could do it; maybe something about how his friends and family react to her or something . . . I'll find it . . . I may have to move mountains to do it, but I'll find it.

Dates!!!

So now I have the dates, and it's off to the races! We have a little less than two months before lift off . . . how could I be more excited? So now I have to spread myself between getting the word out to industry types, in hopes someone may come, look for a job and get the show ready. It's in pretty good shape right now but it'll take some work, but that is what rehearsals are for!!!!

Oh! And the dates! Open August 12 and run for two weekends, closing on the 22nd (which is the day Laurette reports to Bennington! That should make for an emotional performance!)

This is gonna rock!

I was thinking this morning about last year's festival. I was talking to Mark Farnen, who wrote a play Bette and I read, and he asked me what I was working on. I told him I was plunging into the abyss by working on a solo piece and that I'd bring pages of it to workshop in the fall . . . yes, that was Old Hickory. I also told him that a solo show was one of the great daunting things that I had always managed to avoid, though I wanted to do one 'some day'. Well sir . . . someday came didn't it? Funny how this stuff works out. I had been working on the piece prior to that, but other than Bette I don't think I had mentioned actually working on a piece to anyone before that . . . it's sort of opening the cage and letting the tiger out when you proclaim something like that to someone. Whether it's love for someone or taking action in your life that you've only dared to dream about, when you declare yourself outloud to someone, it sort of changes the energy and you start to see things differently. You start to feel/see possibilities and doors start to open . . . and here we are, less than a year after my conversation with Mark staring down the barrel of an honest-to-god run!!! Amazing.

Actually I think Bette got the ball rolling. She had been toying with the idea of a solo show and had taken a class from someone; and she imparted some of this lady's wisdom to me . . . notably: if you want to do it, do it. Write the piece, rent the space and then you're committed. After her class that's when I started reapplying myself to Old Hickory (I had previously written my O'Neill piece, but sort of left it sitting there). Looking back it seems like one thing naturally lead to another, and in one way I suppose that's the case; but I sure never expected what has happened to happen, hoped for? Yes. Expected? Naw. I just wanted to write a piece that I could perform and then see what happens . . . there's a lot to be said for the law of attraction I suppose, if that's what this is. I put the energy out there and it was received and responded to, I can't wait to see how far this play will take me. The Fringe Festival is stop number two on the Old Hickory railroad . . . here's hoping there are more stops along the way!

First performance in August!!!!

Well now I have one date anyway, the first one: August 12th! I should hear from Wallace soon to get the remaining dates, he is meeting with his stage manager tomorrow to firm that stuff up. Looks like we may commence with rehearsals in the next week or so, at the same pace we did this spring of one or two a week. We definitely set a very good foundation running up to the April 29th performance so we have a good starting point already. So we're rolling!

Exciting stuff.

The blog postings have been less frequent in the last few weeks, but I think the pace will pick up again shortly.

Plugging along . . .

Deeply esconsed in learning the new stuff for the play. There's a lot of time, but with job search and such I need to stay on top of it. I should be in pretty good shape in a couple of days. Actually I'm in pretty good shape now, it's just a matter of spending the time doing it. And doing it. And then doing it again. It is work, yes, but it's also fun. I'm enjoying the new scenes with Arvil Sprouse, who didn't appear in the shorter version, he was just referred to. Now he has several exchanges and it's (I hope) fun stuff.

By the way, I got Arvil Sprouse's name from the principal and vice principal at my high school: Earl Sprouse (who we called Chrome Dome because he was bald, I might be more sensitive to that these days) and Arvil Sommers, who was the enforcer who weilded a fell paddle . . . I never got the pleasure of feeling his ire, but I'm sure it wasn't pleasant.

I was just leafing through the yearbook one day, dredging for good country names and these two guys were there . . . a match made in heaven!!!

Funny about character names sometimes. I have a character in one of my plays named Arlee, and I thought I had made it up. Then lo and behold I met a singer named Arlee some years later. Another more interesting sidebar is that this woman somehow sprang up as one of my cousin's Facebook friends! Small f-ing world!

I can't wait to see what Wallace does on the web site with Laurette's pix. I check a couple of times a day but nothing has cropped up yet.

I'm trying to fit one more piece into Old Hickory. I have a nice little scene about being in the woods and watching a leaf fall from the moment it lets go of the branch until it hits the ground . . . this actually happened to me and it made a big impact, but I haven't been able to successfully use it in a play yet . . . it might fit in here with the burial site of the dogs, but I'm not sure. It was a real zen moment and I hope I can pull it off, if not now then later . . . more news and reflection as it happens!

Last workshop til fall

So last night was the last workshop of the Woodstock Fringe Playwrights Unit until fall. What a wonderful group it is. Lovely people. Generally good work. Just a delight. Really got a chance to see the hard-ass side of Wallace. During my scene (I took seven more pages of the new piece) a couple of women came in, obviously looking for a different group and asking questions rather loudly in the back of the room . . . well Wallace (who was in the scene) was up out of his chair and getting them the hell out of there in no uncertain terms .. . they sure won't open that door without thinking twice again!

I had hesitated to take the new pages but figured what the hell. I had felt kind of like I was plodding along when I wrote this part and still don't know where the hell it's going, but I figured I'd take it and see what happens. It went surprisingly well. One of my big questions was whether thirty pages in is too long to wait for the father in the piece to describe his money making scheme. And I should point out the the pages I took ended in the middle of his monologue because I haven't decided just exactly what that money making scheme looks like yet!

At any rate, during the feedback, Mindy (one of the writers in the group) said it was just the right place to reveal his plan, not too late at all. so that was good to hear. If I can just figure the piece out won't that be special!!! But that's part of the fun/torture of writing: diving in and seeing what happens. Sometimes it works and sometimes . . . well let's just say I have a whole shizer load of partly written plays in boxes and drawers just waiting to be cracked.

I don't know how I've waited this long to get to it, but Wallace said I'd probably be opening the festival this year, or at least in the first two weeks. That's exciting! He also had me send him the pix for use on their website . . . I have a feeling that once the ball starts rolling it's really gonna move . . . so I'd better get on learning the new lines and writing any additions I want . . . this is gonna be a summer to remember!!!!!