So I'm reading the NY Times Book Review today, and there is a review of a new biography of Vonnegut. In that review they quoted him: "The trick is to write as much as you know as quickly as possible."
BOOM!
Floored by Vonnegut. Again. He had a way of doing that to me: out of nowhere, the truth. Simple and clear.
Now why you may ask has that particular quote resonated so? Well . . . I've been remiss lately in the writing department . . . I have multiple projects that I'd like to work on . . . but it's that awful prospect of sitting down and doing the work . . . that's the killer. Once you get out of the flow it is one big bad bitch to get back in and there are a million and one reasons for not doing it . . . work/play/dog/movies/plays/it's-too-damn-pretty-outside . . . you name it. But eventually you shame yourself into getting back to it, overcoming the fear of failure (another quote by another favorite: Fail again. Fail better.) and away you go . . . but sometimes that kick in the gas can be a long time coming . . . when will we learn that every day frittered away is a day you don't get back?
At least with the solo work I have a reasonable expectation of getting it up in front of people with the One Man Talking Festival; and the Woodstock Fringe Festival has been very nice to me in the last couple of years, a consistent safe and loving artistic home (can anyone ask for more?). So that takes the 'no one is gonna ever see this anyway so why bother' out of the equation.
So what is stopping me?
Me.
Well . . . sometimes it takes a Vonnegut to slap you up side the head: the trick is to write as much as you know as quickly as possible.
And so it goes.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sometimes it clicks . . .
I was looking at one of the solo pieces I had put on a shelf for a while this morning with an eye toward working in a twisty little idea I had for it a couple of weeks ago. I believe that I posted something this when it happened; about waking up with something in my head that was intended for another play, but then it became clear to me as I was working on it that maybe this was a good fit for the solo bit.
At any rate, this morning I was reading over the first draft of the piece (untitled as yet) with an eye toward where it might lead vis a vis the twist I have in mind . . . and sure enough . . . there are many clues that what happened to him in his youth could lead toward some kind of misdeeds later in life . . . it's there and I didn't know it . . . that happens sometimes, the wheels have to turn for a while before the gears click into place, but once they do it can be a beautiful thing.
It's too early to tell whether this will be what I'm thinking it might be; but I absolutely think there is potential . . .
At any rate, this morning I was reading over the first draft of the piece (untitled as yet) with an eye toward where it might lead vis a vis the twist I have in mind . . . and sure enough . . . there are many clues that what happened to him in his youth could lead toward some kind of misdeeds later in life . . . it's there and I didn't know it . . . that happens sometimes, the wheels have to turn for a while before the gears click into place, but once they do it can be a beautiful thing.
It's too early to tell whether this will be what I'm thinking it might be; but I absolutely think there is potential . . .
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Adventures at BAM Part III: Malkovich in 'The Infernal Comedy'
Our third foray into this season's Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was, as always, a great time and, as they often are, provocative. This time around it was for John Malkovich, which was one of the two main reasons for engaging in this in the first place (though truth to tell, John Hurt in 'Krapp's Last Tape' which we are seeing next, is one I'm looking forward to as well.)
I had never seen Malkovich on stage so was excited about the prospect; I love his intensity, and he seems to me to be a very intelligent and daring actor(Bette had seen him in Death of a Salesman and she still talks about how mindblowing that was). Well this piece was daring, but for different reasons. The idea of Malkovich doing a not-quite-solo piece about a serial killer (true story as well) seemed like an inviting proposition. And he was all the things you would expect, charming, funny, and with moments of real tenderness that were nearly as surprising as the sudden moments of violence that erupted.
Now,this was performed at BAM's opera house (where we had previously seen Threepenny Opera)and I can imagine that if you were up in the second balcony some of the nuance of Malkovich's performance would have been totally lost . . . his performance needed a more intimate space . . . but there was a reason why that could not be: there was a thirty piece orchestra on stage, and two opera singers who sang arias that were intended to coincide with the story somehow. The orchestra was great, playing vintage instruments, and a real treat. For all I know the singers were great as well, but a little aria goes a long way with me, and some of these arias went waaay beyond my threshold . . . the ladies were meant to evoke characters Malkovich spoke about: his mother (one of the more startling images was of Malkovich with his ear to her stomach listening to his pre-natal heartbeat and his hand on both his heart and hers as she sang ... oh and did I mention we were in seats in the first row stage right about five feet from where this was happening!) When he strangled one he ladies of with her brassiere (the modus operandi for the guy he was playing) I was sort of hoping that was the end of her singing for the evening! Of the one hour and 45 minute performance at least half was music; but in only one or two cases was it interminable).
I made a choice early on to ignore the supertitles and watch Malkovich's reaction as the girls sang and he sat there listening very actively. It was great to be so close and to really watch his face as he interacted with the other characters, his focus and intensity were what you would expect, but the piece didn't serve him all that well. BUT it was another case of an artist making choices, difficult choices, unexpected choices, and how can you not applaud that? He could have a great career doing lame movies (with some good ones in there to be sure) or safe plays and make a gillion dollars, but he has chosen to go out on a limb and do something for the art of it . . . if only more people of his stature would do that . . . but of course, there are very few of his stature. I applaud him for that, and it was a very unique evening of theater.
A sidebar: in a Charlie Rose interview broadcast this week and available on CR's web site, Malkovich was asked about the cliche that 'the camera never lies'. Malkovich countered that of course the camera lies, that is the whole point, stage is where the truth resides because, to paraphrase Malkovich, "how can you lie on stage?"
Damn! I love theater!
I had never seen Malkovich on stage so was excited about the prospect; I love his intensity, and he seems to me to be a very intelligent and daring actor(Bette had seen him in Death of a Salesman and she still talks about how mindblowing that was). Well this piece was daring, but for different reasons. The idea of Malkovich doing a not-quite-solo piece about a serial killer (true story as well) seemed like an inviting proposition. And he was all the things you would expect, charming, funny, and with moments of real tenderness that were nearly as surprising as the sudden moments of violence that erupted.
Now,this was performed at BAM's opera house (where we had previously seen Threepenny Opera)and I can imagine that if you were up in the second balcony some of the nuance of Malkovich's performance would have been totally lost . . . his performance needed a more intimate space . . . but there was a reason why that could not be: there was a thirty piece orchestra on stage, and two opera singers who sang arias that were intended to coincide with the story somehow. The orchestra was great, playing vintage instruments, and a real treat. For all I know the singers were great as well, but a little aria goes a long way with me, and some of these arias went waaay beyond my threshold . . . the ladies were meant to evoke characters Malkovich spoke about: his mother (one of the more startling images was of Malkovich with his ear to her stomach listening to his pre-natal heartbeat and his hand on both his heart and hers as she sang ... oh and did I mention we were in seats in the first row stage right about five feet from where this was happening!) When he strangled one he ladies of with her brassiere (the modus operandi for the guy he was playing) I was sort of hoping that was the end of her singing for the evening! Of the one hour and 45 minute performance at least half was music; but in only one or two cases was it interminable).
I made a choice early on to ignore the supertitles and watch Malkovich's reaction as the girls sang and he sat there listening very actively. It was great to be so close and to really watch his face as he interacted with the other characters, his focus and intensity were what you would expect, but the piece didn't serve him all that well. BUT it was another case of an artist making choices, difficult choices, unexpected choices, and how can you not applaud that? He could have a great career doing lame movies (with some good ones in there to be sure) or safe plays and make a gillion dollars, but he has chosen to go out on a limb and do something for the art of it . . . if only more people of his stature would do that . . . but of course, there are very few of his stature. I applaud him for that, and it was a very unique evening of theater.
A sidebar: in a Charlie Rose interview broadcast this week and available on CR's web site, Malkovich was asked about the cliche that 'the camera never lies'. Malkovich countered that of course the camera lies, that is the whole point, stage is where the truth resides because, to paraphrase Malkovich, "how can you lie on stage?"
Damn! I love theater!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Rewrites
Started working on Dead Authors with an eye toward smoothing out some rough spots before sending it to the Terry Schreiber folks. Not major excavation, just some touch up stuff.
Bette had long said to me that Ben's writing that he reads for Amanda could be cut some . . . and I noticed while reading it at the Fringe a few weeks ago that it felt a tad longish . . . and then I remembered something that came up during feedback at a reading years ago: is he supposed to be a bad writer?
Well . . . no . . . the idea was . . . he was supposed to be good. I had written something intentionally a little pretentiously arty, but I thought it had merit . . . but that kind of question brought me to a decision it suddenly became clear that if we are told that Ben is the greatest thing since sliced bread, then whatever I write as Ben is not going to be good enough . . . if I withhold Ben's writing entirely then the audience will believe he's that good because we say so . . .if we say he's that good and the audience is sitting there saying, 'That wasn't that good' then we've lost them. At any rate, with that in mind: off with his head and good ole Ben's writing is great because we say so . . . the only thing that remains of it is the first line, which was something Hemingway said in the opening of the play . . . a couple of other minor tweaks, and I'm hearing the last 26 pages or so tonight at the workshop and away we go . . . it'll be interesting to see what happens.
The other thing I'm wondering about is whether we need an act break or not. Since the final act is 28 pages, is it worth it? Maybe just storm through the whole thing without intermission? This is something I'll have to decide eventually, but not necessarily right now, or even before sending it in.
Bette had long said to me that Ben's writing that he reads for Amanda could be cut some . . . and I noticed while reading it at the Fringe a few weeks ago that it felt a tad longish . . . and then I remembered something that came up during feedback at a reading years ago: is he supposed to be a bad writer?
Well . . . no . . . the idea was . . . he was supposed to be good. I had written something intentionally a little pretentiously arty, but I thought it had merit . . . but that kind of question brought me to a decision it suddenly became clear that if we are told that Ben is the greatest thing since sliced bread, then whatever I write as Ben is not going to be good enough . . . if I withhold Ben's writing entirely then the audience will believe he's that good because we say so . . .if we say he's that good and the audience is sitting there saying, 'That wasn't that good' then we've lost them. At any rate, with that in mind: off with his head and good ole Ben's writing is great because we say so . . . the only thing that remains of it is the first line, which was something Hemingway said in the opening of the play . . . a couple of other minor tweaks, and I'm hearing the last 26 pages or so tonight at the workshop and away we go . . . it'll be interesting to see what happens.
The other thing I'm wondering about is whether we need an act break or not. Since the final act is 28 pages, is it worth it? Maybe just storm through the whole thing without intermission? This is something I'll have to decide eventually, but not necessarily right now, or even before sending it in.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Phase II
Found out yesterday that Dead Authors is one of seven plays selected for the second phase of the New Works Project at Terry Schreiber Studio in NYC. Nice. Just shows to go you: you have to put it out there. I haven't for so long, haven't been entering plays in competitions except for newer ones, and I have some pretty rich material to excavate.
Nice shot in the arm that. And coming on the heels of the Old Hickory renaissance . . . very cool.
I am going to take a hard look at Dead Authors over the coming days with an eye toward streamlining where necessary before sending it in. The move to Phase II of the NWP is based upon a treatment and five page writing sample (I sent the Kerouac scene . . . no brainer in my book) so when they see the entire piece I want it to be the best it can be . . . it is one of seven and these seven all made the cut from 132 submitted . . . so it's time for the A game indeed.
Bring it!
Nice shot in the arm that. And coming on the heels of the Old Hickory renaissance . . . very cool.
I am going to take a hard look at Dead Authors over the coming days with an eye toward streamlining where necessary before sending it in. The move to Phase II of the NWP is based upon a treatment and five page writing sample (I sent the Kerouac scene . . . no brainer in my book) so when they see the entire piece I want it to be the best it can be . . . it is one of seven and these seven all made the cut from 132 submitted . . . so it's time for the A game indeed.
Bring it!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Playing catch up
And there is a lot to catch up on:
First the Poe readings. The event couldn't have gone better. Nicely attended, and the work was fun. Bette and I killed at it and Sam Waymon (you may recall he is Nina Simone's brother and set three poems to music) was great as well. The people were all nice and I was very very happy with my work. Reading The Raven is like doing a solo piece. It is theatrical in the extreme and I was discovering new things right up to the last performance. Nice feedback from audience members as well.
The really big news is on the Old Hickory front: I mentioned in a previous post that part of the reason for doing the Poe stuff was to see what the possibilities are with the current mgt of the theater. Well we hit it off big time! Richard and his significant other, Carolyn, are very nice folks and Richard has a great promotional sense and is very astute with the tech end of things as well.
So I reached out to him to see if we could talk and went to his office yesterday afternoon, just generally to see if he had any interest in maybe doing something along the lines of my solo work or something . . . I figured I'd put it out there and he would take some time to think it over . . . to my surprise I left with a booking! We brain stormed some and he asked about a Valentine's hook . . . and a light sure went off in my head. Granted . . . it's a bit of a twisted Valentine's hook but hey, that's the best kind. It's a story about love and such anyway, kind of, and if we can get people in there it'll be awesome!
And it's a block from my house!
On to other topics (but more on OH as it develops of course . . . that is why I created the blog in the first place!) I mentioned that I had an older piece that I never could really crack . . . and I have been thinking a lot about it lately . . . I also have some partially written solo stuff waiting for divine inspiration . . . or whatever inspiration I can come by . . . I woke up yesterday morning with an idea for something for the play and jumped out of bed to write it down . . . and then realized . . . it might just be what the doctor ordered for this other solo piece I wrote and set aside . . . it's the one about the nebbishy guy who owns the employment agency and originally it had some characters coming in and out of the story, without a real through line . . . well . . . what I wrote yesterday casts the piece in a whole new light . . . and one that definitely qualifies in the 'hillbilly gothic' mode that I aspire to. So we shall see . . . it's funny how this solo stuff takes over . . . I can't seem to focus on long form multi-character right now . . . everything seems to revolve around solo performance . . . two things: I have plenty of full length plays in my pipeline to submit places ... and writing/performing is really the ultimate expression when you get right down to it (as I have said before).
So now what? 2012 looks to be shaping up to be an exciting year!!
First the Poe readings. The event couldn't have gone better. Nicely attended, and the work was fun. Bette and I killed at it and Sam Waymon (you may recall he is Nina Simone's brother and set three poems to music) was great as well. The people were all nice and I was very very happy with my work. Reading The Raven is like doing a solo piece. It is theatrical in the extreme and I was discovering new things right up to the last performance. Nice feedback from audience members as well.
The really big news is on the Old Hickory front: I mentioned in a previous post that part of the reason for doing the Poe stuff was to see what the possibilities are with the current mgt of the theater. Well we hit it off big time! Richard and his significant other, Carolyn, are very nice folks and Richard has a great promotional sense and is very astute with the tech end of things as well.
So I reached out to him to see if we could talk and went to his office yesterday afternoon, just generally to see if he had any interest in maybe doing something along the lines of my solo work or something . . . I figured I'd put it out there and he would take some time to think it over . . . to my surprise I left with a booking! We brain stormed some and he asked about a Valentine's hook . . . and a light sure went off in my head. Granted . . . it's a bit of a twisted Valentine's hook but hey, that's the best kind. It's a story about love and such anyway, kind of, and if we can get people in there it'll be awesome!
And it's a block from my house!
On to other topics (but more on OH as it develops of course . . . that is why I created the blog in the first place!) I mentioned that I had an older piece that I never could really crack . . . and I have been thinking a lot about it lately . . . I also have some partially written solo stuff waiting for divine inspiration . . . or whatever inspiration I can come by . . . I woke up yesterday morning with an idea for something for the play and jumped out of bed to write it down . . . and then realized . . . it might just be what the doctor ordered for this other solo piece I wrote and set aside . . . it's the one about the nebbishy guy who owns the employment agency and originally it had some characters coming in and out of the story, without a real through line . . . well . . . what I wrote yesterday casts the piece in a whole new light . . . and one that definitely qualifies in the 'hillbilly gothic' mode that I aspire to. So we shall see . . . it's funny how this solo stuff takes over . . . I can't seem to focus on long form multi-character right now . . . everything seems to revolve around solo performance . . . two things: I have plenty of full length plays in my pipeline to submit places ... and writing/performing is really the ultimate expression when you get right down to it (as I have said before).
So now what? 2012 looks to be shaping up to be an exciting year!!
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