Post reading post

I can't believe I went this long after the reading without posting something.  At any rate, the reading went beautifully.  Bette's piece Glass Slipper was exquisite and The Craftsman got a great response as well.

Some interesting things happened along the way however:  I got scripts to everyone way in advance of the reading, complete with highlighted stage directions.  So all was well.

About three days before the reading I got a call from Craig Marin, reading the Homeless Man, asking if he could use a puppet.  After much hemming and hawing I finally said sure why not?  The dude is a puppeteer after all.  Turns out the puppet he brought was made specifically for the reading!  And it was fantastic!  Really added a lot, and it is the first time someone has nailed the Homeless Man.  It's a tough scene to read cold, but Craig had time with it and using the puppet gave him license to go a little crazy, which is what the part screams for.  It added so much to the finished product!

The day before the reading I got a call from the fellow who was reading Jimmy.  The lead.  On every single page of a 96 page script!  He told me he had broken his dentures and couldn't do it.  So I emailed the guy playing another part and asked him to do Jimmy and I read the part he was going to read.  He was great and everyone was very happy .. .

A little drama when we got there however, we were locked out.  Ultimately I called Wallace and he was waiting in the space, unaware that it was locked.  He told us the people who run the space had him down for Friday and we couldn't do the reading that night.  I wasn't privy to the scene that transpired but when Wallace's kraken comes out you don't want to be on the receiving end of it.  We did end up doing it as planned.

The reading was on the 13th floor of the building we usually meet in, but we usually meet on the ground floor.  The view was nothing short of spectacular!  In every direction!

Since the reading I have sent a hard copy to Jerry Davis at Burning Coal, and entered it into the Relentless Award competition.  We'll see what happens.

Now we're back to the old 'what comes next' syndrome.  I feel like good things are happening and can't wait to see what move in on me.  On the other hand summer is sometimes sort of fallow for me, just reading and recharging.

I'm ready for just about anything!

Excited

Excited by the upcoming reading of The Craftsman this week. Should be a lot of fun. Sort of spinning wheels on what to do next, but something will happen. I have some ideas. On one of my periodic rambles through my saved documents I found a couple of snippets of things that I hadn't done anything with yet . . . maybe . . . maybe not.

I also found an old newspaper article that I wasn't really sure about why I kept if until I read the opening paragraph . . . more on that later.

So on a rainy - but cool - Sunday morning, just chilling.

Ready to roll . . . I think

The script for The Craftsman is locked and loaded and ready to print! In fact I ordered the print job this morning and now it's just a matter of getting to May 10 to see how it flies!

I have to say I'm happy with the result. I think the characters are well drawn and some of the scenes are among my best writing. It has been quite a journey. I could go on tweaking it forever, but at some point you just have to say: enough . . . stop and enjoy the ride.

And what a ride it has been. Until I started taking this in to the workshop I had never envisioned Martha being read by a man, but once the idea hit to have Wallace do it, it's hard to imagine it otherwise. It adds an element of fun to it that wouldn't have been there otherwise, which, considering the material, isn't a bad thing.

It is a comedy after all!

So I pick up the scripts this evening, mark the stage directions I am going to read, and distribute the scripts on Tuesday . . . and then wait for May 10.

It will be interesting to say the least.

More on The Craftsman

It's looking very good for a reading in the city in May. Can't wait. Work to be done between now and then, not least because there is a May 1 deadline for the Relentless Award. Worth submitting to it because it brings in a cool $45k if you win it so I'm up for that.

Interesting developments for a couple of the groups that I (sort of) have an in with. I guess I shouldn't say 'sort of' because I know the artistic directors so that's something. At Penguin Rep the word I got was that they were a tad put off by the subject matter in this era of #metoo. I accepted graciously and didn't say anything like: Iceman Cometh? Othello? Richard 3? I understand the nature of their audience so edgy stuff isn't their metier, so . . . onward.

The opposite happened with my friend at Burning Coal, Jerry Davis. I told him what had happened and a bit about the play and he said he'd like to read it, so I sent it to him.

Enough to drive a person crazy, on the other hand, being a Libra this is exactly what one should expect!

More later.

More on stuff

I sat down and read The Craftsman yesterday. I think it holds up pretty well . . . but it's still hard to be objective. You get close to these things and sometimes can't see the woods for the trees (last cliche of the day I hope). The proof will be in the pudding of putting it in front of an audience. Folks in the workshop have responded very well over the weeks. But they are hearing scenes out of context. I can't wait to hear it read and see how people like it as a whole.

Maybe this spring?! We'll see.

I did a little poking around at some of the short pieces I worked on before starting on The Craftsman. Bette and I are going to do a reading for the Welsh women's club and I'm going to do a couple of those, and Bette is going to do her most recent piece. Should be a good program.

My scenes are funny and will loosen things up and then Bette's piece will lay them right out.

Two years ago Wallace, Bette and I went and read the first act of Happy Days for them. It was a big hit. We actually went expecting to do the whole play but then found out they wanted an hour max . . . so act one it was. They really got it and we had a great time doing it so when Patience asked us to do it again we jumped all over it.

That is on the 7th of April. We're going to time things out today and get an idea of what we want to do. I went over my short pieces this morning and I think there are two, we'll call them CIA and Audition. Just two people talking, both are short and sweet, and, I think, funny. People in the workshop thought so anyway. They are part of what might eventually be a whole play that is sort of an omnibus of several short pieces. How many and what order . . . the form of the whole thing is yet to be determined . . . but it's something that is out there. Any time I am between projects and feel like writing something I can add to it, and then take the best of the bunch and include them in the piece.

If there is a theme I haven't found it, but it might be something like loneliness or just dealing with other people in the world. Which I suppose every play ever written is about these things at core. Or maybe not.

Submissions

I spent the last week not paying much attention to the old writing side of things. I finished my draft of The Craftsman last week and set it aside for a while. I may opt to read it this weekend but not sure about that.

I did submit it in its current form to Penguin Rep due to time issues so we'll see what happens with that. I want to have it sort of polished by the time the Relentless Award deadlines in May.

I spent a little time today submitting The Brother of the End of the World to a couple of places; one in Florida (Theater Conspiracy) and one in London (Theatre503).

We'll see. I do really love that play and it'll be interesting to have it back out there. I've submitted it dozens of places with no real interest . . . but the past is prelude! Maybe the hillbilly aspect of the piece will hit someone in England the right way. Best to forget all that now.

Assuming we can go in on Tuesday I plan to go to the Workshop with more pages from The Craftsman. The only 'if' is the weather which seems to be threatening but may not get that way until later in the evening.

We've been binging a bit on The Americans . . . really well written and acted . . . some real surprises as the story progresses.

I'm excited to see the new documentary about Arthur Miller on HBO. It was done by his daughter and includes never before seen stuff . . . at least from what I've read about it.

Anywho. Nothing much else to report. I did find a book that is exciting: an oral history of Angels in America. I bought it but have two other books demanding my attention right now so once I'm done with them I will see to Angels.

See you soon!

End of play!

I typed those words this morning as I reached the end of this initial draft of The Craftsman! Wow . . . it really is something special I think.

This week I wrote an email to the good folks at Penguin Rep to tell them as much and that I would love to have a slot in their reading schedule this summer. I got back a response from Joe Brancato that they needed to get it 'yesterday' as they are finalizing their choices. So I sent it to them unfinished, but I did take the time to clean it up for page breaks and such. Cobbled together a character breakdown.

Today I dove in and finished the play, working to those words: end of play.

I think it's a special piece. I don't know what anyone else will think, but the addition of Wallace playing Martha and the response I've been getting in workshop has been better than encouraging!

So now I'm going to let it sit for a moment and see how I feel when I come back to it fresh in a few days.