And then revise again. Face it: you're never done revising.
Yesterday I attacked said revisions. And it went well! Even wrote a new scene, which rocked, totally rocked. Of course, that was on another play... I'm having trouble getting to the Halloween play (i.e., the one being workshopped); it's daunting because there's just SO MUCH that needs to be revised. Instead, I opened up the play I'm currently writing, and wrote the aforementioned new scene. This worked a treat! I think it really helped grease the wheels, and upped my confidence to move on to other stuff. After writing the scene, I went back and revised the first scene in the same play. Then I moved on to another play not currently being workshopped, and fixed a plot development that had always bugged me. Being satisfied with that, I moved on to the Halloween play. I didn't have a lot of time left, but like I said, there's just so much to fix that I decided to start small. I changed the name of a place, and brought in a character to a scene to address an issue. I also addressed an issue where a character was already in a scene, but there was no real reason for them to be there. That's it. Starting small, indeed. But it felt GREAT. Next time I will be on full attack. And that baby's gonna feel some full on change!
0 Comments
That title looks like it should be "Workshop! The Musical!" Hmm... and my wheels are turning at this new idea...
Workshop happened! Last week. Wow, I'm bad at keeping up with this stuff. But, whether I wrote it down or not, it did happen, and that's what's important. So. The local art fest was happening at the same time- in the parking lot of the theatre. Not a great start; parking was a bear. But I got there; and the president of the theatre got there; and we went up to the theatre, opened the side room, sat at the table, and waited. The room was decently spacious, but hot. Thankfully it was late, and cooled down pretty quickly. Also, not many people showed up to make it hotter... sigh. Just, we rescheduled so that hopefully more people would have a free spot in their schedule, and it didn't work, so that was extra disappointing. I hope the next one will work out better. However, I did have one lady show up on time. We waited a bit, and when no-one else came, we agreed to split the parts and work through it that way. I'd rather get one person's feedback than none, and I'd rather not cancel, as it's a drive (well, at least for me; I live the furthest away from the theatre!), so we may as well go ahead and do it, to make it worth everyone's time for coming out. Then, a few pages into that, another gal showed up. We redistributed the parts and continued. The good thing about having such a low number of people: everyone was fine with not taking a break, so we just continued until we were completely done. This was especially a good thing as, unbeknownst (ooh, fancy!) to us, a thunderstorm was moving through the area; it hit JUST as we were finishing up with feedback. Then, since I had to park a decent amount away because of the fest, I got to run three blocks through pouring rain and thunder and lightning carrying a heavy laptop. Fun times. Did I mention I'm out of shape? Or, as I found out, REALLY out of shape. Yeah, the play was a little long. The whole read without a break, took just over two hours. So that's without intermission time, and this is a play aimed at kids and teens. Yikes. I mean, there's nothing to worry about, because kids will TOTALLY sit still that entire time. They never get antsy. Never. The thing I find interesting about read-throughs: people never, never laugh in the spots you think are funny, instead laughing at completely different spots you find trite or forced. Or maybe, since the lack of laughs seemed particularly to happen on my reads, it's just the way I read the lines. Could be just my perception; on the other hand, I've read it through so much I suspect I may have been going a bit fast. On the other other hand, no-one said anything, so perhaps that's just my perception too. On the other other other... maybe I'm overthinking this. The thing I find interesting about feedback: people never, never, never come up with the issues you came up with. I was amazed at the issues presented (though not entirely surprised, as I knew this script certainly had some issues). It's really quite interesting; it makes me look at the script in a different way, which is no bad thing! Trying to see things from another perspective is, after all, what writing is all about (while simultaneously conveying your own perspective. You know, easy-peasy). Now I get to revise the script. I... kind of haven't started yet... which I should, as it needs quite an overhaul. I think that's why I'm putting it off! I mean, I won't be able to workshop again for at least a month, which is, you know, ages away. I'll do it. I'll get it done. I'm just... not ready yet. It has to happen when I'm ready. And I don't know exactly when the next workshop will be, which is profoundly irritating. I had hoped to schedule it at this workshop, but... again, I am at the mercy of the theatre schedule. As the next show only auditions this coming weekend, the director does not have her schedule in place yet. The other show, currently in rehearsals, has only about six days (!) free through the entire next month... so I'm kind of worried about getting any time It's finally here! The day is upon us! The moment has arrived! Tonight! On my way now! Writing at red lights! A little excited! And nervous! You can probably tell! Hope people show up! *gleep* Couldn't get enough people so we have rescheduled for next Friday the 16th. WHAT A RELIEF!!! (And hopefully, this makes a difference as to getting more people to come...) Yay! I'll post next week as to how it all went, and how 50some people showed up, I'm sure. *happy humming* So! Here it is, Wednesday. I put a Facebook events post up on Monday evening; for, again, a Thursday read-through.
*biting nails* This is the sort of thing that consumes you, completely unnecessarily. I have spent way too much time over the past two days checking Facebook to see if anyone has decided to go. So far, I am going; the board president is going; and one other person is going (THANK YOU!!!). And I have one maybe. I'm glad anyone is able to go on such short notice. Or might be able to go. That's absolutely fantastic. But- and of course there is one- the problem here is that the play has 13 parts. Now, I'll be glad to read too, but that's basically a lot of back and forth between the one "yes" and myself, as the president is not an actress and I know she will not want to read. The other, more major issue, is that the whole point here is to get feedback, and one or two other people's opinion, while valued, could just as easily be gotten through e-mailing the script and have them respond. All that said, I think the main issue is one I cannot and should not deny: my self-esteem is involved here. If people show up, I am validated. If not... well, damn, I'm just unloved, aren't I? Ha. Selfish view, really; I know that. It's not like this was short notice or anything (I may have mentioned), and people are just plain not going to be able to make it. But still. It brings to mind the time, a few years ago, when it was my birthday. I decided to throw myself a little bash- what the hey, I never do things like that. Get some people together, have a nice time. I put up the event on Facebook (obviously, the place I do most networking), made some plans, bought some food, set things up. Waited. Nobody showed up. Okay, that's simply the most dramatic way of saying it, and it's not quite true. One person showed up. Really, though, although he's been friend to both of us for years, he's still originally my husband's friend, so that's how I still think of him. So it can be considered that none of my friends showed up. I was not actually particularly hurt by this. We had a nice time anyway, ate some munchies, watched a couple of crappy movies, and chilled; it was cool. And it is true that most people hadn't actually said they would come, but had put "Maybe" or hadn't bothered to respond at all. I had simply thought that if they did that, at least a couple of them would show up. In retrospect, this was a big assumption. But why? Why don't people bother responding at all? Particularly when it's someone's personal shindig, and feelings are obviously going to be involved. Sigh. Still, as I said, that occurrence didn't bug me that much. It's just a birthday; I have one every year, not a big deal to me. I actually forgot about the whole thing. Until now. This is different. This isn't just some birthday. This isn't just me being dorky ol' me. This is my work. Blood, sweat, tears. Okay, maybe not, but at least a lot of hours spent creating something very personal. Doing something, something I believe has merit. Something I care about almost as much as my kids. And, like my kids, I want others to know and appreciate my plays as I do. I want others to care. Well, it's not like if they don't show up, they don't care. And I understand that. I really do. ...I'm just going to be over here checking Facebook... *biting nails* Arrrrrrrrgh.
So I got the approval to workshop; had to get in touch with the director of the play currently being produced to get their rehearsal schedule. This took nearly a week, as I had to wait until auditions were done, callbacks were done, and then she still wasn't sure of the schedule of one of the actors. But I got approval (from her) to go ahead and reserve a date. This was on Friday afternoon (the 31st). When my husband got home, I asked him if Thursday the 6th would work; the workshop would be after working hours, but he's been working late a lot and it takes 45 minutes for me to drive to the theatre. He said he would have to check his schedule; which means I would have to wait until Monday. NO. I hated to be a jerk about it, but honestly, I've been waiting for this to happen since MARCH. I said Thursday it would be and he'd just have to deal with it. Okay, I may have been kind of a jerk. Thankfully, he understood. So I e-mailed the board president to officially request the date, and would a board member be able to be there? She got back to me on Sunday and said she'd message the board and see if anyone would be available that day. ARGH. Waiting again. And here it is Monday afternoon and I still haven't heard. Admittedly, it is not easy to get people to reply within 24 hours (I've never understood why, but people do have their reasons so...). But this is Thursday we're talking about! I'm nervous as hell that nobody will be able to come, just because of short notice. I just e-mailed the president again. Damn, I hate hate hate doing it: but there are times when you've just got to be a pest. I did say that if she hasn't heard from anyone, maybe we should reschedule for next week. That's hardly what I want, but hopefully that would be easier to coordinate! You might be wondering, what is the big deal? Why is it so imperative that I get this scheduled ASAP? Well, I wouldn't be jumping about so much; I truly am grateful that the theatre is helping me out, and I realize I have to work around their schedule and give them leeway. One reason is that, well, I've been waiting for this to happen since March. I may have mentioned that. Did I say March? I meant, March. But the main reason is: this is a Halloween play. I was hoping to start the workshop earlier so I'd have plenty of time, but I didn't get approval until July. Okay, no problem; if we do the first read-through in July, we can do two more in August and September, and then I have time for a quick rehearsal and staged read-through in October... before Halloween. Just thought it made sense, you know? And now it looks like we'll be a little late. And then I'm going on a family vacation for a week and a half in October, so that'll have to be scheduled around. And the theatre is undergoing construction in November and December, so scheduling pretty much anything then is going to be impossible. And. And. And... I'm a tad not happy. Trying not to be. Trying to stay positive. Trying to focus on the fact that I should be, and truly am, grateful. I have great friends and good people to support me this much. I am very lucky. Many people don't get this far. I just... want to get a LITTLE further. To be continued... |
Rebecca FrohlingWriter, dancer, actress, mother, me. Archives
February 2019
Categories |