Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know you know.- David Bowie, Where Are We Now
The year 2014 was a highly productive one for me. In my previous
assessment, almost a year and a half ago, I reported my intent to do two very important things; read before sleep, and to write upon waking. And this I did, every single day. And there were dividends.
I wrote a play. I wrote another play. I wrote a few more things which may or may become things we might call plays. This became a ritual, and a very healthy one. My wife brought me coffee and I wrote for a half-hour, every morning. At the least.
Then, just after Thanksgiving I injured my back. To alleviate the pain, I was prescribed stretches. These took a half-hour every night, and again every morning. I lost my time. I spent far too much time online, and none writing. None, or rarely any.
But I was also directing my own play, and I had another in production.
The Great Globe Itself was a success, a performance which received many positive comments:
I brought my 14 yr old daughter and she loved it. This is exactly the best kind of
outreach to bring theater/Shakespeare to the young.
- Audience member at Cleveland Heights-University Heights Main Library
Cool beans! Kudos to the writer! this play must have taken lots of research and
time. It was grand.
- Audience member at Lakewood Public Library
As someone who only partially enjoys Shakespeare, I found this play to be a delight.
- Audience member at University of Akron
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| Also, this. |
However, directing the work was very stressful for me. I do not enjoy directing my own work, you will notice I do not attempt that very often. Directing is a skill I admire in others. Especially when that person is Alison Garrigan, who directed
Rosalynde & The Falcon at Talespinner, which closed yesterday.
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| Rosalynde & Rusty |
Sitting in the audience for this one was such a joy, listening to children and their parents and grandparents all laughing at different things, and also at the same things. I have been blessed to have had many wonderful productions of my writing, but I don't think I have seen a show from one of my scripts that so successfully incorporated a unity of movement and music, costumes and masks, and the set painting and structures, with a company working so hard and fluidly for such an extended period. It was just everything, and I could not make note of a single weak note.
Last week was crowned by a special announcement, that I have had a second play published.
YouthPLAYS is an online distributor of play scripts intended either to be performed by young performers, or by adult actors for young audiences. I am delighted to announce that they will be managing the rights for
Double Heart (The Courtship of Beatrice and Benedick).
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| Beatrice & Benedick |
This makes me happy for a number of reasons. All the plays are special, but this one is more special than others. The response we received was very emotional, it goes places I have rarely gone in my work. The idea of a high school Thespian troupe performing this work is thrilling to me.
Also, in spite of its being inspired by a preexisting work (and one by Shakespeare, at that) it is original, it tells a unique story, I wrote it in verse, it is mine. The
also-published Agatha Christie piece is also certainly mine, but I have to admit I feel validated for having something truly original in my name in print, and available for production.
And suddenly, without really noticing it happened, my back is noticeably free of pain. I stopped doing the exercises about a week ago, a little over a week ago, and just forgot to do them. Because nothing was reminding me to do so. At the same time, I had renewed my resolve to read and to write, every day. Next week I have a reading of something at unit. Can't really say what it is yet. Awful folk tales. And by horrible, I mean terrible.
But there it is. Writing. Something I still do.
Double Heart imagines two of William Shakespeare’s most beloved characters, the quick-witted lovers Beatrice and Benedick, as they may have first met as impetuous, young teenagers. A brash young soldier (Benedick) meets a young lady with an independent streak (Beatrice), and they quickly learn to see each other as equals among fools. Their relationship deepens until world events and war intrude and hearts get broken.
