All These Things I've Yet To Do

No word yet from the TestoGenius Festival.  It's understandable; they've had a long period of time for submissions and probably had a lot of them.  Still anxious to hear something, but I can be patient.

I went ahead and made a list of play festivals that I'm going to submit to this year.  I think this is the year that I'm going to submit to Humana/Actor's Theatre of Louisville and for the Essential Theatre in Atlanta (run by Mr. Peter Hardy).  What's cool about them is that they may not produce your script, but they like to see "who's on the radar".  Seems like a good thing, in any case.  All said and done it's quite satisfying submitting work and knowing that it's going to be read.  At least, I say that now.


I've also been thinking about the plays that I've been working on for the last couple of years.  Including the Odyssey musical, there have been at least three other plays that I feel the need to work on.  One was done, one was almost done, one was never set to paper.

The next submission is going to be at the Well Theatre (note:  not the Wells Theatre) in  NYC.  They are also looking for short plays, full-length and also sketches of plays.  If I'm looking at the right theatre, they're about to do a production of Henry V.  The executive director said that the play was is ideal for our company because, at it's core, it's a play about a young person taking on a responsibility that he is not quite prepared to handle.

Article on that production...

Every time I find a website like Broadway World or even the Arts Section of the New York Times or the Theatre Loop for Chicago Tribune, I get motivated.  I mean, writing is something that people are capable or doing.  And I have such a strong desire to do it, I'm happy when I do it, it seems like something that I should do more often.  It's why I like the blog because now that I share that out loud (in a sense), I feel that it becomes true and then it becomes gospel.





So, in the six weeks, I am going to be moving twice.  Probably won't have that much time to update (which is fine) but hopefully afterwards, I'll be able to finish another piece.  Deadline for Well Theatre is April 15th.  I think something could be sent by then.

Also:  I've seen that I've been getting views from Hungary on a pretty consistent basis.  I like this, I'm tickled by this.  So, I've been googling "hungary theatre" and putting up what I find.  Today, I found this:

Writer's Block or Paperback Writer.

It's really easy for me to get down on myself as an artist.  Not in the funky dance way, but in the demeaning way.

I like writing.  I've always liked it.  It was the first thing that I did as a child that my parents (especially my mom) encouraged me to do.  Whether or not it has been worthwhile is something else, but the act of creating has always produced immense satisfaction.  It's why any of us do it.  But in thinking about what I have written, I can chalk it up to a one-act play that was produced in high school, two full-lengths that were written in college (one became a staged-reading at a festival; more on that later) and two ten-minute plays that are on sale at www.offbookmarket.com.  Seems like I should have more than that.  But I don't.

When I first started writing this, I had a couple of entries planned out and had a solid idea as to what I wanted to write about.  I was planning on making it an "about every week" thing as a kind of meditation among other things.  This past Sunday, I sat down and was going to write a blog about how I was finding it difficult to finish things (plays, screenplays, etc) when I couldn't finish that.  It's as if I can't begin to write something without being stopped about halfway through or near the end because I don't know how to end the story.

And, naturally, that begs the question, why did I start to tell the story to begin with?

The play that went to festival was called "How I Met You", which either came around the same time or immediately before "How I Met Your Mother".  It was a play about how I met my now ex-wife.  It was meant to be very honest and frank.  It was graphic in it's conversation and had plenty of embarrassment for me and for her along the way.  I was proud of it.  I was also very pleased that it was considered for production through the Essential Theatre's Playwrighting Competition in 2006 and that it got a reading at the Youth Playwright's Festival hosted by the Horizon Theatre (both companies in Atlanta).

However, especially with the divorce, it's hard to read the play even to critique it;  It's not just because the marriage didn't work out but also because I can't help but think it's bad.  Just... bad.  No through line, no structure, just a bunch of random ideas that I Scotch-taped together.

Maybe the problem is that I'm going back and I'm analyzing the thing like I'm reading Macbeth or Long Days Journey Into Night.  And it's not supposed to be like that.  None of them are supposed to be.  I certainly should give myself a little more slack than that.

Well, I'd call that a kind of breakthrough (obvious though it may be).

Nowadays, among other ventures, I'm considering Graduate School as an option.  I want to teach; I like it and working at AWOL has certainly reminded me of that.  It's kept me hungry for it.  Right now, I'm working on a portfolio for grad school applications and, hopefully, that will turn it something that I've been doing for a long time. Only in this case, someone will have the generosity to pay me for it.

In as far as writer's block is concerned, one of the things that have helped me are deadlines.  I noticed I got a lot done in school because I had due dates and requirements.  I've flourished in an institution setting.  Also, having a blog like this has helped a good deal already.

So, I will make this declaration here on this blog and those who read it will hold me accountable.  By the 1st of April, I will finish the first draft of the Odyssey Musical (the one set to the music of Journey)!

Decisive!!!