The Art of Writing

Mood: Introspective
Song: No One Is To Blame - Howard Jones
Cups of Coffee: Working on my first

Well, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did yesterday and not drink any coffee until something like 5:00 in the evening. I had a terrible bout of caffeine withdrawal and it felt like I was having a bad hangover, except I didn't have the benefit of getting drunk the night before. So, the pot is brewed and I have a little writing time before my weekly chat with my bro.

Well, a lot of work was done this past week with regards to the Renaissance Madrigal banquet, (hereafter referred to as Ren Mad). In a recent blog, I wrote about the nightmare that occurred this past week with losing my venue. I am happy to report that I have a venue again! It was stressful; it was a bit of work and a lot of compromising, but the point is that I have a space in which to perform. Actually, it all works out for the best: The space I had originally booked were two empty ballrooms sans curtains, shades, etc... It was a free space, but had some major acoustical issues which were (pardon the pun) amplified by the fact that there was nothing in the room to help absorb the sound. Last Friday, I met with the building manager who was really great in working with me. I lost one of the ballroom spaces, but I can work with that - And the ballroom she gave me has curtains and shades. It's still a ballroom, so it still has the same acoustical challenges as the previous spaces, but at least there is something to help with that problem.

With that major fire dealt with this past week, I felt extremely exhausted to the point where it was a bit of a struggle for me to continue with a read-through that I had planned for last night. Yesterday, my day was spent writing and tweaking scenes here and there to use as filler or alternatives in case scenes from the main script didn't work out well. This is one huge difference between your regular night of theatre and an interactive madrigal banquet: There is room for a lot of flexibility, including the script. In fact, the authors of the madrigal script that I purchased included a letter that stated this fact and included permission to cut, add, tweak, change, dismantle and deconstruct their script. So, last night I had a few friends come over for some snacks and some alcohol, and we read the main script and most of the scenes I had written out. It was great to get their feedback on a lot of issues I was having and more interestingly, it was great to go the process of a new script again. I remember doing required read-throughs for my playwriting classes in college and thought they were a beating. Now that I respect the process quite a bit more than my undergrad years, I really enjoy hearing the words I've created and seeing what works and doesn't work. Since this is the first draft and the first time I've done something like this in many years, there were some painful moments in the evening, but all well worth it. I tried to really incorporate rhyme scheme within my scenes, and I think the funniest parts of the evening for me were when things just obviously didn't rhyme at all, at which point I would thing: "What the hell was I thinking when I wrote that!?" Which of course was highlighted when my "acting troupe" would say, "Some of the lines don't even rhyme at all." Oh, the truth hurts. Of course, I did write most of these scenes at work which is filled with constant interruptions. (Damn work! How can they actually expect me to work at work?) When a phrase didn't work, all I could think of were those times when I had great momentum and the words and rhyme were flowing and the phone would ring. Ugh!

But, aside from those few painful moments for the author, it was a very productive and amusing evening. My favorite part of the evening was when Lestat, using a falsetto voice, read lines about being a queen and dealing with pissed off fairies! Priceless!!! Many, many thanks to Catpants, Lestat and the Nutcase for not only helping me with the first step in involving other people in the artistic process of the project, but for a very enjoyable evening!