Put Your Hand in the Hand of The Man
Wednesday, June 23
Summer Solstice, 22.5 hours of daylight in Alaska. Thank God for my eye mask!
Slept in a little today and didn't make it to the convention center until 9:30. Last night was late (and so was tonight) and by the time I posted and relaxed a bit it was after midnight Valdez, 4 AM EDT. Wiped out, but worth it.
Today's class was with John Guare, who had the whole hour to himself (no Courtney in sight). Great talk about writing craft. Notes:
The lessons we learn from one project don't necessarily apply to the next, i.e. don't expect every to write/feel/understand every play like your others. Each can have a different process and it's okay. Therefore...
Are playwrighting books worth it? If that works for you, use it. Do what the play needs.
Don't edit as you write (which I do a lot). That inner critic is what "writer's block" is. That's what silences you, keeps you from writing.
Try to ask yourself the proper questions as you write; if you ask the right questions the story will answer them. His example was in The House of Blue Leaves. One character is not in Act 1 but is in Act 2 and some of the other characters have to explain to her what happened in Act One. He never could successfully transition that or have it make sense until he thought to ask the question "why WOULD they have to explain it to her?" Is she deaf? YES. Once he made the character deaf it changed the whole dynamic of Act 2. This process took him 4 years, kids, so no more worrying about how long it takes for a project to be finished (if you ever believe it is)!
Write about what drive you crazy or about what you don't know. Writing about what you know is no challenge to you, unless you write about it in a way that's outside your comfort zone.
There was a documentary shown after lunch, which several of us skipped. Went down to the coffee shop in town, called Bad Ass Coffee. Pretty good coffee and a tasty piece of cherry cobbler, we headed back for the afternoon long plays. These two were not bad, each had some good points and some bad points. The 8 finalist long plays are all works in development, but even though I know that, it still seems like there could be better choices. Some of the plays in the Short Play lab have been better than the long plays.
During the break between shows, saw my moment and jumped in. Tony Kushner and John Guare were talking, so I grabbed my copies of Angels and House of Blue Leaves and asked for signatures. But silly me, I handed Tony The House of Blue Leaves and John the Angels in America. I played it off and we had a nice laugh. I had spoken to Mr. Guare yesterday, so he turned to speak to someone else and I was left standing alone with The Man, Tony Kushner. Was there anyone else around? I asked him how hard it was, knowing how much he hates being in the spotlight, to be the honoree at an event like this. He seems to still be in shock that he is "famous" even to this day which was nice because it made having a conversation with him very easy. I asked him how hard it was to sit through a reading and critique it immediately after, and don't think he cares for the concept at all. There should be a break and time to absorb what we've seen before any comments are made and he totally agreed. Then you have to be careful about the playwright, and you can have a bad situation like yesterday where the play needed serious work (I'm trying to be nice) and all the panel laid into it, which we both agreed was brutal. The playwright kept composed but could have handled it better. Tony said that was unfair to the both the playwright and the panel, which makes me wonder if he'd do another one of these conferences again. His comments have been honest but not in a hurtful way, unlike Albee who just dives right in and starts out with, "the first thing that bothered me with your play was XYZ..." Ouch! Anyway, it was time for the next play, so we wrapped up and he gave me a little hug. And where was my camera?????? Tomorrow. Tomorrow is HIS Master Class and I will be right there. Still haven't found the right moment to approach Albee, but I will before I leave.
It's 12:30 and the street lights have just come on. It gets dark enough for street lights, about like 7:30-ish in east, and this is the darkest it will get all night. Luckily with the mountains there is no direct sun in any windows but the sky is always Carolina Blue. :)) Thanks and Blessings for Ambien!!!
Now that hump day is over, and home is on the horizon it's time to think about winding down and returning to the normal world. I will not go back the same person.
A.
Summer Solstice, 22.5 hours of daylight in Alaska. Thank God for my eye mask!
Slept in a little today and didn't make it to the convention center until 9:30. Last night was late (and so was tonight) and by the time I posted and relaxed a bit it was after midnight Valdez, 4 AM EDT. Wiped out, but worth it.
Today's class was with John Guare, who had the whole hour to himself (no Courtney in sight). Great talk about writing craft. Notes:
The lessons we learn from one project don't necessarily apply to the next, i.e. don't expect every to write/feel/understand every play like your others. Each can have a different process and it's okay. Therefore...
Are playwrighting books worth it? If that works for you, use it. Do what the play needs.
Don't edit as you write (which I do a lot). That inner critic is what "writer's block" is. That's what silences you, keeps you from writing.
Try to ask yourself the proper questions as you write; if you ask the right questions the story will answer them. His example was in The House of Blue Leaves. One character is not in Act 1 but is in Act 2 and some of the other characters have to explain to her what happened in Act One. He never could successfully transition that or have it make sense until he thought to ask the question "why WOULD they have to explain it to her?" Is she deaf? YES. Once he made the character deaf it changed the whole dynamic of Act 2. This process took him 4 years, kids, so no more worrying about how long it takes for a project to be finished (if you ever believe it is)!
Write about what drive you crazy or about what you don't know. Writing about what you know is no challenge to you, unless you write about it in a way that's outside your comfort zone.
There was a documentary shown after lunch, which several of us skipped. Went down to the coffee shop in town, called Bad Ass Coffee. Pretty good coffee and a tasty piece of cherry cobbler, we headed back for the afternoon long plays. These two were not bad, each had some good points and some bad points. The 8 finalist long plays are all works in development, but even though I know that, it still seems like there could be better choices. Some of the plays in the Short Play lab have been better than the long plays.
During the break between shows, saw my moment and jumped in. Tony Kushner and John Guare were talking, so I grabbed my copies of Angels and House of Blue Leaves and asked for signatures. But silly me, I handed Tony The House of Blue Leaves and John the Angels in America. I played it off and we had a nice laugh. I had spoken to Mr. Guare yesterday, so he turned to speak to someone else and I was left standing alone with The Man, Tony Kushner. Was there anyone else around? I asked him how hard it was, knowing how much he hates being in the spotlight, to be the honoree at an event like this. He seems to still be in shock that he is "famous" even to this day which was nice because it made having a conversation with him very easy. I asked him how hard it was to sit through a reading and critique it immediately after, and don't think he cares for the concept at all. There should be a break and time to absorb what we've seen before any comments are made and he totally agreed. Then you have to be careful about the playwright, and you can have a bad situation like yesterday where the play needed serious work (I'm trying to be nice) and all the panel laid into it, which we both agreed was brutal. The playwright kept composed but could have handled it better. Tony said that was unfair to the both the playwright and the panel, which makes me wonder if he'd do another one of these conferences again. His comments have been honest but not in a hurtful way, unlike Albee who just dives right in and starts out with, "the first thing that bothered me with your play was XYZ..." Ouch! Anyway, it was time for the next play, so we wrapped up and he gave me a little hug. And where was my camera?????? Tomorrow. Tomorrow is HIS Master Class and I will be right there. Still haven't found the right moment to approach Albee, but I will before I leave.
It's 12:30 and the street lights have just come on. It gets dark enough for street lights, about like 7:30-ish in east, and this is the darkest it will get all night. Luckily with the mountains there is no direct sun in any windows but the sky is always Carolina Blue. :)) Thanks and Blessings for Ambien!!!
Now that hump day is over, and home is on the horizon it's time to think about winding down and returning to the normal world. I will not go back the same person.
A.
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