This postSo, a month and a half ago I went to my first New Play Project performance, in the courtyard of the JFSB here on campus. It was fairly low-key, with just one row of audience members. I wasn’t expecting much. But I was surprised. The plays were short — roughly ten minutes each — and yet they still made a difference. The short story of theatre, if you will. After the performance they passed around a clipboard asking for people to write down their e-mail and whether they were interested in volunteering, whether that be with playwriting or directing or acting or what have you. I decided then and there to write a play. And nothing happened. (This is not uncommon in my life. :))
A month later, I went to their “Roots” festival, and again I felt compelled to write something and submit it. That was a Friday, and the deadline for the Religious Plays submissions was the following Tuesday. Saturday morning in the shower, an idea popped into my head, and right away I sat down and wrote out a six-page draft. (Well, after I got dried off and dressed, that is.)
After getting feedback from friends and revising it pretty much every day over that weekend, I sent in my latest draft and crossed my fingers. Now, since this was my first play, I wasn’t expecting much. In fact, I was kind of hoping they’d reject it, because I didn’t really know what to do if they did accept it. :)
Shortly after that the script selection committee met and decided to provisionally accept it, which meant they’d give me two weeks to revise it; if it was good enough at the end of those two weeks, they’d produce it. So I took their feedback and started rewriting.
At the end of the first week, I went to their workshop (they hold one every Wednesday night) with my newest draft and prepared to be flayed alive. :) I didn’t really know anything about playwriting, after all — I’ve watched scores of plays, but that doesn’t make one a playwright. But I was pleasantly surprised. We read the play aloud (they had me cast my actor-readers) and then spent an hour discussing it. Even though my play needed lots of work, getting the critiques wasn’t really painful at all, and I came out energized and excited for those revisions.
After that, I had till last night to make my revisions so that the script selection committee could make their final decision. Up until the second-to-last draft, I wasn’t sure I was even in the ballpark — it felt like every change I made was making the play worse. After all, eight drafts had burrowed me so far into the play that I felt I couldn’t really get out and see it objectively.
But I’m pleased to announce that an hour ago I got an e-mail saying I made the cut. :) The play will be performed October 11, 12, and 13 at 7 p.m. each night in the Bullock Room at the Provo City Library. (It’s part of a set entitled “Thorns & Thistles,” and the other plays are really good, too.)
As it happens, auditions for all four plays are tonight and tomorrow night from 7 to 9 p.m., so if you’re interested, please audition! (And if you know anyone who might be interested, pass the info on.) Tonight’s auditions will be somewhere on campus — once they get a room, they’ll post it on the board outside the Nelke Theater in the HFAC (and I’ll leave a comment here). Tomorrow’s auditions will be in the Bullock Room on the third floor of the Provo Library.
So now I’m hoping that I don’t cringe too much to see my writing up on stage, brought to life. No more hiding behind the Internet. :) (And now I should have more time to blog, by the way.)
Update: Tonight’s auditions will be in F 556 in the HFAC (fifth floor).
