In 17 days, I will be 40.

To be specific, in 17 days, 425 hours and 255516 minutes.^*

Its funny how much that has me rattled.  Turning 30 didn’t rattle me all that much (turning 27 did, but that’s another story), but 40 does.  Maybe “rattled” is not the right word.  I’m not scared about it at all, but its started me thinking about Things.  What kind of Things?  Well, things like “legacy”.

The number forty has started me thinking about what I might leave behind.  I know that this is is a very silly thing for me to be thinking about, because (I’m told) forty is the new thirty, and its not like I’m at death’s door, but I have found myself thinking more about what I will leave behind after I’ve shuffled off this mortal coil.  I have been more serious about my writing. When I was a few years  younger (about 24-27), I wrote quite a bit, but after I spent 5 years out of the acting business I stopped.  But now, I’ve been wanting to write more.  I’ve had more ideas and spent more time actually writing.  Short stories, plays, and screenplays have all been mulling themselves around in my brain waiting to be put to digital paper.  I’ve also had a stronger desire to do more acting.  Perhaps its the logical outcome from taking so many years away from acting, but after I returned to it, I have been slowly building up the number of shows I’m doing a year, until now when I am wanting to be working on something all the time.

So, I wonder what’s going on.  Why is age 40 affecting me in this way?  Not that I’m complaining.  I’ve often lamented how I wasted my twenties in terms of my creative career, how I didn’t put enough work into acting and writing when I was younger.  I like that I am being driven like this, but I find it curious/interesting that it is the age thing that’s brought it to the fore.

What do you think?  Has an specific age or event spurred you to action?

* of course, I used a website to determine that specificity, as those who know me well know that its highly unlikely I’d have been able to get that kind of mathematical exactitude on my own.

Posted in Aging, Theatre, Writing | 1 Comment »

A few days ago,  via twitter,  I saw an article showing a letter that David Mamet wrote for the writers of the Unit, which serves as a master class on good writing for film and television.  You can see the article here.

There are little gems here like:

- Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of shit.

- Any time any character is saying to another “as you know”, that is, telling another character what you, the writer, need the audience to know, the scene is a crock of shit.

- Remember you are writing for a visual medium. most television writing, ours included, sounds like radio. the camera can do the explaining for you. let it.

This is great stuff.

After reading this article, I watched a couple of the shows that I watch regularly: Flash Forward and V.  Both of these shows I’ve been watching not because I find them particularly gripping, but rather because I want them to be good television (also, I admit to watching V because of my fond memories of the 80s miniseries).

Unfortunately, both shows fall victim to the very things that Mamet is warning against.  I have often watched an episode and thought to myself “something is bothering me about this scene” but not been able to put into words what was not working.  Mamet’s words point out exactly what is wrong.  Both of these shows could do with a good read of the Mamet letter in question.  In fact, pretty much every TV drama writer should read over Mamet’s letter and take it to heart.  The shows will be better for it.

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Last night we closed Monkeyman Productions’ Banana Festival.  The play I directed, The Second Last Man on Earth, went pretty well.  The whole festival of one act plays was quite good, but being the director of “Second Last”, its the one I’m most close to.  I can honestly say that I am proud of the work that was done, though I do wish I’d had a little more time.  Our rehearsal period was significantly truncated, and as the show performed, I caught myself seeing little moments that could have been made slightly better…if only we’d had the time.  Then I catch myself: we didn’t have time, and everybody did great work with the time that we did have.  I imagine that there’s never enough time, and that there will always be moments that could have been made slightly better.

Today, I found myself feeling slightly off; and then I realized what it was: post-show depression.  It happens all the time when a show finishes.  Actors come together and spend large amounts of time in close proximity, sharing the stresses of performing and just generally hanging out.  For the period of working on a show, a group of actors form a small family, and then very quickly, the family splits apart.  Usually I am prepared for it, I know its coming, and can make arrangements to combat it.  But this show, I was not an actor, I was a director, and I didn’t expect that I’d find myself in the same mindset as if I had been an actor in the show.  So the beginnings of the post-show depression were unnoticed at first, until it was too late.

In other news, I’m turning my attention back to the Commandment and trying to fix some dramatic problems with it.  Perhaps I’ll have to change the structure. Maybe I’ll have to start over.  What I’ve determined so far, is that the play lacks high stakes, and the character’s journey needs to be fleshed out more.  So, that’s what I’m going to be working on for the next little while.  And perhaps I’ll try for next year’s Fringe Festival.

Posted in Monkeyman, The Commandment, Writing | 1 Comment »

I am still struggling with this one man play that I’m trying to write.  Drafts 1 and 2 were very similar, making them really Drafts 1.0 and 1.1.  I have not yet found the journey of the play and I think that’s what is really holding me back.  I don’t know the character’s journey.  There’s a lot of words there, but I don’t yet think they are any more than that: just words.   I know the character’s background, and what he thinks about things, but at the moment, the play lacks a certain…theatricality, which I think will be resolved by finding the character’s journey. Once I know the journey, I’ll be able to give the play focus.

The play needs serious dramaturgy.  I need a dramaturg to help me find the play.

Who would have thought writing a play with just one character would be so difficult?^*

^*Just kidding. I knew it would be difficult. I guess I just didn’t know exactly how difficult.

Posted in The Commandment, Theatre, Writing | No Comments »

Last night, after struggling for a few days with a motivational deficiency, I finally picked up pen and paper and started working on a new draft of The Commandment (incidentally, when I say I picked up “pen and paper” I mean it literally, for this draft I’m gonna kick it old school…write on paper.  How analog). Reading over the last draft, I’m finding problems with the story that I’d glossed over before.  I think I was just happy to be finished the thing, and convinced myself that the problems weren’t that serious.  As a piece of Drama, however, its relatively unsuccessful at the moment.  I was having trouble readjusting the content, moving it and making changes.  So I decided that I would start over. I can reference the previous draft if I need to, but I wanted to take a shot at a fresh beginning.

Tonight: Rehearsal for Everybody Dies.

In other news, I should really start thinking about a vacation.  I didn’t take my usual writing vacation this year.  Might need to do something about that.

Posted in Life, The Commandment, Theatre, Writing | No Comments »

I don’t make New Years resolutions.  They just seem to be a way to set unrealistic expectations, which lead to making you feel disappointed in yourself when you break them.  So, no resolutions for me.

But I will set some goals for myself. So here, in no particular order, are my goals for the upcoming year:

• Get paid to act.  In the past, I’ve done too many shows just to be doing something.  This has lead to varying degrees of satisfaction. Some experiences were really great, others were not.  So, the goal is to only do theatre that pays, unless (and the unless is important here), I am creating the play, or am invested in it (like a play produced by Monkeyman Productions).
• Do more directing.  I have an idea for a particular Shakespeare play that I would love to do.  I need to find  a way to fund that.  Before I tackle that play, I’ll want to improve my directing vocabulary.
• Write more.  Write more. Write more.  Finish the play I’m working on before moving on to the next.
• Become a better theatre marketer.  I am the “Marketing Manager” for Keystone Theatre, and tried my hand at some publicity for Monkeyman for the last show.  I certainly need some improvement. I have a bit of time before Keystone kicks into gear, so there is some time, but I certainly want to know what I’m doing before that happens.
• Become a better shmoozer.  Be able to go to parties and make small talk and meet the right people and the like.  I’m not very good at this, and I need to get better at it.
• Get an agent.

So, those are my goals for the year. There’s more of them than I initially thought there would be.  I might not complete all of them, but at least I’ll have made some serious headway if I accomplish some of them.

What are your goals for the year?

Posted in Directing, Life, Theatre, Writing | 3 Comments »

I’ve been thinking lately about the ebb and flow of the creative impulse.

I find that when I am surrounded by creative people, that I am inspired to create.  When I have sat down and had coffee with a group of actors, writers, or directors (or what have you) for days afterwards I find my creative energies more focused and more powerful.  Over time, if that creative contact has not been renewed, I find that I get distracted by the many non-creative pursuits/demands that surround me.  I’ll get caught up in stuff from my day job and to wind down I’ll fire up the video games, or without the creative inspiration that these creative folks bring out in me, I’ll just fire up the video games instead of writing or working on something creative.

This is something I’d like to change.  I’d like to keep the creative energies going, and to that end, I’d like to propose a regular get-together of creative people.  Coffee (or beer for those who drink it) at some place where we can sit and talk about theatre, or writing (or whatever) in the hopes that I can keep the creative juices flowing (and hopefully so the other folks participating).

So, thoughts?  Would you be interested in such a group?

Posted in Acting, Arts, Theatre, Writing | 2 Comments »

About a year ago, I wrote about a play that I was “mulling over“.  In addition to mulling over the idea, I’ve also been doing a fair bit of research, reading different accounts of the Upper Canada Rebellion, and soaking up as much information I can. Recently, I acquired a book I’ve been wanting to find for a while, The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada, which contains excerpts from letters, newspaper articles and the like that were written as the events were occurring.  This book has been invaluable as a research tool.

When I first conceived of this play, it was as a small cast, single-set play, the kind we often see in small to mid-sized theatres these days.  There’s a reason why most plays that are produced have a small cast, and a single set: money.  Its expensive to produce a play that has a lot of actors, something that can really only been done for plays by Shakespeare or for musicals.  For new plays, it can be difficult for theatres to be able to afford to produce plays with a large cast, since the play a) may have a limited appeal/audience or b) employing actors and building sets may take away from the funds available for other shows.   As I have progressed in my research, however, I’ve determined that confining the events of this topic to a small cast, on one set does a disservice to the topic, and to the drama of the thing.

I have given myself “permission” to write big, to not worry about how many characters and the scope of the play during the writing phase.  That’s “thinking like a producer”, which I think I should avoid during writing phase of the project.  So, I’m going to do that.

The play is shaping up to be structured like a Shakespearean history play (though I won’t attempt to write in iambic pentameter, that way leads to madness).  Right now, I’m plotting out the play (selecting the “historic events” and writing down how the scene will be structured around those events).

When the play is written, then I’ll worry about how to deal with a play that has such a large cast. But for now, I’m just writing.

Posted in Lyon and the Banshee, words, Writing | 2 Comments »

Tomorrow is the first day of Script Frenzy, an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April.  I’m participating this year, and I’ve been spending the last few days getting prepared to write my script.  I’ve been getting my outline ready, defining some wants and needs for my characters, and gathering my reference materials.

Really, this is all “busy work” because I’m keeping myself from starting the play until the official start on April 1. Once SF starts, then its all about discipline: keep writing, don’t get sucked into video games or other time wasters, just write.

Want to see my progress?  Check the progress bar in the sidebar of this site, or click on the banner below to go to my Script frenzy profile to see how I’m doing.

Posted in Lyon and the Banshee, Writing | No Comments »

Four days into Script Frenzy, and its going pretty well.  I’m 16 pages into the play, and doing pretty well, considering that this being my birthday weekend, there were …interruptions:  on Saturday I went out with some Friends, Sunday was birthday dinner with the parents.  But considering the circumstances,  I think I did pretty well.

One thing that I’m trying to keep in mind as I write, is that this is a first draft.  It doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t need to be fully realized. It can be flawed.  The important thing is to just keep writing. I’m pushing myself to hit the 25 page milestone as soon as possible, because that’s going to be one of the problem pages for me.  I know from experience that’s where my focus will wain, where I’ll be tempted by other ideas.  Which is why I want to get there as soon as possible. The sooner I can encounter this, the sooner I can push through it.

I’m satisfied with my progress so far.  Anxious to keep going.

Posted in Lyon and the Banshee, Script Frenzy, Writing | No Comments »