Fall forward - plays take cyber trips

Perhaps it's the result of the ending of summer and the arrival of autumn, but it's play submission mode time. Somehow, the summer heat plus the sun shining down prompts the brain to enter into a state of lethargy, at least it does mine. All this is to say or write that now it's time to actively seek out homes for my literary 'babies."

Before the actual act of hitting the key that will send them off to parts unknown, they've been receiving a once-twice-and more evaluation for any necessary changes or modifications. Frequently, this assessment results in a re-examination of a/some play(s) followed by muttering of bad words, the end result of which is yet more revisions. Some of the plays have been updated to the point where it's difficult to recognize the original story line and conduct an objective assessment as to which version works best.

So where is all this sharing of inner angst and trepidation leading you may well be asking yourself. I've been in a play submitting state of mind these days.

Came across a competition for a ten-minute play with the focus being "The Urban Jungle." A while back I wrote a piece entitled, "Waiting for Roach" featuring the end result of a meet up of a young punk-mode adult male and a female senior citizen, which works perfectly for the competition. The play-ette as I call short offerings, has never been submitted anywhere before having waited for the right occasion and right opportunity to share it with the world, or at least with the people running the competition.

In addition, I decided to share one of my favorite plays, "Neighbors" now re-named "The Shrubs" with a theatre. Upon reflection and somewhat interesting, this two-act play started out as a short 10-minute play as many of them do. After years of ignoring it for the most part, while scanning over the play titles,  it jumped out at me. Somehow, something seemed to be lacking in the shorter version and after reading it through, a new angle to the story began to develop resulting in a re-working and its development into a full play. In any case, it has left home with my best wishes and hopes not to mention prayers, that others will enjoy the contents as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Meanwhile, my wedding play, "Make Me a Wedding" has also taken a few cyber trips. A comedy, this was my first endeavor in playwriting and my favorite but then I say that about all my plays. It was almost performed a while back but had to be abandoned due to a breakdown in the production. Let's just say that the undertaking was akin to "Noises Off" and leave it at that. To get back to the play, it elicits laughter every time I read it through and I do frequently. Here's hoping.

Last but certainly not least, my second-favorite play, "Gin: an Allegory for Playing the Game of Life" is still seeking new digs as they say. A comedy, the two-act play focuses on the long-time friendship of three women who discuss their lives and those of people their lives touch upon, during their weekly card game. When writing plays, I always envision the actors who would best suit the various roles and today decided that Barbra Streisand, "the" famous Barbra would be ideal for the role of Becky. Barbra if you're reading this, the role is yours for the taking when it finds a new home. Or if Barbra is too busy, in as far as high-profile comediennes are concerned, Tina Fey would definitely be a good fit and Ellen DeGeneres would have fun with the role. There are two other juicy and fun parts in addition to supporting roles requiring further thought for another blog piece. Now all that's necessary is a theatre or producer to see the creative potential of the play.

It all starts with a dream and if you're gonna dream, you have to dream big. Barbra, Ellen and Tina would understand.

IN SUBMISSION MODE - AGAIN



For whatever reason, I always... Okay. Very frequently at this time of the year, I get the urge - the need - to seek out theatres et al, which are open to new plays/playwrights. To this end, came accross a theatre group in NYC that struck my fancy or kind of stood out and passed along "Gin: An Allegory for Playing the Game of Life." Supplied a synopsis and even when adding my neophyte-ic status, they still wanted to read it. This is a good omen - one hopes.

Before submitting, I checked over the contents for spelling mistakes and flow of dialogue and made a few tweaks. Thing is - I don't have a playwriting program and submitted it as a Word attachment, not an ideal arrangement. Really, this is something that should be looked into but somehow it ends up on the back-burner. There is a program available in Word so I've read and this is something I really must pursue.

In any case, haven't heard back from them, yet. Patience isn't one of my strong points but I have to control my curiousity and wait. And wait... It`s all part of the process. Right? It would be so wonderful if the recipients would provide updates. Something to the effect:

"Dear Playwright,

We are in the process of reading your play. So far, we are enjoying the contents. We are up to scene blah-blah. Will get back to you again as we go along."

I mean, it would make playwrights lives so much more bearable!

In addition, looking for possible contacts to send my short-short plays. Really, the search never ends.

A REJECTION WITH CLASS

As an aspiring playwright, rejection is an all too familiar part of the submission process. There are periods when it all gets overwhelming and rather than face yet another run of "thanks-but-no-thanks" notifications, I stop sending out my literary jewels for a while. Then along comes a theatre company and more specifically, a literary manager that makes it all worth while.

Recently, I submitted my play, "Gin: An Allegory For Playing the Game of Life" to the 1111 Theatre in the hope that it would find a home at last. Unfortunately, it has returned home to its birth place, unproduced, but the rejection made me smile and mutter, "oh well - onward and upward" instead of "oh crap- again!" What's particularly refreshing is that the Literary Manager, Louise Hamill, comments indicate she read the entire play instead of sending out another "dear playwright" form letters. That in itself makes her a cut above the rest in my eyes and worth sharing with other aspiring playwrights:

"Thank you for submitting your play, GIN: AN ALLEGORY FOR PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE, for consideration to our theater. I enjoyed reading the work- each character's traits were clear and constant, and I never had a problem keeping the characters straight in my head (not always the case, unfortunately). I was also pleased Becky opened her eyes a bit at the end- I really wasn't sure if you were going to resolve that situation!

We need to pass on the script at this time, unfortunately, as it is not quite right for our company. I do wish you the best of luck in placing it with another theater. Thank you again for your interest!"

Thank YOU for YOUR interest Louise Hamill. You made my day.