Playwrightville - the place where playwrights think about their plays

"A playwright lives in an occupied country. And if you can't live that way, you don't stay. (Arthur Miller)

SCENE: PLAYWRIGHT ELEANOR is sitting at the computer, reading over her plays and contemplating making changes and revisions to one or two...or more.

AT RISE: Various characters from Eleanor's plays, start to feel threatened and express their feelings

If I write a new play, my point of view may be profoundly modified. I may be obliged to contradict myself and I may no longer know whether I still think what I think.

EUGENE IONESCO, Notes and Counter Notes

Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/p/playwriting_quotes.html#edPKy2F7EeZ0kBOA.99

A playwright lives in an occupied country. And if you can't live that way you don't stay.
Arthur Miller
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/playwright.html#mU4ESro3qRYCetxl.99

PLAYWRIGHT
There definitely has to be some changes to dialogue...

(upon hearing this, one of the characters from "THE LEMON" feels a growing sense of panic)

PENNY FLOWERS
Oh no you don't! Finally, after years of waiting, you provided an ending to my car problem.

PLAYWRIGHT
True but somehow, the ending doesn't seem to be strong enough. Refresh my memory, again?

PENNY FLOWERS
My car, a.k.a. "The Lemon", a car  used by many people over many years, was stuck in an intersection without any means in which to move it. Remember?

PLAYWRIGHT
Yup - recall it well. True you had to wait but I finally did give you a decent ending

PENNY FLOWERS
There! So you acknowledge that it's finished!

PLAYWRIGHT
Finished as in, for now, but not necessarily forever. We live for change, my dear

PENNY
Don't have much choice, do I, but if you really feel it will enhance my personality...but please don't demean my character. You sometimes have a habit of doing that

PLAYWRIGHT
I'll keep that in mind

(MAURICE, a minor character from the play, "A WEDDING" chimes in his two-cents-worth)

MAURICE
Excuse me... Hello? Playwright - as you will recall or maybe not - you couldn't make up your mind what type of background I should have. In the end, you didn't endow me with any special qualities other than my social breeding mixing with the upper class rich

PLAYWRIGHT
With all due respect, Maurice, you are a minor character in a major play

MAURICE
Minor in your eyes but not in the eyes of the two families organizing the wedding. They couldn't do without my help in choosing the right invitation. I do have impeccable taste

PLAYWRIGHT
True - in the end you did provide some comic relief

MAURICE
I resent that! I play a very important role. Perhaps a few more lines would be nice?

(Word gets out to JOE MCKENNA, the main character in the play, "OLD SOLDIERS" that Eleanor is thinking change...again)

JOE MCKENNA
What's this I hear that you wanna do some re-writes? No way, Jose!

PLAYWRIGHT
But Joe - it took me three years and numerous re-writes to get you where you are today. Sometimes...many times it takes a lot of re-writes to get it right. Didn't I finally submit the play to the BBC International Playwriting Competition? Perhaps you all will get the chance to tell your story

JOE MCKENNA
The guys want me to tell you that if you change one more word, they're walking! They really mean it!

PLAYWRIGHT
This isn't anything new to me since I've had them walking in many directions over time

JOE MCKENNA
I'm outta here. The guys are meeting back at the bar. Just remember you were warned! Not one word changed or else!

BECKY MALONE
The soldiers are complaining? We started out at a senior's center and moved around so many times, I'm still dizzy.

PLAYWRIGHT
Of all the plays, you people are my favorite characters

JOE MCKENNA
Hey! I thought I was

PLAYWRIGHT
Actually...when it's all said and done, you all are my favorites

(SARAH, a lively and somewhat ditzy character from "Gin..." steps forward to make herself heard and is joined by BECKY, another of the card-playing ladies)

SARAH
So...like...why do you wanna change us? You're not going to write out my goldfish, are you? Goldie would be very hurt even though she didn't have any lines

BECKY MALONE
Sarah...Sarah...Sarah...you and your goldfish friend have exactly the same thought process

SARAH
Thank you. Goldie would be pleased to hear that

PLAYWRIGHT
Just so you know, people, it's not easy to get the right words that will move the story along AND make sense at the same time. Then I have to worry about rejection when I finally decide to submit a play, not to mention the never ending question of the reason behind the rejection. Was it the story itself? Or maybe the ending or perhaps too many or too few characters? It's always those nagging whys. Okay people! This playwright gets your point! No more changes!

PENNY
Can we have that in writing?

PLAYWRIGHT
(keying in words)
'I, playwright, do declare that I won't make any changes to my plays, today'

BECKY
Wait a minute! Just today? What about tomorrow and next month?

PLAYWRIGHT
Beggars can't be choosers. A playwright's gotta do what a playwright has'ta do beside change is the key to a better future for you all

ALL THE CHARACTERS TOGETHER
Been there, heard that

Playwright makes some progress

It's becoming somewhat of an obsession but one in which Joe McKenna and his friends would most likely approve.

Added some more dialogue to "Old Soldiers" play today, although the ending is still up in the air. Wondering if it will ever have any solid substance.

"Really, Eleanor - we deserve better than this," Joe would comment upon my somewhat limited progress. "How much longer do we have to wait. It's been almost four years, now."

It's not for lack of trying. During sleepless nights, Joe and his friends plus the other characters pop in to say hello. Too bad that can't offer advice.

I'm fortunate to be a visual writer and see my words actually come to life and play out in the various scenes. Problems arise when I re-read the existing story line and the realization that something is awry. For example, my dilemma today was whether or not it's logical for a young character to be a great grandson and how old should he be? Then there is the issue of which war Joe and his friends were in.

This is followed by the dreaded 2-R's - Re-write and a Re-thinking - after which ennui sets in accompanied by self-doubt as to whether it will ever be finished. The problem is that I can't let it go for whatever reason. In writing my two other full plays that took approximately a year and-a-half to two years to complete, they seemed to write themselves. The two are so familiar to me that I can quote lines and passages from both.

One of my biggest concerns as expressed on numerous occasions that may be a contributing factor to the delay, is using the format for radio. The issue of having sufficient sound effects is always there. The dialogue is strong and if it was performed on stage would offer an interesting piece of theatre. However, my main objective is, as it always has been, to finish the play once and for all. And therein lays the problem.