Hey everyone!! On with the show.....
So "Which Witch is Which" has ended, and unfortunately, right now I am project-less. Feels weird. Haven't been project-less since 2009.
If I said this was a relief, I'd be lying!!! I miss rehearsals, I miss the make up, being in the empty theatre with my fellow actors-breathing life into new and exciting characters, and being able to tell a story!
In the interm, until I get the next project (which looks like will have to wait until AFTER the holidays since things are being cast and mounted for Christmas NOW), I am working on my 3rd play.
I've been working on this show on and off since I was in "The Heiress" in May. I actually began writing it backstage while I was waiting for my cues. However, after reading what I had written so far, a friend of mine suggested I re-structure some of the characters, and essentially begin anew.
After reading it over again myself, I knew she was right. So, this past week, I've been working on re-structuring my characters, and will begin a second draft of my ACT I this week.
I intend to keep a few things that I fell in love with in the first original draft, but a lot of stuff will be fixed so that my characters can keep talking.
Making the characters talk is always the hardest part for me. Making the conversations last is difficult. As a playwright, I walk the fine line between making the conversations believeable, but not dragged on so much that I'll lose the audience.
The disadvantage to this, is that sometimes, I just write and write, just to fill space-and then ultimately, the conversation I've been writing drags, and the scene no longer makes any damn sense.
This time, though, I face another challange-how do I make my point without using a lot of words. The focus of the show is to make people aware of the sounds around them. But in order for people to HEAR the sounds-there can't be a lot of talking, or there needs to be moments of silence.
I'm shooting for the first full length draft to be done in about a week, maybe 2. Once I get started writing, I really get on a role and get things done quickly.
We shall see...
Until next time....
I really, really hope you don't take this the wrong way, but if making the characters talk is the most difficult part of writing plays for you, it's very possible being a playwright just isn't your calling. (And that's okay!) All playwrights I know write dialogue as such a second nature.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, I don't have a problem writing dialogue. I've always written stories, and it just comes easy to me.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this one was difficult at first because, in order to get the full meaning of the play, there couldn't be a LOT of talking.
As of last night, I was able to work through it and things are going well with it :)
Thanks though! :)
Oh. I guess I'm just confused. You said: "Making the characters talk is always the hardest part for me."
ReplyDeleteThe "always" led me to believe that it's a constant problem with you, not specific to this project.
"However, this one was difficult at first because, in order to get the full meaning of the play, there couldn't be a LOT of talking."
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it's best told as a play, then, and not a novel or a screenplay? Plays ARE dialogue. How often do you watch just actions on a stage in a straight play or have the characters sitting there doing nothing?
I was actually able to work around my initial problem, that way it would work as a play.
ReplyDeleteI realized early on that I couldnt just have NOTHING be said-it wouldnt work,and would be a waste of peoples' time, and I just couldn't do that.
The thought that it would be difficult to create a play where silence is important to understanding it, was a thought I had before I really had a concrete idea or story to tell. I just knew there had to be at least one part of a scene (like 30 sec-1 min) where this character would have to sit onstage, by himself, without speaking, and instead be doing something else (in this instance, it's typing), in order for the audience to get the meaning behind the show itself.
I don't like writing screenplays. My original play WAS written as a screenplay originally, and I didn't like writing it that way, because I was seeing it more and more as a play instead of a movie. And novels, I just don't have the patience to really write.
I assure you, this was nothing more than the early etchings of a thought to one little problem in one particular play, and it has since been worked out through to the end of the show :)