My WAY-COOL Saturday Night
So, on Saturday night, I threw my first ever (possibly annual) RED BULL THEATRE NEW 10-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL PLAYWRITING PARTY! You know, so we could submit plays to them and stuff.
We made a chili, for artists need to be fed. Brown basmati rice. Sharp cheddar. Yum.
My beloved friend Mir came on a bus Friday night ALL THE WAY FROM NEW YORK CITY to help me out on Saturday. We cleaned ALL THE THINGS (even if she doesn't like sweeping and mopping), and Sita chopped MANY VEGETABLES for the chili. And I went on a long walk to do errands, and we listened to very good music (mainly provided, without her knowledge, by PATTY TEMPLETON, who makes really good mixed CDs).
So then Faye Ringel and Greer Gilman came over, bearing cornbread, hamantashen and assorted cookies. And then Julia Rios, Moss Collum and Gillian Daniels arrived, oh, with ever so many things - BOXES of DVDs to facilitate in Sita's fracture-recovery (as we all know, DVDs are the best medicine, right up there with comfrey poultices, velcro casts and Tylenol PMs), and olives and lightbulbs and artichokes and Fritos (for the chili) and soda AND CRANBERRY JUICE!!!
Also, they brought Grown Up Cheese. (I am a fan of any cheese that Real Grown Ups eat at parties. There is a wide range. I would eat it every day if I could afford it or could remember their fancy names... Gruyere. Manchego. Brie. Goat cheese with herbs. That sheep-milk kind...)
We socialized for about an hour, and then read the guidelines aloud (sort of like Howard Andrew Jones's INVOCATION OF THE MUSES) and got to it! Faye and Greer collaborated on something SO TOTALLY FABOOSH, I cannot even say. Gillian and Mir and I retired to different corners of my writing study and worked separately on our own pieces, pausing a few times to consult with each other and toss the Baby Name Book around. Julia and Moss wrote in my bedroom, and mama sent to her room to finish reading I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith.
Anyway. I am excited about my piece. I had no idea what I was going to write, and chided myself for not having been thinking of it all week, but the truth was, I didn't have time to think much of ANYTHING all week, so it was nice to let my brain switch over.
If it doesn't make it into the festival, I shall simply have to gather five other 10 minute plays written by friends and find a space in Boston for the night, and bring Mir in to direct it, and tap Gillian Daniels for enough of her ACTOR FRIENDS, and organize a bit of a STAGED READING, eh??? EH??? Because why waste the work, is what!
It was a lovely time. I blame Ellen Kushner entirely. She always tells me to do these things, and if I do them, it's NOT MY FAULT.
And for YOU! You people! The deadline's not till MARCH 8TH!
Here are the downloadable guidelines.
It took me about 5 hours to write a 10 minute play. You really want about 6-7 pages, especially when you have high language and any dialogue that is not snappy one-liners back and forth. Come on, pals. Dare ya to write something.
We made a chili, for artists need to be fed. Brown basmati rice. Sharp cheddar. Yum.
My beloved friend Mir came on a bus Friday night ALL THE WAY FROM NEW YORK CITY to help me out on Saturday. We cleaned ALL THE THINGS (even if she doesn't like sweeping and mopping), and Sita chopped MANY VEGETABLES for the chili. And I went on a long walk to do errands, and we listened to very good music (mainly provided, without her knowledge, by PATTY TEMPLETON, who makes really good mixed CDs).
So then Faye Ringel and Greer Gilman came over, bearing cornbread, hamantashen and assorted cookies. And then Julia Rios, Moss Collum and Gillian Daniels arrived, oh, with ever so many things - BOXES of DVDs to facilitate in Sita's fracture-recovery (as we all know, DVDs are the best medicine, right up there with comfrey poultices, velcro casts and Tylenol PMs), and olives and lightbulbs and artichokes and Fritos (for the chili) and soda AND CRANBERRY JUICE!!!
Also, they brought Grown Up Cheese. (I am a fan of any cheese that Real Grown Ups eat at parties. There is a wide range. I would eat it every day if I could afford it or could remember their fancy names... Gruyere. Manchego. Brie. Goat cheese with herbs. That sheep-milk kind...)
We socialized for about an hour, and then read the guidelines aloud (sort of like Howard Andrew Jones's INVOCATION OF THE MUSES) and got to it! Faye and Greer collaborated on something SO TOTALLY FABOOSH, I cannot even say. Gillian and Mir and I retired to different corners of my writing study and worked separately on our own pieces, pausing a few times to consult with each other and toss the Baby Name Book around. Julia and Moss wrote in my bedroom, and mama sent to her room to finish reading I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith.
Anyway. I am excited about my piece. I had no idea what I was going to write, and chided myself for not having been thinking of it all week, but the truth was, I didn't have time to think much of ANYTHING all week, so it was nice to let my brain switch over.
If it doesn't make it into the festival, I shall simply have to gather five other 10 minute plays written by friends and find a space in Boston for the night, and bring Mir in to direct it, and tap Gillian Daniels for enough of her ACTOR FRIENDS, and organize a bit of a STAGED READING, eh??? EH??? Because why waste the work, is what!
It was a lovely time. I blame Ellen Kushner entirely. She always tells me to do these things, and if I do them, it's NOT MY FAULT.
And for YOU! You people! The deadline's not till MARCH 8TH!
Here are the downloadable guidelines.
It took me about 5 hours to write a 10 minute play. You really want about 6-7 pages, especially when you have high language and any dialogue that is not snappy one-liners back and forth. Come on, pals. Dare ya to write something.