| | The River Bride's First Dramaturgical Meeting
Photo by Toni Frissell. Was actually taken in a dolphin tank.
Last night I met with my dramaturg for our first conversation (first, because their will be more) on my new play The River Bride.
I met my dramaturg Nakissa in 2007 when I was working on turning my one act play Woman on Fire into a full length play. I asked Nakissa to work with me and it was the beginning of an amazing friendship and artistic collaboration.
I don't have an MFA in playwriting. And I've only taken one playwriting class, so I learned how to do rewrites while working with Nakissa on Woman on Fire. Our dramaturgical sessions often go several hours as we talk about the play's big picture concepts and then focus our way down to specific moments in the play.
I feel truly fortunate to have this relationship. It's hard to describe. But when two artists find each other like this, it's a great thing. She makes me a better playwright. And our conversations drive me to new drafts that make the plays better than the previous one.
Nakissa and I also worked on Heart Shaped Nebula and she's familiar with my other plays which comes in handy as she can see The River Bride in the context of my body of work so far. And we've built a level of trust that allows us to really dig deep into a play to explore it together--it's not always easy to let someone into a work in progress. I myself am very selective about who can hear/read an early draft because I'm still figuring out what the play wants to become and I need that space.
But back to last night.
Last night I curled up in a chair opposite Nakissa and started taking notes. My biggest concern was the shape the play was in. Did she think it would be ready for a fall production? Since I juggle playwriting with a full time job it can be challenging to find free time to write and the end result is I tend to write more slowly than I'd like. Turning around a production-ready script in one year was quite a challenge for me.
The good news is she thinks it's in good shape, really good shape. In fact there were just a couple of key issues to address and then some minor tweaking.
She also loves the play. And while Woman on Fire will always have a special place in her heart because we worked so closely on it for a good while, she thinks The River Bride is her favorite.
And now I have notes, notes and a renewed vigor to work on the next draft.
Happy writing,
M
|
| | Posted 5/4/2012 11:41 AM - 102 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
Give eProps or Post a Comment |
