So much to process…

In a good way.

I spent the majority of my Saturday and Sunday up in San Rafael at the home of Ann Brebner. Ann is one of the AlterLab playwrights who, like me, participated in the residency last year. Ann’s play The Dead Girl, which she wrote during last year’s residency, is currently in rehearsals and will open later this month at AlterTheater.

Ann lives in this lovely home with a fire she can turn on by remote control and a wonderful backyard garden filled with all sorts of flora.

Saturday

My local coffee house.

Saturday began with me heading to The Blue Danube to pick up tea bags (for tea I made once I got to Ann’s house) and coffee. The coffee was for Denmo, one of the other playwrights in the AlterLab residency who was kind enough to pick me up both days and drive me to San Rafael.

When Denmo and I arrived at Ann’s house we found it filled with people, including the final AlterLab playwright Larissa Fasthorse. The other people were actors that AlterTheater had brought in to read my current draft of Wolf at the Door and two local dramaturgs.

After the read through I took copious notes during a feedback session that I led. I have lots of ideas that I’m excited to incorporate and explore for the next draft–success!

My copious notes.

After the actors departed it was just the AlterLab playwrights and Jeanette who runs AlterLab, though Jeanette would say that we are in charge.

The afternoon was filled with a writing exercise and discussion about the projects we’re currently working on.

Sunday
Sunday began with a bit of a late start. Not the retreat, but me and my ride. We did arrive in time to catch the very end of the few pages Larissa had brought in. We quickly caught up (read through the pages) and joined the conversation that the pages had inspired.

I then had the group read my prologue for Alcira so I could get some early feedback as I get ready to start and finish my first draft of the play.

During lunch Larissa and I found a patch of sunshine in the outside garden patio and talked about allergies and napping, among other things. And the weather was perfect over the weekend, blue sky without a hint of cloud.

The afternoon became more targeted as we did a series of writing exercises to help one another explore our respective projects. I asked for my fellow playwrights to contribute four questions for an interview I plan to do with my character Rocio (character interviews as one of my go-to writing exercises).

We finished the day by stating our goals. That is, the goals we’d like to complete before our next retreat in July. For our next retreat I have to bring in a new draft of Wolf at the Door and a no-matter-how-rough draft of Alcira.

I left with some my thoughts churning. I had all sorts of great notes, feedback and ideas for my next round of rewrites. And I had all sorts of confidence issues that suddenly came swimming to surface which I plan to unpack in another blog post.

More soon,
M

This weekend is the second AlterLab retreat of the year. They’re quarterly this year, as opposed to monthly which was the format last year.

At this second retreat of the year I will hear my second draft of Wolf at the Door read aloud. And, as was the case when I brought in the first draft of The River Bride last year, it’s underwritten. I tend to do that, underwrite my plays that is. I flesh them out over the course of subsequent drafts. But when it comes to this fairy tale cycle, so far the plays are right around the one hour mark. All my other plays wind down around the 90 minute mark, which is what I would hope the fairy tale plays would be. But they aren’t. And I’m not going to try and drag out the narrative for 30 more minutes just for the sake of making the play longer. I’m a big believer in form = content. And if the narrative is over, it’s over. Meaning, if the story has been told in 60 minutes then that’s all the time it needed.

Wolf at the Door is currently 50 pages. I imagine another 10-15 pages will surface in the next draft. What I need to get out of the read through is a sense of what’s missing and where are the places in the play–its crevices–where I can open up the world and flesh out the narrative.

It’s slow work. Lately, anyway. The day job stress has been on the increase ever since October and my free time for writing has been whittled away. And I am tired of it. Tired of the day job draining my energy, tired of the stress, tired of having to choose between friends and writing. I want a change and need to figure out how to engineer it.

But that’s another topic entirely. I was talking about AlterLab.

I am looking forward to spending the weekend with the other artists all talking about our work. Ann, whose play The Dead Girl, is in rehearsal. She wrote it last year in AlterLab and this year AlterTheater is producing it. Bravo! So I’m sure Ann will give us the inside scoop about all that’s going on.

Larissa is bringing in pages for the play she’s writing for the AlterTheater ensemble and I have no idea what Denmo is working on, though at the last retreat she and I discussed her amazingly vivid dreams which I secretly hope she’ll turn into a play. I’d love to see that as her dreams had a surreal MirrorMask quality to them.

Images from the movie MirrorMask

Keep an eye out for AlterLab highlights early next week.

More soon,
M

Theatre Bay Area‘s annual conference is coming up and in preparation for it TBA’s Facebook page was putting out calls asking for artists to identify what issues they’d like to see taken up for discussion. The call went out to actors, then directors and finally for playwrights. Here’s what I wrote in response:

I’d love to see a year-long career planning program similar to ATLAS to help playwrights focus on creating a career path. Not a residency for workshopping scripts. This is about mapping out a career and identifying the goals that a PW needs to reach for in order to get the momentum needed to push their career forward.

What’s ATLAS?

Advanced Training Leading Artists to Success (ATLAS) was initially developed by TBA in 2008 as a resource for actors to identify personalized career goals and to better understand where they fit in the Bay Area theatrical landscape. In 2012 they launched their inaugural round for directors.

Reading about how ATLAS participants were mapping out career goals is kinda what inspired me to start developing my annual workplans. And watching friends go through the program I began to wish there was one for playwrights.

Good news!

I got a response to my Facebook comment and it looks like TBA will be taking up the issue, and hopefully launching a version of ATLAS geared for playwrights.

This calls for a bit of a celebration.

-M

I didn’t do quarterly check-in’s last year so I know they actually help me keep on track, focused and also help me see what I’ve accomplished. As I mentioned earlier this year my annual workplan is a living document so this check-in will allow me to report on what I added to it, what opportunities popped up that I was able to pounce on.

Overall Goals

• Write at least 3 blog posts a week: Well, I have definitely not been blogging as much here on my own site as I’d like to be. This quarter I am making a change that will free up my time and bring me back here more. Which is good. I like writing about my process as it helps me keep focused, creates a sort of accountability and also becomes a dramaturgical gold mine when needed.
• Go to at least 1 play a month: I went to a few plays earlier this quarter. Though in March I decided to take a two month break so I could focus on writing. 
• Website update: It looks like my graphic designer best friend will be able to take on my project in August. This gives me time to switch my blog to WordPress so that she can eventually switch it to SquareSpace where my website will be. At least, that’s the plan.

January
1/02:  Yes, I Said Feminist Gala call for 10 Minute plays–Submit Her Story ✓
1/14:  Leah Ryan’s Fund for Emerging Women Writers [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula ✓
1/14:  NALAC fellowship [PB]–>Submit application ✓
1/15:  Ashland New Play Festival  [PB]–Submit The River Bride ✓
1/30: SF Playhouse call for plays about women and immigration [PB]–Submit Woman on Fire ✓
January was a solid month. I did everything outlined in the workplan.

February
2/10: Mixed Blood Theatre [PB]–Submit 10 page query Woman on Fire ✓
2/10: eSe Teatro’s Multicultural Playwrights Festival [PB]–Submit Woman on Fire ✓
2/15: SF Playhouse [PB]–Submit 10 page query Heart Shaped Nebula [Haven't done yet]
2/17: Miracle Theatre [PB]–Sent email to AD (rec from O.S.) to introduce self. Attached The River Bride and Heart Shaped Nebula. [good news, they will read both plays] ✓
2/27: Berkeley Rep [PB]–Submit Heart Shaped Nebula [Haven't done yet]
2/27: Wolf at the Door rewrite [W]–Rewrite should be underway [Started]
Okay, with February you’ll see that one opportunity popped up, the eSe Teatro submission call. And I’m a bit behind on query letters/submission to theaters.

March
3/17: Inkwell–Submit Woman on Fire ✓ [Wanted to send them Nebula, then realized it was too polished for what they were looking for, so sent Woman on Fire]
3/10: Orland Shakespeare Theater PlayFest  [PB] [Missed deadline. Was focusing on Inkwell submission and lost track of this one. Had wanted to send them Nebula]
3/15: Princess Grace Foundation Playwriting Award [PB]–Submit American Triage ✓
3/15: South Coast Rep [PB] [Had planned to send Nebula query, but luck prevailed. Colleague sent contact there Nebula and River Bride]
3/15: Urban Theater Company [PB]–Submit inquiry for American Triage [Still need to do. I foresee a big query letter push in April]
3/25 Wolf at the Door rewrite [W]–Rewrite should be almost done on 2nd draft [Currently finishing up second draft. Still feel it needs lots of work.]
March kinda got away from me. I did get in two important submissions, but missed a deadline opportunity and have a lot to do by way of sending work to theatres.

Here’s the final tally:

• 1 10 min. play submission
• 2 award submissions
• 1 grant application submitted
• 3 new play festival submissions
• 3 queries to theatres
• rewrites on 1 play
• 1 development opportunity submission

Next quarter I hope to up those queries to theatres and not miss any deadlines.

-M

• Hang out with my best friend.
• Rewrites. I have AlterLab in a week and need to get my draft to them next week so they can print out the scripts for my Wolf at the Door table reading.
• Read two plays by a fellow playwright. We swapped plays recently. Our deadline for reading was April 1st. We’re both about a week behind.
• Clean. My. Casita.
• Take my two minute pitch about myself and my plays and attend the Yeah, I Said Feminist speed dating/networking event for women theatre artists.
• Hunt down some rhubarb and bake strawberry rhubarb empanadas.
• Laundry. Good gawd when am I gonna find time to do laundry? But it has to get done…

-M

“You should write a novel.” That’s what my coworker said to me last week out of the blue while we were taking a bit of a break.

“That play of yours that won all those awards. Write it as a novel.”

Huh. I hadn’t thought of that.

“That play” she’s referring to is Braided Sorrow, the first play I wrote. And considering that it’s told in non-chronological order, it could be an interesting novel of vignettes sort of like Indiana, Indiana by Laird Hunt (which is a wonderful read by the way).

I mean, each scene could be fleshed out into a chapter and I could explore the inner thoughts of characters, revel in descriptive prose to make the world arise in the mind of the reader.

Interestingly enough novelist was what I wanted to be when I was a girl. I sat at my parents’ Apple IIGS typing away at my science fiction novel. So I guess I’m coming a bit full circle, aren’t I?

I think I have a summer project. Though I don’t think I’ll finish it by summer’s end. But at least I can open up some time to start it. Here we go, gente. Braided Sorrow: A Novel.

p.s. I know, I know it’s been ages (in blogging terms) since I last posted. That will change soon. I am making some changes that will allow me to refocus on my own blogging here. More soon.

If my play were a sculpture I think it might look something like this:

Light After Death: Mihoko Ogaki’s ‘Milky Way’ Figures Project Stars from Within

See more Light After Death sculptures at This Is Colossal’s website.

-M

Not so fast now. Or as my dad would say to us kids, “Hold your horses.”

I thought I had finished my Inkwell submission. But no. I haven’t.

Why?

The fine print, my dear, that’s why. Well, it’s not exactly fine, it’s very much out in front for all to see.

I should know better. I was planning on sending them The River Bride, but then I re-read their advice to playwrights:

Your play does not need to be in perfect shape. We are a play development organization, so we are not looking for plays that are just about perfect and are ready for production. In fact, you’re unlikely to get a lot out of our development process if your play is at this stage, and our readers are less likely to recommend the play for The Inkwell’s process. We’re looking for plays with potential and ones that need to put up on their feet to evolve. Just try to be as clear as you can be about what you hope to accomplish through a collaboration with The Inkwell around your play when you fill out our submissions form.[emphasis mine]

It’s a pretty good idea to heed any advice that tells you exactly what they are not looking for, am I right?

And the fact of the matter is The River Bride is in really good shape. So even though I am eager to share it with lots of people, submitting it to Inkwell would likely not be fruitful. Meaning, it would not likely be chosen.

So. What do I send then?

Well, I thought it over and came to the conclusion that I still have a play that needs work, needs to be up on its feet. I’m going to send them Woman on Fire. This means rewriting some of my responses, which I will work on tonight and finish up tomorrow.

-M

I’ve been working on my Inkwell submission for a while now. It takes a “a while” because when a submission requires that playwrights write responses to questions I take my time to craft each question, often reviewing them three or four times over the course of three of four nights. And as my dance card has been quite full lately those nights are not often consecutive.

Anyhoo, I actually found myself a bit stumped by one of the questions and it took some time to figure out my response. But I figured it out.

Last night I finished. And tonight I am going to e-submit my application and play. I don’t know about you, but I am often working on submissions at the end of a long day (long work day that is) so I like to spread out the process so that fatigue does not lead to mistakes or missteps.

So check Inkwell off the Playwriting Work Plan.

Speaking of, I have two more submissions to crank out this week before I can return to query letters that weren’t sent in February and rewrites. Oh yeah…writing.

I have a feeling this weekend will be very productive.

-M

What gives with my calendar lately? I mean, last weekend did a number on me. It was an overly ambitious schedule and I was oh so tired by the end of the weekend.

A Short Recap
Friday I saw Word for Word‘s You Know When The Men Are Gone. I thought they did a great job and yes, I cried through the entire second act. Afterward I hung out with the cast (I went to see two friends who were in the show) and we stayed at The Rite Spot until the pianist played The Piano Has Been Drinking as a sign off.

Saturday evening I found myself on a very slow moving bus taking me downtown, but I managed to walk right into the ACT Costume Shop just as they were beginning to seat people for Tim Bauer‘s reading of his play Exit Wounds. I hadn’t seen Tim in a long while so it was good to see him and his wife. After the reading we all headed over to Farmer Brown to catch up.

Sunday I woke up early to make yummy cranberry scones (They were scones!–sorry, only my good friend Angel will get that).

See Smitten Kitchen for this easy recipe.

I took the aforementioned scones to the Yeah, I Said Feminist Theatre salon. It was a big meeting. Lots of ladies. The salon went until 1pm and then I went home to try and nap before heading to 2by4 theatre’s Oscar Party/Fundraiser.

I didn’t get that nap in.

I knew about a quarter of the people at the Oscar Party which meant I got to practice my extrovert skills. We talked through the commercials and gave each lame landing joke the Oscar host delivered a well-deserved eye roll.

Tired I left early. I was tired even on Monday. And now this upcoming weekend is shaping up to be just as event-filled. Friday I take friends to go see Hedwig at Boxcar, Saturday I’m seeing a reading of Outside Lands by Octavio Solis and Sunday is a friend’s birthday party.

When’s a playwright suppose to write?

-M