Updates galore!

This play thing is seriously conflicting with my love of sitting around doing nothing (Kidding only kind of), but some good things are being accomplished. Since the semester started two-and-half weeks ago (my last semester in college...you might need a tissue for that single tear trickling down your face right now), a lot has happened.

And by "a lot' I mean three things.

Just go with it. 

NUMBER ONE

The first read through of my play! First read throughs can sometimes be painful to sit through, and I'm glad this was anything but! It made a nun laugh, so I'd call that SUCCESS. 

NUMBER TWO

The New Works Festival program allows us to have one-on-one meetings with a successful playwright, for guidance, suggestions, and self-esteem building praise. The playwright, incidentally, was one who's show I was Stage Manager for last year--so it was a delightful role reversal of her working with me instead of me working for her. (What's that? Why, that's the sound of the tables being turned. SOUNDS REAL GOOD).

NUMBER SEVEN....I MEAN THREE...WHATEVER I'M A THEATER MAJOR NOT A MATH MAJOR

I have some really great ideas to help sharpen my play, and I'm really excited about it. I'll have a new version of my play by February 9th, when the next read-through happens. After that, rehearsals! 

There you have it. 

A Dilemma

I've been struggling with something--something not like me at all. Something that I never wanted to get involved in, and something that I'm worried will disappoint the people who are proud of me the most.

I'll come right out and say it. My play's dialogue has swearing. Expletives. Profanity. Curses. Vulgarity. Cussin'. Naughty language. Dirty words. Sailor talk. Potty mouth. (I apologize for any family heirlooms that have just been destroyed from too much pearl clutching)

From a professional standpoint, I've never been one to use swearing for comedy. I come from a background in improv and sketch comedy, and I have always considered swearing in comedy a big DON'T. More often than not, I've always seen it as nothing but a cheap laugh. It's too easy. I still believe in that standard....so why did I make my characters that brassy?

My play is my attempt to honestly (and humorously, of course) capture a very specific event that most everyone goes through at some point in their lives (but more on that some other time). The swearing is part of that honesty. And it's not me saying the words--it's my characters. When I try to reword the dialogue to make it more 'family friendly'...my characters aren't themselves anymore. It doesn't work. I can't change those characters because they are the heart of the play. From a snooty personal point of view, it's for my art.

But it still makes me nervous. I never ever want to offend anyone. Heck, I still get taken aback when an adult figure says "crap" in front of me. Yet here I am, advertising something that I wrote, that has (what some consider) offensive language.

But a freakin' Pulitzer Prize winner liked my play...so, it can't be all bad. I hope.