Saturday, August 14, 2004
Week 102 - The Big Slam
Returning from camp last week was something like Roald Amundsen returning from the South Pole after two years in the ice and snow to find the world had gone and changed on him. His friends and enemies had switched places, his mentor was dying, the world was on the brink of World War. Re-entry is a bitch. When I left on June 30th, Spiderman 2 was getting ready to come out, Fahrenheit 911 was the talk of the town, and Gephardt was still in the running for John Kerry’s running mate.
It was a great summer. Five weeks of stirring success after stirring success capped by a two day workshop with Romulus Linney. I think I have gushed about this man before. After two hours with him, I felt inspired – I didn’t want to go to the campfire – I wanted to stay up all night and write a play by morning.
The way the workshop works – each writer brings 10-20 pages of material (usually the beginning of a play) to the table to be read aloud. There were 12 of us. I went 10th or 11th – we had been basking in the man’s vast knowledge and experience for a day and a half.
So we read my play. In the middle of the reading, the man gets up and goes into the other room to get a Coke and some pretzels. I took this to be a bad sign. When he sat back down, he listened until the play was over, and then he said with a smile, ‘It’s a kaliedescope of icons, an American farce set in heaven with Jesus, God and the Devil as the three stooges.’ The class was silent.
‘Is that good?’ I asked.
“I like the three stooges,” he said
But?
‘But your freewheeling imagination is getting in your way. The theatre demands that we write something that touches others. Go write something that you believe in.’ He was looking at me like he felt sorry for me. I was crushed. I really liked this guy. He quoted Aristotle, for God’s sake. He got straight to the point of things.
Well, if you know me, you KNOW I’m going to finish that play now. Three Stooges or no. I will deliver it to you by Christmas, dear reader, or you can poke me in the eye.
(Publisher's Note: David continued to revise the play for eight months but never finished it.) ¶ 9:47 PM
It was a great summer. Five weeks of stirring success after stirring success capped by a two day workshop with Romulus Linney. I think I have gushed about this man before. After two hours with him, I felt inspired – I didn’t want to go to the campfire – I wanted to stay up all night and write a play by morning.
The way the workshop works – each writer brings 10-20 pages of material (usually the beginning of a play) to the table to be read aloud. There were 12 of us. I went 10th or 11th – we had been basking in the man’s vast knowledge and experience for a day and a half.
So we read my play. In the middle of the reading, the man gets up and goes into the other room to get a Coke and some pretzels. I took this to be a bad sign. When he sat back down, he listened until the play was over, and then he said with a smile, ‘It’s a kaliedescope of icons, an American farce set in heaven with Jesus, God and the Devil as the three stooges.’ The class was silent.
‘Is that good?’ I asked.
“I like the three stooges,” he said
But?
‘But your freewheeling imagination is getting in your way. The theatre demands that we write something that touches others. Go write something that you believe in.’ He was looking at me like he felt sorry for me. I was crushed. I really liked this guy. He quoted Aristotle, for God’s sake. He got straight to the point of things.
Well, if you know me, you KNOW I’m going to finish that play now. Three Stooges or no. I will deliver it to you by Christmas, dear reader, or you can poke me in the eye.
(Publisher's Note: David continued to revise the play for eight months but never finished it.) ¶ 9:47 PM
