Writing Sucks!

Okay, I've not posted for awhile.

I've been busy.

Writing.

You know. Real writing. Not just putting random thoughts down on a blog.

That's what I mean by "Writing Sucks!"

Writing sucks...

your time
your thoughts
your energy
your emotions
your social life
your family life
your sleep
your everything

Oh, an writing also sucks in that writing is hard.

I'm adapting a play into a full-length screenplay. The rough draft is almost complete after about eight days.

It sucks about as much as you think it would suck to completely re-imagine an entire script, which I've spent the past two years making sure it will work really well on stage, so that it works really well on film.

I am learning once again how vastly different the two mediums are.

In a good way.

But it still sucks.

And somewhere deep down inside of me I have to fight that inner demon of a critic, that cynic sitting on my shoulder whispering, "Your writing sucks..."

Back off, man. I'm working here.

SLASHER at Live Girls this Wednesday

Come on down and see SLASHER by Allison Moore at Live Girls! Theater as part of their Bakery Spring Readings

Wed May 13th 7pm

Slasher by Allison Moore

Directed by Lisa Jackson Schebetta

Slasher by Allison Moore is a comedy of horrific proportions. When
she’s cast as the “last girl” in a low-budget slasher flick, Sheena thinks it’s the big break she’s been waiting for. But news of the movie unleashes her malingering mother’s thwarted feminist rage, and she’s prepared to do anything to stop filming—even if it kills her.

Allison Moore is a displaced Texan living in Minneapolis where she is
a 2007 Bush Artists Fellow and a 2008 McKnight Fellow. Her play,
Slasher, premiered at the 2009 Humana Festival. Other plays include:
End Times (2007 Kitchen Dog Theatre, Dallas Critics Forum Award),
American Klepto (2006 Fresh Ink/Illusion Theater), Hazard County (2005
Humana Festival), Split (2005 Guthrie Theater commission), Urgent Fury
(2003 Cherry Lane Mentor Project, Mentor: Marsha Norman), and Eighteen
(2001 O'Neill Playwrights' Conference).

Advance tickets available at
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/1792 or 1-800-838-3006

All shows at Live Girls! theater in Ballard 2220 NW Market Lower Level

NYC Recap

Just got back from New York City last week and have not had much time to process the trip. Part of that was because of family being in town but another part was just that the five days I was there were a blur of activity and excitement.


I love New York City.

Always have. Always will.

Every time I get off the plane and hit the streets I feel that energy and it revs me up. The city is always moving, even if you’re not. Maybe I love it because its such a contrast to the desert where I grew up, where nothing is moving, I don’t know.

Here’s a quick recap:

Saturday night
Got off the plane, took the Airtran then subway into the hotel on Lex. Then rushed off to eat some quick crab cakes and then saw friends in Henry V at The American Globe Theater, just off of Broadway & 46th. Good acting, great fights, and fun cast party at O’Lunney’s afterwards

Sunday
Brunch at Pietrasanta on W. 49th and 9th ave, nearby where I lived for a summer. Yummy Eggs Benedict and mimosas and then turned to my right only to realize that I was sitting next to Mo Rocca from The Daily Show.

Saw Exit the King on Broadway. Everyone said Susan Sarandon was miscast or not that great. I thought she was decent, if not charismatic. Yet, she pales in comparison to Geoffrey Rush. He is superb! Comic and tragic. Briliant! I love seeing an Ionesco play done well!

Then down to the Village to eat some great Italian food then catch some music at The Bitter End. Saw some kid, must’ve been 16 years old shred guitar like he was Eddie Van Halen. Seriously.

Monday
In rehearsal most of the day (there was a fly-by?! Wtf?! I missed it!). Great actors, great director, talked about the play. Then the panel with Ellen Mclaughlin and Leslie Lee. I spent most of the time trying not to think about who I was sitting next to and hoping that my thoughts on playwriting and dramaturgy sounded coherent and not juvenile. I think the most insightful thing I said about talkbacks; “they should be called conversations and they are always too long”.

The reading of my play THE ALBATROSS was smashing. Got some laughs, maybe a few teary eyes at the end, and the “conversation” was quite helpful and supportive. Honestly, I don’t know what is going on with the universe but I have so far been having great experiences with the development of this play. It’s not always like that.

Tuesday
Went out to visit Stony Brook campus on Long Island. Fun train ride. Had lunch with a gaggle of dramaturgs talking about how to fix American Theater. Good times.

That night saw a experimental show by Alec Duffy, produced by Hoi Polloi called “The Less We Talk”. Very similar to an earlier show I’ve seen. More elaborate in scope but just as heartbreaking at times. Great use of singing to tell stories without it being a straight up musical.

Wednesday
Some meetings, a visit to the Drama Book Shop (again) and then off to the airport.

Phew!

More on the reading later!