Did I dream all that?

I woke up just about an hour ago around 9:30 am as if in a daze. Perhaps that's how people usually wake up after only four hours of sleep.

Or perhaps it was because I was feverishly writing and when I woke up I had horrific nightmare thoughts creeping in my head, like "Did I really write a play last night? Did I remember to send it?  What the hell is my play really about?"

After some coffee and breakfast, I've got my bearings.

Yes, I finished a play.

The title is HALF FULL.  Remember, the theme this year is "abundance".

I'm disappointed my original idea and location didn't take off they way I wanted to.  I'm glad I scrapped it when I did, though. I think it was for the sake of a more complex and interesting play.  When I first began writing at 11 pm last night, I thought I was going to write a comedy.  The actors I choose had some great, funny stories and I knew the characters they would inhabit would be funny.

Turns out I didn't really want to write a comedy.  Or that particular story I was working on just didn't want to come out last night in any easy fashion.  It's too bad, as some of the funny lines and images I wrote won't be used, some of them inspired by my bus ride.  Luckily, the new play is not all that dark and heavy and the actors have great comedic timing so will add some humor and warmth to the play.

My favorite image from my bus ride was a sign I saw at the Fairway's Lounge.


Thurs. Karaoke. DJ Josh
Sat. Deliverance

The first play idea was located inside the Fairway's Lounge, of course. Needless to say, there was a DJ Josh character and some references to Deliverance, which just started to get really weird.  (See clip below).

But alas, a funny sign does not always make a funny play.  Or a good one.

So I went back to the theme of "abundance" and focused on the neighborhood that I got off the bus at.  I created a space and environment that was tangible and interesting and let my characters be informed by that place.  Once I had clear characters, the story came together.  I'm still unsure of what works and doesn't work in Half Full, but then, that's what the performance tonight will tell me.

Let's back up.

So, what happened is that all the playwrights had until 8 am this morning to send their play in.  The six directors read the plays (with the names of the authors taken off the title so as to be a blind read).  The directors choose their plays.  Then the actors arrive and they rehearse.  They have until about 5 pm tonight until the tech rehearsal where each play gets about 15 minutes of tech time (for our play that's great, because there's hardly any technical requirements).  Then the curtain goes up at 8 pm and anything can happen.

I'll be heading down in about an hour to drop in on rehearsals and see if I can shed any light on what I wrote.  Or maybe the actors and director can shed some light for me on what I wrote.  Probably will be more the latter, as it usually is.