For the second time in my life, a small one act play that I wrote will be produced for the stage in Red Deer. I had such a great experience with my first play, I really wanted to try it again.
I'm quite excited about it, and very happy with what I have written. The play consists of two girls who are sisters, and I'm very confident the ladies I have will give me what I need from them.
The play itself was much more difficult to write than my last play. My last play entitled "Good Morning" is what I would describe as a pleasant experience. The idea for the story came very fast, and even though I would sometimes be stuck where to go, it never was an inconvenience. I was always in a good mood when I worked on "Good Morning".
With this new play "The Universal", I didn't really have a story going into it. I think I stuck with the same format as "Good Morning" expecting the same sort of pleasantness to come out of it, but this was not the same experience.
I was stuck where the play was going, and most importantly, what I really wanted to say with these characters. I wrote three different drafts, all of which I would say had a completely different feel and tone than the other.
It wasn't until just over two weeks ago I finally had a breakthrough, I had an image of how I wanted it to end, and suddenly I knew exactly how to get to that image. Once again it became a joy to write, and I felt good about it.
When "Good Morning" was shown in front of an audience it was the proudest moment in my life theatre-wise. It was a small humble play that I felt people enjoyed, and in rare cases actually touched a chord with them. With "The Universal", I'm hoping for the same reaction, even though in many ways it's very different. I think needless to say, I'm very proud of it, and am interested to hear the reaction it gets. Regardless of whatever it gets, I will keep writing what interests me hoping someone will connect with it.
On another note, I recently watched one of my favorite Coen Brothers films again, "Barton Fink". It's the story of a writer who comes to Hollywood and is put to work writing a B-movie wrestling picture. I'm not going to pretend I know everything about the film, much of it still remains a mystery to me, but I think that's partly what a great film does.
Barton Fink is a writer who you could say is wrapped inside his whole little world, and full of his own perception of what the real world is and what real people are. He says he speaks for the common man, yet you get the idea he doesn't really understand any of the reality going on around him.
So is what happens when living the life of the mind. In Barton's world there are things going on beyond his comprehension, he is so full of his own ego and world as a writer, it makes no sense to him, and pretty soon it turns into a nightmare.
I don't know why I'm mentioning this, I think "Barton Fink" is one of the best films about a writer, it's even a criticism of writers in a way. Perhaps the film was a reminder to me of what is really important and the dangers of not really living a life that is real in a sense. I just thought I'd share my thoughts with you.
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