Invite to First Reading

I sent out a few invitations for my first rough read next Monday night the 27th. Just a few friends that I feel comfortable sharing whatever I think this thing might be. What feedback do i want from them? (I'm going to call each person's monologue a piece). 1) What overall feeling does one get from the piece? Why do they "really like it" or "really hate it" or why didn't it resonate in them. This is an important question because their answers are coming from a point of view of someone who wasn't there or thought about certain aspects of the day. They might hate it, but for all the reasons I'm going for. 2) How wide are the different point of views. It was a sad and life changing day, but too much of that would make for a really boring show. Did I hit enough different points of views that make the entire show very well rounded and interesting? 3) What would they have liked to see more of? And equally, what would they have liked to see less of? I hope it's not death, terrorism, heroics, and disaster..... cause there is going to be a lot of that. 4) What acting things pop out to them as I read the pieces. At the end of the day, this is an acting thesis. I'm aiming to stretch my acting chops a whole bunch of different ways and not only tell the story through my words, but through my body, behavior, emotions, expressions, characters, and unpredictability.

I already have a feeling of what pieces they are going to like. They're probably the ones that I like and that I liked writing. They're interesting. They stand out from the rest. I'm really hoping that a couple that I don't like are among their favorites. Why? Because it would mean I touched on something without even realizing it. The plan for the past two months has been to dive into every aspect of that day through reading, watching, studying and then letting my mind come up with ideas that might be interesting for an audience member or a topic that would be interesting to explore.

I'm not uncovering new ground. I am taking what I know as being an artist and doing what I can with it. I have the potential to reach out and educate, inspire, and move people with my understanding of the events of that day. I am fully aware that this might be the worst piece of shit ever to be performed, or maybe it can have a few moments that touch someone and they feel they know a little bit more about what our country and citizens went through.

First Reading

I did what any normal single 35 year old would do on a Friday night, I sat down and read my thesis script and relived 9/11 all over again. Yea! Actually, I was very happy with what I've accomplished in the past 2 months. I have finished 63 pieces and I feel enough stand out on their own to be put together to make an entire piece. I can tell right now that I'm going to have a problem cutting down. I found that a few of them that I liked all had a reasonable similarities and through some work I'll be able to combine them for one full piece. I also realized I have a strong connection to the ones that were more creative than the others. The ones that were off the wall had me thinking "I hope this gets a good response at the read through!" I'm happy with the number of "comic" or "lighthearted" ones. They can make people laugh and smile without making fun of anything that happened that day. New York is full of crazy characters and I'm using my knowledge of them to help this show.

I will need to start thinking of the entire piece as a whole soon and what choices I could make to make it a very meaningful evening for the audience. I talked to Dan in the costume shop about recruiting his help for costume ideas. I have many set and lighting ideas but don't know if any of those will be able to be used depending on where I do the show.

I did watch the conspiracy theories of 9/11 on dvd tonight and how they are argued by Popular Mechanics magazine. If the "truthers" are wrong in any way, they should apologize to every single American. Or how about a TV show pitting both sides against each other? I'm sure that would be a tad bit better than the Kardashians.

I talked to a couple friends who were younger and out of state and got their opinions on that day and realized if this show is a success, I could write an entirely different show based on the people who didnt live in NYC. It was a totally different experience from those who saw the smoke rising to the sky and those who didn't. It also makes me think how this show will play to an audience down here compared to one in the New England States. Does the image of fighter jets flying around NYC protecting us for days afterwards resonate as surreal to this audience as it did for us?

June 10th, 2011

I'll name this entry exactly what it is. It's a check in that says I'm still doing this writing thing so that when I include it in my thesis paper, I won't have to go back and make stuff up. I have 58 individual pieces so far, some being really good and some being complete shit. Some are fragments of ideas and that led me to write another piece in the same vicinity of one I didn't like. I still have a brainstorming list that is several pages long that I feel I could write another 75-100 without any effort. I would say 40 of the 58 are off of general ideas of death, forgiveness, hatred, love, survival, shock, recovery, or decision making. The other 18 are quite avant garde and off the wall. I have found ways to add comedy and light hearted moments, but hope to write a few more that doesn't make fun of the day but lightens the mood. Another path I'm crossing is going from feelings and emotions that I don't need to do research on to doing more pieces using very precise data and information. I want to write a piece that really makes it apparent how much terrorism and anti American sentiment came into it, but first I have to understand it myself and have read almost two books about it just so I can write a 5 minute piece on it. I don't want it to be a lecture. I want it to communicate the message while making it interesting and creative.

That's another struggle I'm dealing with. To make the moments active towards someone specifically with a specific want or getting the information out as much as possible, sacrificing the "scene". I want to make each moment a different take on something that has been looked at the same mundane way before. I want to surprise the audience. I also don't want to dumb down the audience and I want to trust them that they'll see what I'm trying to say with the words without slapping them in the face with them. Take the example of someone who is saying goodbye to their family member for the last time. Sitting here I can think of 10 different ways to do that. It's a matter of writing all of them and then getting a feel of what is working the best and then how it compares to the other pieces that I include in the final product. My goal is still to do a full reading on Sept 11th of this year on the 10th anniversary.