Last week when I was writing my blog it was snowing. This week, it’s sunny and warm and going to get into the 60s (and possibly going to reach 80 this weekend). And in between that we had another round of flood-level rains. This is why I hate March and April. And also because it’s a really busy time of year. My next (and last!) workshop day for my full-length is next week. We don’t have enough class periods left before our readings to go through another rotation of workshops, so this is my last chance to hear anything out loud before the reading. I can still email things to my professor and get feedback that way, but I want to take advantage of this last workshop to hear some troublesome spots out loud.
At work, I had one more 2009 “carryover” vacation day that had to be used by the end of March, so on Wednesday (the 31st), I decided to use it and take the day off as a “writing day.” It was nice to spend some normally unavailable time with my script. Unfortunately, most of that time was spent reading over what I already have and then wracking my brain over how to fix the ending. I need to figure out what changes in each of the characters in the scene before the ending and what they’ve learned. It’s been so frustrating. There were times Wednesday when I just wanted to take what I’d written, write in “and then their house burns down. Blackout. End of play” and have that be the end of it. Obviously, that’s not going to work. And I’d never actually do that. I just have to keep pushing through it until I get somewhere. Seeing my classmates go through their last workshop sessions has been encouraging because I can see how far they’ve been able to come since their previous workshop and know that I can get to that level with mine.
My Thursday class this week had a special guest—my brother Connor! He’s a sophomore at Stonehill, and he’s the only one out of my three brothers who shares my interest in writing. He came home on Wednesday for Easter break, so I asked my professor and the two classmates whose plays were being workshopped if would be OK if he sat in on class. He seemed to really enjoy it. It was a good class for him to visit because he got to see a workshop of a nearly finished piece and then a workshop of a brand-new piece. One classmate brought in three different scenes from her full-length that she’s been working on all year, so at this point she’s focusing on fine-tuning the details and getting really in-depth with the relationship between the two characters these scenes focus on. I didn’t have a chance to tell Connor in advance that those scenes had already been through several rounds of revision, so at first he was a little intimidated thinking that we came in on day 1 with work that was that polished and then got really intense levels of feedback. My other classmate brought in the second act of a new play that was being read aloud for the first time, so then Connor got to experience what a workshop on brand-new material is like and how the feedback differs when something is just starting to be developed. With new work, there’s a lot more general comments about things like “did you buy this concept?” or “was this character working for you?” Once something is at the stage (ha) where it’s been revised and revised again, the feedback is more about dissecting the individual beats of a scene and tightening everything up.
So, I have a busy week ahead of me in preparation for my workshop next Thursday. I have to get the ending revised. Rest assured that there will be no burning down of the characters’ house. I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Easter weekend. And if any new prospective students happen to see this, congrats on your acceptance! And good luck as you reach your final decisions. It seriously feels like I just went through that process myself—it’s hard to believe it was ten years ago. Wow, that makes me feel old.