OverTime opened at the Toronto Fringe Festival on July 2 and tonight (July 11) @ 10:30pm, the play will have its closing night.  I saw the first 3 shows of the run, stayed away from the next few shows and will return tonight to the Robert Gill Theatre one last time.   I’m looking forward to seeing how the actors have grown into their respective parts after having performed the play 6 times now and feeling more comfortable with the stage surroundings.

As the playwright of this production, I continue to learn my craft and grow as a writer.  In watching the first 3 performances and taking in the audience reaction to the play, it was fascinating to see what resonated and what could use more work.   I look forward down the road, to delve back into this script and refine what’s there.  Writing is re-writing…and more re-writing.  If you want to be a writer, you have to learn to LOVE to re-write.  You also have to learn to accept criticism, be open to change, but always fight for what you believe in.

It’s not easy for me to sit with an audience and “enjoy” the play, but I do.  I had a friend say to me opening night that she had not ever sat in an audience with me when a play of mine was being performed.  She thought it was hilarious how I laughed at certain parts throughout.  At one point I whispered in her ear:  “Are you following this?”  The fact is I never really know what works when I’m writing alone and then read back what I’ve written.  It’s only when you see it come alive on stage with an audience watching, that you hear how it comes together (or doesn’t come together)

I think it’s a remarkable thing that about 8 weeks ago, a group of relative strangers got together to put a play on. OverTime is a complicated, but involving story about 4 very different individuals and how their lives inter-cross and ultimately change one another through pain.   In the end between the actors, director, producer, stage manager, the tech crew and yours truly, I believe we succeeded in telling this tale, and we managed to touch a few lives along the way.  That has always been my goal – to provoke thought through tears or laughter…..and to keep writing to get better at telling a really good story.