I am on page 69 in my new play Circus and ACT 1 is now complete, albeit in very rough form, but the blueprint is there.  I am hoping by week’s end that the play will be complete on paper and then I will begin the process of transcribing what I wrote onto the computer.  This is when the real fun begins, when the play sharpens and takes focus.  Right now my brain is shooting so many ideas into plot and character that it all feels a little too heavy.  Often my hand can’t write fast enough and when I look back at the page, it’s difficult to decider the chicken scratch.   Sometime in the month of August I will be meeting with the director of Blue (Jane Miller) and we will have a sit down and read through of the script.  Having sat through performances of Blue with a live audience, the feeling of sharing a new script with someone for the first time elicits the same excitement, anticipation, genuine fright and joy.

There are two other projects I also have on the horizon.  I will be writing and directing a Christmas production for my church, incorporating some traditional Christmas hymns and modern music into a drama.  This project will involve working with a community of volunteers in putting the play together.  My second project is to write another feature-length screenplay by year’s end.  The last script I wrote was Signs & Wonders and was completed in December of 2007.  I’m feeling it’s time to write another film script.  The biggest difference in writing for film as compared to stage is that screenwriting is more of a visual medium where as playwriting is about the word.  In film, I am always cutting dialogue and trying to find ways of communicating themes and plot without words.  In stage, I let my dialogue do the telling.

I end this blog with quote by the great American playwright Tennessee Williams – who many considered to be a tortured genius.  This quote sums up the kind of characters I love to explore:  “I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really.”