A member of the cast last night called me “the clean Mamet”. Those who know playwright David Mamet’s work know that a lot of his characters use profanity. Those who know my writing, know that I don’t. I was quite flattered to be compared to David Mamet. Growing up, my influences were mostly Tennesse Williams and Eugene O’Neil and such searing dramas as Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and O’Neil’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. In film, Ordinary People from 1980, directed by Robert Redford, has meant a great deal to me. Ordinary People was probably one of the first films I wanted to imitate as a screenwriter. It is also a film that deals with family, pain and loss. And of course, hope.

Hope and loss are two themes that are constants in my writing. Blue is so much about loss and letting go of things we once knew to be true. But when you do that, you pay a high price. The truth doesn’t come cheap. Hope is something we should believe in and always strive for. Without hope, loss becomes meaningless and that is when suffering becomes unbearable. My hope is that this play moves people and gets them to think of their own family and how they relate to them.

As this production nears opening night, I find myself filled with a nervous anticipation. Jane and I correspond throughout the week. There have been some tiny script edits as she works with the actors. Once a play gets on its feet and the actors begin blocking, the dialogue sounds a bit different than when just sitting and reading it. Although I have been hesitate at times with some of the changes, I know in the overall picture, these edits are making “the clean Mamet” cleaner.