Trailer to The Ripple Effect, on stage Dec 12 & 13…

We are a week and a half away before The Ripple Effect is presented to the public. This past week I’ve heard all the music that will be part of the production. I’ve been on our set and have continued to work closely with the actors. The lights and sound are the next elements to add to this grand puzzle. As I watched a run of the play last night, I realized that there is a lot being said about the theme of how our lives can have a direct impact on the lives of others through our words and deeds. This story is wrapped around the Christmas season and features a main character that contemplates the meaning of her existence and how she can live a better life and impact the world around her. There are several key monologues in the play and the actors have done a wonderful job of conveying the deep emotions contained in the words. This is not an easy thing to do in the midst of a big story.   There are wild funny moments and some imitate ones as well.  Watching it all play out encouraged me.  Is there certain scenes, characters, storylines that I’d like to change?  Of course.   Writing is re-writing, but there are also deadlines and you have to let things go at some point and make peace with what you have created.   The important thing is to keep writing, creating…

Here’s a great quote about writing:

“You become a great writer by writing lots and lots of stories, not by rewriting the same story over and over again.”
― Scott William Carter

These seasonal productions have sharpened me as a writer. They have allowed me to “exercise” the thing I love to do and to get better and better at it.   I’ve been able to create many stories over the years and from script to script I can see the work improving….but you have to put in the work. And for me personally, writing was never a natural fit.

I have just finished my latest screenplay called The Great Surrender about a one-time high school football star who has been a lost soul most of his life, but following a tornado, finds purpose and experiences unexpected miracles when he’s forced to confront a tragic past he’s lied about.  I spent 3 months on this screenplay and believe, come 2016, The Great Surrender will resonate with others as I begin sending it out to various screenplay competitions.

If my own writing somehow moves me, then I know in a small way, I have already succeeded. With both The Ripple Effect and The Great Surrender, I am encouraged by what has been created and I look forward to hearing what an audience/reader has to say.