I am one month away from the first reading of the Christmas production I will be staging in December.  First readings for me are like opening nights.  On opening night, I watch an audience react to the play.  On first readings, it’s the same thing, except I’m watching actors react to the play.  In both instances, it’s the first reaction that I look forward to seeing.  The script is complete (and as of yet, remains untitled), however, I am in re-write mode.   Several areas of the play were not working and needed either to be cut or re-imagined.

After I completed casting, I then went about writing parts for each of the actors.  I write these plays based on the volunteers I get for casting.  So although some of them don’t know me very well (as there are several newcomers in this production that I have yet to work with), I feel I know them.  Their faces and voices have been in my head since I completed casting in early July.

A couple updates:  I did not advance into the Nicholl Fellowship’s Semi-final for my screenplay Home.  There were over 7000 entries and only a mere 350 advanced so it was going to be tough.  I did advance in the top 50 of Writemovies contest and you can find my script Home listed on their site here.

Just read a quote by Charles Dickens and it reminded me of how when I start a new script, ideas can come at you in such an overwhelming way that it is hard to see where you are going and what you are trying to say.  Listen to how beautifully he articulates the writing process:

Play with your ideas, talk with them, and coax them into a fully-formed creation.  An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.
Charles Dickens