The above photos and those included in this blog are pictures taken of the Talk-back that followed the staged reading of my play ANIMAL that took place on March 24 at the Alumnae Theatre.  The actors did an awesome job of bringing the text to life.  I’m grateful to them, to my stage manager Myriam  and to director Liz Best whose keen eye brought the whole piece together.

I’ve been working on ANIMAL on and off for 10 years now.  Many other scripts were written, re-written and performed in between all the re-writes of ANIMAL.  2008 was the first draft and the first private reading took place 2009, followed by several other workshops with actors in 2011, 2013, 2014 (1st public reading), 2017 and now the 2nd public reading this past March 2018.  In that span there were 6 drafts of the script complete.  The most work went into this latest reading at the Alumnae Theatre.  Bits of the play were actually staged for this reading so the audience got a sense of what it might look like to see ANIMAL fully staged.

The experience of sitting in the audience was intense.  It felt like I was living through the actors as they each performed their parts.  During the reading, I had one eye on them and the other eye on the audience.  Listening to the play gave me a good sense of what landed dramatically and what needs more tweaking.  Some of that tweaking is in the form of the script; some, it’s the acting choices made and sometimes it was simply because it was a reading where there’s little movement.   The Talk-back after the reading was interesting because I got a sense of what people thought.  Most were generally positive but there were certainly some questions about the choices I made in the script.

When I talked one-on-one to those who were in attendance, I heard a lot of opinion.  Days afterwards, I was still trying to process all the comments in such a way that made sense to me as I move forward.  Compliments and criticisms I take in equal value.   Both are important.  My dramaturg Jane Miller was in the audience and it was the first time she experienced the play not reading it or performing in it.  She certainly had a different and new-found perspective of the play.  We met and discussed her impressions.  I listened and I’m listening still to the voices inside of me in terms of what I’m feeling, thinking, reacting to and dreaming of for the play.

Ultimately, ANIMAL will lead me back to the text and eventually the stage because it is not a matter of if, but when the play will be performed.   The subject matter and the characters that imbue this story are worth telling.  After the reading I was more certain of this certainty.

I’m not sure at this point how much of ANIMAL needs to be re-written.  I’m leaving the script alone for a few weeks (as I re-write my screenplay Let It Shine).  And a final note about re-writes.  Any writer out there knows that no re-write is a simple fix (at least not most times).  In terms of ANIMAL (like all my other scripts) I can’t stress enough how everything that happens on a certain page with a certain character, happens for a very specific reason.  The symbolism, foreshadowing, motifs, reveals, etc, etc, etc,…are not written in an accidental way.  Everything fits in like a puzzle.   Suppose you try to “re-write” a puzzle.  Go ahead and try it.  And what I mean by that is move the pieces around and try to fit them in with different pieces.  See if that works for you.  One piece fits in perfectly with another.  They were made that way.  Pieces do not fit any other way.  When you go to re-write, you take pieces out and have to create new ones OR in some cases, you have to destroy a corner of the puzzle (or the top or part of the center) and you have to rebuild with what’s left behind with new pieces.  It’s never a “simple fix”.  But that’s the writer’s job – to make what at times feels seemingly complicated, simple.

ANIMAL remains one complete, whole, intricate puzzle because I’m not ready to tinker with the pieces.  For now, I’m listening…