To the Readers!

By Erica Bennett

“Do you have anything to add,” asked Pasadena Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Seema Sueko of LAFPI playwrights before each micro-read last night*.

We met to see the Playhouse’s imaginative production of Vanessa Claire Stewart’s Stoneface that features a remarkably versatile cast led by the singularly talented French Stewart, performing as the dissolute master, physical comedian Buster Keaton.

Stoneface actors gave generously of their time, and cold read fifteen wonderfully diverse 1-page works written by LAFPI playwrights. Slated last, I had fourteen Micro-Reads to think of two sentences of introduction to my page of dialogue from Act I of my new play, Sacrosanct

What is my play about?…

What is it About?…

What is important for actors and audience to know?…

Under the pressure, I came up with: “They are two academics, father and daughter, he, a Professor Emeritus in Library and Information Science, a librarian, and she a Professor of Creative Writing and a poet. She is under threat of [insert threat here].”… And ended it at that.

Not bad, I thought.

The actors were tremendous. The audience was appreciative. There was tension, conflict, and significant laughter, all in the right places, imho.

In my earlier plays, I’ve realized, my female protagonists are poet wannabes, I think, because so was I. “Merit” in Sacrosanct Is a poet… I think I’m finally starting to “own” it. I’ve got a long way to go. But I’m getting better at this thing, playwriting.

However, I didn’t grab Sacrosanct out of thin air.

I have four different groups of readers and they all provide feedback in their own ways that is both provocative and inspiring.

It would be a great tragedy, I think, if they didn’t know how much I appreciate their talent and time, and interest and coaching, and care and kindness.

So, I sign off my week of blogging with a great, big shout out to my Readers!!!

 

*Micro-Reads is am LA FPI program providing playwrights the opportunity to hear a reading of one page of their work. https://lafpi.com/events/

My fantastic experience

By Erica Bennett

When I was nineteen, I auditioned for the role of “Luisa” for a local civic light opera production of The Fantasticks. I made it to callbacks where the director pulled me aside. Apparently, I had the ability, the youth, the spirit, and the edge, but it was all packaged in a woman’s body; not right for the role. This was my first true disappointment in the theatre. It was my loss of innocence and I despaired. As a consequence, I had never went to see a production of the play.

A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out my garage, and came upon a box of LPs. In the box is my original cast album of The Fantasticks, from which I learned the music all those many years ago… Seeing it brought back the pain of never being “right” enough.

Yet, I decided to put aside my reservations, and, last night, I met actor Matt Franta’s parents waiting in line for the start of The Good People’s production of Jones and Schmidt’s The Fantasticks for the Hollywood Fringe, directed by Janet Miller. The Franta’s are so proud of their son, having flown in from Iowa to see the production.

Matt portrays The Boy. In the last scenes of the play, The Boy returns home after experiencing the world; its hardships, disappointments, and despair, only to realize he had perfection at home… In those scenes, Matt’s performance broke my heart. And, for me, the despair came full circle, and it was cathartic. Thank you.

https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1513? for future performance dates and times.

Balancing Act

By Erica Bennett

I’m working on the fourth page one rewrite of act one of my new play… The fourth in a month… Of act one… Adjusting the act two outline, constantly, as I go.

Grateful for all of my readers…

But it doesn’t feel like peeling an onion; I’m not crying…

Feels like a lump of clay; it’s shape slowly revealing itself to me…

Losing sight of what I want to Say is part of my game. I’m writing toward some unknown…

It’s so easy to get caught up in page counts and format and sentimentality and my own words.

It would be so much easier to write from an outline. I try.

But I lust for the freedom of letting characters breath, the moment when one page becomes five, without effort. I had a thirteen page today.

And tomorrow I cut the [insert expletive here] out of it.

There is a party happening out there in the world, without me, because I am writing toward a self-imposed, hard, fast deadline.

Because, if I didn’t create a deadline, I’m afraid I won’t write. It’s happened before.

I get caught up in house repairs and chores, and work, and pets, and family.

A small part of me knows I need more balance.

But time is a terrible thing to waste when you’re racing a clock.

The pendulum swings.

Sing, sing, sing!

By Erica Bennett

“My life, it seems now, has been, all along, this hazy wasteland of subjective opinion.” – “Merit” in Sacrosanct

A thought just occurred to me… What if the plays are like ovarian follicles; we’re born with a predetermined number of them inside of us, and when we’ve reached the end of our reproductive life, we find ourselves wordless… And then I remember Dr. Maya Angelou…

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” http://mayaangelou.com/

My heart is full.

Sheana Ochoa’s Harold & Stella: Love Letters

By Erica Bennett

We all have teachers in our lives, teachers, who grab our imagination and never let it go. Few, however, offer up Imagination as The method for instruction. I was fortunate to have studied at the Stella Adler Theatre West back in the day before the Hollywood metro line took away the little theater that we built.

During that precious time of my youth I had the opportunity to bring up before Ms. Adler a scene from 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. Teacher Joanne Linville coached me in her inimitable fashion, and I’ll remember that night vividly for the rest of my life. I felt affirmed, finally, as an actress, affirmed publicly by the one of the greatest acting teachers of the 20th Century.

However, if you’re looking for the legendary post-Stanislaski Stella Adler as teacher, you won’t find her in Sheana Ochoa’s Harold & Stella: Love Letters at the Bliss Art House Café this week.

What you will find is arguably more enticing.

Applause Theatre & Cinema Books recently published Ms. Ochoa’s biography of Adler, Stella! Mother of Modern Acting (May 13, 2014), and she has produced this staged reading of love letters written in 1942 between the youthful Adler and director Harold Clurman.

In Love Letters, the energetic and earthy Clurman aches for Adler and the glorious Adler relays her love and expectations for Clurman, even as they strain to find direction in their theatrical lives, in this love letter to the art of theatre. I highly recommend it.

Bliss Art House Café 1249 Vine Street, Hollywood

Visit hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1654 for future dates and times.

Interview with Natacha Astuto – Playwright of ‘The Last Train’

Natacha Astuto has a habit of speaking while her hands move with the passion of her words.  When she’s thinking of what to say she glances at the right corner of her face, like she’s tickling her left brain.  During the hour that she and I conversed via Skype last Monday night (10 pm PST which was 7 am in Switzerland) she was eager to express as clearly as possible what I tried to draw from her.

The Last Train (La Dernier Train) is debuting in its English translation production at the Hollywood Fringe Festival this year of the Horse in Chinese Zodiac.  She got connected with James Svatko through Stage32.  He came upon the story, read it and called her to say he wanted to produce the play and wanted to play the lead.  As a most weathered playwright she accepted his interest with politeness while maintaining an arms’ length perspective of ‘well, let’s see’.  It’s a natural self-preservation reaction to wanting to be swept away with grand dreams and emotions, but wanting a cushion landing if it was only a dream.

That encounter happened last year.  When January 2014 rolled around, he called her again, and this time he said it was really going to happen, and Natacha decided to invest emotionally into the project which brings us to today.  It was 7am in Switzerland, and Natacha looked a little tired from last night’s performance, but she was alert and wasn’t missing a beat.  I posed my first question- what motivated her to write the play with this dark and sinister theme?  “To be honest” she started, and I thought this was already telling that something unexpected was coming forth.  She said there was not any particular personal or newsworthy event that inspired the writing.  It was simply that two actors approached her with the parameters to write a play with 4 characters. Natacha added her own curiosity to explore a setting that was enclosed, or in other words limited input and output. In French, the expression is Huis Clos, which translates to “No Exit”.  Jean Paul Sartre wrote a play by the same title and told the story of three people in the afterlife forever together in hell.

So this was her spring board, and what caught my attention was the setting of a jail cell and its literal and figurative analogy to our own personal selves – the prison of our minds limited by our mentality and imagination – if we are so inclined.  In a play of 4 characters the idea of lead and supporting seems to be grey.  I think it’s becomes a constellation of individual characters revolving around the theme of where does evil lurk.  This is my take on it, because I’ve been on the hunt on this topic.  The play is not bounded by that theme alone. Art is alive.  What the seer brings into the chemistry or the formula will influence what they get out of it.

Natacha meditated upon the parameters and she came up with a story of two men who had been incarcerated for twenty years in the same cell for crimes we are not privy to.  She wanted to know what happens to people who’ve been removed from normal society for such a long period of time?  My initial take was that she had come upon a story that touched a nerve in her soul and the catharsis of understanding the events came through in writing the The Last Train,  and I found out I was wrong.  Her process of creating The Last Train was internal and organic, which is what makes this story original, and the story telling so provocative.

She covers a lot of ground in 1 hour in the English version.  The French version that is playing in Europe is 75 minutes long.  What translation differences occurred?  It was mostly colloquial references, for example, using ‘Alex Trebek’ of Jeopardy.  Did she change the names of the characters?  (I found that the character of Jack evoked the spirit of Jack the Ripper, and that Louise resembled Clarice (Silence of the Lambs)  in sound .  ‘No,’ replied Natacha, she did not even catch on to those nuances.  I’m esoteric in my beliefs that storytellers are channels of a story, and this came to the playwright in her deep meditations to evoke a story of 4 people in an enclosed chamber.  That is a formula for explosive cabin fever.  Louise was shortened from the original form of Heloise.  Historically the name is attached to Heloise d’Argenteuil who was the lover of Peter Abelard, a scholar and theologian from the Medieval period.  She was also a scholar and her beauty, insight and intelligence sparked a deep stroke in Peter’s heart, who belonged amongst the ranks of the church.

Natacha created characters with whom she can relate to.  There were aspects of each person that she can identify with either personally or through stories she had brushed with and absorbed into her own being.  Jack and Robert are cellmates and they relate to one another similarly as a married couple.  They take care of one another in their own terms.  Though bound by the cell and the daily routine of prison life there are still secrets that each person carries, and neither has the willingness to expose what lies beneath the façade.  But how long can each person bear the weight of the masquerade?

Secrets have a strong sinister voice that is unspoken, but yet very powerful. The idea of caching secrets into the play is a tool Natacha has used in this play and her other plays.  In writing secrets into the story, she gives a loud voice to victims who have not been able to speak of the unspeakable.  There have been people in the audiences who have found consolation in seeing her plays, and came to talk to her to express their gratitude for giving them a voice.

In this story, the two jailbirds are under the care of a woman, Marianne.  This is an unusual compensation in a male dominated environment.  As a former employee at a women’s prison, she was selected for an experimental exchange program recommended by psychiatrists during the nineties.  She found she was more suited working in the all-male environment and remained in her post.  Jack, Robert and Marianne had created a functional triad with the two men acting as subordinates under the authority of a motherly figure.  She is kind and vulnerable, and the two men perceives this, but do not abuse it.  Her language is soft.  When she leaves them, she says ‘See you guys later.’  She unwittingly exposes her vulnerability by confiding that she’s worried and senses Jack’s fear, and this is the feeling-nurturing behaviors associated with women.

The men bide away their time in their own ways.  Jack has a snowglobe and becomes curious about its self-contained environment.  ‘Where does the water come from?’ he asks Robert who becomes exasperated with Jack’s inane conversation about a stupid snowglobe when he only wants to get out.

You don’t give a damn about anything! You don’t even look up

when I talk to you! You’re just here, waiting to leave fucking

feet first!

Act 1 has very strong overtones of Waiting for Godot, I told Natacha.  She chuckled.  She said that James Svatko made the same comment to her.  “What?! I’m not a Samuel Beckett’, she said amused, both thrilled and humbled to be compared to a wholly alive artist/playwright.

The monotony and bubble of the cell is cracked open by a female visitor, and the hidden thoughts and motives of the men rise to the surface. The stakes are heightened and we are drawn in closer to witness the unveiling of secrets.

Natacha is a bright artist and I am very lucky that I had the opportunity to speak with her about herself and the play.  One of the other questions I posed to her was if she found any disparity between men and women in having exposure as a playwright.  She pondered this question deeply.  Her first response was no.  She explained that she already thrives in a man’s world working professionally as a mechanical engineer.  Being in a man’s world she behaves simply as a person doing the work that is mostly filled by men, but it’s not about the gender.  It’s about doing the work.  She is aware of a common theme in comments by other people that they were surprised that a woman had written a play in a setting that was primarily male oriented and about two men in a prison.  Storytelling is a vocation.  It’s a job that can be done equally well by any man or woman.

Natacha has written 6 plays in total.  The Last Train is the first one to be translated into English.  Her storytelling and writing style is purposeful and engaging.  Get curious and thrilled!  Go see The Last Train.

The Last Train is playing at the SCHKAPF, formerly known as Artworks Theatre.  ADDRESS: 6567 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038. tel. 323.871.1912

The schedule is:

  • Thursday June 05 2014, 10:15 PM | 1hr
  • Saturday June 14 2014, 6:30 PM | 1hr
  • Thursday June 19 2014, 10:15 PM | 1hr
  • Saturday June 21 2014, 6:30 PM | 1hr
  • Thursday June 26 2014, 10:15 PM | 1hr

Go See the Hollywood Fringe Festival – Top 10 Reasons

By Analyn Revilla

Top 10 reasons to see plays at the Hollywood Fringe Festivals:

10. Participation in the Hollywood Fringe is completely open and uncensored. This free-for-all approach underlines the festival’s mission to be a platform for artists without the barrier of a curative body. By opening the gates to anyone with a vision, the festival is able to exhibit the most diverse and cutting-edge points-of-view the world has to offer. – That was straight out of the horse’s mouth – http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/learn/index/89

9. Theatre hopping in one night in the same theatre or just mozyin’ on down to the theatre next door to catch the next act.  Two weeks of staying out late theatre-bar-theatre-bar hoppin.

8. Live entertainment with breathing, salivating, thinking, reacting and overacting people in their own skin. This is the opportunity to boycott computer animated movies for two weeks.

7. Make an artist feel appreciated.

6. Surprise yourself.  If you can’t stretch your body, stretch your mind.  It’s yoga for the imagination.

5. Because Theatre is the new Cool (always has and always will be). I liken Theatre to Miles Davis – a classic cool who will always be cool, because he was fearless in reinventing himself.

4. 278 shows! (I think this is about right from the search on the website) to choose from in 2 weeks

acting · american · comedy · dark comedy · hilarious · identity · los angeles · love · new york · one woman show · relationships · storytelling · adult themes · comedic · comedy · dark humor · death · drama · dramedy · ensemble · family · funny · gay · music · musical · musical theater · one person show · one-act · original · satire · solo show · storytelling · theater · women · world

3.  Fancy is back! (I saw FANCY: Secrets from the Bootydoir last year, and was amazed by the talent. Chris Farah is a hot blooded story teller.)

2. A new and brave talent on the scene from Europe – Natacha Astuto wrote the thriller The Last Train. This is the first English version of the play that has played for 2 years in Europe in French. It won both the Grand Prix and the Young Jury prize at last weeks’ FESTIVAL DE CAHORS, FRANCE.

1. Women on the Fringe! This is the list of the shows that were written by women – shortened without the hashtags. Get the complete details on https://lafpi.com/about/women-at-work-onstage/women-on-the-fringe/

  1. BURNT AT THE STEAK by Carolann Valentino

  2. I CAN HEAR YOU…BUT I’M NOT LISTENING by Jennifer Jasper

  3. LYDIA TRUEBLOOD – THE BLACK WIDOW OF THE ATLANTIC COAST by Liz Eldridge & Efrain Schunior

  4. BETTER THAN SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS: MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING, created by Megan Kelly and Kate Grabau (and William Shakespeare)

  5. WOMEN by Chiara Atik

  6. THE PENS SHALL HAVE THEIR DAY by Lesley Gouger

  7. GWYNETH & BEYONCÉ: A Tale of 2 Virgins by Laura Keller and Christina Jeffs

  8. THE CAVE: A FOLK OPERA by Melanie Rose Thomas

  9. HONESTLY, OK – THE SEMI-TRUE STORY OF A GIRL AND HER SHOES by Nicole Dominguez and Lauren Stone

  10. LOST IN LVOV by Sandy Simona

  11. PIECES OF CARRA created by Rachae Thomas and Carly Pandza

  12. THAT’S WHAT SHE DIDN’T SAY: A TRUE STORY OF TABOO, REDEMPTION & MUSICAL THEATRE by Bonnie Joy Sludikoff

  13. THE LAST TRAIN (Le Dernier Train) by Natacha Astuto

  14. FANCY: SECRETS FROM MY BOOTYDOIR by Chris Farah

  15. SHAME BASED FUN by Sasha Fisher

  16. GIMPLECAPPED: A JOURNEY OF “INSPIRATION” by Regan Linton and Laura Alsum

  17. FROM A YARDIE TO A YANKEE BY Sardia Robinson

  18. THE ALEXIS LAMBRIGHT TELL-A-THON: COMBATING ADULT VIRGINITY by Alexis Lambright

  19. MARIA CONCHITA ALFONSO ALFONSO ALFONSO by Marina Gonzalez Palmier

  20. BELLI GEMELLI: AN OPERA SITCOM by Kara Morgan and Heidi Tungseth

  21. LOCKOUT by Ann Matthews

  22. HAROLD & STELLA: LOVE LETTERS by Sheana Ochoa

  23. THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC by Jacquetta Szathmari

  24. CAN’T TAKE MY (EYES) OFF OF YOU by Fiona Lakeland

  25. BONNIE’S FUTURE SISTERS by Meghan Gambling

  26. AND SHE BAKES, LIVE by Daliya Karnofsky

  27. VICTORIAN COURTING AND ZOMBIES book by Susan Sassi

  28. WOMEN ON THE VERGE by Kimba Henderson

  29. Poofy du Vey in BURDEN OF POOF by Courtney Cunningham

  30. THE LAST TEMPTATION OF PAULA DEEN by Fell Swoop Playwrights

  31. RIOT GRRRL SAVES THE WORLD (or, The Zine of Grrrl)’ by Louisa Hill

  32. THE MERMAID WHO LEARNED HOW TO FLY by Kyla Garcia

  33. WAITLESS by Cailin Harrison

  34. DAUGHTER OF . . . by Susannah Blinkoff

  35. CHITLIN BLUES: DANCING IN THE GREY concept by Constance Strickland

  36. 52 PICK-UP by Rita Bozi and TJ Dawe

  37. WHY I DIED, A COMEDY! by Katie Rubin

  38. JESUS H: A SOLOR PLAY FOR THE ZEALOT IN ALL OF US by Mariah Freda

  39. THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE by Wendy Macleod

  40. GERMAINE by Rachel Germaine

  41. PATHWAYS the DIGITAL MUSICAL by Lei Lei Lashawn

  42. HAPPY AND GAY by Mary Steelsmith

  43. LA BETE by June Carryl

A Self Examination

By Analyn Revilla

I am faced with the dilemma of being honest with myself about things that aren’t savory to know even about me. Once in a while, when I can no longer hold it, I pee in a bucket, in the morning, because I don’t want to intrude while my husband has his shower. Is that really so bad? Is that TMI? And that it’s really okay that I did it, and others don’t really need to know my confession. Is it that I was just being lazy? I guess it is, though I mask it with the excuse that I don’t want to intrude on my husband’s shower time. Couldn’t I just get up earlier to pee before I make the coffee? Or just knock on the door and excuse myself.

7 Deadly Sins in 365 days is a funny book with outrageous suggestions, some of which I discovered I’ve already done, or put into regular practice. A book like this makes me laugh at myself, and poke fun at my own seriousness. I think we do some things we feel ashamed of, but do not really understand that reason for the shame. Was it something bred into us by society – our family and institutions? Or is it truly a self-conscious evaluation to determine our moral goodness.

Some of suggestions are harmless fun, while others require some evaluation of the consequences. Some harmless fun (or not so harmless, but socially deviant) are fart in a crowded elevator; pee in the pool – I know I’ve done one of these before but not on purpose or malice in mind. If premeditated then I’d put them in the basket of childhood pranks; while the other prescribed actions takes some real guts, some degree of craziness, I really wanted to do it anyway: blow all your savings on the lottery; get drunk before going to work; take a 24 hour break from your relationship.

Those actions are symptomatic of problems. They are ‘acting out’ on something deeper. If I spent my savings on the lottery then it is an act of desperation – and a signal that I have lost hope. If I get drunk before going to work then it is symbolic of my avarice towards my work place, and the need to numb myself from the people and the environment. If I take a 24 hour break from my husband, carte blanche, and had a fling then I’m probably not fulfilled in my marriage. Acting out does not make me an evil person, though I certainly would feel a deep sense of guilt and shame in going through with one of the three actions above.

Boy, I would consider myself damned lucky if I did win the lottery in a big way if I spent my savings on the lottery. Can I dodge people at work to mask the alcohol on my breath? I have to weigh the odds. There is a thought process in our choices. We do a check and balance accounting of the probability and consequences. What price am I willing to pay for my choices and actions?

I’ve been curious about the nature of evil. I was raised Catholic until I was able to break away into a practice suited to my nature. In my experience, and I say this in hindsight, that the indoctrination I got from attending a strict Catholic school ruled by nuns leaned heavily upon a “too-literal” interpretation of the scriptures. Had I not had the personal conviction to explore my own spirituality and the courage to re-think by asking questions and experimenting with my ideas, then I may not have matured spiritually. Had I remained afraid of being condemned blasphemous or I couldn’t risk the possibility that my parents would disown me then I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog.

One of the most useful books I read on the subject of the nature of evil was People of The Lie by Scott M. Peck. As a psychiatrist he untangled the complex input and output between what is normal behavior and what is evil. Prior to reading People of the Lie, I read his first book, The Road Less Travelled. I chose that book because it explored the concept of “Original Sin”. My own exploration of “Original Sin” is that it is our doubt of our inherent good nature. Why do we have this doubt? My hypothesis is when we are born, we are molded to be “good” by external entities from our parents, the church (if we are raised in a religion), schools, civil governments – the gamut of organizational institutions. That we need external bodies outside of our own good judgment to measure our sense of morality removes the responsibility of aspiring to be good from the individual. It is not a conscious decision. Life happens and we act based on our abilities and the circumstances.

When I juxtapose that argument/reasoning to the author’s description of evil:

Scott Peck says, “For adults to be the victims of evil, they must be powerless to escape. They may be powerless when a gun is held to their head…Or they may be powerless by virtue of their own failure of courage…Whenever adults not at gunpoint become victims of evil it is because they have–one way or another–bound [themselves] by chains of laziness and dependency….settling for a child’s impotence.”

What I begin to understand is I go through a painful self-examination of my nature and my existence almost daily. I have many moments of deep anguish, anxiety and anger (not all at once, though sometimes yes), and how do I release the pressure to act good in the face of evil. I halt to go further to describe my own personal religious beliefs. I do go further to say that I believe I am inherently good with a bend for fun for fun’s sake, and that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

The wrinkles on my hands and face are threads of living the routine between work and home, along with the news absorbed from the papers, the elevators, the internets and conversations. There are plenty of situations that play out the battle between good and evil. It’s a theme that’s been played out since the first story told about Adam and Eve in the garden, passed down to the generations thru Cain and Abel to the stories that we watch on the big screen: Captain America, Spider Man, Malficent.

I read the play The Last Train by Natacha Astuto. I’ll be interviewing her this week before the preview of her play this coming Thursday at Schkapf Obsucra. Among my questions to her will be her thoughts about the nature of evil, because her play has undercurrent of the evil nature of a psychopath. The question of good and evil is simply not light versus dark as told in the most rudimentary of storytelling. I liked how the dance of evil and good is played out in the movie The Matrix, because it portrays it as a play of lights and shadows with brushstrokes of surrealism.

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you’re feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

Neo: You could say that.

Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he’s expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

Neo: No.

Morpheus: Why not?

Neo: ‘Cause I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind — driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Neo: The Matrix?

Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? (Neo nods his head.) Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. (In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)

Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. (Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)

Credit to “The Matrix” written by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski)

A quote from another book for consideration:

Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil:

The longer we continue to make the wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens; the more often we make the right decisions, the more our heart softens–or better perhaps, comes alive…Most people fail at the art of living not because they are inherently bad or so without will that they cannot lead a better life; they fail because they do not wake up and see when they stand at a fork in the road and have to decide. They are not aware when life asks them a question, and when they still have alternative answers. Then with each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult for them to admit that they are on the wrong road.

The Great Great Plains

Wow

I can’t believe I’ve been in Omaha for the Great Plains Theatre Conference for 8 WHOLE days.
I can’t believe I’ve ONLY been in Omaha for the Great Plains Theatre Conference for 8 whole days.

I can’t believe how much awesome new work I got to witness and how many amazing playwrights I had the good fortune to meet.

photo(2)
From left to right are playwrights: Nancy Cooper Frank, Tiffany Antone, Jennifer Faletto, and Anne Bertram

I can’t believe how delicious the food was.

Every.
Single.
Meal.

I can’t believe how much socializing my introverted little playwright self managed while I was here, and how thoroughly I enjoyed all of the discussions, laughs, and thoughtfulness.

I can’t believe how comfy the hotel where my introverted self got to reteat to, was.

I can’t believe it’s over.

I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the conference’s FANTASTIC donors this week, and they looked surprised when I told them how wonderful it was to be treated so well.  That the hotel and food and attention to every little detail made me feel so honored, because playwrights aren’t usually treated to this kind of focus and care.

She looked surprised and so I thanked her again.

I am overflowing with gratitude.

Tonight, after jam-packed days of play readings and workshops and performances, we ended things with a superbly delicious dinner, live music, and artisan s’mores.  I mean, YUMM.

photo(5)
A very fuzzy cell-phone pic of playwright Kia Corthron during a GPTC panel.

We also experienced the magic of Kia Corthron’s monumentally beautiful acceptance speech as she was honored this evening.  It was so poignant and honest that the whole room sat enraptured.

I’m so thankful I was there to hear her words, and I’m so grateful that those were the words she elected to share with us tonight.

So tomorrow I will fly back to my everyday life and I will revel in reuniting with my fella and my furballs, and things will go back to…

Bills will go back to…

Life will go back to…

Normal.

But I will also bring this week back with me.

This week of inspiration and of creativity.
Of beautiful new connections and of palate-cleansing laughter.

I will return home with the wild little play that got invited here and get to re-tinkering with it.
I will sit down at my desk and re-engage the new play I’ve been growling at.

I will think of Kia’s words on poverty of pocket and I will compare them to her words on the richness of heart, and then I will reflect on the richness of my heart, and I will write, and write, and write.

Because writing is kind of, always, sexily, the thing I need to do.  And after spending a week with others who feel the same way, I can’t wait to get to get back to it.

I also can’t wait to work on my “Something for next year.”

~Tiffany

 

Great Plains Shout-Out Time

By Tiffany Antone

So many plays!

Arriving at the Great Plains Theatre Conference on Saturday, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.  The itinerary was so intense and so interesting and my head was absolutely spinning at the week I had ahead of me – 29 playwrights, a bevy of workshops and readings, plus evening play festival shows – Oh My!

But here it is Thursday already, and I’m so bummed that this orgy of new work is coming to a close.

There are a lot of talented people here, a lot of passionate writers, and a lot of really cool, innovative, and engaging work being shared.

And while there aren’t any female playwrights in the conference’s mainstage line-up (tsk, tsk), there were certainly a host of super talented female writers showcased in the event’s Playlabs.

So, how about I give a little LAFPI shout-out to some of the fabulous female playwrights whose work I’ve had the privilege to enjoy this week? (FYI, there is no way to see every play at this conference.  There are multiple readings going on at once – so what I was able to see is but a sampling of what was available.)

First up, let’s talk about Minneapolis playwright Anne Bertram.  What a cool writer!  Anne’s play, The Good Fight, takes place in London, 1913, and is about the women’s suffrage movement.  Drawing from history, Anne colors in this frustratingly fem-closed world with panache.  I was so into this play!  It’s smart, funny, and poignant – Brava, Anne!

Another historically inspired piece is Nancy Cooper Frank’s absurdist play, Daniil Kharms: A Life in One-Act and Several Dozen Eggs.  I so enjoyed this weird and wonderful play!  I *believe* Nancy is still developing the piece, but it’s really super interesting and introduced me to the Russian absurdist writer in highly theatrical fashion.

I also got to see We Only Go Home in Retrograde, by Eva Suter, a UT Austin MFA candidate with a serious lyrical streak.  She’s written a poetic and super visually engaging piece.  I was particularly interested in meeting Eva and seeing her play now that I too live in Texas (I just keep moving further and further away from LA, don’t I…) – So how cool to meet a Texas artist at this conference in Nebraska!

And speaking of Texas, another cool writer I’ve had the pleasure to meet is Murphi Cook – creative mind behind the horror play, Birds of America.  With Hitchcockian flare, Murphi has created a seriously creepy (in a good way) play about grief and relationships… and birds.  I was super intrigued by this piece, and – now that I know she’s also a puppeteer – I’m really hoping I can see one of her shows in San Antonio!

I also had the pleasure of seeing Tira Palmquist’s play, Two Degrees – a fascinating look into one woman’s grief as she battles for the climate at a senate hearing.  I was so into the metaphorical landscape accompanying this woman’s real-world battles!  And it was great to meet a fellow LAFPI’er – one whose name I had seen and heard mentioned more than a time or two before.  What a cool person and writer!

And last but not least, I had the pleasure of sitting in our very own Jennie Webb’s Crazy Bitch.  It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Jennie’s, so I won’t spend too much time gushing, but what a cool piece!  I loved her characters – one of which is an immortal jellyfish!  What?  Awesome!   In typical Jennie Webb style, she’s given us a world in which our imaginations get to settle into something genuinely unique.  Kudos, Jennie!

I’ve still got four more readings, a workshop, and one more production ahead of me – this truly is an extraordinary opportunity.  Huzzah to GPTC for creating such an awesome event for playwrights, and for facilitating so many cool new creative connections!