Forced Schedule

This weekend, I decided that the only way to finish all my work this summer was to make a schedule and stick to it. So, each day, I'll have my work cut out for me. 8:30-10:30, I'll work on "Hades & Persephone." This morning, I cleaned up the first twenty pages and turned it into something manageable and fun. Tomorrow, I'll move into uncharted scenes of the "middle of the play." If I work with this schedule, I should polish off a nice, happy, and complete first draft by next week. My goal is to churn out these plays to prove to myself that I don't have to take soooo much time to complete them if I set my mind to it. When I finish "Hades & Persephone," I'll change the 8:30 writing slot to "Spiral from Normalcy" time and go from there.

And from 10:30-1:00pm, I work on "All Grace." Today, this meant reading a VERY in-depth biography of Lipchitz. It was written like fiction. How could this author have known such things that were going on in the minds of the "characters." Thanks to this biography, I have a strong feeling of Lipchitz and his journey he will take in the play. I haven't quite decided how to incorporate so much of the past and in what way to incorporate the spiritual/imagination. How far do I take it from reality? Certain images and moments haunt me and beckon me from my imagination, which I feel is connected to something beyond my personal understanding... I feel like I should make a list of all the moments and episodes that are speaking to me and then take it from there. See what moments are in dialogue with one another and also wait and see which are related to the other stories (Leger and Couturier).

Now, I'm on lunch break until 2pm. At 2pm it's time to work on the musical "The Conquest of Don Pedro." My collaborator, Eliott Kahn, is going to call on Tuesday so we can discuss moving further into Act 2. Right now, we're a bit stuck at Act 2 scene 3. I've written a version of scene 4, but don't think it works anymore. Too much plot in one scene, but no character to it. I think it should rest with minor characters talking about the main characters. Plus, it would give those actors a fun song. Moving on after getting these scenes in order should work just fine. I feel very confident and comfortable with finishing up the musical very soon. I'd love to have a reading of it at the university, but how do you get people together to sing and learn songs? Getting actors together for a Monday night reading at Playwrights Workshop is hard enough.

From 4:00-6:00, we're back to "All Grace" time again. Now, that I've compiled a lot of information on Lipchitz and lived with his work for a bit, I'm going to give a looksey at Leger's life and works. Then, I'll see what I am compelled to do tomorrow during my "All Grace" slots.

At 6pm-7:30, (which can shift slightly because of dinner times and Rachael's arrival home), I'll work on my preparations to direct Stephen Ptacek's play "Billie the Kid." Stephen gave me the first season of the HBO series "Deadwood" to watch and get inspiration from. I've watched all of them, except for the last two episodes, which Stephen has somewhere... I'll read the rewrites, take notes, see where I have questions, and start mapping out beats and progression of action.

So, all in all, I hope to work 10 hours a day on theatre. 8:30 - 7:30, with a break for lunch. If I can get this schedule in my system, I can finish:

*"Hades & Persephone"
*"All Grace"
"The Conquest of Don Pedro"
"Spiral from Normalcy"

Four plays. Five, if you count the one I already finished ("Solamente Una Vez"). So I'm off to a great start.

* = priority