Odd Inspiration

While eating my #1 from McDonalds this afternoon, I had the urge to crack open my DVD collection and find a "making of" special I hadn't watched. After scanning title after title, I rested on a documentary on the second disc of "Pulp Fiction." As people were describing the writing, they talked about how ordinary the characters were. This was real. Tarantino talked about taking these grand movie genre characters and shoving some real life rules at them. This is very close to my thoughts about showing the Epic in the Mundane. Or, Sacred in the Profane as it were. I started to think of the story of "All Grace," and realized again that I don't want the play to be big and grand. I want it to have a quietness to it.

Also, Tarantino was describing "Pulp Fiction" as three stories that come together to create one story. This is what "All Grace" is. Three simple stories weaved together, brought together by "Mary" and the building of the church. What I realized when I boiled down the stories to their essence is that I've written these stories before!

Story 1: A priest with some "new ideas" tries to incorporate the "modern" world into his practices and has problems with the authorities of the church. ("Father Bob")

Story 2: A person who grew up immersed in a religious household has lost his faith and trust in the Church, yet is called to be a part of a great "mission" for God. ("Holy Schmidt!")

Story 3: A man has a religious experience in the NYC subway that informs his artwork and challenges his everyday life. ("Dialogues with Lars")

There are my stories. Simple. Now, where to start? It's probably too early to start thinking about structure, though I'm certainly curious about what a mix of Tarantino and Caryl Churchill would bring. What are the "episodes" of the three stories that make the larger points of the play? And, perhaps more importantly, what ARE the larger points of the play?