Opening Image

I looked through the collection of articles in "Sacred Art" by Couturier and caught a sense of the priest's voice. I was taken in by his turns of phrase and his strong convictions. I found myself nodding and becoming excited by his thoughts and calls to action.

I've been searching for a doorway into the play. The first words are always the hardest for me. The initial move from "Nothing" to "Something." Heck, even making a new file for the play is a bit daunting. The start of the play is always risky. It never turns out how I want it. There is so much energy moving into the project that the first words fall flat and turn that energy into plain, old words. Plain old words... So, the process of a play is "Energy," to "Plain, Old Words," then back to "Energy" in a production. In the beginning of writing all that can be seen are the plain, old words and not the inciting energy or the explosion of energy yet to come in some far off possible production. So, where to start?

Melanie Marnich (and Julie Andrews to a certain extent) say to start at "the very beginning." Melanie mentioned that you want to have a very clear vision of the opening moment of your play. What is the first thing the audience sees? What energy rests in that opening image?

Reading Couturier's words, I had the vision of this older priest, gaunt, draped in a black cassock and cloak, large rimmed round black glasses. He stands smiling and staring at us in a spotlight. This is Pere Couturier, a Dominican priest. And he has come to speak to us.

That is my opening image for this play.