Yesterday was my return to the world of the creative. And it wasn't in just one area. I had a great session with a Professor on some Shakespeare monologues, which I'm quite excited about. This began the day. From there, I went with a friend to move some more of my stuff to my new place, including my Bongo drums, which I haven't touched in more than a month. Then I managed to pump out a few more pages of a screenplay that I'm itching to finish. And after that, I saw a play that reminded me why I do theatre. It was spectacular. It was a Department 509 workshop in which a very good friend of mine (the amazing Miss Dieter) played the lead role. She was absolutely awesome, and the play (Quake) was great. After a couple of months of stress and creative block, it was wonderful to get out of the funk and get moving again. And then I went to the midnight showing of Where the Wild Things Are with a bunch of people, including my wonderful girlfriend.
The movie was great. And from a technical perspective, it was refreshing. It proved that anything you envision can truly be realized on the screen. An exciting thought as I move forward with my writing.
Today, after going in to negotiate my contract with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for this winter and discuss my budget and hiring a staff, I will be (hopefully) back on the writing train. I've got a little homework to do, but after that, I've got an evening free to write to my little hearts content
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
5 months
So yes, it's been about 5 months since my last post. OY. There have been a whole slew of reasons for it, whether it was being too busy writing, too busy not writing (generally how I think of my time spent these days: writing or not writing), visiting Los Angeles, falling back on the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for a job and being rewarded for my hardwork with some advancement and a snazzy job and title (this is the Head of Audience Services for CSF speaking) and school beginning once again, with yours truly transitioning into classes followed by rehearsals without a grace period. There have been all sorts of highs (rekindling a friendship with someone who has very similar goals to myself, with whom collaboration is imminent, invevitable and exciting) and some lows as well (receiving an eviction notice on opening night of the play I was in). A very busy 5 months with too much to fully update. This post will take (and has already taken) a more personal tone than the previous ones, but the details won't get too gory.
Basically, this is a post about my feelings about my creative output (took long enough to get to the point, geez David!). While I'm majoring in Theatre Performance, sometimes it kills me. I love working on scenes and monologues and all that stuff, but the plays destroy me. The rehearsal process if fun (for a while), but my patience wears thin. By the time the show actually comes around, adding an audience rejuvinates me, but not enough to last me through a run. And these runs are only two weekend, eight performance stretches. I can't imagine doing a month-long run, or doing eight shows a week like they do in the big leagues. While I love the theatre and live performance, I don't think it will be where I end up. I like getting things right and then moving on. It's one of the reasons I like writing. Work on a project, but eventually finish it and begin the next one.
The other problem I've been having, is that school and rehearsals are getting in the way of my writing time. I even approached my very approachable advisor about this, asking if she could reccomend easy classes for the next semester so I could spend as much time as possible writing. This, apparently, was the question that advisors 'hate to hear,' but I have an excellent reason for asking it. I want to put what I've learned thus far in my life--not just college--to use and put all the ideas that I think are brilliant onto some pages. Hopefully she changes her mind and has some suggestions for me, because I'm pretty sure it would be much more valuable for me to produce more material, than to take another class full of busy-work. I promise I don't consider myself to be 'better than college,' I just have gotten what I can out of it at this point, and I am more than ready to move on. I need the degree (mostly so I don't get disowned), but I also need the time.
Anyway, after having an awesome talk with this friend of mine (the one I mentioned earlier) over cigars on the beautiful Pearl Street, I'm even more excited to be able to get back to writing. It energizes me, and I'm excited to actually finish some of these things I've got my brain-feelers into at the moment. There's the pilot and spec-script that Evan and I still have to finish, the screenplay that I want to bust out by Thanksgiving (with a re-write or two in there), the ideas I have for some funny short films, and all sorts of other things. I just need school to calm down a bit, because I want to get all of this stuff done. I know I've got all the time in the world, but I want to see some of this stuff come to fruition. Writing is perfect for me, because it'll help me develop some patience.
I already know that once Thankgiving gets here, my time will be severely cut short again, so I want to have a super-creative and productive next six weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to call them a success. Fortunately, I set my goals high enough that I can still be successful if I don't achieve all of them. It's just hard to accept sometimes.
David's personal goal for the rest of the month: Focus more on what you do accomplish than what you don't
Basically, this is a post about my feelings about my creative output (took long enough to get to the point, geez David!). While I'm majoring in Theatre Performance, sometimes it kills me. I love working on scenes and monologues and all that stuff, but the plays destroy me. The rehearsal process if fun (for a while), but my patience wears thin. By the time the show actually comes around, adding an audience rejuvinates me, but not enough to last me through a run. And these runs are only two weekend, eight performance stretches. I can't imagine doing a month-long run, or doing eight shows a week like they do in the big leagues. While I love the theatre and live performance, I don't think it will be where I end up. I like getting things right and then moving on. It's one of the reasons I like writing. Work on a project, but eventually finish it and begin the next one.
The other problem I've been having, is that school and rehearsals are getting in the way of my writing time. I even approached my very approachable advisor about this, asking if she could reccomend easy classes for the next semester so I could spend as much time as possible writing. This, apparently, was the question that advisors 'hate to hear,' but I have an excellent reason for asking it. I want to put what I've learned thus far in my life--not just college--to use and put all the ideas that I think are brilliant onto some pages. Hopefully she changes her mind and has some suggestions for me, because I'm pretty sure it would be much more valuable for me to produce more material, than to take another class full of busy-work. I promise I don't consider myself to be 'better than college,' I just have gotten what I can out of it at this point, and I am more than ready to move on. I need the degree (mostly so I don't get disowned), but I also need the time.
Anyway, after having an awesome talk with this friend of mine (the one I mentioned earlier) over cigars on the beautiful Pearl Street, I'm even more excited to be able to get back to writing. It energizes me, and I'm excited to actually finish some of these things I've got my brain-feelers into at the moment. There's the pilot and spec-script that Evan and I still have to finish, the screenplay that I want to bust out by Thanksgiving (with a re-write or two in there), the ideas I have for some funny short films, and all sorts of other things. I just need school to calm down a bit, because I want to get all of this stuff done. I know I've got all the time in the world, but I want to see some of this stuff come to fruition. Writing is perfect for me, because it'll help me develop some patience.
I already know that once Thankgiving gets here, my time will be severely cut short again, so I want to have a super-creative and productive next six weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to call them a success. Fortunately, I set my goals high enough that I can still be successful if I don't achieve all of them. It's just hard to accept sometimes.
David's personal goal for the rest of the month: Focus more on what you do accomplish than what you don't
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