Tagged: random

Feb 13

Thank you LA

Thank you LA for introducing me to so many wonderful people that I actually sort of forgive you your insanity.  Thank you for helping me find UCLA, discover playwriting, and teaching me so many lessons that I sometimes feel a hundred years old, but also have a much deeper appreciation for the people and events in life that so many take for granted.

This weekend I got to go back to the city I never called home, to see all the friends I grew to call family.

It was lovely (except for the killer migraine I had to contend with Friday – GRRR!!!) and I’m so glad I finally got back over there… I hadn’t been back in nearly 18 months – WAY TOO LONG.  But life, as it often does, just seemed to take over my calendar this past year and a half, and I was so busy, I didn’t realize how much I needed to take back control of my calendar and drive.

Drive to the land of golden statues and thirst and endless sunshine… to be with people I love and respect and adore.

It was honey for my soul to see my friends, but I felt no love lost for the traffic, the congestion, the smog… I love the sunshine and the ocean breeze, but that city and I never did bond as tightly as it does with some.  Navigating its mad, lonely streets this weekend hit that point home; I wasn’t all that happy to see it – just the treasures it holds.

And by treasures, I mean friends, their new babies (wow!) and also my favorite restaurants… Yumm, yummm, YUMMMMM.  :)

In any case, it was a very quick visit, but one I hope I can make again in the very near future – because (in case I didn’t say it enough already) my dear, dear LA friends are the cream of the proverbial crop, and I can’t wait/need to see them all again soon.

 

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Jan 22

On Readings

The thing about surrendering control of a play to a staged reading is that it renders you as powerless as the rest of the audience.  You become nothing more than a (high-stakes) observer – helpless to correct actor’s missteps, unable to clarify a misspoken line, and useless to make certain anyone sees what you see in this seed of an idea.

You sit.

You wait.

You cringe and chuckle and sweat.

And at the end of it all, you sit and listen to your fellow observers (though you are now center stage) – an exhibition to ask questions of, offer advice to, and seek story solace from… all in the hopes of helping you make the play better… all under the guise of shared responsibility to help you “develop” your script.

And if you’re lucky, you write enough of what is said down so that you can look at it later… when you’re alone… back in the comfort of your unobserved work space.  And you hope that it will somehow help you solve your act break SNAFU, a character aberration, or some other detail that’s been bothering you (or your readers).

You hope that anyone present with the ability to advance your career liked your play enough (or your comments/laugh/shoes enough – you’re not picky) to remember you and maybe invite you to play at their theatre somehow.  You hope that if this damn play gets read enough, the next theater that tells you they like it will do something more than just present it as a reading, because really, you’ve already put this play through 10 million (or 6) of those already and isn’t it about time someone started putting productions where their compliments are?

Because you’re a playwright.

And Playwriting is messy, public business.

And you can’t wait to get into a bigger, more public arena, with new actors and directors, where you are once again rendered helpless in the back of a (bigger) audience as the curtain rises…

Sweating even bigger bullets.

 

 

 

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Dec 18

Nearly 2012

It’s wet outside… the clouds are hanging so low over the mountains, they nearly look to have been swallowed.

I wonder, on days like this, in a time when magic still seamed possible, if anyone ever did wake up and think that’s what had happened.

Sometimes I miss magic more than anything, finding the real world too grounded for comfort and science’s ready answers disappointing.

Sometimes.

But today, I’m sitting at the kitchen table looking out into a world shrouded in mystery, gobbled up by the troposphere…. and it is beautiful.

I haven’t been writing here regularly – I’ve been too busy wearing the hat of a producer and game-coordinator to tap out any sort of anything worth reading.  I’ve been happy to be so busy with a project I believe in – and I’ve loved working with my beau to such great ends.   I’ve also been busy at work with some work projects, and then this weekend, as everything else started to slow down for once, little brother graduated from college.

I’m so proud!

So it’s been a busy couple of months.

But I think I’m going to be able to start getting back into the blogging groove… Hopefully you haven’t all given up on me :P

 

 

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Sep 29

Tide-you-overs

Haven’t had time to write much of ANYTHING.  But I have been collecting these little gems… maybe they’ll tide you over till I can get back in the public pontificating game…

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Sep 05

M.I.A and the Recharge

I’ve been swamped… and I’ve had a lot of really great projects on my plate, so aside from the occasional gripe about how tired I was, I’ve been chugging along pretty well.

But this weekend I finally got a chance to sit and rest and NOT be mated to a computer or a project… and I completely destabilized into a mess of exhausted “I don’t wanna!”ness.

Which tells me that I’ve been over-doing it this summer.

So I cut a few projects back and although I’ve got a lot more on my plate to come, I was able to play catch up this weekend and I’m feeling a lot better.

Woof.

And, if you’re interested in how Dirty Laundry went, it went BEAUTIFULLY.  I am super excited about it.  I’m also SUPER SUPER EXCITED about the next phase of the Little Black Dress INK journey.  You can read about the festival here.  The link goes to our blog where I and other playwrights involved in the fest have written.  There are also some pics from the show.  I’m a proud theatre mamma!

But as to this blog and my sometimes-infrequent posting, I’ve decided not to beat myself up (too much) about it (in the interest of my sanity) and will continue to keep you up to date on all my awds and ends as much as I can, but considering all the other blogging and project-ing I’m doing, I’m afraid it will continue to be a bit irregular.

I hope you’ll all stick with me and understand :)  I do so love having a place to write and keep my soap-boxing skills in shape.

With Cheer…

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Jul 19

A Mild Proposition

I think their should be two work calendars – one for early birds and one for late risers.

The early birds could continue to do everything at the ass crack of dawn and be done by 4, and the rest of us could continue to stay up till midnite, wake up at 8:30 and start our days at 10…

Yes.  Let’s make this happen.

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Jul 11

Recuperating… sort of

The day after a show closes is always a weird day… a lot of let down and fatigue coupled with relief – I didn’t wake up until noon today! –   But strangely, I haven’t felt any of the “post show blues” that I usually do.  Instead, I’ve just been dog tired and pleased that I had time to actually rest a bit.

Which is more than I can say for the Fella – woof, he’s been at the theatre all day getting ready for the next show.  I am really hoping he gets some down time soon because he’s definitely been burning the candle at every possible end for the past couple months.

In any case, it was a great run and I am super thankful that I got to work with such talented folk as I did.  I had a great time and am super proud of my awesome cast and crew!

And I have to go to work again tomorrow (go figure) so I’m going to go to bed early and perhaps get back to posting more interesting stuff than the most recent “I’m to busy to blog – wha-wha-waaaaaa” stuff you’ve been putting up with lately.

~with cheer~

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Posted in Playwriting

Jul 08

A day OFF

Wow… I’ve had the whole day off to do… whatever I wanted… and it seems time has actually, literally, (and impossibly) slowed down a little to help turn this into one long relaxing day indeed.

I can’t believe it.

And right now it’s raining and thundering outside and it’s beautiful.  It’s the kind of day that makes me want to read…

But instead, I’ve mostly just been in my pajamas editing photos that I took of my dear friend Ann Marie… want a sneak peak?

It feels really good to be able to work with my photography again – it’s been a little while.  I snuck some really pretty pics in a few weeks ago of my brother’s girlfriend, Kaiti, but I still haven’t had time to play with them at all!  In fact, all my creative energies have been focused on directing Completely Hollywood (Abridged) and while it’s been a great time, I desperately needed to do something of my own again – I can’t wait to get back to the keys and my most recent play, and I have missed my camera!

But even then, I’m not exactly in the photography game out here… It’s one thing I really miss about being in LA – I enjoyed taking people’s headshots and it was always (okay, almost – like 97% -always) nice enough outside to just walk out the door and start clicking.  Here, it’s so damn hot and then so damn cold, that you’re really limited by the seasons on what you can do outdoors… hence, you need a studio.

And I haven’ t had one.

But after Cason and I cleaned out the big room at my parents’s house and have been using it to teach our acting class in, well – it’s a great fit for a little photography studio.  I’d really like to get myself set up in there soon and be able to start doing some more serious photography work over here, because I’ve let it slide to the proverbial bottom of my list till now, and I miss it.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the pics.  I’m super happy with how they turned out.  That’s one NICE thing about not being in LA… less a call for standard headshots and more room for playful, artistic portrait work.

If I can get that studio set up :)

Oh, and on another note – the play is up and running and people are digging it!  I’m super excited and proud of the show, and super SUPER excited to have some time back in my calendar (after this weekend) for more days like today.

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Posted in Photography, The Daily Drool

Jun 28

In Which I Bitch

This week has just begun and it already sucks BALLZ!  We are in tech and haven’t got enough time to put me in that comfy place…

But isn’t that just directing?

Plus I’m working at my J-O-B (the one that actually pays me) and I’ve got website stuff to do, and I’ve finally broken through on a play snafu that’s been plaguing me, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to actually sit down and try to implement the fix because I’mSoDAMNBusy this week!

So instead, I’m taking a moment to vent here, because Director’s Hat Tiffany is Pissed-to-the-Extreme.

(pant, pant, pant)

Which isn’t to say that he show won’t work – IT TOTALLY WORKS- we just have to get it all nice and synchish/pretty before our Press Night on Sunday and that means a lot of people have to be ready to go with their stuff after only 1 or 2 opportunities to actually DO what they’re going to be doing…

And that makes me crazy.

So, you know… THEATRE.

It’s always a miracle – sometimes just more than others.

Okay… I think… I feel better…

I THINK

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Posted in The Daily Drool

Jun 18

New Stuff

Wow – Where did I go?!

I knew it had been a while since I’d written, but I didn’t realize it was ELEVEN DAYS!  I’m sorry… time has just been in short supply lately.

And honestly, I’ve just stopped by to share some of what I’ve been working on with you… so even this post will be a little lean.

I’m directing a play in Prescott (I know, I know… directing?  I’m all over the place lately!)  and it opens July 7th. It should be a lot of fun, but it’s one of the main time – eaters that has been competing for writing and sleeping and sanity hours lately. Anyway, I’m excited about it, so if you’re in town you should buy a ticket and come out for a good laugh.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been working on getting the site up for Little Black Dress Ink.  It’s been a long time coming – ever since I realized that if I was going to continue to be an impatient wench about things theatrical, I’d best see what I could do to get something up on my own.  This is the first step – and of course I’m focused (at this point) on female playwrights since I’m a female playwright and I want to help out the cause as best I can :)  I’d love to have you check out the site… Chances are I’ll be splitting time between that blog and this, and cross posting stuff that involves playwriting.  I’ll also be posting info about each of the playwrights who are part of the Dirty Laundry festival and they’ll be guest blogging for the site… It’s pretty cool!

And that’s about all I’ve got for today – I did get a great first revision done on Jane Doe and sent that off last week to the producers considering the play for production – so THINK HAPPY SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION THOUGHTS for me and my little play-baby!

Cheers!

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Posted in Uncategorized

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