I'm awesome ...

... because I finished "Prime" rewrites tonight. In your face, procrastination!

Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without Last Call rehearsals at my house. When Matt has Mike and Aaron over and they're rehearsing in my living room, Cotton and I get banished to the upstairs, where I have nothing to do but sit at the computer (while she lies on the floor and chews on her blanket). Every night Last Call is here, I get a ton of work done. Hooray!

Things will start rolling after the first of the year. My "Prime" planning meeting with Justin and Jenna is on Sunday. Soon after that, I imagine Lisa will start "Unethical" rehearsals. Jenna's looking to hold "Prime" auditions the week of Jan. 20, with a first read-through tentatively scheduled for Jan. 27. Very exciting! Plus, we got a new digital camera for Chanukah/Christmas, so I'm going to photograph the shit out of rehearsals and builds for both plays - and hopefully post it all here.

Random observation: While working on "Prime" tonight I realized that Dr. Matt's unhappy wife (who is mentioned in the play but never seen) is named Jenna. I named the character a good year before I ever met Jenna Messina and nearly seven years before she became this current production's director. It's just weird that a real Jenna is now involved with my script that has a character Jenna. But no weirder than the fact that the Little Box production last year had Stuart Hoffman in the cast, but not playing the Stuart character. And no weirder than the fact that I named a character in my most beloved play Matt, and then a year later met my future husband Matt, who at one point played a part (oddly enough, not the part of Matt) in a reading of an earlier draft. Strange coincidences.

And in case you're wondering ... Matt's last name in the show, Warner, is after Warner Brothers. Stuart McFarlane's last name is not after Seth McFarlane (I hate "Family Guy"), but after graphic novel and action figure creator icon Todd McFarlane. Jeremy and Kevin originally had comic or cartoon related last names as well (I think one was Hanna, actually), but I changed Kevin's last name to Kellerman for better rhythm and to start with a K, because I imagined he and Steph met in homeroom. (Plus, it's a name from "Homicide.") Jeremy's last name is never said in the script.

Hooray!

I talked to Justin from Fourth Wall yesterday, and my mind is at ease!

He and Jenna, the "Prime" director, will be meeting after the first of the year to talk production stuff and schedule auditions, and then the three of us will meet after that to talk script. Things seem to be underway, and I am therefore less nervous.

Of course, I still haven't really done the rewrites on "Prime" (they're minor!) because my head is so focused on "Unethical." Speaking of -  CPT sent the light plot for the show today, along with stage manager assignments. My sm for "Unethical" will be the always lovely Dan Kilbane, whom I've worked with on several projects since 2001. A familiar face will be welcome during the tension of tech week. (To clarify - Dan won't work with us until tech week, per the rules of Big[BOX]. The concept of the whole series is that each featured artist is on their own to create and rehearse the work. CPT is merely "giving you the keys to the theater for one week." They provide the stage, the basic lights, a small budget for set or whatever, marketing, house management and Dan for a week. The rest is on me and Lisa and the cast.)

Pre-holiday playwright's jitters

Lisa is planning to start "Unethical" rehearsals in January, so I feel like I can disappear into the vortex that is Pittsburgh for the holidays without worrying about that one. I am quite secure in my knowledge that it will proceed as scheduled in the new year. Remember, tickets are already on sale here.

I'm not feeling as secure about the other one. I haven't heard from Fourth Wall about "Prime" in forever. And really, auditions should be happening soon. Unfortunately, almost all of my previous communication with the production staff has been via email and Facebook. Seriously, guys, if you're reading this, call me. I just want to know that everything's OK, that plans are in motion, and that you don't need me to be doing anything important right now. Please check in. Please!

I went into this thinking "Prime" would be easier to do than "Unethical." The script was in much better shape when I got confirmation the show was going to be done, and I was excited to be produced by someone else. What a dream - my script would be performed, and I wouldn't be responsible for the set, logistics, casting, marketing, etc. I thought "Unethical" would be way more stressful because the whole point of Big [BOX] is that CPT gives me nothing but the theater, and I'm supposed to create everything myself. So far, with the help of Lisa and soon the involvement of the cast, I feel like "Unethical" is very secure ...  as opposed to "Prime," which feels like a huge unknown. Maybe I'm a control freak. I don't know. But I do need some sort of communication to put my mind at ease.

And we're cast!

"Unethical" is completely cast now. Which is great, because Lisa can finally move forward with scheduling and plans instead of waiting for me to make up my mind about who I liked for the various parts. Actually, if I'm honest, we still haven't cast the voice of admin assistant Kathy, but since that will likely be recorded voiceovers and we have someone in mind, I'm not too worried about it.

Cast (in order of appearance)

Nora from accounting: Laurel Johnson

Zach from sales: Brian McNally

Barry from IT: Allen Branstein

Tracey from marketing: Kristy Lee Miller

Reed, their boss: Nathan Miller

For those of you playing along at home, the Millers are not related.

Plus, we now have our own page on the CPT website from which you can purchase tickets to the show. So why not buy tickets now? Click here!

Prime reference #3

I've truly been slacking on keeping up with this blog. My excuse is I've been traveling, then sick. Anyway, back to business:

The next in my series of "Prime" references is part of the ongoing debate the characters have as to which cartoon character would make the best president. After the debate has been abandoned, Jeremy brings it back in an effort to distract and steer conversation away from his blow up with best friend and future brother-in-law Kevin. So, he suggests Lion-O from "The Thundercats" as a candidate:

KEVIN:

Later, Matty.

Pussycat, explain to Jeremy why Lion-O is a dumb choice.

STEPH:

Oh, well, Lion-O hung with Panthro, an obvious racial stereotype. We don't want a president who endorses that kind of latent bigotry.

JEREMY:

Pathro was a stereotype?

STEPH:

They all were! Lion-O was the white knight hero. Panthro was the token black guy. Cheetara was the one-dimensional woman with a three-dimensional figure. And Tygra was gay.

JEREMY:

He was not!

STEPH:

Hello! Did you ever even watch the show? It was so obvious.

At the end of this scene, Stuey challenges his buddies to see if anyone knows Snarf's real name. Do any of you know it? (No cheating, people who have read/seen the play.)

Speaking of "Prime," I am so behind on rewrites for this. AND I haven't heard an update from Fourth Wall in forever. I'm still waiting for confirmation on the director, so I can call her and talk and find out when we're doing auditions. If any of you Fourth Wallers are reading this, give me a buzz. I'll be hunting you guys down tomorrow. Diva playwright is nervous being kept out of the loop!

Thoughts from LA

The strangest thing about LA was getting recognized - no joke - from "Man in the Box." When Last Call performed at iO, I had strangers coming up to me saying things like "Oh my God, you're Margi." I'm not kidding. Somewhere out there, people are watching Mike Polk's odd little web movies and caring about them. For the record, "Man in the Box" fans: yes, I am married to Matt in real life; no, I'm not related to British Reggie in real life; and yes, Terry really is that funny in real life, but his name is not actually Terry.

The other cool thing that happened in LA was getting to catch up with so many old friends. Among them, Carter and Adam from high school. It was so great to see them on the basic level of reconnecting with friends I haven't seen and not spoken to (or only spoken to through email) in years. But also, writing related, because it reminded me of my unfinished script. Before "Unethical" and "Prime" got chosen for production, I had started another piece called "Danger Road and Other Teenage Tales of Pretend Peril," which is largely inspired by my high-school experiences. The play tracks three primary characters, bouncing back and forth between their friendship at ages 16-17, and their completely separate lives with no communication as 30-somethings. (They're played by the same actors in both time periods.) Carter and Adam both took part in some of the real life moments that inspired or appear in the script, so to see them after all this time and have them catch me up on other people who are inspirations for characters or moments in the script was just surreal in that art-imitates-life sense. It also reminds me that I have to get back to writing "Danger Road." I really do believe if I can finish that one and do it right, it might be my best script yet. At least, the one that means the most to me personally.

But first, "Prime" rewrites and "Unethical" casting ... ugh ...

Where am I?

I am writing this post from the HBO offices in Santa Monica, where Matt and I are filming some stuff for the web comedy series we're in called "Man in the Box." (Look it up on youtube.)

Pretty much the first thing I saw when we landed at LAX last night (besides the most glorious smelling Cinnabon stand ever) was a little boy with a giant Optimus Prime backpack. I tried to get my camera out and take a picture of it, but I wasn't able to in time. After that, the kid was hanging out by baggage claim with parents and sibs, and I couldn't get a clear shot of his back without looking like some weird pedophile, so I gave up. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to see that Prime is still beloved by younger generations, even if their exposure to him is through Michael Bay's ricockulous movies.

Planning for this LA trip was so last minute and hectic, I feel like a left a lot hanging back in Cleveland. Including casting Zach for "Unethical." Lisa emailed me Tuesday to see if I'd figured out anyone for the role, and honestly, I've barely thought about it, I've been so swamped. When we get back, I need to focus. The first read through is in a few weeks.

If you live in the LA area, come check out Matt and Last Call Cleveland performing Fri., Dec. 5, at iO West in Hollywood at 10 p.m.

Unethical graphic

This is the graphic Matt designed for "Unethical" for CPT to use in its Big[BOX] brochure. Very cool, I think. I especially like that the stapler is red ... just like Milton's Swingline from "Office Space."

I spent part of this morning in a meeting discussing how my office has changed and will change in 2009. Employees laid off - frequently the wrong employees. Weird new projects started at the expense of established things we need to shore up. Questionable business decisions that honor the wrong people who exhibit the wrong motives. It makes me feel even better about writing my absurd little show. If even one person in the audience has ever been discounted or even mistreated and betrayed by their employers or coworkers, hopefully the identification they feel with the play and being able to laugh at it (provided my dialogue is actually funny) will be cathartic.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Prime reference #2

I sent the new draft of "Unethical" to Lisa and actors last night. Man, does it feel good to have that done!

As for "Prime," here is another favorite geek reference moment. This comes from Steph's opening monologue. I'm fond of this because I actually felt this way myself as a child. My guy friends and I would play and watch He-Man all the time ... there were only three girls in the show: one was evil (Evil-Lyn), one was a plot and personality non-entity (Teela), and one was a total wimp (see below). It was frustrating.

STEPH

But I guess most of all I want to be a sorceress. Now, I don't want to be a lame sorceress like the one in Castle Grey Skull. You know how she does, like, one magic spell, and then she totally gets all weak and tired and powerless? And she can't even leave Grey Skull or she loses her power and faints and falls down and acts stupid! I'm not going to be like that.

Strictly speaking, the sorceress could leave Grey Skull in the form of Zoar the falcon, but when you're fighting the evil forces of Skeletor, would you rather have someone who can wield earth-changing supernatural forces at your side or a screeching bird circling over your head? It's a no-brainer to me, but I left that point out of the script for the sake of brevity and the fact that it has absolutely nothing to do with "Prime's" characters or plot.

Prime reference #1

"Optimus Prime for President" is filled with tons of geeky references. Periodically, I will post some of my favorites. Here's the first, which appropriately is about our eponymous hero. It's an excerpt from a scene in which Dr. Matt offers a "refresher course" on the Transformers origin story to Steph and Stuey, who merely thought the cartoon was cool, and to Sierra, who could care less:

MATT

Optimus had it (the Matrix) until he got killed by Megatron.

SIERRA

Again?

MATT

Again.

So, with Optimus dead, the Matrix of Leadership was passed to Ultra Magnus. And then this is where it all gets fuzzy in my memory. I think Optimus got temporarily reanimated to fight Unicron and got the Matrix back. I'm not really sure. That all happened during a time in my life when I was drifting away from Transformers and discovering girls.

Hooray!

I think I'm done with "Unethical" rewrites! I plowed through the script reading passages aloud to the dog last night while Matt and the Last Call boys were downstairs in my living room practicing their new song "I'm A Douchebag" and dancing to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero." (Our lives aren't like other peoples.)

In retrospect, however, I'm concerned that I didn't actually change that much. I added just a little more to Tracey's first confrontation with Reed, making her more arrogant and less professional and making him meaner in response. Plus, now Barry walks in and observes some of the tension, which may be hokey. We'll see. I also trimmed and honed Nora and Zach's opening scene and did general sprucing up of rough patches of dialogue. But I didn't do anything new with Zach like I thought I would. There was nowhere else to put him, nothing else I felt compelled to make him say. It occurred to me that his growing distance from Nora over the course of the play is probably illustrated better by his absence and failure to return her calls than him coming in and having awkward conversations with her.

I'll reread this weekend to make sure, save that Final Draft doc as a PDF, and send it off to Lisa to distribute to actors. Hooray. It feels good to be done(ish). At least with this part.

Post for post's sake

I have been commanded to post a new blog entry by my bored and impatient office wonder twin Janet. (She's form of a really blunt dinosaur, and I'm shape of a wise-cracking ice cage. Together, we battle colleagues who fail to use verbs in their photo captions. Yes, Ellen and Arlene, I'm talking about you!)

Unfortunately for Janet, I don't have anything that fascinating to say.

Nothing new to report on my plays, but recently I've been able to see and read some stuff from other people's scripts. And it's helped me realize this about myself: I've really grown to dislike arty, weird stuff. In college, I thought anything experimental was cool. But now, I really hate symbolism. Perhaps that's too broad a statement. To clarify: I can't enjoy work that doesn't have some sort of relatable human emotion behind it. Using symbolic colors, props or movement to present an idea that makes a statement but has no feeling behind it ... well, it isn't my cup of tea.

I can appreciate a beautiful stage picture, a presentational aesthetic, performance artsy choices, etc. as an audience member. For example, last season when CPT did the Gao plays, there were moments in "The Other Shore" that I really connected with. It was all pretty non-literal, using ropes and movement and group speak and songs to tell an abstract tale. I didn't follow all of it (who did?), but I connected emotionally to moments where characters showed real pain or joy. So, I actually really enjoyed it. But I'm never going to write that kind of stuff. Never. And that's probably why, as my playwriting buddy Steve Maistros says, CPT likes us, but will never ask us to go steady.

What I feel compelled to write is a story about real people who talk about real things in a somewhat conversational way. My plays will never explore the abstract nature of dreams. They will never feature a Greek chorus of masked actors or multiple actors playing different facets of one character. And lord knows, I will never have a dressmaker's dummy on roller skates draped in an American flag as it rolls past an "olive drab" background to symbolize a man's troubled childhood. Because that's pretentious bullshit. Tell me a real story, please. It can be abstract and arty and focused on the visuals. I just need to care about the soul of the person or people at the center of your artistic statement.

Does anybody want some cake?

After Puppy Kindergarten last night, I sat down to work on "Unethical" rewrites, but instead managed to balance our account, pay bills, check email and update Facebook. The script remained untouched. I promised Lisa (and myself) I'd have the rehearsal-ready draft by the end of November, but so far I've only been successful at procrastinating.

The rewrites shouldn't be that intense, I just have to do them. In October, I had people over to read the script in my living room and give feedback. I was shocked at how smoothly the script read, considering I wrote it in a vacuum - alone, with almost no feedback and hearing very little out loud. The changes mostly involve smoothing out a few awkward bits of dialogue and clarifying a few moments. The biggest thing I have to tackle is Tracey. Tracey is a 22-year-old, fresh-from-college new employee at The Company. I had a very good handle on how I wanted her to sound and behave when I started, but a year later, her journey is the least well-defined. I need to increase the stakes of the trouble she gets into at the beginning of the play and sharpen the reasons she changes and the way those changes manifest.

I also want to spend a little time working on Zach, too. He's great in the beginning, and then he kind of fades to the back of the story in the middle. Sometimes I feel like he's little more than Nora's (the main character) love interest. But is that so bad? How many zillions of plays are there out there in which the female characters serve no purpose other than being "the girlfriend" or "the wife." Zach may be just "the boyfriend," but at least he goes through a journey and ultimately causes the final climactic moment of the play.

My favorite character - and the most popular character at the reading - is Barry, the somewhat annoying, overly friendly, awkward outsider IT guy who obsessively offers his coworkers cake. I created him as a throw-away comic relief and to vent some issues I was having with real people at work. And now he's developed into the most crafty, amusing and oddly relatable character in the play. His scene in the break room with Nora might be the one scene I don't touch in rewrites. Barry is the lynchpin of the play now for me ... even if he is the kind of guy who picks up chicks in the hands-free cellphone accessories aisle at Radio Shack.

Directors, casts and Jack's

This was the promo piece Matt (my husband) made for the staged reading of "Prime" last year.

As for the Fourth Wall production of "Prime," it sounds like the artistic team over there has settled on a director for the show. It's someone I've worked with before, so I'm excited. I don't want to post her name until I know she has officially accepted the job. I'm actually kind of surprised to have a woman directing. I don't know why, but my main collaborators and advice-givers on this script have always been male. I feel like it's a very male play - even though it's written by a woman and the primary character is a woman going through a lot of very womanly issues and emotions. I'm curious to see if a woman as director will uncover some new approaches to certain moments. As long as the Kevin-Jeremy fight scene remains fabulously ridiculous in its testosterone-fueled ineptness, then everything will be fine. (I love that scene! Stuart and Josh nailed it in the staged reading last year.)

I spent many years writing, abandoning and returning to rewrite "Prime." And a lot of music has influenced the script over that time. The current draft has a soundtrack in my head. It's the album "Everything in Transit" by Jack's Mannequin. If you want to work on the Fourth Wall production of "Prime," I highly suggest you check the album out. Particularly "Dark Blue," "Into the Airwaves" and "Rescued." (I just saw Jack's in concert at the Grog Shop this week, and it was an amazing show. Weird, though, to see tweens bopping around and "wooo"-ing for music that to me is so introspective and so accurate at describing what it feels like to be young and ill.)

In "Unethical" news, director Lisa Ortenzi and I had a production meeting this week, and she's close to finalizing a cast. (We need to have actor names to CPT by Nov. 21!) No time to audition, so we're just inviting people we know, some I've worked with and some I've never met who are Lisa's picks. I like the idea of bringing in "new blood" just to see if the script sounds any different in their mouths, than when interpreted by my usual gang down at the Dark Room play reading group.  It sounds like all our first choices are in, except one. So, who are we going to get to play Zach, the love interest? He needs to be early 30s, charming, a sort of goofy class clown type, but restrained enough to not come across like a freak to his office mates. The actor also has to not be invited to Derek's wedding, which is the same weekend as my show. I'm going to spend this weekend auditioning every actor I know in my head until I figure out who I want for my Zach.

Welcome to my blog

2009 is going to be a big year for me in terms of theater. Two of my original scripts - "Unethical" and "Optimus Prime for President" - are being produced in February and March. I thought I should chronicle my experiences bringing these two pieces from page to stage. Hopefully, someone out there will want to read this ... other than my husband (who will forget to check in for updates) and my mother (who likely won't be able to navigate her way to this url). 

UNETHICAL

My newest play will run Feb. 20-22 at Cleveland Public Theatre's James Levin Theatre as part of the Big[BOX] series of new works. Here is the brief description of the play I will be sending Mindy Herman to use in CPT's publicity: 

You can't live without this paycheck, so just keep your head down and get through the workday. But when The Company institutes a new Corporate Policy of Employee Ethics and Standards of Conduct, four co-workers suddenly find themselves at the center of office controversy. Following the strict policy means giving up your personal expression, but the consequences of breaking it could be severe. And office mates will find their relationships tested in ways they never imagined.

So yeah, it's a comedy. Sort of.

OPTIMUS PRIME FOR PRESIDENT

I started writing "Prime" years ago when I was recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from my neck. I kept putting it aside and coming back to it, and over the years, the characters and stories evolved. It was performed (excellently) as a staged reading at last year's Little Box new plays series at CPT. Now it will be produced by Fourth Wall Productions March 20-April 4 at the Enterprise Center Building on E. 105th. Here's the description of that show:

On a summer night following a baseball game, six friends meet in their favorite bar for their usual night together. However, this night something is different. From unresolved feelings to longstanding resentments to a devastating secret, they all have something important to say to each other. But sometimes the truth is too hard to admit, and it's easier to talk about cartoons.

Also a comedy. Mostly.

Check back to find out how casting goes for "Unethical" and to help me slog through "final" rewrites of both plays!