Wednesday, December 10, 2008

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 ...

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