All in all, I was pleased with Prime. It was a fast-paced, naturalistic, relatable show that elicited laughter and honest emotion. That's what I wanted. The stage manager's mother - who had lost her sister recently - offered the comment that the scene in the ladies room between sisters Steph and Sierra, when they discuss Steph's failing health, really struck a chord with her and felt very real. I can't ask for a better review than that.
If I had any complaints, it would be these two things. First, as the run went on, there was some line sloppiness from the cast. Not that they were changing or altering any important lines, just that with all the natural interplay and improv that developed between the scripted lines, it occasionally got a little muddled. And it got even more vulgar. Now, I'll admit there are swears a-plenty in the script, but the looseness and improv the cast developed led to a sharp increase in f-bombs. It was just a little too much for what I wanted.
Secondly, the pr. Fourth Wall is a smaller theater than CPT with a lot less resources, but I still felt like we could have gotten the word out there better. More listings. Send a photo to Scene. Really court reviewers into coming. Update the website more frequently and make it easier for people to learn about the show. I ended up creating and running the Facebook event listing myself. I wonder if we could have - had I been more energetic and proactive in suggesting these things - done some kind of cross promotion with Big Fun or some other cartoon/comic friendly place. The final two shows had good-sized crowds, but the first two weekends were sparsely attended. It was a bit frustrating, because the show was good and needed to be seen.
The question is what do I do now? I'm taking the summer off from theater to be pregnant, with the exception of directing my playwriting buddy Steve's workshop reading in June. So, I'll have downtime at home to focus on the scripts. Because Unethical only ran one weekend, I've gotten a lot of inquiries about when it will be mounted again from people who missed it or who wanted to send someone they know to see it. I need to contact CPT and see if there's any interest at all in doing it there again. They've supported it so far, so I'd like to give them first crack. Plus, we sold great there, so CPT's audience is clearly interested. (Or else my audience is clearly more interested in going there than Fourth Wall.) But, if not, I think I need to do some rewrites to de-clunkify some parts and start sending it out to festivals and contests. Several people think I should send it to Humana. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head if that happened!
Prime won't require nearly as much rewriting, but it's a different style of script and topic. The cast seemed to feel it would be a good fit at fringe festivals. I guess I should start researching those. Josh and Sarah want me to apply to Edinburgh. Yes, the one in Scotland. Sigh...
And I've been excited to get back to Danger Road. I want to finish it by the end of the summer so I can submit it to Little Box in the fall. (Not that I'll be able to even attend my own show with a several week old baby, but dare to dream. That's what in-town grandparents are for, right?)
The research, rewrites, applications, new script. This is a lot of potential work for an ever more tired and increasingly rounder lady who can't stop eating M&Ms. Plus we're working on the nursery, the garden and other house stuff we've been putting off. But I feel like I absolutely have to buckle down and do it. After the baby's born, I'll be so busy with that, I can't imagine I'll have any time to write, even with my very generous 13-week paid maternity leave. So, if I don't do it now, my work will languish. And I can't abide that. It's time to be stronger and more focused than my natural and hormone-induced laziness.
No comments:
Post a Comment