No Sleep 'Til Windsor!

Hibernation: I think we're doing it wrong...

I've been what I call a "working playwright" for most of my life.

By which I mean that of the hundred or so plays I've written, all but a handful of them have been produced - which means that all but a handful of them have had really hard deadlines of dates when people were going to show up and start enacting your words whether you were ready or not, and soon after loads of other people were going to show up to watch them.

Now, I didn't think much about it when I was doing this in high school.  Mostly, then, I just didn't want to do lousy camp counselor skits, and so I told everyone that I'd write something for them - which meant directing it - which meant taking a role or two myself.  Ignorance is truly bliss.  And five year olds aren't literary agents.

When I went back to high school, this time to teach, it was easier to just write a play to spec as well.  Great!  The Sophomore class has fourteen women and maaaaybe two men?  Play can't be over an hour?  I've got seven decent actors?  I can work with that.  I may have been less blissfully ignorant this time around, but still: not one parent in the audience reviewed for the New York Times.

Now - in fact, right now as I'm writing this - I'm working hard against a partially self-imposed deadline of finishing at least half of The Merry Widows of Windsor by Thursday.  And then finishing the remainder for submission to the American Shakespeare Center's: Shakespeare's New Contemporaries contest by February 15th.  With some of my professional theatre buddies generously giving of their time to read and enact the play, with me as one of the characters - ok, the lead character - in front of *gulp*...well, let's just say: five year olds, they ain't.

Actual footage of the writing experience.
Many are called.  Few survive.
Dread Pirate Roberts not included.

So!  I am procrastinating by writing this blog to explain to you, my dear readers, why there will probably be fewer blogs this week, since I need hibernate in order to write the play that I'm procrastinating, by writing this blog to you about the play that I...

And so forth.

Wish me luck!  Here we go!


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