Finally finished a play
Years ago, while at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, I conjured myself a playwright. I had written a play before I began my doctoral program, Angelitos, which addressed the question, is it possible to love too much. While at UNC, I wrote a one act that explored the relationship between a father and daughter, the concept of home and running from a damaged home. While I completed that one - it's still a bit hairy to me as the metaphors are a bit too heavy handed I think - I wrote Flor, which started out as just a one act play that explored what makes a woman and man who they are. Flor eventually extended beyond the one act into a full length play with just five characters. It's set up so that it could be played in a black box theater with minimal props. I wanted the exchanges between the characters and their stories to be the primary focus. I started the play back, I believe, in 2006. In a short spell - perhaps one or two sittings - I wrote the entirety of the play with the exception of two scenes in the third act. I wrote the synopses for them, but in the end, I just couldn't focus my attention long enough to get the play done. Over the years, I returned to the play and the plays that follow - some of the characters required me to consider how the story would progress, possibly with the addition of two more full length plays - always reading through to the end, sometimes near tears, definitely focused on finishing the play and sending it out into the world. I just never did it, until today. I finally wrote those final scenes and they bridge the gap that has been waiting to be completed for almost six years. Now, my thought is to where to send the play, once I have completed the revisions.
I feel confident in the story and feel like it's a story that needs to be told. There are even some laughs in the tragedy of it all.
I might just be a playwright, too.
Now, though, I am incredibly tired. I don't usually operate on these hours at a writers retreat. I should have been napping in the afternoon after lunch. I usually stay up then until dawn. My mind is ready to race on, but my body is still recovering from this week's classes and my lack of a nap.
Outside, there is the undulating music of frogs, probably from the reservoir I can see from my window. New sounds. No matter how tired I may be tonight, I have little doubt that I will not be sleeping until dawn.