A Guaranteed Happy Ending

photo by Tim Poltevin and Second Story Repertory.

Taking the trail one step at a time.
It was a crazy summer with family activities and amazing changes, but I am so excited to have so many wonderful things happening.  The recording we made of the songs from "The Dancing Princess" turned out great and I am putting the final touches on a novelized version of the story.

A discussion of the current status of theatre for children in this country has led me to wonder if many theatre companies even consider producing shows that are not already based on a popular book.  I discussed the trend with Linda Hartzell of the Seattle Children's Theatre and Mark Chenovick of Second Story Repertory.  One of the problems of doing something original is that parents and teachers are hesitant about taking their children to a performance when they aren't certain of the content or the ending of the story.  It's sad but true that we all want to know what's going to happen before we see it.  So many parents are afraid there might be something unexpected.  

Mark Chenovick took a risk presenting 'The Dancing Princess'.  It was not a well-known story, although loosely based on "The Twelve Dancing Princesses".  But it wound up being one of their most successful productions of last season.  Maybe the trend is turning and parents as well as children are willing to take the risk of seeing something without first securing a guarantee of the outcome.

Here is Emily Shuel singing one of my favorite songs from the show, "Yulia's Lullaby".

    

Where there's a will, there's a way

The Great Wall of China

Where there's a will,

There's a way.

 When I was a kid, my parents didn't have a lot of money - especially for your basic white, middle-class, Americans.  We weren't living out of our car, but there were many days when I had oatmeal for breakfast as well as dinner and had one pair of school shoes and one pair of sneakers to my name that were supposed to last for two years.  Luckily, I liked oatmeal and I pretty much reached my full height and shoe size at age 13 so the shoes were able to last the two years.

It was kind of frustrating for me, however, because I was a kid with big dreams.  It didn't help that most of my friends came from wealthy families.  They had pools in their back yards and went to Switzerland on vacation while I used the rafters of our unfinished basement as monkey bars and floated on inner tubes down the muddy creek behind our home.  My father used to tell me, 'where there's a will, there's a way.  If you really want something, you will find a way to get it.'  He wasn't talking about anything illegal, of course.  He was talking about thinking outside the box to find a creative way to achieve your dreams.  In school, we studied amazing feats of achievement like 'The Great Wall of China" and the pyramids of Egypt and I learned that seemingly impossible things can happen with planning, patience, and sheer will.

 If human beings could do amazing things like that maybe I could accomplish some of my dreams.  After all, I didn't exactly want to build a 500-foot-tall monument to myself.  I wanted simple things.  For example, we had an amusement park down the road from my house.  I could never afford to go there except when they had 'Report Card Day' where they gave away tickets for good grades.  So when I turned 13, I applied to work there.  I got a job attaching strings to people's wrists for special events and later, at age 17, I was able to operate some of the rides.  The hours were long, but I was surrounded by the sounds and sites of the park and on rainy days when things were slow, I got free rides on the merry-go-round.  

I'd always wanted to work in show business.  Although I was ridiculously obnoxious as a young child, I became very shy as a teenager.  Way to shy to try out for school plays or choir.  The force was strong within me, however (yes, I went there) and it pushed me to search for other ways to get involved.  I looked for ways to work backstage and continued to do so after I graduated from college.  Every chance I could, I worked for free to learn more about every aspect  of television and theatre.  I interned at a television station for minimum wage to help pay for college.  I stage managed community theatre productions - one after the other.  After a while, I realized the people on stage were just as nervous and anxious as I was about performing and I tried it.  Soon I was singing and dancing all over the place.  Another check off my proverbial bucket list.  

 I'd always wanted to travel, so with a little money saved up, I applied for some post-graduate work at a school 3000 miles from my home, packed my VW Baja Superbeetle and left for the West Coast.   I wound up not attending the school but found a cool job working with a design firm and building a life here in Washington State.  Check.  Started my own successful business with money I borrowed on my credit card.  Check.  Sold that, then started two more.  Check. And check.   All the while I was able to continue to do some work in theatre and films and writing stories, ( http://theponymanmovie.com/cast.html )and (http://winkingkatbooks.com/).  Double check.

I didn't mean for this blog entry to wind up so autobiographical, but I wanted to illustrate that the advice my father wound up to be true.  I've checked off so many things on my 'to do' list of life by just finding some way, any way, to make them happen without money or connections. Though it often meant entering through the back door, I still got into the house.  Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, I know that I may never realize the grandiose dreams of my youth (unless I live another fifty years) but in small, satisfying ways I've seen most of them granted.  Thanks for the advice, Dad.

Authenticity or Not

Authenticity or NOT? 

or Am I being too anal about this?  

I've had many jobs in my life and could say a couple careers.  I still divide my time between art and theatre and have been lucky to earn money at both.  As an actor, I can tell you (and most other actors will agree) one of the most annoying and frightening parts of the job is the audition process.

 

 Auditions are kind of a mixed blessing.  You are 'Oh, so glad' you have them, but at the same time, wish you were going to a session of waterboarding instead.  The big problem is that you are usually unsure of what the expectations of the producers and directors of a show will be.  How do you plan for the unknown?  Sometimes, you're lucky and on the mark, everything goes well, there are smiles all around, and you have a good shot at the role.  Other times you get the feeling when you pull out your tap shoes and everyone else in the green room has ballet slippers and ballerina buns that you have totally misinterpreted the concept the production is looking for.  That's when the directors watch your audition with that look of bewilderment and a fixed smile and you know the minute you walk into the room that you're screwed.

I have an audition this weekend for a period piece.  The story takes place in medieval times.  The script is not badly written and in the right hands it could be a very cool project.  (This is actor speak for "I genuinely hope I get the part").  There is one problem.  I'm not sure at the present time whether they will be looking for someone who can do the role with an appropriate dialect or if they are planning to do this in pseudo historic times where everyone talks like they came out of the local Wendy's with a couple of 'thy's and 'm'lord's thrown in.  I could ask them ahead of time via email, but I've already asked a different question and I don't want to appear to be a pain before they even meet me.  Actors hate to be labeled a 'problem actor' before they even show up at an audition.  

So I will have to wait and ask them right before my audition and be prepared for both.  I hope they do want some type of dialect.  One, I know if they do I can nail it.  Two, I really hate to watch films and television where the story takes place in another time or in 'generic fantasy land' and all the characters sound like they came from LA Central Casting.  It really takes away some of the magic.  Maybe I'm being to anal or picky, and I don't expect actors to be too authentic.  In the case of the Renaissance or the Middle Ages, if you were too authentic, everyone would need subtitles to understand what the actors are talking about.  

One example that drives me crazy is the new TV series, "Once Upon A Time".  I basically like the cleverness of the plot and the acting isn't bad, but other than a more dramatic hairstyles and costumes, the characters in fairytale land look and sound like they just stepped out of the Valley Galleria.  It may be intentional, but it really takes away from the story for me.  I know there are other examples in film and TV as well.  

So, I'll be ready with my generic, middle-ages, European dialects -French, Irish, or British (if they ask for German or something else, I'd be astonished and impressed), but will ask first.  Otherwise, I'll see that bewildered, fixed smile on the director's face and I'll know I totally screwed the audition.

Unlocking Creativity

UNLOCKING CREATIVITY

Okay.  I am working on a new play for our summer touring season of shows for young audiences.  I'm on schedule with the deadline I have set for myself of May 1st to finish the play.  That way our actors have enough time to rehearse the show before our first performance in June.  About one-third of the way into the play, I hit a roadblock or should I say 'writer's block'.  A song, or what I hoped to be a song.  It is a common problem with writing this type of play for children.  The song has to be short, fun, witty, catchy, a little silly, but still has to impart some information and move the story forward.   I could have left it and come back to the lyrics later, but I find it difficult on the first draft to leave a block out of the story like that.  Silly, I know, but that's the way I write for better or worse.

I tried and tried to work the problem.  Dragged out information from Google, Wikipedia,  and rhyming dictionaries, but nothing was coming.  My brain was a dry well.  One day went by then two and I was still staring at the same page.  I knew what I wanted to happen after this section, but I couldn't go on without the connecting puzzle piece.  

While driving to an appointment on the second day I was listening to a radio talk show.  They were interviewing a man who had written a book on the nature of creativity in the brain.  He said creative people are average people who have an epiphany about something, can recognize it and respond to it.  I kind of knew that part.  Like many writers or artists I have a lot of epiphanies - usually in the middle of the night or in the shower unfortunately when I don't have a paper and pencil handy.  I have too many epiphanies.  They crowd my brain and keep me from having a decent, coherent conversation with anyone.  I knew about that.  But the gentleman on the radio had some other interesting facts about creativity.

He said scientists could tell when an epiphany is coming by the number of Alpha waves in the brain.  It seems epiphanies come when the impulse inhibitors of the brain are calmed or disabled and the Alpha waves take over.  The key is to relax.  Walk away from the problem.  Forget the deadlines and don't stress about it.  It seems counter to every lesson about perseverance and tenacity, but one can't argue with the EEG's.  The author on the radio suggested taking a small drink or using another similar relaxing substance.  Not wanting to turn into Earnest Hemmingway or Edgar Alan Poe, I didn't think using alcohol was a good option for me.  But the idea of going for a walk or taking a nap could work.  I do often get my best ideas when I'm half asleep.  This time, however, I'd have a pen and paper ready.  Sure enough while I was sleepily putting away the laundry my epiphany arrived.  I bolted downstairs and typed the lyrics into my computer before they had a chance to scatter among the other images and phrases caught in my brain's neuron whirlpool.

Lyrics recorded, I could finally move on to the next scene and the next sequence of the story.  I wish I could have caught the name of the gentleman they were interviewing. Whoever he is, I owe him many thanks for the relaxing hours ahead and their accompanying epiphanies. 

Page to Stage: Birth by Committee

The Birth of a Dancing Princess

In 2000 I wrote an adaptation of the story, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" to be performed by the touring theatre company I co-founded with Alexandra Clark.  We joked that we did not have the budget (or room in the touring car) for more than one princess, so that's what we had.  When I was doing the research on the story, I found Hans Christian Andersen might have actually based his story on a Ukrainian folktale that was very similar.  In turn that story might have been based on a Persian folktale and so on.  

I chose to set my play in Russia to follow the theme and flavor of the folktale.  Because I managed the touring company, I had a lot to say about the production which was very successful during its run in 2000 and also when we revived it in 2009.  It wasn't just successful, it was special.  Like any artist, a writer often can tell when one project has something special that makes it different or better than some of the other work they've done.  "The Dancing Princess" was one of those projects for me.  I was excited to meet and discuss the project with a friend and composer, Terry Levitt, who agreed to write the music necessary to expand the show.  The producers at Second Story Repertory in Redmond, Washington (a very cool theatre, by the way) patiently heard my pitch for the piece and agreed to produce it.  So the journey began.

Mark Chenovick, the executive director at Second Story, offered me the opportunity to direct.  I decided not to.  Although it might have been cool to follow through and see the piece through to production all with my own vision, I thought it would be more interesting to see what other directors and producers might see in it.

With the exception of a one-man or one-woman show, theatre is a magical art that requires a committee of people (or multiple committees) to make it happen.  I'd sat in my office chair for so many hours with the characters of "The Dancing Princess" dancing in my brain, I realized I totally needed to let them go to see how they would perform.  The directors, costumers, set and lighting designers all took the helm.  The actors brought their talents and knowledge and skills and the whole thing sprang into colorful, three-dimensional life while I watched. 

Was everything done the way I would have done it?  No.  But many things were done much better than I could have conceived.  That's the whole point of this birth by committee.  Everyone brings their best to the table.  The result is usually better for it.  Like any baby, if this "Dancing Princess" is going to walk, it may be hard, but a parent has to eventually let go.

(photos by Tim Poitevin)

moments and time

MOMENTS.......
All morning as I was working at my desk, I occasionally glanced over to look at the parakeet cage near the window in the room.  My son has two parakeets, NB (for New Bird) and Max.  Max, a blue parakeet and the older of the two is going to die soon.  It is painfully obvious.  I keep thinking, maybe it's time to take him to the vet to make sure he isn't suffering.  But the amazing thing about watching him is every time I see him fall or struggle to fly and I think 'this is it', he gets back up on his feet, climbs the ladder, and gets back on his perch.  He nibbles at his food takes a drink of water and rests.  
Over and over he gets back on his feet, makes the long climb up to the bar to sit in his usual spot.  His determination has a certain dignity to it.  He doesn't want to give up and he simply goes on living.  His feathers are unkempt and he now has a little bald spot on the top of his head from NB picking at him, but he sits and goes about his business adding up the moments, one after another, that he decides to stay. 


Quantum physics tells us that time is relative.  That the concept of linear time - time as a continuous, fluid line of events- is merely an illusion.  Instead it says time is a floating, infinite cluster of moments.  Humans try to string it together to make sense of everything.  Perhaps the idea that we exist only from one random moment to another is too upsetting to wrap our heads around.  But for Max that is what life is.  One moment, then another.  Appreciating that one step, that one glimpse of movement as our cat, Lola walks by, that one taste of food, or that one tone of sound from the radio.  Life slows down as it comes to an end and all creatures seem to finally see time for what it is.  A cluster of moments collected in our minds where we try to make some sense of it.

UPDATE:  March 5, 2012  
Max finally passed away today.  He was a brave little bird and will miss hearing his call in the morning.  Could teach us all a lesson about persistence and appreciating simply being alive.

The Rule of Three

#3

Omne trium perfectum.  The perfection of the number, 3.  I was asked this week to make a small edit to my script for a play for young audiences that is currently in rehearsal.  The director wanted to make use of the 'rule of three' to carry a joke through the play.

As someone who has been performing comedic pieces for a number of years, I am very familiar with the 'rule of three', but it made me wonder why it is so much a part of literature and especially comedy.  Did it start with the Holy Trinity or does it go back even further than that?  Mother, Father, child?   I looked for a Wikipedia listing and there it was.  An analysis of why the number three is so important not only in comedy, but literature in general.  Analyzing stories the listing mentioned the Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff.  In comedy there are the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers (yes, I know there were officially four but let's be honest. How many of us really remember Zeppo?)

Already, in my script (as in many stories) the hero gets three tries to win the contest.  Three nights to discover the wily princess' secret.  Everyone knows if you find a magic lamp you get three wishes - one to test it out, one to be greedy, and usually one to mess up everything you've tried to accomplish and take you back to square one.  

That is pretty much the rule of three's in a nutshell.  A story needs one instance or event to establish something.  The second similar event is to build tension and establish a pattern.  Then the third instance comes along to destroy the entire sequence or take the pattern on a sharp detour.  Unwittingly or deliberately almost every good comedy routine or humorous story follows this pattern.  It must be hard wired into the human brain.  Maybe someday I should write a story where the hero gets four chances or maybe seven.  After all, there were seven dwarfs in Snow White.  I wonder why seven?

Careers in the Arts

 The painter, Van Gogh, only sold one painting during his lifetime.  It is frustrating to have a drive and passion for creating art and to have to starve to do it.  The phrase, 'starving artist', is a harsh reality for many.  But still thousands of young people are making their plans to attend college or graduate school in the fall with a major in either the performing or visual arts.  Why?

I have a seventeen-year-old son, so the discussion of 'what are you going to do after you graduate?' has come up often over the past several months.  He's a good student, so we have no doubt that no matter what career he chooses, he will probably do well.  The question is where is his passion and will that correspond with something that actually makes money?  Recent articles have discussed how dismal the earnings prospects are for some careers that one would think were reliable. Examples are Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, & Architecture.  A recent article listed ten college degrees that result in the worst paying positions (link for complete article) .  Unfortunately, one of them is our daughter's chosen career, culinary arts and hospitality management.

Some people can find fulfillment in any career - if they are earning enough money.  Some people can't.  Our daughter has found her passion in cooking and the mix of creativity, physical challenges, and stress (yes, some of us enjoy a little of that in our jobs) that comes with this field.  I fought my passion for the arts for several years, convinced that there was no way I could earn a living.  Since, I could neither rely on my good looks or my parents for economic survival, that was important.  In the end, the compulsion, passion, insanity, or whatever you want to call it that kept bringing me back to a life in the arts won out.  I got my degree in visual arts and earned my living in on or another field of the arts ever since.  Before I married at age 34, I supported myself comfortably, traveled, and had a pretty good life.  I've had a good one since I'm married, too, but the point I'm trying to make is that there is work and a life for you in the arts if you are resourceful, not afraid to market yourself, and willing to accept that you may just be comfortable and never be rich. If that is where your passion is, don't be afraid to pursue it.

snowmageddon becomes floodmageddon

SNOW IN THE NORTHWEST
All right.  I know people in North Dakota and Michigan laugh at people in Seattle when we get a bit of snow.  Some of the criticisms might be justified. But when the LA Times makes fun of us, that is another story.  I've been in LA when they got a couple inches of rain and you'd think the stuff was radioactive.  My daughter and I got to go on every ride in Disneyland and never waited in line because it was drizzling during a visit there.

Here in Seattle when it snows, it's not your typical snow.  It's wet and sloppy and freezes to solid ice quicker than you can say 'double tall latte with an extra shot'.  There's a reason we lovingly call it Cascade Concrete.  Add to that our typography; for example, the downtown as many hills as San Francisco and the suburbs are built on hills and mountains well over 500'.  Then, add the fact that the snow is soon covered with a glaze of fine mist and you have a driving nightmare.

Famous for our evergreens (hence the motto: Western Washington, land of tall women and beautiful trees) it's a disaster when they get coated with Cascade Concrete.  They fall over on  roads and powerlines making them useless.  Things come to a standstill.  

Thankfully, we are the home of Microsoft, Amazon, and several other major high-tech companies.  This means that most of the population can use the internet and have their wireless personal electronic devices with them at all times, so when stuck at home (for better or worse) we still work.  Make fun of us if you choose.  We're pretty hearty souls out here and we can take the abuse.  Between storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, floods, and the rise and fall of the economy - we're used to it.  BTW: The snow has now turned to rain, so we are awaiting the resulting flood.  Here we go again.

Snow Day

SNOW DAY
Usually, it's just grey and gloomy in the winter here in the Northwest.  The last several days and (especially) tomorrow, snow is the word for the day.  

Although it can feel a bit confining because no one is very prepared to move around in this stuff, I am excited.  It is perfect writing weather.  I have my nice cup of tea, and some rye bread and cream cheese, and my computer.  However, please, keep your fingers crossed that the power does not go out.  

Casting Bugs

Over the past two days, watched and listened to 50 young (elementary school) actors and their auditions for a place in the cast of "Bayou Bug Tales".  Casting is always the most fun and most difficult part of the job.  They were all adorable and some were very talented.  Now my job is to match the child with the role that will enable them to do the best job they can and challenge them to grow and take risks.  Imagining some of them in the roles of the many bugs and pollywogs and butterflies is the cool part.  They are all so eager and excited to hear what character they are playing.  Off to my spreadsheet to play the matching game.
 

Wednesday is the day

Cast is set and I am so excited to hear the first table read for The Dancing Princess.  I know we've done it before.  Last Leaf has performed it as part of our touring theatre schedule twice, but with the new score and the new characters I have always been wanting to add, I am looking forward to hearing the revised show.

There is something wonderfully fulfilling and exciting about seeing the characters I've written on the page come to life in the hands of amazing actors.  There is also something terrifying.  I remember at the end of the first table read of Alison in Wonderland, I was sweating and shaking.  The joy and horror of being an artist is always having to lay your imagination, quirks, hopes and dreams out there, literally, on the table for everyone to see.  It may all be fiction and imaginary, but people look at you afterward like you are sitting there naked.  Like they suddenly know your most intimate secrets based on what you've painted or written.  Do computer engineers have that same self exposure?   Maybe the artist is the better for that and it's cathartic in a masochistic sort of way.   Sometimes it's just telling a good story with some fun characters.   Whatever.  It's all happening Wednesday. 

Multi-tasking

JANUARY.  This is the month I've been both dreading and longing for. Next week I begin the task of directing 53 elementary school children in their school play that I had the pleasure of writing with Larry Bridges and Terry Levitt.  Also, next week, I get to sit in on a table read of "The Dancing Princess" that I wrote with Terry Levitt.  Auditions for a production of that play are on the following weekend.  And on the 28th I begin rehearsals for a production of an amazing play, "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" in which I have a small but what should be a challenging and fun role.  And, SURPRISE, I get paid for all three jobs.   I am on artistic overload but, like any awesome rollercoaster, I'm looking forward to the ride.

New Year, New Opportunities

Still has some kinks, but I have launched the new website for Winking Kat Books.  The design work is not easy even though I'm trained in graphic design, but nonetheless the new site gives readers, producers and teachers a chance to discuss and comment about "The Travelers' Society" series and about the plays we are getting ready to publish.  

Here's to 2012 and learning new skills and welcoming new opportunities for growth and meeting new friends.