My Baby’s Leaving the Nest

by third planet living

Today Jen asked me which theatrical projects I’m currently working on.  Short answer: not-a-one. Unless you count research for upcoming shows… or unless you count the rewrites for Off The Ground  I’m supposed to be working on.  I mean, I’ve worked on them a bit… act one is sort of done…

About twenty minutes after emailing back and forth with Jen, Kristianne emailed me for the latest version of the script.  (Synchronicity, right?)  They’re reading a few scenes tonight at their ensemble meeting, along with scenes from other shows in their upcoming season.  (For those of you are completely lost, Kristianne Kurner is the Executive Artistic Director of New Village Arts Theatre, and Off The Ground is a play written my Tom Zohar and myself).

It was the strangest thing.  My play has a secret life that I know nothing about… it’s out on the town doing it’s thing, flirting with strangers.  All of a sudden I’m the mother of a teenager.  But surprisingly, instead of feeling the need to put bars on the windows, I felt like gassing up the car, handing over some hairspray and a teasing comb, and ushering it off into the wild night.  It was really exciting.  I like it. I LOVE IT.  And in fact, I want some more of it.  

The show runs the month of December, and once it closes, it’s “Operation: Spread it Around.”  We have a master list already, of about a hundred theatres we think would be a good fit for the show.  That analysis is based on several factors:  

The type of play:  full-length comedic drama

Cast size

Single location set

No need for fly space

And most importantly; all of these theatres accept unsolicited scripts.

You should see my copy of the Dramatists Sourcebook, all tabbed and color coded… I admit it’s been sitting on top of my laundry hamper like that for nearly a year, but it looks like I really have my shit together. Actually, we decided not to send the script out into the world until she received her second production; wanted more feedback… to tweak it a bit.  The next step is the most grueling… making copies, binding the copies, writing cover letters, character breakdowns, synopses, professional letters of recommendation, getting dialog samples together, mailing them off… and WAITING.  

How wonderfully agonizing it all is.  

And so I say three cheers for my empty nest!  Fly baby, fly!  And bring mama home some money.