Prescott, AZ was a blast. Yes, real fun. I couldn’t quite fit into the gold pants, but it didn’t matter. For two whole days I was a produced playwright. Two shows in a 200-seat house, almost entirely full.
KodakGirl did an outstanding job putting the whole thing together – truly impressive. And I’m terribly grateful. My actors were wonderful and my director totally insightful and all were sincerely committed to making the play work. On all levels. Ah! It was so UN-Hollywood. And fantastic.
The little plane!
As I was sitting in the audience, waiting for my play to start, I was nervous. A new kind of nervous I had never been before. Let’s see if I can explain it. After hitting the “send” button on my email with the play attached as a PDF, I had nothing more to do with the process. Ring Around the Collar existed without me, had a life of its own. See, I’m an alfa-female control freak when given the chance. Anyone who’s worked with me knows I care about the costumes as much as I do the words. I want my hands on ALL OF IT. Not that I don’t trust others, it’s just that I envision it a specific way. I want to communicate my truth of the story/characters and sometimes that comes down to something as small as if an actress is wearing lipstick or lip gloss. But all this need for control was taken out of the equation, given that it happened in another state (geographically and mentally). And I loved it. There was a profound freedom in this distance. It served the play well. But I was mostly worried that the play wouldn’t get any laughs. Even if the actors had been unrehearsed or miscast, the jokes are the jokes. If they aren’t written correctly, it’s MY BAD. But the audience did laugh. And seemed to enjoy it. I finally settled in and enjoyed it, too.
Thank you for this breath of fresh air. We all gotta breathe once in a while.
