Latest play opens tonight!

Cat Scratch

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If anyone lives in the Bay Area, try to check out my latest world premier, Voluntary Amnesia at City Lights Theatre in San Jose, CA.

http://www.cltc.org/

Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it myself, because I'm stuck on an island at nearly 8 months pregnant. They're sending me a video of the production, which isn't quite the same, but I'm still excited that they're doing it, so can't complain!
 

TheIT

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Cool! There's a small blurb for your play in the Eye section of the San Jose Mercury News, too.

Congratulations!
 

bison

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Congratulations X 2.

I'm so jealous! (Not of having a baby!)

I hope you sell out every night. That must be a fantastic feeling.

Best of luck, with both "new babies."
 

Cat Scratch

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Thank you everyone! It's a little bittersweet being so far away, but again, can't complain that I have a play running in a far off land...
 

Cat Scratch

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Well, I got what amounts to a lukewarm review from one paper. She didn't outright hate it, and there were things about the play that she liked, but other things that she panned, and not just about the production. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

My biggest irk about the whole thing is that I followed some advice and cut some earlier scenes that lead up to/forshadow the climax, and the review states that the climax felt "folded in" and there wasn't enough earlier to lead to the final scene. I was told they were too "distracting" from the main action of the play and advised to lose the scenes, which ultimately means that I didn't write them correctly, but I foolishly cut them, even though my gut was telling me they belonged there. I figured the professionals who were giving me the notes knew better than I did. There's my big lesson: listen to my gut. Clearly keeping them as is would have been equally foolish, but I now wish I'd tried to find a better way to work the themes of those missing scenes into the overall play.
 

Mandy-Jane

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I will complete a play this year! I will!
I'm sorry to hear about your review, but big congratulations on getting it there! I guess you can't please everybody, and you never know, the next reviewer might have a totally different opinion. I wonder if the audience loved it. It's always good to sit in the audience and listen to the comments going on around you. But maybe next time, you can do that.
 

bison

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Hey,
A bad review is better than no review at all.
Once more, congratulations. I'm still jealous!
As to gut feelings. I think one should ALWAYS follow your inner advice. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it always seems to be be the best available.
 

Cat Scratch

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Thanks, Mandy Jane and Bison. If anything, I've learned some stuff for next time around! And I still get royalties, which is always nice.
 

Cat Scratch

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Well, I did get a good review from a different newspaper, so that's good news! You win some, you lose some.
 

bison

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"...You win some, you lose some."
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True, but you have to suit up for all of them!
Way to go.
 

Cat Scratch

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Small, small world alert:

A woman in my writing group was on vacation in the Bay Area this past weekend, and she was out to dinner with her family when she overheard a couple discussing a play they had just seen. She wasn't able to hear everything they said, but she did glean that the had just seen my play, that they liked it, and that it led them to a very animated discussion about the topic. Yay, yay, and yay! She said she wanted to go over and tell them that she knows me, but figured they wouldn't care.

My aunt also went to see the play and eavesdropped in the restroom at intermission, and reported back that the response was all positive. (But of course she'd say that--she's my aunt.)

My uncle was in his car the other day and happened to catch a radio interview with one of the lead actors about the production. He was like "Why does that title sound familiar? Wait a minute, didn't my neice write that?" Why, yes. Yes, I did.