"Bottom of the Ninth" staged readings at NCCU

steveg144 · Nov 16, 2008

My play "Bottom of the Ninth won the New Play Project prize at NCCU earlier this year. As part of the prize, there were three nights of "staged readings" of the play followed by audience/playwright talkback. I put quotes around "staged readings"� because what they did was nothing less than a full
production with scripts in hand. Three weeks of intense rehearsals,
full movement on the stage, and they even built a set. (yes, I can die
a happy man having seen my dubious Bourbon Street bar created on a
stage). Essentially they mounted the play; the scripts in hand weren't
even noticed after the first couple of minutes. The 50-seat lab
theatre was SRO all three days, which was incredibly gratifying. The
audience asked tough questions and made me work my ass off taking
notes. I've got 20 pages of single-spaced notes and I expect to have a
much better play --" quite possibly the chimerical "almost-final draft" -- with a week or two more of heads-down work. Late nights and not a
lot of sleep, but what a ride!

ComicBent · Nov 16, 2008

That's great, Steve!

I know it feels very gratifying to see your play and know that others are seeing it.

Another thought: You have material for a good article that you could write on the subject of writing a play, seeing it get a staged reading, and using the constructive criticism that the audience provides. You could address the whole question of how helpful the experience is for a playwright.

Roland

bison · Nov 16, 2008

Mucho congratulations!
I can't think of very many things that are more gratifying than seeing your work performed on stage.
Enjoy!

steveg144 · Nov 16, 2008

bison said:
Mucho congratulations!
I can't think of very many things that are more gratifying than seeing your work performed on stage.
Enjoy!

Thanks to you both. It really is a feeling unlike any other kind of literary success. I thought up these people, but there they are, on stage, real. It's kinda, well ... spooky. :tongue

endless rewrite · Nov 17, 2008

Congratulations, there really isn't a feeling like it and when you've experienced it you understand why playwrights work so hard to make it happen. You hold a world in your head for so long and then there it is, being experienced by other people and so organic that it i s a different experience every night. Unlike other forms of creative writing your play doesn't really exist without being performed as so much is in the 'white space' on the page.

steveg144 · Nov 17, 2008

endless rewrite said:
Congratulations, there really isn't a feeling like it and when you've experienced it you understand why playwrights work so hard to make it happen. You hold a world in your head for so long and then there it is, being experienced by other people and so organic that it i s a different experience every night. Unlike other forms of creative writing your play doesn't really exist without being performed as so much is in the 'white space' on the page.

Exactly. It has really just the most tenuous connection to other literary forms (books, stories, essays) which are essentially solitary pursuits. With a stage play, collaboration is built into the very structure. Which means you have to learn to play well with others and trust a bunch of strangers with your vision. Which can often be ... "challenging."

bison · Nov 17, 2008

To expound a bit more, a screen play that one creates is not the same end product that makes it to the screen. So, the creator only sees a germ of his work. The stage play is word for word, much more personal. I also like the fact that the audience has to participate in the tale to make it successful. They forgive the dramatic acting, the painted canvas behind the actors, and are close to the action.
There is no other art form like it. Perhaps a painting, but it's not "alive".
We're very lucky.

Mandy-Jane · Dec 8, 2008

I'm a bit late to this thread, but congratulations anyway! That is very exciting news.

bison said:
The stage play is word for word, much more personal. I also like the fact that the audience has to participate in the tale to make it successful. They forgive the dramatic acting, the painted canvas behind the actors, and are close to the action.
There is no other art form like it. Perhaps a painting, but it's not "alive".
We're very lucky.

Yeah I agree. There's nothing like it.

Williebee · Dec 8, 2008

I hadn't seen this before. That's just cool! Congrats, Steve!

"Bottom of the Ninth" staged readings at NCCU

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist

ComicBent

bison

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist

endless rewrite

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist

bison

Mandy-Jane

venturing ever further into the unknown

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.