Saturday, February 1, 2014

"...But When Will I Go Public?"

I'll start this one off by turning-away some potential readers; No, I am never planning to "come out" (I know how the Internet is/are.) While I admit to never having dated anyone & have nothing against gay marriages/relationships, I fully believe myself to be a "straight" adult (though the stuff on my boots' soles makes me walk a bit curvy sometimes), & consider my lack of dating to be a positive. (If/When I do ever start, I will go into it with far-less expectations. Also, I will watch "Judge Judy"/"Judge Mathis"/"Judge Alex" or "Maury" on an average weekday, but never have to expect seeing myself being sued for damage to an ex's person/property, or to see anyone claiming I'm father of their kid.)

As for what this blog is/will-be about, I find it a bit ironic I am writing it on this computer, as this machine may also contain the answer to the question. (I have long made it known my "fandom" of irony, including when I get bored... Also not against puns.)

Not sure I ever mentioned it on this site (which owes its name to the project), but I started writing something on a laptop in the late '90s. I was able to continue it a bit more in the year 2000, & when I was able to devote all my writing time to projects of my own invention, technically "finished" it in late 2001. I call it a "tech" finish because the project was my first musical-theater project, but the second (& final) Act still has its tunes finished only in my head. (I will probably hold on to my continually-growing collection of "business cards" for my also-often-growing list of doctors, as they may still be unaware, but from 2002 until late 2007, it was the sole reason I continued to exist, so it seems only right to send them notice-of/passes-to a performance if it ever happens... On a side-note, you can read all about the added reason from Fall 2007 on this blog.)

I am also not sure if I have mentioned it previously on this site (though its exclusion would downright shock me), but I often claim to "live improv". I actually started with an improvisation group around the same time I started writing the aforementioned project; While I don't think the later version of the group meets anymore, I continue to live a lot of my life with little-to-no pre-planning. [I do, for instance, set "reminder timers" on our onscreen cable guide for a lot of my favorite shows (everything from the new episode of "The Big Bang Theory" to a who-knows-how-old "Boy Meets World" repeat, both yesterday), but I love that the reminder includes the option to not change the channel to that show after all.]

Anyhow, I sometimes mix the pre-planning with the improvisation. If you had a microphone attached to my coat this weekend, for instance, you might find I'm walking to a still-undecided movie while singing a song I wrote the lyrics to over a dozen years ago. I am often thinking not of where I want to go or what I'll have for my next meal, but of who I might work with if/when that aforementioned project ever gets done. (The fact is that in the area where I live, they'll do 100 different plays a year, but those auditioning & being cast will come from an individually-identifiable group about the size of those working in this weekend's Super Bowl.)

I have often discussed these things with my mother (one of the few people to have read/heard the full project, a group I can count on 1 hand & simultaneously type), & we disagree on a few things. One we constantly argue (literally; it tends to get a bit rough) is whether or not anyone I have worked with on previous theater projects will even audition for mine. (I admit to myself being part of the reason for the previously-suggested small number of local auditioners; While PT Barnum is credited with mention of a "sucker born every minute", I myself last did a play locally roughly 8 years ago, & it was roughly 1 ago I told myself aloud I was choosing to remain working on the page & not the stage from here on out.)

As I'm reasonably-sure I have mentioned on this site previously, I am "a legal adult". (I won't go further into the reason for those quotes, as the situation with that may have changed before some of you read this.) That said, I have not only thought often about who I might work with on this project, but what the articles might say that I expect will be written about me &/or it when the show is being cast, etc. (I have a long E-mail history with the main entertainment reporter for one of the local papers, so I suspect he might be doing it. For the other main paper in the area, it seems a current reporter for their Website is someone I currently "follow" on Twitter, & was the lead actress in my first theater show ever, so in my mind, I have promised her their "exclusive" contact whenever the staging happens.)

Never mind the fact that I have pictured several scenes, & even some blocking &/or choreography in my head at least twice for every can of soda I drank this week, as well as considered my nephew standing in the lobby after the show, leading me around to audience members, & even introducing me as both his Uncle & the man who wrote the show they just saw. (Keep your duos of "Kander & Ebb" or "Lerner and Loewe"; My shows are written by the trio of Me, Myself, & I.) I believe myself to have an unspoken agreement with a local theater's director (a costar that was simultaneously onstage with me in scenes of the only musical I ever did, & a key part of the reason I started writing this project) that this particular theater (the only stage I've ever appeared on, also home to the improvisation group) will perform my show if/when it is completed in actuality.

The question is not if it will be performed. (Not to me, anyway; I realize he could reject the finished product, but his doing so would be a literal "shock to the system".) The question is also not what will be my proverbial "next trick". (While I await the final step in the completion of its writing, I only last night typed the beginning of another non-musical theater project I began earlier this year, & have a character for my next musical project named & described for myself in the "Drafts" area of my cell phone's text messages.) The question is lastly not how people will react to the finished product. (I have told Mom in our aforementioned conversations I suspect former costars' knowledge-of/experiences-with me may keep them from auditioning for my show, but simultaneously believe they will all attempt to see it, & many will have positive feedback when they do.)

The simple question is... WHEN?!

No comments:

Post a Comment