Saturday, November 26, 2016

The Clock is Ticking by Debbie Bagnato


As I move on through my play, the process becomes more involved--naturally--and I find myself needing more time to get things accomplished the way I want. And time is the one thing there is never enough of. Work has become increasingly unbearable, as I have mentioned loudly, but I can use a lot of this in my story; these are the reasons that prompted my choice. However, I never in my wildest dreams anticipated my place of business would turn into the hellhole it has become. The only consolation is that I can infuse my aggravation, frustration and irritation into the lines of my play, and anyone who has ever had a similiar experience can identify with those raw emotions.
 It will be done with humor, because it is a comedy, but sarcasm as these are unacceptable work ethics and manner of treating people. Well, now that I have had my rant, let me tell you how my character list is doing. I have all my characters in both the opening and second scene completed, which comprises a sizable number of pages. It was very therapeutic and even funny, as I worked my way through descriptions of the people with whom I work, wait on line for coffee, share good and bad times, and cheer or jeer the bosses every day. In doing this lengthy task, I have discovered that many of these players in my piece need to simply be in the scene, not necessarily speak. There are a couple of other faces I want to introduce in the next scene, but I am uncertain if that is a wise thing to do, because the cast list is extraordinarily high right now! I will be putting that together over this week so I will make a decision then; one solution is an old theatre trick--small roles in different scenes are played by the same character. So perhaps that will be an underlying factor in the upcoming scene, as well as reusing a few players who had but a few lines in the previous one.
                       My new character is still in the story, but because she was prompted by--you guessed--a real person (who I tweaked for emphasis) I have, sadly, found some less pleasant attributes in the real character, and need to figure out the best way to utilize them in her stage persona. This may work out to the play's advantage, especially in lieu of the direct jab at corporate bull***t being emphaiszed in this production. The atmosphere that has to be brought to the forefront in the next two scenes involve the sexuality of the women, and the mens increased desire as they are being adamantly denied. The next scene will be transitional, but I hope to show a little more teasing in the manner the women (and specific others) are fighting with the men about the point of conflict. The corporate character is taking their side but can she be trusted? Maybe she wants her contest to be a fun interactive source of sales incentives instead of a heart-attack, stress making machine that will drive men to drink or destruction of each other simply to be the winner. And maybe she too has a significant other who is too involved in the biz to pay any attention to her. I have not ironed out all her details, but feel I am almost ready to tackle the next part. I have noticed a lot of what happens involves thinking, free-writing, and changing my mind. Then I usually have what I need--on numerous pieces of paper, post-it notes and sometimes, on the edge of books. Let's hope I can find all the little reminders of the latest brilliant addition when I try to put it on paper. I will be back next week and hoping that I have some solid writing completed on the next challenge. My prayers that we all get a lot of good writing out of our heads and on the paper as my favorite holiday, Christmas, draws near. The magic of the season is all around so let me get started!

Saturday, November 19, 2016

A Very Cathartic Character List by Debbie Bagnato

Well as you may have guessed from the title, I have been writing my character descriptions--and they are all characters in true life! Because each cast member in this play is based on my real-life co-workers, as I am writing a short character breakdown of each (adding in any extra traits for the purpose of my play) I am finding that I really do work with a bunch of nuts. They are nice nuts, in most cases, and irritable or hot-headed in others, but it makes for a colorful blend of people to write about. Of course, on the days I get home late--most days of late--I do not attempt this type of writing project as my ability to treat each person objectively would be largely compromised. However, I had some sleep, and caught up on my household duties so now feel much more able to provide the balance of my character descriptions. The biggest problem in this feat is the nagging reminder that plays with large casts, such as Lysistrata, are rarely produced because of the cost of all those actors. But in my case, if a school or charitable organization wanted to do this as a fundraiser or student activity, I would be delighted, and probably ask to audition or offer to stage manage. If possible and if time permitted, I would be an excellent dramaturg as I know the inside story. Because I wrote it. Of course, I know I am being silly over these minor problems; Aristophanes had a large cast, and that is why I chose this setting--which always has a lot of people in that space--as the "center stage" for my piece. And sometimes, when I am so tired of being there late, I look at my Acropolis and can bear it.

My next scene will not begin just yet as I am still cleaning up a few parts that were muddled. I have notes for the next scene and will probably run them at the same time using lighting to differentiate the front end of the store from the backroom. The revolving stage sounded superb, sort of like the ekkyklema of Aristophanes day, but my idea of showing the two battles will work better downstage with contrast lighting (I think). This will be a short, rapid-fire scene, so I need to have that momentum from start to finish. Which is why I need to have everything up to there nailed down better before I begin writing it. After that I will be looking more at the scenes that lead to the end, as I follow the master's (Aristrophanes) layout or game plan for these characters. Two more very funny scenes (which will require a lot of work and fine tuning) and then the closing scene will be at hand. In the midst of this type of reasoning (which is unreasonable as I am still fixing the opening scene...) I have added another character to scene I who will help tie up the missing pieces. Aristophanes can afford to miss tiny details as they may simply be in the various translations, but I cannot with my modest adaptation. It does not add too much dialogue, so that scene is not greatly lengthened but it helps coordinate the missing pieces at store level and the ability to actually WIN their inter-store war. I will keep you posted, but I believe this character is a keeper. My cast list is so large--just like the original, but there are only so many in each scene. My second scene has a lot, so I may lose a couple or just have them there but without lines--just like Aristophanes. I want the stage to look like the number of people that would be there in the store at the different times of day, but thye do not all need to havve dialogue. But they can all look very different, as they do in real life. Oh boy, this is getting more complicated. But it is still fun, so I think we will be alright. On that note, back to work for me. And to everyone, a happy and very fun-food-filled Thanksgiving!!!

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Moving Forward with a New Character! by Debbie Bagnato

Well, as I have been playing with the feedback and the GREAT idea suggested by Dr. Z this week, I made several drafts but none felt done. So, I knew I was still working through the how and the when, etc. of the best way to integrate these new sections into what I already have written. And then I realized that I am working with a young woman who is very much a boss, and often acts almost like those men who are  all-business all the time (my men in the play) but actually sees the ridiculousness of this competitive atmosphere.
 She is also a dynamic person, athletic, daring, young, strong: rather a Spartan type woman--WOW! That's the person I wanted in my opening scene---but I genuinely like all my characters that I put in that scene now. That's when I realized the obvious--I can fuse all these pieces together, and add her to the scene as well as the other ideas that came about thanks to Dr. Z's suggestions and the comments from my group (thanks guys). It may be tricky or not all work but I have a good feeling about this addition; I do need to go back to my big book and review the next scene I will be writing after I get this in order as well as the last scene as I believe it would be a good idea to note te characters who will be returning in the latter scenes and decide where and when they will all be onstage. As I write the character list, I will feel more confident about each description knowing how much we will be seeing each character, and how they should come across to the audience and their place within the cast. As much as I want to keep moving ahead, I need to tighten up what I have before I go too much further. So, my goal for now is to try and fuse the first scene with my new Spartan, and the great idea that I have numerous drafts for (the last one is almost there--I think) and then see where all my characters, as I form my list, will appear before I get to those scenes. If I can get all that done to my satisfaction, I will be thrilled and also feel like there is a firm footing from which to move forward.
The next scene has to be funny, and I have decided I would like to change the setting by using a revolving stage--so I need to invent a short, comic scene at the back of the store and then return to the business up at the front, by Courtesy (otherwise known as the modern-Acropolis). These are normal tpes of scene changes and being I don't have to worry about a budget, I can include these wonderful ideas. In truth, the facts are simple enough--if I were to produce the play and did not have a revolving stage available, the scene would darken and spotlights would illume another part of the stage where this comic scene would transpire. There may even be a way to juxtapose the backroom scene against a front-end scene on opposite sides of the stage--and I need to try all of these ideas out. There are only a few more scenes left, though each one takes a lot of time initially, and then a lot more to tighten up my rambling mess! But the fun is in the doing, and the re-doing and the imagining of it all being done in real time on a stage right out here on campus--that would be great fun. But for now, I'll just try and get through my next steps. I'll let you all know how it goes, and hope everyone else is sailing along well.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

"So Far, So Good" by Debbie Bagnato


Well, we had our wonderful class on Thursday and now I feel like I am on the right track. Everyone seems to be looking good and the work, though much more of it ahead than behind us, seems like a fun adventure. We read the first fifteen pages of my play and I was a little worried about the reactions I would get from these guys but wanted to know their honest impressions. And I got them! Luckily, they were mostly very good, and also incredibly helpful on certain areas that I needed to get their feedback on. So with that in mind, I am on to some clarifications in sections and a possible new addition--thanks to Dr. Z's suggestion.   is the point of a comedy. I am calling these sections scenes, though they didn't actually have scenes or acts in Aristophanes day. However for me, as I write and visualize this piece being performed, it is easier and more realistic to break the play into "scenes" in order to look not at the whole story but instead at smaller bits of dialogue to construct (which is probably how and why someone thought of this idea of instituting acts and scenes in the first place...). The next scene is calling me but it is not time yet. I feel that I should go back to those first pages and make the changes and/ or corrections which are mostly to  clarify areas, and then move forward through the entire piece with those changes in mind. It may take longer but it will probably bring me to exactly where I have to be in order to move forward successfully. I also need to write a character list with some background information on each of these players; this will take long only because there are a lot of people in and out of these scenes--much like Aristophanes and his choruses. Luckily the characters are all very real as they are mostly based on real people who work with me. But the backstory always adds flavor for the reader, and some of that will be my imagination.
Not sure exactly where my next "scene" will lead me, but feel much better knowing that it is okay so far, and that we all got a laugh from it which
As I sat writing lists of things to do for the play instead of in the play, I thought of other essentials such as hair, costumes, lighting, and the use of the scrim beyond the opening scene. The set is already pretty well set in my mind BUT I may need to draw sketches of the scene changes and how they will be most effective. I had originally planned to use a revolving stage and switch the upcoming scene to the backroom, which is dark, cluttered and very hectic with vendors coming and going. I had also hoped to use this change of scenery to demonstrate the "battle" through the store, but with a cast so large, the scene would probably work better and be performed more simply if it stayed on the same stage set. That is how  Aristophanes original was performed--and then the players will simply arrive (and complain) from the other parts of the "store." The reality is to wait and see when I continue with the new writing for the next scene if that decision will become more apparent; there is no real budget for my hypothetical production so I can plan this performance any way that is feasibla and entertaining. Still, I want to make this play a possibility; despite the large cast it could otherwise be a great deal of fun to perform. Now to stop blabbering and get back to work; I'll write again soon and hoping for positive results for all of us!