Thursday, February 2, 2017

"The Play, It Keeps a 'Changin'" by Debbie Bagnato


So now that I have completed my play I realize how dreadfully far I am from being done. Every night after work, dinner, and chores, I sit down to do some small amount of editing/ revising and get lost in the world of my play. This is good, and usually very productive but when I look at the clock, it is quite past the time I imagined and that is when I realize all the other places in the various scenes that need to be addressed. Happy with my small progress but concerned with the remaining revisions, I go to bed mulling over wonderful changes I absolutely must make to this scene or that character. Sometimes I remember them in the morning and write them down on--you guessed it--more post-it notes, which get stuck to the huge Worthen book of plays. Then I go to work where I see, and hear and imagine even more details that will benefit my story--including the addition of vital characters who will enhance and make the tale more believable. Of course, I then get caught up in the world of "work": the very frustrations, favoritism and stressful environment that I am writing about.
Often, I go home almost as frustrated as my characters. Then, after venting to anyone who might listen, I get involved in the world of home, dinner, my grown kids and their problems or concerns, checking Facebook for a laugh or updates from friends or cousins I communicate with through this medium, all as I cook, clean up and both check and respond to texts and calls of importance. After all these dreadfully distracting diversions (love the letter "d") I return to my computer and go straight to my Lysistrata Revisited and start all over again. Yes, I am fueled by the events of that new day but therein lies the source of my discontent as I need to keep changing or tweaking snippets that are just not quite right.The hope is that I will eventually reach a place where I am comfortable with the scenes, characters and lines; the reality is that this feeling of euphoria may never fully happen. I do need to begin working on a website and we all know I am not the quickest with that type of project. My concern is that I will settle for less overall by devoting time to both of these ventures. The play and its completion--to my satisfaction--is the first priority. However, I really like the idea of creating a digital place that can be visited, including the usual backgroung info on the (insane) writer, the blogs which outline the progression of this project, and the very early proposal that began this unusual thesis. More importantly, I love the idea of having each "scene" accessible by a simple link as well as photos of the actual store and characters with the "cast" descriptions in a complimentary link. The particulars will be ironed out but I know how long these little decisions can take--and my ability to put this all together smoothly is a concern. Also, I had planned to sketch a stage set and present it next to a photograph of the true Courtesy desk (in my workplace) to easily illustrate the value of this setting for my version--it's not the Acropolis but it serves the purpose in a delightful manner. We have our class tonight so I will bounce ideas off my wonderful colleagues--the guys and Dr. Z usually have the greatest advice so I think this will help me immensely. Despite knowing that I have done a great deal so far, there is this shadowy feeling of worry that I will not be able to accomplish what I set out to do in the time frame I have. Work and family does consume most of my time and energy but I know there is always some force from within that pushes me to do what is needed and on time--really hoping that force is with me now (Star Wars anyone?). Oh well, I hope everyone else is moving along at a wonderful pace with their projects and not suffering from these same worries. I believe that we will all pull this off and in a manner to make us all proud to be in this wonderful class together with our great leader, Dr. Z! Let's all keep writing and cannot wait to see what we all come up with.

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