The first play...

:flowers: That's what I got yesterday (almost literally, they were white flowers!) for the first showing of one of my plays. It was not only the first showing of it, but my first ever 'full-length' (it was only 20 min. long, but I have only ever previously produced a monologue) play produced. - Don't get me wrong, I've had shows produced before that I've written. But this is the first time my solo work has been produced. The play was Mrs O'Donnell, Pecan Pie and Sorrow, and it was performed by students from ACOPA, directed by Lindsay Saddington. The play has been in workshop since early last year (probably around this time actually), and it was great to finally see it on stage! The play is about the truth, perceptions and realities within a small world. Mrs O (as I like to call her) makes a run-down milkbar as her kitchen. She has an airy presence to her, and as she makes her breakfast, a man enters, looking for milk. He soon comes to tell her about his lacklustre marriage, and his wish to go home (he's a travelling salesman). He leaves, deciding to go and fix things with his wife. In the next scene, we meet what turns out to be his wife - a stressed out woman who's sick of taking care of her spineless husband and the kids. She leaves deciding to get a divorce. Soon, we get to meet Mrs O's son; an evil, creepy guy, who seems bent on terrorising his mother, all the while seeming like a five-year old kid (read below for more on this part...). It is revealed that Mrs O might be suffering from dementia. (The way it is written, it is very uncertain whether she is nuts or not - she is an ethereal being, and it is more likely that she is what other people want her to be). The son sits with the mother, and the husband and wife walk back in. Apparently they've been given some opposing advice by Mrs O, and want to sort things out. Mrs O doesn't respond, and the son takes her home. THe final scene, the husband comes in to buy some milk, and Mrs O is gone (the original script has the son playing Mrs O), leaving the husband to talk to a non-existent person. The wife enters, and worried, pushes him out the door. Who truly exists? Is Mrs O real? Is she, in fact, nuts? And what is the world really up to? ....Ok, it wasn't done in a theatre, or with stage lights... but it was good! I sat at the back of the audience, and watched them laugh (omigod! Proper laughter from the audience during an absurdist play! What a shocker! :) ) and enjoyed the intracacies of characters who seem so distant. The play was written in 2003; and boy, has my writing style changed since then. Also, my characters are never really 'me' - some playwrights will sit there and know every word, every line, but I can't even offer the actors advice on motives, reasons, or hurdles. I can't tell them why the characters did something - they just did. It's what the characters wanted to do... Go read some Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of An Author and the history behind it) if you don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was really fantastic to see such progress made. The actors went from arguing about the meaning of the play and the characters... to arguing about it with the audience! Plus, the actors all went from having very little connection with their characters, to being really focused on one idea, one meaning of their character. It was nice to see, in particular, one actress who struggled so much with the piece, find a foundation and make the character into a far more humourous and engaging character than I had written. Another actor took his character, originally written for a female, and spinned it on its head, managing to completely throw me - that's not easy to do when you design your play to screw with other people's heads! The other actress was good - but didn't quite fit into the ensemble yet. Not easy to do when you're the fourth actress in the part (I don't know why, they all kept dropping out!), and you've only had a month or so to prepare. And the final actor, he was great! I can't fault him - he picked up the character as if it were his own from the very beginning! Congrats to all of them! They brought a three-year old, absurdist, 'nutty', little world to life! And thanks to Lindsay; he proves that a young playwright has all the opportunities in the world if they want them!