What do I really want to write about? I asked myself, about three years ago.
Make a list, I decided, of things I can't stop thinking about.
A few things on the list seemed to fit together:
A few things on the list seemed to fit together:
* A romance with older people
* Seeing the ghost of a living person
* Living in a society under the ground
* The way we make assumptions about people at different stages of life, especially the way young people sometimes tend to infantilize and patronize older people
* Coming of age in different decades
Doing research on the idea of ghosts of living people, I came across a possible scientific explanation: the double-slit light experiment. Only half-way understanding the science, it lit a fire under me. SCIENCE and the SPIRITUAL! And I was off!
About 30 pages in, my brilliant idea began to feel awkward. So I did what I have done many times: put the pages into the hands of trusted dramaturg and friend, Lara Toner.
About 30 pages in, my brilliant idea began to feel awkward. So I did what I have done many times: put the pages into the hands of trusted dramaturg and friend, Lara Toner.
As a young actress, Lara appeared in several of my plays, including Cowpeople, A Name for a Ghost to Mutter, and Fish. Then Lara decided to add awesome director to her resume. She directed an excellent production of my play Dug Up for Austin Playhouse's Larry L. King stage a few years ago. She would tell me if these awkward pages held any promise.
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| Female firefighters at Pearl Harbor |
Her response was that I should finish the play so Austin Playhouse could produce it.
When the first draft of Act One was completed, we gathered actors for a reading of it, and everyone got excited.
When the first draft of Act One was completed, we gathered actors for a reading of it, and everyone got excited.
I completed the first draft of the script. We had a reading, and everyone was disappointed.
Armed with many notes, I killed my darlings, cutting three characters out of the script. Continued to research the double-slit light experiment till I 4/5th's understood it. Developed an odd theory about the color blue. Revised, rewrote, and wondered if I was smart enough to write a play about science and spirit.
We had another reading, and everyone was relieved.
More rewrites. Another reading. This time... there weren't so many notes. Everyone was excited again.
Now the rewrites are less a re-imagining a story, and more fine-tuning what we have. I'm looking at each character's journey through the story, one by one.
More rewrites. Another reading. This time... there weren't so many notes. Everyone was excited again.
Now the rewrites are less a re-imagining a story, and more fine-tuning what we have. I'm looking at each character's journey through the story, one by one.
This is the process that we've used to develop Roaring.
I think of this play as a Valentine to all the people who have brought us to where we are, and as a toast to hope for our future. -Cyndi
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| Rita Levi-Montalcini, Nobel Prize Winner |
