One of my goals for having this blog is to keep record of the exercises I do in order to become a better writer. So this is an intro of what I’m calling, a Scene Stream. It’s basically writing a scene, that’s timed, out of thin air without thought or any preconceived notion of where…
Month: September 2007
My Destination Ends at You
My Destination Ends at Youa Scene Stream exercise Character 1: Brian (Littrell – Jesus Loves You)Character 2: Nelly (Furtado – Say It Right) Situation: While driving to work one morning, (Brian) decides to pass the office and keep on driving. Time: 20 minutes (start: 11:34pm) NELLYBrian, what are you doing? You just missed the exit….
Remembering Fermin Tobera
I started doing research about the 1930 Watsonville riot that claimed the life of Fermin Tobera. A play is in there somewhere. The weird coinikidinky in this research is that the riot started at The Filipino Club in Palm Beach which is 7 miles SW of Watsonville, so that would make it near Moss Landing….
Garden Of Dreams – Staged Reading
Well it’s over… for now. On Sunday, I had the first public reading of my play, GARDEN OF DREAMS. I was nervous as fuck, but i got through it okay. LESSONS LEARNED– LISTEN TO YOUR ACTORS – A concern was brought to attention by one of the actors. He was having some trouble getting out…
Six Degrees of Separation – Play Review
So I watched SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION tonight at the SF Playhouse and I really liked it. It’s so weird now to watch a show from the playwright’s POV. Being from the “actors” world before in another life, I would always watch the performances and analyze how they do what – but now, I’m so…
Yankee Dawg You Die – Script Review
I just finished reading YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE by one of my teachers, Philip Kan Gotanda. Again, I’m inspired by it. For some reason, I always thought the play was something that it obviously is not. SYNOPSISBradley Yamashita is one of the new breed of Asian-American actors. Highly political and outspoken, he will only take…
Zoot Suit – Script Review
I just read ZOOT SUIT by Luis Valdez play and I LOVE IT! There’s just so many great things that I’ve learned from reading it. SYNOPSISIn Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder…
How to write a 10-minute play
HOW TO WRITE A 10-MINUTE PLAYcopied and pasted from 10-Minute-Plays.com (http://www.10-minute-plays.com/index.html) TWELVE RULES FOR THE ASPIRING PLAYWRIGHT 1) NO EXPOSITION! Just jump into your story. This presents a puzzle for the audience to unravel and allows them to play with you. Remember—we are fascinated by the unknown! 2) EVERY DETAIL MUST RELATE TO THE ACTION…
Stories High Session 2 – Playwriting Notes
Here’s some general notes that I took for me from the latest class. – Beat: – building blocks of theater/play/script – each beat moves the story forward – can be seen when different tactics or strategies are used to develop the protagonist’s Action (want) – If you have a block, look at the play’s Action, Conflict, and Event…
Where’s Your Brother?
Where’s Your Brotherby conrad panganiban Louise Parker – Mid 50’sBenny Parker – Late teens Setting: Night, The Parker living room, Rural Kansas, Present LOUISE and her teenage son, BENNY, are in their living room where BENNY is cutting his mother’s toenails. There’s an pizza box and a glass of wine on a table. LOUISEDon’t cut…