Photo courtesy of Merebeth Bajar. An overhead photo of actors, writer, and producer of a table read of Daryo’s All-American Diner at the Sacramento Poetry Center. Taken on October 22, 2023.
Finally being around a table with actors felt like a return to my playwriting beginnings in the San Francisco State University Creative Writing Program. I graduated with my MFA seven years ago and only now it’s hit home with me how valuable, comforting, and safe to have had that experience. The semesters spent in a classroom with a trusted cohort in developing a play that didn’t feel right yet was something I didn’t know I needed, especially for this play.
The pandemic did a real doozy for this country on so many people. As a theatremaker, it hit me particularly hard without me really realizing it. During 2020, I naturally transitioned into writing plays to be performed on Zoom. And if you look at my resume, you’ll see an extended listing of those works. It was an eye-opener to see how busy, and prolific, I got to be during that stay-at-home time. It was amazing to have my work reach so many places around the country and in the Philippines. Zoom was such a valuable resource for people to connect through… at the time.
I’d like to think that one of the advantages of being a person to grow up before the internet is the feeling of being connected with other people IRL. It’s one of the reasons why I write plays for the stage with an unplugged audience. Performing arts is still one of the only places where being away from electronic communications devices is welcomed and a part of the norm. Need we not mention a certain celebrity’s face lit up by a screen during a performance of Hamilton? Or a Broadway legend snatching a cell phone from an audience member? The RULE of being disconnected during a performance (with exceptions) is what will always keep me tethered to a life in the theatre. That rule gives a person permission to just be. Be in the present. Be in tune with a character’s journey. Being in unison with others in laughter, tears, shock, or in celebration. Being in humanity.
This past Sunday, October 22, 2023, a part of this theatre humanity was brought back for me with the help of producers, Angela-Dee Alforque and Nicole C. Limon of Matriarchy Theatre, our host, Patrick Grizzell of the Sacramento Poetry Center and our actors Loui Paman, Nicole (understudying the role of Alberta), @onlyonetues, @brianmrivera, @jas_xmusic, @bjoa19, and @eatmemarco, with a small audience.
All of the nervousness I normally feel before presenting new work quickly fell away and brought me back to the memories of being with my playwriting colleagues at university. I assigned the seating arrangments, Nicole placed the scripts at each appropriate seat with Angela placing highlighters in the middle. This was a table-read to support the play and me. This was something I didn’t know how much I needed. And now with a wealth of other theatre experience pre-pandemic, I felt at home.
The world around us melted away. It was like a band during rehearsal. Lines were re-read. Dialogue ran over stage directions. Pages flipped to connect scenes. I darted between writing “Ha” where audible laughs were made. Circles around words to indicate what I might change. Brackets were made around wonky sounding pararagraphs. And a carat ^ was placed here-and-there leading to a missing ‘the’ inked its way onto the printed script. There were also an occassional =) drawn in for the parts that made me =)
During the Zoom Theatre Era, I’ve done these as well, but it was something else to be in community around a table with these brilliant actors that connected more with each circle, bracket, and =) marked on my script. Like a songwriter hearing their work performed by other artists in time. Like a Bruce Lee “flow”, our combined energies locked into a wave that moved the play along. It felt different. It felt home.
Home is also being open to hear and feel the bumps. My script indicated where words, pauses, and actions did not work. Stumbles, through no fault of our more than capable actors, pointed its way to me. And sometimes a whole character wouldn’t work for the story…
Full transparency, the character of Michael (read by @jas_xmusic), never really felt right for me. The character is the antagonist of the play. Dramaturgy suggests that a play needs one, so he was that character. In the reading and eventual talkback made me realize what was essentially “wrong/missing” with this character. I’ll save that realization in the upcoming edit, but I’m SO GRATEFUL for this table-read in being able to feel the part of the play I’ve long struggled with.
With the help of a really good friend for capturing the talkback on video, I’ll be able to take down the valuable insights that our actors and audience members gave. I’m always grateful for the opportunity to share my work in a reading… but honestly, I tense up when a talkback is offered. Some of the time, an audience member makes the work about them instead of relating it to the play. (I have no idea how that happens, but it’s been done!) Or the session becomes, “You should…” interrogation. I’ve seen this happen at times with an inexperienced moderator. But in a trusted and safe environment, I feel so confident and excited to begin work on the rewrites! I want to share something that those in attendance will feel a part of something they helped to create and hopefully share with a bigger audience. To share this work with and amongst a community.