377 Days - Blog #38 The September Creativity Harvest
All right. It is
September 4th already. I
basically snoozed through the first three days… and kind of a bit today as
well. But I pulled up a calendar (well
the Facebook events listing) to figure out my weekends for the month. I have it in mind to see more theater. Appreciate more theater. Give the acknowledgment of an evening to the
time spent on projects by my friends. Friends I hope will support me in the
future… but also friends with whom I have worked previously and for whom I want to support
their current efforts.
This weekend will involve a dinner theater… which is conveniently
walking distance from my house. If I
weren’t scared of the bats at dusk, I would probably make use of that
ambulatory distance. It will still make
up for the weekend when I drive back to Bostonish to see the directorial debut
of my former Hovey boothmate. And the
third production is a toss up between a musical and a visit to a favorite local
theater company.
I want to see more, but I also embrace the
particularity. I want to give these
shows my full attention and thoughtfulness.
And I don’t want that determination to detract from the attention and
thoughtfulness I now find myself targeting towards the written word. Never mind the fact that September weekends
also includes Start on the Street and my fifth Food on a Stick dinner. Big events.
But this weekend is low key enough to focus my energies on
the theatrical matters of play proposals.
One TBA project requires the formatting and researching of details. And the other is just so very, very fun.
I’ve moved beyond the David Tennant recording tonight and
pay attention to the soundtrack I have created in my iTunes. It includes a soundtrack from 2009, featuring
Audra McDonald as Olivia and Anne Hathaway as Viola. I’ve also been collecting songs that remind
me of the theme, some of which come to me as I haphazardly switch radio
channels on my way to work. One song
cemented the opening scene in my brain this morning. A dorky little inspiration I hope will stick
if this thing is selected… and if I find an actor agreeable to my
interpretation. In any case, I’m content
to listen to Peter Gabriel for the next year for inspiration.
I forget how very much I like doing this. Even though I do this quite regularly. Dive into Shakespeare and try on different
meanings of the text for size. Sometimes
I think this would be the sort of thing that would make me a fun teacher… but
if I do it right, I could teach through my directing. And that would hopefully reach some students
that public school turned off from Shakespeare.
Anyway, I am enjoying sinking my mental teeth into the
themes of love and family and gender. I’m
sure someone could argue a different take or twenty. But I think those are the sort of themes that
suit a Christmas play just fine.
(Incidentally, much though I intend to use it and indeed have a vast
library of tunes I like very much, I have not allowed myself to listen to the
holiday music as inspiration just yet.)
Besides, I still need to get through September, with all its
theater and writing projects. And I know
mine are just a tiny, tiny, tiny sampling of all this area has to offer. But it is nonetheless a plentiful creative
harvest.
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