Things Coming Together

I'm cautiously optimistic that I will make all my deadlines over the next two weeks.  First, I probably should back up a bit.  This past weekend was relatively (and deceptively) light.  I saw Karam's The Humans at Canadian Stage on Sunday and took my son to the AGO on Monday (it was the Family Day holiday in Ontario).  What I didn't realize, since I didn't put it on my calendar, was that I was supposed to see an updated version of Candide at George Brown.  I can't believe I missed an event (that I had actually paid for).  There are a couple of plays that I got too sick to and one or two where I realized at the very last minute I was supposed to go (but was able to switch tickets to a later performance).  This may be the first time I've just let an event slip my mind entirely, and it is embarassing.  Having said that, I was only moderately interested in this one, and I only bought the ticket as part of a subscription.  (And indeed I stopped writing to go add the April performances to the calendar! Those are the plays I really want to see.)

I was making slow but steady progress on the Final Exam script, but still felt a bit blocked.  I had reached the point where I was elevating the debate about whether the children wanted to undergo the Process.  I think the actors are a bit frustrated at how the general mass of characters are so accepting of their fate, but I kind of wanted to show how most people just go along with whatever government is in charge.  Also, I am making some sly (perhaps too sly) comments about the loss of privacy and how it will just not be seen as a big deal to have your entire mind open to others in the future.  Anyway, there are two stronger voices against the Process, and I even have one of them attempt to escape, whereas the other resister undergoes the Process after all and is essentially a convert.  It probably was the ending that was really baffling me, and I don't think there is any easy way out of the situation I have set up.

At any rate, even though I felt I was running a bit behind (having promised rewrites to the actors over the weekend) I ended up going to see the TorQ concert at the Tranzac Club in Toronto.  They certainly had a lot of equipment for their concert!

The nice thing about this space was that there were quite a few tables, and I got one with a good view, but that also allowed me to write material in my notebook.  I was writing furiously throughout the show (with the people at the next table assuming I was a critic...).  I managed to get 6 or so pages done, essentially all the remaining material up until the alien showed up.

I took a bit of a half-nap when I got home, but then woke up, typed in the new material and reframed the ending a bit.  So the next draft got finished and was sent out, and at least some of the credit should go to TorQ.

It turns out that Sing-for-your-Supper is restarting in March.  I will resubmit a piece that I wrote for them back in Dec.  Then I will try to get a short piece (about the breakup of a K-Pop band!) done in time.  I will probably write it first as a monologue for Open-Open-Open (which is due on the 24th) and then as a more conventional piece with 3 parts for SFYS (due on the 27th).  The last thing I need to do is turn one of my short plays into a short story for the Toronto Star story competition.  That shouldn't take too much time, but it is due on the 28th.  Did I mention that I am seeing Butterworth's Jerusalem this weekend.  It clocks in at 3 hours!  So it looks like one more sustained push, but I think I can make these various deadlines.

And by the way, I did make that banana bread I had hoped to bake on Family Day.  It seems to have come out pretty well.

Ciao for now.