Sunday, November 10, 2013

On Holding Out Hope


Remember when I said this blog would be about writing middle grade books, except when it isn’t? We shall now diverge into talk of the theatre (do you notice the fancy –re spelling? That’s how we theatre folks spell it.)

So, I wrote this play a million years ago. Well, twelve years. Just before my brand new husband and I moved our lives to Seattle, I wrote the first draft of the play of my heart. It wasn’t my first play—it was something like my fourth. But it was most definitely my beating heart on paper.

My playwriting mentor—who has won the Tony Award for Best New Play and multiple Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay, so he’s no dummy in such matters—raved about the play. It was going to be my breakthrough, he said.

We moved to Seattle, full of high hopes for my place in the theater world here (see how I switched out of the –re spelling? I do that because I do the –re spelling automatically, but part of me thinks it’s pretentious, so then I mix it up). I kept working on the play, and a year or two into our life here, I was invited to submit a play to FringeACT, which is now-defunct, but was an incredible new play development program that gave me a chance to workshop the play with some amazeballs people.

I thought this was it. I thought it really was my breakthrough. I started teaching playwriting for one of Seattle’s major regional theaters. I even got invited in for a meeting with the theater’s artistic director, who spoke to me warmly and with great interest about my plays.

But … the workshop didn’t lead anywhere, except to a revision of the play. I continued to work on the play, as well as write more plays. After a couple more years, I finally got my first full production in Seattle (or anywhere, since the full production of my very first play, which was produced by Northwestern University during my sophomore year there). Live Girls, which is a tiny but HUGELY AWESOME theater devoted to new plays by women, produced my play Mud Angel. (Thanks, Live Girls!)

And then … I continued to write. And rack up rejections. I used to spend vast amounts of money on copies and postage, sending my scripts all over the country, and even the world. I’ve got over 400 rejections to my name (just as a playwright). No more full productions came my way. Lots of compliments on my beautiful plays. Lots of staged readings and some great workshops (for which I’m grateful, but they’re not the same as production).

After a few years, I pulled out Blood/Water/Paint—that’s the play of my heart. The one that was going to be my breakthrough. I did another major revision. I called super amazing actor people and had them come to my house to read the play aloud. They gave me great feedback. I revised again. I sent the play out. And nothing.

Around that time, I started writing fiction. It wasn’t a conscious decision that I was going to write books instead of plays. It was mostly that my daughter was three and OBSESSED with books, and I spent (seriously) an average of five hours a day reading aloud to her. We were reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Wizard of Oz books, Mary Poppins and Charlotte’s Web.  So fiction just sort of became the way story formed in my head.

I’ve been focused on fiction for almost four years now. Aside from participating in Seattle’s awesome 14/48 festival a few times, I really haven’t given theater much thought.

And then I got an email a couple months ago. Meghan Arnette, the Artistic Director of the aforementioned insanely awesome theater company Live Girls, wanted to include Blood/Water/Paint in a reading series. Part of me was a little annoyed. Were we really going to dredge this play up, only to read it, and stir up my emotions, except that nothing would happen with it, because nothing ever does?

And then I met the director for the reading. I’d never worked with her before. She’d said very little in our email exchanges before meeting and I had no idea what she thought of the play. (It deals with some tough stuff, you guys, and I was a little worried.) And then I met her. And she is a FORCE OF NATURE. Her passion for the play was inspiring, but still I held back. The rehearsal process for the reading was the best I’d ever had, but still I held back. The reading happened, and the talkback was amazing, and I started to hope.

Just a tiny little bit.

And now, you know what? Twelve years after I started writing it? Fifteen years after I embarked on the whole I’m-going-to-be-a-playwright thing? Live Girls Theater is going to produce Blood/Water/Paint in 2014, with Amy Poisson directing.

So I guess I’m still a playwright.

And those novels I loved that came extremely close to getting me amazing agents, but then didn’t? I guess I won’t give up on them, either.

(Update: Now it's going to be 2015. But there's an amazing team in place and it's definitely happening)

17 comments:

  1. What a wonderful and inspiring post! I admire your perseverance, Joy. (And you can spell it 'theatre' all you want if you move to England.)

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    1. Thanks, Michael! I think American theatre people tend to wish we hailed from the land of Shakespeare, so we do what we can to feel a little bit British.

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  2. This is so wonderful! Super happy for you and I can't wait to see the play!

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    1. Thanks so much, friend! I can't wait to share it with the world! (Or, you know, a small slice of Seattle.)

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  3. Ahhhh, Joy, this is so utterly wonderful to hear! You'll have to let me know what the dates are--I'd love to come to Seattle and see it if at all possible!!

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  4. Joy, this is so wonderful. Made me tear up. I'm so happy for you and your found success. Never surrender.

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  5. YAY JOY!! I'm so happy for you! And I totally want to see your play!!

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  6. Hooray for you! Man, I wish I could fly out and see it! And yes, don't let go of the manuscripts you've written either. Tierra & Co. deserve to have some hope in their corner as well :)

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    1. Well I have actually given up on Tierra ... but not the others!! :-) Thanks, Jess. I wish you could fly out at any time, show or no show!

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  7. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Wow. I am so excited for you. Seriously, I've been there. We have a musical sitting in the coffers that I devoted WAY too many years to, but alas the theater industry moves like molasses--but less sweet. More like tar. So what I'm trying ot say is, I feel you pain, and I'm living through you at the moment. Super congrats!

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  8. Thank you, Crystal! It always cracks me up a little when people complain that publishing is slow because theater is EVEN SLOWER. I hope your musical hits the boards some day!

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  9. Joy, this is such an inspiring story. I graduated with a degree in theatre (notice the re spelling) and had an assistantship at the University of Washington, Seattle. I found my path away from theatre and into writing MG. Things always seem to wind one way and then another and brings you back to just where you are supposed to be. Thanks for the words.

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  10. Hi Joy, I have a degree in theatre too and it feels wrong to spell it any other way. I have written plays and screenplays and now I write YA books. I'm looking for representation too. I had a children's play I wrote used in a workshop for Wild Swan Theatre in Ann Arbor and I had a high school stage a children's play of mine. Congrats! And you can spell theatre any way you like!

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  11. This is a great reminder to persevere, Joy. Thanks and congrats!

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