The sun is shining and there is a sense of wellness and potential in the air. I know that is only the psychological effects of sunshine after so many months of cold and dreariness, but I am enjoying it anyway.
I have a whole bunch of deadlines happening at the same time again. Boring, but hopefully I will get better at managing them.
My first is an application for the Writing for Performance masters at the VCA. I didn't think this was going to be a major problem because I have three works in development, but looking at one of them I realised I actually have to do some pretty serious structural tidying up and some dialogue detail if I am going to submit it as part of my portfolio. That is my task this week. Yesterday I storyboarded the elements I had and tried to identify the main themes and then produce some cohesion. Today I am going to try and create some dialogue framework. The application is due in at the end of the month, so I have a bit of time, and I will only be presenting it as an idea in genesis, but I still need to work on it even in that context. I am going to trust that Othello: Death Poll is far enough along, and my other piece has good dialogue but the concurrent themes as such need to be identified. I am thinking at this point that is less of a writing task to be completed by application closing, and more of a conceptual thing for discussion at interview.
The other deadlines are Australia Council. I just discovered that their next New Works application deadline is Nov 5, so I need to get that together. This would be easy except that my previous presenting partner for this project was Revolt and as there is no way in hell I will ever go back there after the way they treated my for the Fringe. I have to find somewhere else. I am hoping to work with 45 Downstairs, Gasworks or Artshouse. I already have the EOI in with Artshouse, but this also means I have to hurry through discussions with the other two to give myself a chance.
There is also a Fellowship being offered by the Australia Council which I want to investigate as well, and that has the same closing date as the New Works application. Holy Guacamole!
Anyway, enough procrastinating. To work!
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Moving Forward
Aaah, it feels like a life time! So here I am, on the other side of the process - battle weary and injured, but still alive and on the right side of making progress. That sounds very dramatic, but in the end the entire process was very dramatic. I think the only reason I have come through this strongly is that I never lost sight of my purpose and goals. There were many derailings and side trackings and complications and WTF moments, but in the end I just keep coming back to the fact that this process was an exploration - a research process.
So you can all see some of what came out of it by checking out the Othello: Death Poll page. It has great pics and videos and I am keeping the Facebook page so you can keep track of the progress from here by liking that :)
So what was the outcome you ask? Well, I got some really amazing and useful feedback, both from the audiences and from the actors (and what an amazing team the final cast ended up being!). I think the main thrust is that I can remove some of the analogous metaphors, I don't need to worry about explaining things in so much detail, and - most importantly - I can shift away from such slavish devotion to Othello and individualize the story.
I have taken a small break and rest because I got really sick (probably exhaustion), but now it is time to get back to work. Next week I will start mapping the script changes, and I need to think seriously about the music components of the show. I have decided to try and go original with that aspect this time, which will require help because I am not a musician. It is a very exciting challenge!
So you can all see some of what came out of it by checking out the Othello: Death Poll page. It has great pics and videos and I am keeping the Facebook page so you can keep track of the progress from here by liking that :)
So what was the outcome you ask? Well, I got some really amazing and useful feedback, both from the audiences and from the actors (and what an amazing team the final cast ended up being!). I think the main thrust is that I can remove some of the analogous metaphors, I don't need to worry about explaining things in so much detail, and - most importantly - I can shift away from such slavish devotion to Othello and individualize the story.
I have taken a small break and rest because I got really sick (probably exhaustion), but now it is time to get back to work. Next week I will start mapping the script changes, and I need to think seriously about the music components of the show. I have decided to try and go original with that aspect this time, which will require help because I am not a musician. It is a very exciting challenge!
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
The Jigsaw Puzzle Reborn
It has been such an up and down, yet very exciting couple of weeks. The publicity is well underway. ChicksWorld on Channel 31 filmed a feature story on us and it will air this Friday night. That was exciting but also surprisingly exhausting. We performed 4 sections of the play a couple of times and then they interviewed each of us individually. It took about 2 hours, and I still had to work the rest of the afternoon so I was pretty wrecked that night! It was worth it though. I can't wait to see what the final edit and show looks like!
It is really hard to get the cast together this week, so we are not going to make a lot of progress with rehearsals. I am not too worried. We have some good foundations in place, and Sandy doesn't return from her holiday until next week, so there is only a limited amount we can do right now. I did have to recast our Bill Shorten suddenly about a week ago, so this will give James a chance to get familiar with the script which is a good thing.
My main focus this week will be organising invitations to the important people. I need to target the funding bodies and people who could help me get the show into full production next year. That is a bit tricky, because unlike publicity, where you just target everybody, I need to be selective and approach it in a much more personal fashion.
This process has also forced me to become much more conversant with digital editing tools. This is a good thing and good skills to have, but I have to admit it did put me under a bit of pressure. The E-Flyers and posters are done now though, so I can relax about some of this stuff. It has been a bit harder to manage the internet stuff, just because of tiredness and fatigue, which is why I haven't blogged for ages. Still, I really think with the publicity sorted things will settle, and I can focus on rehearsals, blogging, and just having fun!
It is really hard to get the cast together this week, so we are not going to make a lot of progress with rehearsals. I am not too worried. We have some good foundations in place, and Sandy doesn't return from her holiday until next week, so there is only a limited amount we can do right now. I did have to recast our Bill Shorten suddenly about a week ago, so this will give James a chance to get familiar with the script which is a good thing.
My main focus this week will be organising invitations to the important people. I need to target the funding bodies and people who could help me get the show into full production next year. That is a bit tricky, because unlike publicity, where you just target everybody, I need to be selective and approach it in a much more personal fashion.
This process has also forced me to become much more conversant with digital editing tools. This is a good thing and good skills to have, but I have to admit it did put me under a bit of pressure. The E-Flyers and posters are done now though, so I can relax about some of this stuff. It has been a bit harder to manage the internet stuff, just because of tiredness and fatigue, which is why I haven't blogged for ages. Still, I really think with the publicity sorted things will settle, and I can focus on rehearsals, blogging, and just having fun!
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