Guest Starring: Patrick Gabridge as The Blogger

So, we're off. Or almost. Tonight we had the meet and greet and pairing up session at Doyles, which meant drinking beer and eating French fries, while shouting over the hubbub to meet new actors and catch up with actors, directors, and writers that I already knew. I sat next to Rick Park, whose play stole the show last year. (I was thinking maybe I could do a play about two greyhounds, having a spat on the way to Wonderland...) It was good to find out that I'm not the only one a little nervous about tomorrow--it's hard not to approach the day without a lingering suspicion that I'm going to ride the T and ride the T and ride and come up with a big, fat goose egg. Lots of pleasantly blank paper. But I've done enough of these to know that it'll be fine (not necessarily brilliant, but it could happen). I can't get started riding until after 10am, and really not until closer to 10:30 or 11. We have until 6pm to turn in our final drafts, so that means I need to have a draft by 3:30, so I can get home, type it up, revise it, and turn it in. (Just writing that is making me more nervous than before.)


The fun of the day is seeing what inspiration is lurking out there, but I'm sure I'll be thinking up a few back up ideas, just in case the well suddenly runs dry. It'll probably take an hour or two to get warmed up, and I had better be writing by 12:00 or 1 o'clock.

John and company actually picked all the matches out of a hat tonight (vaguely reminiscent of Harry Potter). I've got the Blue Line, Barlow Adamson is directing (he and I have known each other for ages), and my actresses are Jen O'Connor and Ally Tully. The actresses seem great (I'd met Jen before), with a very positive energy. I asked questions about special skills (musical instrument skills, languages, etc.) and just chatted for a while, to get a sense of voice and energy. Getting to know the actors beforehand it critical for this kind of project.

Now I'd better get some sleep, so I'm ready to crank out some pages tomorrow.