Constellations statement of vision

Earlier today I sent in my statement of vision for "Constellations."  I am now playing the waiting game to see if I am selected to move forward with the process.  The next step would involve traveling to York and directing undergraduate students in a selection of scenes.

Today I also received notification that I was not recommended for acceptance into the University of Guelph.  Guelph was my backup school in case I wasn't selected for York, so it wasn't as big a blow as it could have been.  I now have all my eggs riding in one basket; I need to make sure they're all golden.

Constellations

I've had this play for almost a week and I am almost finished with it.  What are you doing, Andrew?  Why's it taking you so long to read a goddamn play?  I'm glad I asked myself this question, because I feel like I'm SO far behind.  It usually takes me just five hours to read a play, including breaking for food.  There is a reason it's taking me so long, and even I forget it sometimes.

When I read a play or a screenplay (or a book), I build the world in my head and watch it play out like a movie.  That requires me to do more than just recognize that the word is there and it means something.  I have to really understand the context and what that word means at this particular moment in the story.  Sometimes, I have to recall previous events that already happened to get the full meaning of the word.  That's why "The Cursed Child" took so long.

But why has this play taken me nearly a week and I'm still not finished with it?  In addition to building the world and watching the story play out, I am analyzing every scene, beat, and word.  I learned in college that writing the story down word for word is a great way to do this.  Not only am I writing his play down (for personal use, copyright police) but I am also taking copious notes.  These note are what I will use to approach staging and the general feel I am going for.

Another reason that I am very excited to present my take on this work is that one of the overarching themes is the theme of cancer.  Being a cancer survivor who is not, and perhaps never will be, out of the woods, I have an incredibly unique perspective of having faced overwhelming odds as well as having been in the position of watching someone that I care about lose.  I can empathize with both positions.

I'll update you again when I submit my pitch and again when I know if I will be traveling to Canada to direct a few scenes of this work.

York University

I am excited to announce that I have been selected to move forward with the application process for York University.  For this step, I am required to act as if I am mounting a production of "Constellations" by Nick Payne.

What is exciting for me is that it is the first full length script that I have the opportunity to pitch.  I have only ever pitched short plays; "The Satellite Disaster," "Moments," etc.  These pitches are interesting, because there is not very much story line and can easily be done in two to three minutes.  A full length script is much more intricate; however, and a two to three minute pitch requires one to boil the story down to the essentials so that one still has time to talk about the scene and staging.

The fact that this is my first real opportunity to pitch a full length script also scares me a bit.  I am used to pitching short plays; in these pitches, it is possible to bring to light some of the details.  I expect that, for a full length script, this will not be possible.  If I am not able to pull back the first half of my pitch to show the entire story, I am done for.

Riding on this pitch is the opportunity to direct two to three scenes from this play with undergraduate actors from York University and to explore the campus.

Happy 2017!

Congratulations!  You made it through to 2017!

2017 marks the year when I officially finished my two applications to schools in Canada.  I spent a good chunk of time completing these applications, most of which was taken up by compiling materials together from my senior year of my undergraduate study.  I knew there was a reason I am taking up space on my computer to keep that stuff.

The first show of 2017 at HCTO, "Cash on Delivery," is halfway though its run, and the first fittings of 2017 for "Peter and the Starcatcher" were completed yesterday.  I was the assistant to the production assistant (because MaryAnne, the designer, was not there,) which is a kind of, sort of fancy title for the guy that helps pull the costumes from stock.

Of course, not everything has been great.  Donald Trump had his first press conference this week in which he spent more time than necessary telling everyone that Russia did not hack the US elections, but that the Russian hacking is unimportant because he's literally the best person that ever lived.  He also said that he would repeal and replace the ACA more or less synonymously with each other.  With what?  He didn't say, but he did say that it was the best.