 All right. It's watch me work. It's it's um what day is it? It's Tuesday August 11th all day long and we've been doing this show for 11 years and we started in this we started in the lobby of the public theater and So thank you to the public theater for supporting us all these years howl round came on a few years ago to help us Livestream from the lobby of the public theater and now howl round and the public theater I've joined forces to create help us create this beautiful mosaic experience that we have today I was gonna say something else, but I forgot We we work together for 20 minutes and then I take questions from y'all about your work and your creative process It's that simple and yeah, I'm just thinking yeah on the 13th of August I will have been on hiatus For my show for five months. It's absolutely crazy. Yeah, so anyway, so if you want to ask questions During the question and answer time Audrey is going to tell you how to get in touch go Audrey Thanks SLP So as many of you know if you are inside of the zoom and you want to ask a question All you need to do is click on the participant tab Likely at the bottom of your screen on a laptop or the top on an iPad or a tablet You click on the participant tab and out will pop a little box and you click the raise your hand button in that box A little blue hand pops up and I will call on you if we've got time If you're watching on howl round TV All you need to do is tweet at us at at watching work SLP with the hashtag howl round h o w l r o u n d Or you can tweet at the public theater, which is at public theater and why? Or you can write to the public theater's Instagram and that's it I'm looking at the news because Kamala Harris is gonna be the next vice president is that yes true that is That is some fuck. Yep. All right. Well You know shit's you know shit needs some work when you call a sister take the job. That's all I'm saying You know, it's like hmm. All right. I mean I said the same thing when Hillary, you know I voted for Hillary I'm like, you know shit's deep when you call a woman in yeah, cuz you got to get the shit done Anyway, speaking of getting shit done, let's do it. Let's do it So her middle name is Debbie Interesting goddess Think she needs to write the play in November anyway Any questions? Not yet It's crystal Hey, wow. Yeah Where are you girl? How you doing? I'm doing good How's it going? Um, good good. So, um, just to update you. Um, I I presented and The response I got was that it was a thousand percent improved and that it was A thousand fold improved and I forget he was greatly impressed and all this stuff and he So He was like, but there's still work to do and I was like, okay, cool. That's cool. That's fine. That's fine He um, I he still asked if I was like interested in working on the The other one and I called him and I told him, you know, I was talking to my director and We really want to crack this character and we want to get it right and and he said I respect that and you know, um I I figured that because you you did so much work on it. And so yeah So I'm gonna stay with the project, but I'm gonna stay with the demagogue that I chose. Um, I'm not gonna do another one so So I feel I feel better about it now and You know, I have the rest of the summer to Dedicate to that and I'm still, you know working on the father the the the demagogue I'm sorry the father chronicles Because I would like to take a portion of it and submit it to a play festival Um, but I'll save that question for later in the week. Um Now that I'm on a new draft Um, one of the things that was said to me was that I haven't cracked the character yet Still the need is not is not there. It's mostly talked about and not um And not shown and so I'm trying to figure out like this is will be my eighth draft And I'm trying to figure out. Okay What don't I know about her like what? What maybe I've I think I've done so much research that I've just kind of Written around the research And so I'm trying to figure out like how can I get like inside deeper inside? um And find that I don't know what it is to crack What makes her become this this person? Um I mean, I know like the I know The the the Some of the childhood things and I'm trying to explore that a little bit more. I'm trying to now explore. Okay. Maybe what are her relationships? um with men for her to be you know, um To be in the place that she's in and so I'm just trying to try to figure out like I don't know if I should write a list like of 10 stupid things that make her You know a demagogue Like I don't know what what else I can do to to go even deeper than I then I've been doing in these last drafts Like I don't know what what I see the notes. I understand the notes. I just don't don't know what to do to apply them um to the next draft Wow. I mean first of all Come on girl Come on. You were like in the valley of the shadow of death. Oh my god. Yeah, girl. You were like You were like no way And then after you did all that work For your producer person to come at you with that curve ball of a note And for you to hang in there And then for them to be impressed with the work that you've done and tell you that Which is which is very good of them very right of them very righteous of them You know I'm saying instead of just broom it away and get you what they want to do And then for you to say actually I want to stick with this And then for them to say we respect you for that because of all the work you've done Does it has a feel how you feel I feel like a million bucks I feel like I'm supposed to be writing I'm supposed to be writing and that I'm supposed to work as hard as I've been working I'm supposed to be doing it and that I'm supposed to keep going Good good Good and that's exactly the mantra That you need to get over this next hurdle Right Yeah, so know that know that you're supposed to be writing about this person. You're supposed to be writing this piece And you know if you if all you have to do is you have to do the work And it's going to show up for you Okay, those answers about the need and again, I don't know your place Specifically so I can't specifically speak to it. Um, did the In the notes that they specifically say what they weren't getting I mean did they kind of point you in a general direction of helpful direction given what they've read already? um in the notes It was um the hope The hope was was missing that I hadn't cracked her. Um, the the secondary character be he kind of became the the the um The protagonist instead of her and he thinks that it could be because her need was not strong enough Okay um And so he said the how do you feel about the note? I feel like I feel like you know, I I understand again. I understand them. It's just I think trying to translate it into a way where I can Write it, you know, um, I don't know, you know, again if that means Writing new scenes or deepening what I've written. He said the demagoguery should take place In the very beginning that we should see her In her demagoguery at the very beginning instead of later Which I which that just means okay, just take a portion and bring it to the top like I can do that Um, um, so he you know, he he really liked what I did with this inter dependency of Um, of the demagogue and the the secondary the nephew the cousin the cousin and like how it became that she needed him to to propel herself into this This this leader of this movement Um, um and that without him was a big hole um And so I I see that the need is him, but I think as I think apart from him What is what is the need? What is the Absolutely for her and herself right? Do you know the play king lear? Yeah, great. Okay, so um Me again, I haven't Read your play and you know, so that's I'm just kind of talking, you know at the side of my neck But you know king lear talking about the a big action at the beginning of the play, you know the the fairy first Not first scene, but I think it's the second scene. He divides up his kingdom, you know hand me the give me the map You know, he starts slicing and dicing Who right? You know that kind of thing, okay, so his big action you call it, you know of Assertion of who the man, you know It comes at the very top and then you see him kind of go through other things as a result of that, right? Right So, okay, so you're going to move some of her demagoguery stuff to the beginning To to address that note and then you're going to see how it changes her character Throughout the course of your play Right, she's not just something she's doing. It's something that she does and has consequences and has fall out Right, right, so if and if you don't have an action like that then the action should be something like that that has consequences Okay, yeah, you understand what I mean. Yeah, I do. Okay. The second thing to go deeper with your character um is Do you talk to your character at all? You know, she's like one of the only characters I haven't spoken to Okay, well, that's kind of problematic. Don't you think? Yeah I mean, I mean or or you know, I mean if you nailed it and there were no notes. It wouldn't be problematic But since you haven't yet yet You haven't yet And you also have not yet really had conversations with her. Maybe you ought to try that You know, yeah Because if you talk to her and you really listen she's Probably going to tell you things That you need to know You know, you can and you can also make a list of ten dumb things But you know, so those are three things you can put that Action at the beginning your producer suggested. I think that's a good idea Show the consequences of that action the fallout of that action The real fallout so it might change some scenes, you know Mm-hmm and start having conversations with your main character real conversations You can just ask her right out, you know Why are you like you are? Why you do this? What's your need? You can just ask her, you know, she might bobbin weave and ramble but um Yeah, yeah Okay, okay Okay, okay And then um, and then I'll come back. Yeah, but but you know that thing about I know that I'm supposed to be writing this Or whatever I'm paraphrasing what you said Have you like written that down anywhere? Just now Okay So take an index card Do you write it? Were you right at the dining room table? I'm trying to remember crystal. Where you right? Where you right? In my bedroom. Okay. So in your writing space Put it on an index card write it out legibly right Maybe draw some fun colors around it whatever but let it be legible and stick it to your wall Or a nice place in your writing space if you don't have a wall that you can devote to and stick it to the front of a Stick it to the inside of a notebook, you know Like that wherever someplace where you can open it up and see it when you wake up in the morning repeat it During the day say it if you go for a walk walk in your dog or Playing with your kids or you guys go for a walk around the block. Say it to yourself Okay, yeah And also say, you know, um I know the needs of my character and she's gonna tell me and she's telling me the needs her needs Okay, okay, just hypnotize yourself Okay, and then remember Kamala Kamala Kamala Come on Kamala Her second name is Debbie. Debbie means goddess We know we're in trouble now Well, you know, yeah, anyway, it's a good day. Yeah, it's a good day. Yes. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you Congratulations sister. I'm so proud of you. I gotta say wow We really have done a huge huge huge great job. So you should be very proud of yourself. Okay. Thank you And use this good energy to fuel you over the next hurdle. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Um, all right, we're gonna go to Larry Hey there Here hi, um well, that was uh Majorly inspiring and I just I don't really have a question. I just was kind of inspired and I wanted to Express my own gratitude for being part of this community. I'm I guess relatively new to it and um yesterday I finished a a beastie 116 page first act of my play Wow, a hundred and how many pages first act what 116 I have some work to do but um I don't want to sit through that but uh, it's great to just have um So I'll worry about that later and just produce and um You know, I started this as a device project and So much of what ended up happening is as I just wrote it myself and realized That it was kind of my play all along certainly inspired by everyone and I'm happy to share the credit It's not about credit, but I just Yeah, it just all ended up going getting channeled through me But the other thing I really wanted to say was that uh, I'm a teacher. So I have this chronic thing where every august It's like, oh, I squandered another summer. I squandered another summer all the things that I was going to do with my summer But I didn't do I mean I had that when I was a kid I've had it my whole life from 55 And this is truly the first summer I ever looked at my vision Of what I wanted to do and it was done and it's entirely because I enlisted other people Um here and in every aspect of my life. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking trying to do shit alone um I don't know why that's so valuable to do things alone Because right now I don't care about Doing it alone And so I just really so much of what I achieved this summer was because I enlisted other people to sit on a screen with me or just accountability and and you know Obviously find out that I'm not alone in this issue So I just wanted to just call out how grateful I am for this experience and how it mirrors Um, so many of the things I've learned in my life that I where I was Trying to do shit alone. I had no business doing alone. So gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Larry. We have we all feel the same way You know, but thank you for putting it into words Thank you Larry Um, all right, we're gonna go to Christina Hi Hey Hey sis, how are you? I'm good. How are you? It's good to see you Yeah, it's good to see your face. That's kind of all I need but I need a lot more but this is great Um, I want to echo Larry. This is the first time I've actually been to this so I don't or Virtually or in person, which is insane But um, I just it's incredible and I'm really thankful to share this space with you all of you guys um And with that I have a question before I ask my question Is should I brief you a little bit about where I'm at or should I just ask my question? Like about the what I'm working on or should I just jump in? Give a little give a little brief give a look give a brief brief brief brief great. Um, I'm writing an entombo play that I've been working on since 2017 The root of what it's about has Remained the same. Um, but like the final The main point and what I would say like the thesis I guess has shifted a little bit. Um, and the last three years um, so my question is What do you do when you if you find or when you find that you're juggling a lot of ideas that you're excited about? um Or or juggling just so many bad ideas that to the point where It's it's stifling like that's kind of where I'm at with this play and also with writing a lot of different things So it's to the point where there's so much that I'm excited about and anxious about that. I'm Have stifled myself somehow. Um, so I was wondering if you have ways of working through that Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes And it's great to see you again Christina. Christina is a director and a writer and was hanging out with us when we were working on white noise So it's great to see you sis. Um I Get organized. I mean not too in a stupid way, but I I tend to lean on on Organizational principles that um, I find helpful and sometimes they're just totally, you know, random and everything They don't come from any book. They just kind of are drawn from what works So when I suggest things to you if it works great Try it if it doesn't seem like it's good then put it aside and maybe try it again later But um, so if you're working on you've been working on a play for Several years, right? Um, you come back you come back to it and stuff and it's kind of morphin and changing. Is that yeah, um, I Yes, it's a three-part play Last year I got the first part, uh, produced a work top of it. So right now I'm kind of working on part two Um, I'm revisiting things. But yes, that is kind of the vibe of every Few months or so I come back to it. Um But specifically needs to put it down for a little while sometimes Right, but you're you're you want to work on it now. Is that correct? Yeah You want to work on it now and you want to get at least the second part done. Is that correct? Correct Yeah, great. Okay. And the the problem is is that a lot of ideas are coming in at you and it's kind of twisting your head Okay, so right. So, um, you can do the same thing in two different ways. First you have to just decide Okay, you're gonna decide it's like dating and I know I know y'all like to go out with like lots of different people and Shit, I don't know I'm curious and everything You can commit to one. You know what? I'm gonna go out with you for the next 10 days Okay, so just choose one of those ideas one of those ways of doing it for the next draft Okay, and what's a draft? How long is your draft going to be? Do you think Round between 60 75 Okay, so can you stick with one idea for the draft? Yes, this is the story of my play Boom, right like we said to crystal write it on an index card smack it to the wall Whatever, right and when you're writing look at it. That's the story repeat it to yourself Really embrace it. This is going to be your your steady Right, okay, and you're not you're you're gonna you're gonna be constant and loyal to this story This way of telling the story of your play Right, okay, so that will help you keep focus. It's like horses, you know, they got blinders on that Why they got blinders because horses are like, oh look that looks good over there and they're gone and then like, you know Where are they? I don't know, right? Okay, so you're gonna give yourself some blinders. It's very effective um That will help you Stick to this main story theme of your play The second thing is you have a lot of different projects. It sounds like is that correct? Yes, right So you're gonna divide up your day in segments Again, this may or may not work for you. Okay, this is something I do I've been doing Or the last five months since I went on hiatus with my show I've had to work on Two or more projects at the same time These are high level projects for people who pay me a lot of money and demanded it You know, they wanted it done like last week, you know what I'm saying? So what I do is I spend the first Often two hours of the day two hours of the work day, you know, you get up through whatever you're doing two hours block working on project a And then spend a Another time block maybe three hours, maybe four hours, maybe two hours again, whatever you can manage working on project b You do this every day Okay, you can also go okay for 20 minutes. I'm going to work on project a And then for an hour later in the day, I'm going to work on project b. It doesn't have to be two hours You choose the amount of time that is appropriate for your stamina right and even if You set the timer for 20 minutes and just kind of go For 20 minutes, that's okay. You're thinking about the project, right? Okay, and then the timer goes off You do something else during your day and you come back to your writing area and you work on project b You can take sort of a pause, you know, some kind of have lunch or whatever you do, you know, do something go for a walk Whatever, okay, and you do that. I would say two projects a day is Is pretty good. I don't think you have to unless you know, you have some work for higher things that are due But I think two projects a day is pretty good Okay, the idea is that you're gonna they're gonna start to reach completion They're gonna start to reach the finish line and then you can swap them out for other projects Okay, if you want Does that make sense totally okay, so you're just gonna have to get kind of tough with yourself You're gonna have to use blinders a timer is another form of of blinders, you know, what do we do for 20 minutes? We just work That's all we do when the timer goes off. What have you done? You've done your work I don't know what it looks like. I'm not asking you to send in the pages so I can check them off You've just shown up for yourself At your work in your workspace Okay, yeah, I understand. Yeah, what took you so long to come here? I listen Yes, I really appreciate it and I'm gonna we come back tomorrow Thanks Christina. Thanks Audrey Um, we got about 14 minutes left. Um, and we don't have a question at the moment Read I'm reading who I know some of you have this book. I could read. Okay, Audrey. Just tell me if someone has a question I'll let you know. I'm just gonna read, you know, we had Our special guest, um our pretend special guest Um who was uh Helen Keller And now it's Pema children. I know she was a pretend we have real people on this show, but I just oh, I just happened to open it. It's a chapter called Gloriousness and wretchedness It's interesting Life is glorious, but life is also wretched It is both Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us encourages us cheers us up gives us a bigger perspective Energizes us and we feel so connected But if that's all that's happening we get arrogant And start to look down on others and there's a sense of making ourselves a big deal And being really serious about everything and wanting to and wanting things to be like that forever I've got a question when you're ready. There you go. See you told them Jack oh jack's like quick come on Go ahead jack. Hi. How are you? Hey man? I'm just kind of I was thinking about tragedies and comedies mixing together Because I was writing now. Okay. What's what's this? You know this play I'm writing like what's the story about it's like well, there's Sometimes it's going to be really funny But it has a like a freaky scary bad Like a nightmare ending. So how do you I mean is that I mean is that possible to have I don't know like When you're working with those elements, I guess, how do you balance that like the tone? I'm glad it's still be funny, but Disturb, I mean sometimes like I guess sometimes my work is disturbing, but it's funny But then it's disturbing. So I have like like creating that nice balance for the audience so that they're not just like You know Right. Well, I mean it sounds like you're It sounds like you're already doing it. I mean, you know, it's it sounds like um If that's the kind of thing that you write it sounds like you've found a way to achieve the balance already. I mean, it's Well, I would say that but it's sometimes I know that it's like sometimes my work is like in your face And uh a little aggressive But there's still like a Soft, you know humor around it. I mean, I guess like, you know, I'll sometimes watch like dramatic things and I'll start laughing because I think like that's Really ridiculous and it's funny, but But then it's the same. I mean, I like I like mixing those those two worlds. I guess I don't know. It's just I can see it happening with the script that I'm that I'm working on and I'm going Okay, this is gonna get super intense, but there's it's a ridiculous situation that's happening and so I don't know this is I I don't you're gonna find out, you know You're gonna find out when you start putting in front of an audience or when you invite people to read it You know or invite actors to join in I think you're gonna find um People who are going like, yeah, I get this, you know, I I certainly I mean gee turn on the news yo It's really funny and really horrible at the same time. I mean, that's the world You know, that's The world that I live in anyway, so I think you'll find people who are on the same page with you about that I I guess the question is sort of like Do I take it from the the the comedic writer or do I let it be the Dramatists like, you know, or do I just let it be? Do I take it from the what do I so when I'm writing do I let it Just do I make it as funny as you know, take it as a comedy and just pump up the comedy and and the ridiculousness Or do I just let it be the the drama that's sometimes hilariously funny? I guess what it is jack It is what it is. I mean you let it be what it is man. Yeah, I mean Like I said, it sounds like you're already going in that direction. It sounds great and If you want it to be funnier make it funnier if you want it to be more edgy make it edgier but Okay Sounds like it's gonna be good I'm excited. I'm excited about it. I mean, it's been very helpful checking in with you And it's it is always interesting. I mean, this is the first time That I'm taking a script and I'm Writing about people that I know but it was really helpful when you said honor that person let the person become a character It's a person. I'm no longer friends with but I there's a very rich person Like in terms and I really love that person But it's of course the names are changing and A lot of it's my memory and like so that's fictionalized but Because I guess memory is a fiction All right, but anyway, yeah, that's fun. Thank you. That's cool. Thank you Um, all right, we've got about seven minutes and we're going to go to grace Hi, grace There you are. Hi Can you hear me? Okay, great um, I had a question about uh, so last time I talked to you I was talking about the Play that I was writing that I had gotten feedback on I'm gonna and then you suggested I get a second opinion um I've actually I'd like to still get a second opinion But I've gotten sort of swept into my teaching job and I actually kind of re-saw The advice that my friend had given me and it started me on a rewrite that felt good So so I'm sort of like still I'm kind of like I'm sort of having a different problem right now So the thing that I want to ask you the question about is um, it's kind of about like putting Putting pressure on Myself as a writer Because I feel like I'm in a place that I'm I like where the play is going, but all of a sudden I feel like I just Because I see it and because I feel like it's getting better all of a sudden there's this pressure and I feel really Stuck with it. So uh And to contrast that I like haven't been able to write for the past or I it's been really slow for like the past um In like week, but I I stepped away from it for uh For a session this weekend and started writing like short stories, which I have No, like I'm like, I don't write short stories. Um, which I shouldn't say but like I just you know I'm like I don't have any preconception of that So I just it like flows out because it feels easy and non-pressured and like it's just there and I think Because I because I I do theater. I work in theater. I teach in theater I just like have this pressure that is actually really shutting me down right now At medium and I just wonder if you could like Speak a little bit to that like are there Do you have any tools or techniques or like some something? Yeah, yeah, so when it's so when it was it was difficult and you had Someone who gave you feedback that wasn't working you weren't feeling the pressure And Now that you think they're not you've redigested their notes, which is great I'm not saying get a second opinion if you don't need one Now it's feeling good. You're understanding that you're like, yeah, those notes make sense And now you're you were kind of on a roll and getting some momentum And then you started feeling pressure that has slowed you down. Yeah Yeah right, okay, so, um Um Not to minimize What you're going through but two things one, you know, um When you I don't know. I've never run a marathon. Maybe I've run like 20 five miles You know, I've never like done a marathon, but What I hear from people who run marathons is that you know, those that last mile like will kick your ass You know I'm saying or I've never climbed Mount Everest, but the air is rare up there And still they go they keep going, you know, I'm saying with anything, you know, like President Obama used to say when I was an alderman in Illinois, I was dealing with some knuckleheads And then I became president and I kept dealing with knuckleheads. They were bigger knuckleheads, you know, so It's it's just more it's just more of it. Um, the best thing I found to to Embrace that difficulty is to show up every day And you can show up every day and and write short stories, you know Something that you're really and just sort of avoid it, but that's not really showing up Yeah, so if you show up and just sit with it, you know, put on your timer Open your notebook or your pages or what have you maybe your notebook because if you get some notions and ideas You can write things down. Just sit with it Just keep showing up day after day after day. Don't Write something new. I mean unless you really really want to put it down, but you can just show up and say hi, I'm here I know it's difficult I'm here here. I am Here I am again I'm going to go for a walk after 20 minutes and maybe at the end of the day. I'll show up for another 20 minutes I'm going to show you that I am ready to receive Right You're showing that you're you've got what it takes you're showing that you're a tough cookie You know what I'm saying you you can do it like I am here You know, you don't want some like you don't want to just coast and shit. What righty. Oh, this is supposed to be easy Oh news to me. Shit. It's hard for me. I gotta show up and be like You know, so you show up and 20 minutes is a good thing because it's not a lot of time Okay, so you can show up for 20 minutes and kind of noodle in your notebook. Maybe Ask your project to talk to you. Maybe You're feeling pressure because maybe you have an opportunity to write something that You might like You know Come on Great Thank you You're welcome Great question grace. Thank you We've got about a minute and a half and we're going to go to Lynn. Are you there Lynn? We hear you. Hey girl Uh a question about talking to your characters You know, so I'm taking a walk in the park and I'm talking to my characters, you know Or I'm talking to one specific You know at a time And they don't answer me. I ask questions and they don't give me an answer I mean, what is the dialogue? I mean, it's a true improvisation, but How do you get them to? Answer right. Yeah. So first thing Lynn. So you're talking to your characters outside. You're outside Sometimes inside sometimes sitting here at my work time Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Great. But outside is really good if you're walking. That's really good. That's like Different sides of your brain going, right? That's an excellent thing to do While you're talking In meditation, it's called key hand walking meditation, but it's really really good to get those brain Hemispheres firing in interesting ways. Yeah I was going to say if you're walking if you're doing it outside wear a device Because then you can talk to yourself and people think you're on the phone So Let you have that that's what I do like you don't even have to bring your phone Just put your the end of your your earphones in your pocket Just these days I have a mask so nobody thinks I'm no no no you hold it like that Well, you can you can model like but you also do the it's it's nice. You're right. You wear your mask You're right problem solved problem solved, but uh, if you really want to you know You can just hold it above your mask. Um Yeah, you might talk to your characters and they might not talk back So how do you get them to Talk back Or you listen because they are talking to you They might tell be telling you things that you're not very interested in You might be telling you things that you really don't want to hear. They might be speaking in a soft voice They might say two words while you were talking Patience, you know Just patiently waiting and again like we were saying with grace you show up for a certain amount of time You go for a walk or you sit at your desk or whatever and you put the time in without Worrying or stressing too much about the results Right, so that's what we do. We just keep showing up And figuring that if you keep showing up, it's going to make all the difference in your work Because you will be doing the work regardless of the product That makes sense Yes, thank you Thanks Lynn Well it is 6-0-1 All right, all right We'll do it. Well, please everybody, please sign up by 3 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday or Thursday And I will send you a link between 3 and 4 30 p.m. Eastern to come Hang out with us at 5 All right Have a good day. No, thanks. I'll see you're the best. Yeah, you're the best. Thanks. I'll be bye-bye