 we started the lobby of the public theater and we have much thanks to give to HowlRound and the public theater for helping us, especially since lockdown when we switched over to Zoom, where we were doing it every day, in a row for a little while, and now back to once a week. So I'm SLP, thanks to Audrey. And yeah, so we're going to work for 20 minutes, that's what we're going to do. And then we're going to open it up for questions and the time remaining. And Audrey, you're going to tell them how to ask questions. Should they have questions? Yeah, definitely. Hi, everybody. So if you have questions and you're inside of the Zoom, all you need to do when it comes time is click on the raise your hand button, which is in the reactions tab. It's likely on the bottom of your screen if you're on a laptop or the top if you're on an iPad or a tablet. And if you're watching the stream, not inside of the Zoom, you are very welcome to tweet and watch me work SLP with the hashtag HowlRound, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D, or you can tweet at the public theater or write to our Instagram. And those are the ways. So many ways. There's so many ways. Okay, we're going to do this for 20 minutes, and then we're going to take questions from you. Here we go. All right, all right. Those who have questions, anybody has a question? I'm here in the daylight. So weird to have the daylight. It's very strange. I mean, and we do this every year, this daylight change thing, and yet it feels particularly odd this year. I agree with you. I don't know what this year is really throwing me off. We don't have any questions just yet. Oh, Jonathan, I love the analog hand. Hi there. Forgive me, I lost my AirPods, and so I got these like beautiful rushery things, which I love. No, and I'm in a coffee shop. So if you hear lots of noise, I'm not in a dorm room or something because if he's closed, you can buy these shirts. So anyway, what is the coffee shop? It's called Adenine. It's this cute little place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Oh, Milwaukee. Yeah, here we are. Yeah, so here's my question. I have been writing with y'all back in the day in 2020 when the world was ending, and I wrote a draft of a play, and I then put it on the shelf because I had to find new housing, and then I moved back to Milwaukee, and here we are back in the world. And I have not touched it for a while. And so I reread it. I printed it out and I reread it. And the things that I have found are it feels very similar. The voices all sound a little similar, which I would like to shake up a little bit. And I also feel like it is bones. Like there's not a lot of meat. Like there is meat, but I want to like build on it, and I want to give it some more nuance. And I was just kind of curious, this is sort of my first week going through this, and that's sort of how I did it. I have a beginning, middle, and it's cool, but I just wasn't, I wanted to, yeah, more. And I was just curious if you could help me dust this off in a new vigor. Well, congratulations for all the things you've been doing. You wrote a draft, and you put it away, and you moved, and now you take, I mean, that's a whole lot. That's a whole lot. You're quiet, please. So now we're thinking, so how do we go about this? I think so far everything you've done is great to take it and read it, print it out, and you read it aloud, I'm guessing. I didn't because I was in a public spot again, and I... No worries, no worries, no worries. They would look at me weirdly if they had these words. Totally, totally. So you want to, you know, thicken up the story, and you want to, sounds like you want to, you know, really get some more variation between the voices of the characters, right? Yeah. So are you clear on what each character is going for, what each character wants? Yeah, there is ways that that can be fleshed out. I... Yeah, I feel like I'm discovering more about what it is, like when I'm asking them, what is it that you're wanting here or what role do you... So right now it feels like I have, like, here's the plot. I understand it. I understand how we get to the final piece, but I feel like those earlier parts is like, we... But who are you and what stakes do you have in this story? That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So you can ask that of each of your characters, you know, what are you doing in this scene? How are you contributing to the story? How is what you want contributing to the story? You know, because it's like, I do this little math thing, two points make a line. So the character, like for example, let's say with the play we both find out, like Hamlet. You know Hamlet. Okay, so, you know, so there's Hamlet and Horatio. And Hamlet wants one, Hamlet wants a certain thing, right? So where he starts and where he ends, you can, those two points, those are going to determine his lines of dialogue, you could say, right? Two points make a line. That's a math, that's like geometry or whatever. But those points, his beginning point and his end point, are going to determine his lines of dialogue, right? Horatio wanting something different, his beginning point and his end point are different. And so his lines will probably be different. You see? So if you can really fix yourself to any of you can do it within a scene. So we took the whole of Hamlet, right? So small it up and just go, where does Hamlet start in one scene, scene one, for example, you know, or whatever scene two, whatever, where he makes his entrance and where does he end in that scene, right? What does he want? So that could help you more clearly and distinctively hear his voice as opposed to the voice of Horatio, for example, using Hamlet as an example. Does that make sense? It does. Yes, I think there's a, there, all the characters have sound a little like Jonathan. Okay. And Jonathan is not in the story. That's me. So it's like, I want to just continue to... Right, right, right. Well, I mean, there are aspects of Jonathan, we could say. This is true. True. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I mean, and that's the thing. I mean, if they are really clear in what they want, and you've really done a thorough job in your opinion, distinguishing them, like Jonathan, you know, this, this character, whatever X wants that, and there they are doing such and such. And this character wants brand, and there they are doing such and such in the scene. Then maybe it's really time, if you've really done that kind of character detail work, then maybe it's really time to get some more voices reading it. Because unless you read your work a lot, it's hard to hear the different, you know, you know. I think I met an earlier, I think I met this scene where you're talking about, I think my protagonist has that clear A to B. We haven't get that, but I think some of those other characters are more, not foils, but they're in the service of, and I feel like, oh no, this will thicken this up if we have clearing that. Yeah, yeah. And you could, you know, thicken up the plot or the story through character, you know, right? I mean, you think of, you know, yeah, you think of, again, you know, Hamlet, it's, if, you know, if the story isn't rich, the more we learn about his character, the deeper and more interesting the story gets, right? You know, so good way to go about it. This was given to tribes. Yeah, absolutely. I, yeah, I need to, yeah, it felt a little rusty getting back into it. So I was like, very brave though for you to like move, you know, halfway across the country, dust it off, take it out, read it, you know, very cool. So, you know, I mean, really, that's a big, give yourself a pat on the back, bro. That's a big. That's all right. Kyla, who's also on this call and I'm calling her out, she and I have like a deadline in like later this spring to like share our work with each other. So, Kyla, all right. Mira, she's gonna hate me for that, but that, no, I'm just kidding. Just to try and keep pushing on on this. So, thank you. Really do appreciate that. Oh, thank you, Jonathan. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Jonathan. All right. We don't have any other questions at the moment. Oh, we've got a thumbs up from Tamir. I think taking that as a perhaps a question. You ready? Did that work out mute? Okay, here we go. Yeah. Okay. I made a mistake. I did not know that we were supposed to write in silence. So I did not write anything. But then I started writing something else. And that is very interesting to me, that just the fact that everybody was focused on writing kind of made me want to write too, even though I was just actually doing research, but that's fine. So my question is, so first of all, thank you for doing this. This is absolutely amazing. And to actually see you is equally amazing because I love your place. So I don't know what your process is. And if you can relate to what my process is, but mine is definitely that I write intuitively. And I pick up the pen and boom, off it goes. And then I wake up in the middle of the night and I have a wonderful idea. And if I don't jot it down, it's gone. So the light goes on and I write it down. And then what happens is I have this very rich, very interesting, very intricate sometimes, I don't know, nuggets from another world. And I am not sure what the process is of putting the logic and the organization back into it. And I'm always a little bit nervous about disturbing that flow versus what it needs to be a play with the beginning, middle and end. Although that is the easy part. There are more complicated parts, which is, for me, the transitions. So there we go. I hope that was clear. It sounds like you're very aware and very onto yourself in terms of what your process is. And it's something that's very enjoyable to you. It is. It sounds like it. So we don't want to touch that. It's working for you. It's fantastic. That sounds like maybe the first that helps get the first draft down or these are the nuggets from another world. Yes. They sound very yummy. So yeah, so you want to keep that. And then the beginning middle and the story is pretty, I mean, it kind of. It sometimes is more clear to me than it is to others. The sense that it makes a kind of, well, intuitive sense that, yes, that's what does happen. And sometimes what people see as climax, I see at the end as a soft landing, not as a climax. So maybe my ideas of what I am reaching for is not the usual classical way of climax towards the end. Sometimes it's in the beginning, actually. And then the understanding of it, which to me is more climactic, is in the end without going to further detail about a particular play. I mean, as you know, there's so many ways to tell a story or a song or whatever. So I think, I mean, I think that, I mean, you just stick with the way that's working for you, you know, and we'll, you know, the readers or the audience members will catch up to you or be along for the ride. You know what I mean? So that's that. That's okay. I mean, it sounds like again, it sounds like your process and your what you're coming up with is very pleasing to you. It's you said something about the transition. So what do you you said you have some of the plays that I've written have flashbacks that feed into the now time. But I find that I need to actually put more signposts for the audience to follow me. And when I have done that, then it works, but it always feels artificial to me. And maybe because the nature of memory and the nature of processing that memory in now time is different for each one of us. I'm not sure. Yeah, you can also play. I mean, the signposts you say are helpful to audience members, but they feel artificial to you. So what would I mean, where's a where's a meeting of the middle ground? Where's the middle path on that? You know, things do trigger our memories, you know, I mean, it might not be a sign like memory coming up. Here we go. You know, that feels artificial, but maybe you can find a more natural or subtle or way that feels more effective for you. You know, there's so many again, there's so many ways to tell story, there's so many ways to trigger, have a signpost for a flashback or a transition. But just experiment, keep experimenting, you know, and as you wake up, you like to wake up in the middle of night and write ideas down, which sounds really beautiful. Start thinking about, you know, what could be cool transitions here? You know, you're you can get some nuggets that way. Yeah, there's also another thing that I found very, very, very helpful. And that is I'm writing a play right now. It's actually pretty, it's finished and it's going to be read. But I have two worlds going on. And there's the other world, and then the this world. And I I originally saw the other world as completely a spiritual world with a spirit guide that is helping a woman who is dying and her helping her in her in her passing. And then somebody said to me, Oh, I am so appreciative that you wrote about near death experience. And I wasn't. But it was such an interesting feedback from the audience that said to me, Well, if through magic, and through near death experience is how she and others I presume will understand the spirit world, then why don't I use that? No, it's just, I don't know why I'm saying this, but it's just something about feedback that resonates and that somehow is translatable into how we then take the play that we are given and give it back to the audience. It sounds like that was very helpful feedback to this phenomenal feedback. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's very fortunate. You got I mean, you were fortunate to get feedback. That's very helpful. You know, have you ever had that where it like a feedback will change the direction of how you perceive a play, your play? I can't remember off the top of my head. But I'm so focused on you guys right now. Got it, got it, got it. But I'm sure, sure, let's just say sure. Yes, of course. But I'm just, I'm just focusing on you all right now. But it's a very it's a big gift to have someone give you some insight and some and some ways to see your work and you can sort of rethink it in your head. I'm certainly notes, you know, notes are have always been very helpful to me from different various people in my career. But and also though you also and you know, you all know you we've all received feedback that's less than helpful. So we're mindful of that too. Sounds like you're on a great road to me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Tamir. All right, Phoebe. Hey, Phoebe. Did that work? Oh, almost. There you go. I apologize ahead of time. I lost internet there for a minute and I fiddled around and I got it back. There you go. But so I got a real problem. So I've been working on one particular play. It's a musical for 10 years. I've had a 29 hour reading. We've done the whole thing. I've got all the all the stuff. Congratulations. And I put it away for two years. Had to do other things during COVID. And now I've brought it back out. And I find myself needing a unifying concept. So I wanted to ask you about the whole area of concept. So and in change, and I think I found the unifying concept. But it means to me, it means that I need to completely disassemble and rewrite, which is terrifying and also very exciting because I didn't like it before. So I feel like as if there's hope. Great. Wow. But so you know that. What is a unifying concept, Phoebe? Are you asking me? Yeah, I am. Because you've even asked a fine one and you think you know what it is. So I just know what you're doing. Well, I've got too much going on. So there's jazz. The music is is well, it's it's post jazz, but it's jazz. And so then you get this story and then you get some Shakespeare stuff, these things, all these different elements that I I believe they're neat. I needed to find what was in common in all of those elements so that I could redo a structure that makes sense. I don't know. Help me. So I'm finding, I think, I think what I need to do is start writing a narrative, writing a description of what the play is. Oh, damn. There's crazy people calling you. Oh, yeah. There you go. Good. So you said a narrative. So a unifying concept we could say is a story. Is there a story? Oh, there's a story. But I think that what I'm realizing is that the entire thing is about war. So there's a unifying concept. Right. And it changes what everybody says and why they're saying Oh, the position that they're saying. Okay. So there's a race war. There's jazz is having its own war with black identity. And then there's just wars throughout. I mean, everybody's fighting. And but but it's a big picture. So a unifying concept to me, then can also take on the structure that the structure could also be at war. And I think if if and then then if you have things happening at five different levels, my hope is that it's the unifying concept will make it worthy of anybody watching it. Because it'll then becomes art. And not just story. I mean, storytelling is an art. But it becomes more. Does that make sense? If it makes sense to you. I don't really I'm trying to follow you there. Okay, you jump when you when you separated storytelling from art, that's where you lost me because I'm like, Oh, oh, I didn't know. Yeah, I didn't mean it. So that there's more than one level. Sure. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. So so what you need to do is you you have these, we have a script full of amazing things that are going on. And you feel like if when you sort of unite all the elements under one concept, then it will be much more compelling than these it will give these things a depth and a resonance. That's my watchable. Okay, that's my hope. It'll have it'll become part of a converse a national conversation. It'll have its own place in a conversation. Okay, because so what's your game? What's your gameplay? How are you going to go about rewriting it? So you're going to have to rewrite it, which is well, I'm thinking that I have to write about it as if I am a critic. So I want to write the critic that want to write the I want to analyze it before I write it. In other words, I want to hear what the critic would say this so that I can then go back and make it that makes sense. It makes sense. It is not what I would suggest, but it make but if it's, I mean, it's kind of it's sort of at a distance and very analytical rather than in a story and talking about people doing stuff because and this but if that seems like a natural way for you to go about it, then I would say totally go about it that way. You know, I mean, if that seems like what's moving you like, yeah, I want to think about what people might be saying about this piece, my piece, and then get into the writing of it that way. If that seems like a natural way for you to go about it, then I suggest you go for it. There are other ways like character, story, those kinds of things. For example, we're talking about Hamlet with Jonathan earlier. I mean, Hamlet is a story, you know, but I would also say it's a work of art. I mean, I think, you know, it's a work of art, you know, it generates conversations wherever it is, wherever it is staged and has done for hundreds and hundreds of years. But there's a very compelling story there. And there's lots of things going on. A unifying concept, I would not know off the top of my head what the unifying concept of Hamlet was, but I could tell you the story of it. I would just, it's just general, this is just my opinion, like they say in the Big Lebowski, which is just so my opinion. But I would, I encourage artists, writers to stay inside the storytelling and allow the brilliant critics and scholars to take that, you know, a hundred, you know, a view from a thousand feet up and dissect it. We live, we work with the living. You dissect the dead. Postmortem. After it is done, you know, I really, you know, I would encourage you just get into the story of what's the story, who are these people? Race war, you know, I got to say, if I see a play about a race war, I don't know, you know, if that's going to start a national conversation, where I'm from my point of view personally, but if you tell me about a person who's in the middle of something like that, I'm going to lean in. You know what I mean? Okay, let's try, can I just try one more angle? So in jazz, for instance, so you have, you've got your theme and so that's music. So you get your theme and there it is and you can kind of hear it, but then you break into solos and people that are doing it their way, they're, they're improvising. And then you listen to all that and it gets pretty interesting, storytelling. And then you come back to the theme again. So that theme that I'm mentioning is what I call unifying concept. So like the head in jazz. Yeah. Right. So I don't, just yeah, but, but music acts asks different things of us than a play or a musical, you know what I mean? I would say that we could use it to help us write and think about writing. For example, you know, if I think of just mention about the death of the last black man, the whole entire world, aka the negro book of the dead, that's, you know, I listened to a lot of jazz when I wrote that it has a head, we have departures. It comes back to what you would call unifying concept. I would say the story. I would suggest as an exercise, start using that word just because I'm going to go out on a limb here. I still, I'm old school, I still use the word women to talk about certain people. I know that word is falling out of fashion. I still use the word story, you know, I mean, there are some words that can exist alongside of words that have become more of use and perhaps more useful in current culture. But I still think there's a place for words that we used last year to, you know, and I don't think story is a bad word. And I don't think story has been rung, you know, of its resonance and meaning, especially when concepts are so tied to the marketplace and talking points of what we're all supposed to be writing about these days. Give me a story any day. That's just my opinion. Give me a beautiful story. You know, I've, I've, you know, so I'm just encouraging you to embrace story. There's a lot of, there's a lot of wealth in a story and a story can resonate. Oedipus, you know, you've heard the play Oedipus, Oedipus Rex, you know, right? I mean, I can't, I can't tell you, you're small, you know. Yes, you heard of the play Oedipus, or I'm trying to think of any play that, you know, the glass menagerie, you know what I mean, fences, those are stories, right? Those are stories. Those are people. I don't know any play I can, I can think of. Those are stories about people and the music man, Caroline or change, you know. Now I've run out of things, examples, but so I got it. I'm gonna get off my soapbox. Keep in touch. Keep in touch, baby. Keep in touch. Keep in touch. Okay. Thank you. I like it. Thank you. I appreciate your question. Great question. All right. So Kevin has a question. Go for it, Kevin. We have about eight minutes left. I've been curious about, I mostly like monologues and I feel like I'm struggling to find kind of like a voice. Like, I read a lot and I'm finding whatever I'm reading kind of ends, I end up sounding like that. So like, if I impact my brain by reading like too much Twitter, I sound like Twitter. I just read like Rachel Kosk. So now I sound like a woman going through a divorce with a problematic department. Like, so, so I'm, I'm like trying to figure out how to sound like me, but also enjoy a kind of encountering other people and their writing too, if that makes sense. That's maybe a therapy question with this question. No, well, that's okay. It's a great question. It's a great question because you it's great that you read and read widely and enjoy other people's work. That's awesome. I would say, step away from the work a little bit. You know, if you're so easily influenced, you know, then you can take pauses between your digestion of their work. If you know, so, if you're working on a piece, say, you know, maybe, maybe don't read me saying the day before, get still in your own head, so you can hear your voice, which is a mixture of all the things that are going on in your life, surely. But if it's a, it's a, it's a concern for you, then I would say less of them, you know, more of you. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess making that room for like silence and reflection has not been a part of my writing process, but I feel like I get involved and feel like, oh, I must like, accomplished by like putting pen to paper, but maybe that like extra space can be helpful to I think, Kevin, I think you said it better than I did. Yes. Extra space for silence and contemplation. Do you have a meditation practice while we're on the subject of? No. Two minutes, two minutes, first thing in the morning, sitting, you know, if you can sit cross-legged grade, if you can't, you know, just sit in a chair or whatever, you know, to get your timer, a timer like this, just that just does time. Two minutes, close your eyes, breathe, create space for that small still voice within, you know. Also, when you do write, you can try, look, I have all these little things here. You can try, look, their ear, not ear, not like these, you know, but the ear, what do you call them? You know, like you wear when you go to hear a concert, you know, right? Those, those are really good because what you hear is like, it helps create silence in your head, which is really awesome. Also, if you have a 10-year-old, it helps keep the noise up. But those, that's helpful. So meditation practice, start out with two minutes every day, every morning, that could help. Or if you can't do two minutes, do one minute. One minute is also good. And also, fewer, read a little less. Yeah. Because you might be scared of not having anything to say. Yeah, I think that's part of it. And that's okay. That's okay. Well, thank you. That was helpful. Thanks so much. You're welcome. You're welcome so much. Good question. Great question. I don't think we've ever gotten that one. Yeah. Thanks, Kevin. Well, we've got about three minutes left. Don't know that I see a question at the moment. I'm just going to say hi to Melania. Say hi to Gina. I'm spacing on your name, sis. Adam, wait a minute. Oh, Melania's got a hand up. I was going to say Crystal and I'm like, wait a minute. I know someone named Crystal. It's you. Melania's got a hand up. What's happening, Melania? Hi, Susan. Hi, Melania. How you doing? I'm very, very good to see you. And I want to share with you one thing. I am still, they are dancing with my one woman play trying to find, yes. But that's good. But what I want to share with you is that my daughter, my 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, for Black History Month, chose you to write her work. So he presented out you and the entire cast and her work was the one that the teacher loved the most. Yes. And so she said that she's so inspired and she she looked at me that I feel so inspired by you. So I wanted to say thank you. I know that we have three minutes but to say thank you because what you taught me and you are teaching me and I think at all our, my classmates is that being in the work, even when maybe we have some conflicts or is something good, is nice, is a way to be there, to have communion with the work, to listen to the spirit, to be this, trying to find the silence in our heads in order to say what we need to say to our character. And she saw me so inspired by you that she chose you for the work and you was a huge success. So I wanted to say thank you for working. Thank you, daughter Chloe so much. That's so very kind. Yes, thank you. Well, we're proud of you, Melania, because at all you and Crystal too. I mean, those of you who have been coming and coming and working and working, even if this is just your first time here with us, you know, it takes a tremendous amount of courage to sit down and create something, whether it's a song or a poem or a play or a novel or a painting or whatever, or just get through the day. Hey, let's be real. Yeah, that's right. It ain't easy. It ain't easy these days. And, you know, I mean, shame it ain't easy for the likes of, you know, most of us, you know, there are people and we know there are people and, you know, in other parts of the world who are having it really hard right now. And how fortunate we are to have internet connection, even though it might be dicey, you know, and have a place to sit down where we can feel safe and do our work. I mean, what a blessing that is. And what an effort. We are giving something to the greater good by showing up. And you are a blessing for all of us. Thank you. Well, thanks Melania. Well, that's a great note to end on. That's it. Yeah, it's six o'clock. We'll be back next week. Right on. We sure will. Okay. Have a good week, y'all. Bye-bye-bye. Thank you, Audrey. Bye-bye. You're the best.