 in this greaty bunch mode. Sorry. No, right. Okay. And we're live. All right. So here I am at my desk, you know, digging through my desk to get the papers. Here we are. Ah, okay. I'm SLP. This is watch me work. How many of you guys have been to watch me work before? Some of you. Hi. Hi. Hi for me and high new faces. I'm just going to do a really quick thing. So you guys, so we're all, um, you know, knowing about what watch me work is. Um, this is watch me work. Watch me work is a show where we talk about your work and your creative process. The title is intentionally confusing. Watch me work. The me in the title is you. Okay. So we talk about your work and your creative process. Um, of course, I hope everybody is safe and well. I'm in New York. Um, how many people in New York out there still, still some of us with no place else to go. Um, uh, yeah. Um, so, um, I'm a writer. I write lots of different kinds of things, plays, movies, teleplays, songs, blah, blah, blah essays, blah, blah, blah, novels, blah, blah, blah. Um, I'm also the master writer chair of the public theater. Um, I've been doing this show for 11 years and we've, um, I'm really grateful for the public theater to help us getting organized every week. I only, I used to only do it once a week on usually Mondays at five. Um, public theater would help me organize it. And then, uh, in the last couple of years, how around, uh, who is helping us with this today, both the public theater and how round, but how rounds come on to help us live stream during this Corona virus crisis. I decided, um, to do it five days a week at five o'clock for an hour. So that's what we're into right now. This is day two of our first week. Um, thanks, a big thanks big up to the public theater and howl round for making this zoom event possible. So here's how, here's how it works. Watch Me Work is a show. It's got action and it's got dialogue, action and dialogue. Um, what we do first is we do the action together, which means that for 20 minutes, and I have my little timer here, which I can go on and on about if anybody wants to hear about it. Um, we, we work together for 20 minutes and then we do the action together and then we do the dialogue together, which is you talking to me asking me questions about your creative process, what we don't have time for in this format is, um, I won't be listening to your work and critiquing the work that you've written or work that you're working on. Okay. It's more about process. So questions like, if you say, um, I have trouble starting, you know, a work. It doesn't have to be a play. It can be a novel, a dance piece, whatever you're working on. Right. Um, I have trouble starting. How do I know what I'm done? How do I get those voices out of my head to shut up so I can, I can keep working? Questions like that about your work and your creative process are welcome here because, uh, it's going to help all of us, uh, keep working in these, uh, difficult, difficult times. So, um, things like that. What else? What else? What else? That's all, um, so we got, we got Audrey and we got Miranda as our moderators to help us out. Anything else they need to know, Audrey, Miranda? Totally. Um, so if you are on the zoom call itself, you can ask questions by raising your hand. And I don't mean physically. I mean, there's a button on your screen that says raise my hand. It should be under a participant tab. Please feel free to chat me if you don't see it. Um, and if you're watching the stream via howl round, you can actually still ask questions on social media via the public theaters, Twitter, our Instagram, and also on watch me works Twitter, which is at watch me work SLP with the hashtag howl round versus H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. Um, and we'll get those questions to you. What if you've raised your hand on zoom? I will call out your name when it's time to talk and I'll unmute you. I got to unmute myself. So, um, I'm getting ready to work usually during watch my work that I do live in the lobby of the public theater. I use a typewriter, but I'm using a notebook today. Interesting. Not a pen. I'm going old school. Um, so, uh, here's the timer. I'm going to start it. Everybody ready? Got your shoulders. You got your body warmed up and shit. Okay. Everybody ready? Here we go. Great. Okay. Start working. Let's see. All right. That was 20 minutes. That was 20 minutes. So, um, how'd everybody do? Did everybody do a little something? A little something? Little something, something, right? Little just like, you know, you just got, you know, whatever, right? You do a little bit. Good, good, good. That's the, that's the basic idea, right? So that was the action part of the show that we're doing. And now we're doing the dialogue part. So if any of you have any questions for any of me? I see Melania has her hand up. I'll unmute you. Hello, Susan. Hi, I'm Melania from Miami. You're a Melania from Miami. Melania has been tweeting or doing Insta-chatter whatever we talk on our show for, for high. That's so great. We've never seen each other. So, but regular when we do it live in the lobby. Hey, oh my gosh, how great. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. Thank you. They are tough times, you know, and having this is so wonderful. So thank you. Oh, thank you, Melania. So glad to see you. Do you have a, do you have a question? You've always have really good questions. Oh, thank you. Yes, I have a question. I have, I can see my characters. I can picture them and I have a lot of stories about them from the past, like backstories. And I can know their ideas. But what I get stuck with is when they have to go to action. There is something there that when I begin, something, I know that they have to have some kind of desire and someone have to oppose that desire. But what I, I find that they are very rich in my mind. But when I go with them to something that they do, I feel that it's very flat and I get stuck and discouraged. And then I get in this tango situation where I think a lot and you know, it's the pandemic in my mind. So, so, so you got really rich characters, right, rich characters, and you know so much about them. Yeah, when Melania goes to write them down or write their actions for them, like what they're doing. Yeah. That's when you you feel that it's very flat. Yes. So they get stuck and I get stuck. You know, something, right, right, right, right. OK, now I hear you. I hear you go again. Keep talking. So, yes, that that's what happened. I don't know, maybe happens to be usually in these moments that everything is so uncertain, you know, and I am homeschooling triggers. And it's a lot. If I am noticing that it's even worse. So what happens to me is that I think that they have a story and when I get to there, it's a good idea in my mind, but I can get into, you know, in in in this situation where they can interact and yes, action, something. Yes, I don't know what to do and I don't know what it is. So sometimes I get very discouraged about that and I try to lower my bar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we talk about that, Laura in the bar. And I write every day and I am here. Yeah, yeah. Yes, so my idea is I know that is something that I have to get through. But technically, I don't know what what is happening. It's maybe they are very maybe they are more than persons than characters, you know, that with a lot of psychological situations that I can show or what it is. So I would like to know what you think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. I have several thoughts. One is I noticed when you talked about your writing, you had two interesting modifiers, if you will. OK, the characters in your head were very rich. Yes. And interesting, you could say. The actions that you thought about for them were very flat. Yes. OK. So right. So there's a so you were creating already a, you know, like great characters, not great action, right? Yes. Right. OK, so right, right, right. So what we want to try to do is remove both of those ways of describing our work for a minute. OK, OK. Not because the characters in your head aren't are not rich. Mm hmm. But my guess is that the actions you're thinking of for them are not flat. You see what I'm saying? OK. So we're going to. Right. Talk to the hand, whoever's talking to you, your characters are so rich. The characters actions are so flat. OK. OK. So so make an attempt to do that and just say I have characters. Uh huh. And now you're getting to the action. How do we choose actions for our characters, whether it's a novel or a play or a screenplay or a teleplay or whatever. OK, so I have this theory. I make up shit all the time. You guys know, you know, Melania, because you've been listening to the you've been tuning into the show. But it's like two points make a line. Did we talk about that already with your. With your. Maybe, but I would like to listen again. OK, it's OK. It's OK. It's a theory in geometry that I sort of spin out and make it work for creative writing. So too, it's a it's a it's a it's a truth in geometry. Two points make a line. You know, you have a point A point B, you know, and you can can you see and you draw and those two points will make a line, right? You can draw a line from one point to another, right? OK. OK. Same goes with. Dramatic writing. Two points make a line. So you have somewhere where the character is. Yeah. So your characters, let's say her name is Josephine. Josephine is in New York. She wants more than anything to. Well, it was just to say be in a Broadway show, let's just say. So here she is. Here's where she wants to be. The line that we're talking about now is a line of dialogue. You see what I'm saying? What a character where a character is and where that character wants to be more than anything. I want something right is going to help you create lines of dialogue and actions for those characters. OK, so if our character Josephine wanted to be in a Broadway play and she had say wanted to act in a Broadway play and she had no acting experience, right? What's something that she might do? Go to a theater class. There you go. Right. Now, now, yeah, go to a theater class now. You notice we're not judging the quality of your idea. Yeah, we're merely saying, yeah. All right, let's see it now. So Melania, let's see Josephine in a theater class. Right. OK. You see what I'm saying? We just so we just we just let go of the judgment for right now you're in the writing phase and we talked about it yesterday. Yeah. Anything goes, everything grows with. Cyan, I think his name was in Virginia. He was on yesterday and the two kinds, you know, there's when you write, it's you're in the writing phase. Anything goes, everything grows. You want to just let yourself. Right. OK. OK. We're not we're not we're not critiquing. We're not editing. And then when you edit, you take out again, you're sort of discrimination and you're going to cut and trim and edit accordingly. OK. OK. Yeah, I need I need to do that because it's me and my sensor here. Yeah. You know, but not only writing in life. So yeah, well, and also your home school, who's homeschooling? Oh, yeah. OK. So those of us who are homeschooling, you know, that's an added like. Like WTF, like what? Yes. And we all know that teachers don't get paid enough. But now we really know. It's like, oh, it's like, oh, my God, you know, it's horrible. But but yeah, we have to we have to. So so, Melania, what I would ask is to make a like a list. You can do it on paper. You can do it on in your on your computer, whatever. Names of your characters. What they want more than anything. Just have like one, keep it simple, one thing for each character. Josephine wants to be in a play on Broadway, you know, whatever. You know, that's a silly, you know, but whatever, you know, right? Yes. And then what might be some of the things that they are going to do to try to get what they want? OK. Then you're generating a list of possible scenes. OK. Right. Yes. And just put in those scenes. And your task is to allow yourself to write. And sometimes these 20 minute segments are very helpful because. You know, you just write fast, try to write really fast. You got to be kids at home, you know, right in the morning, maybe, or you come to this every day, five days a week, you know. Yes, yes, yes, I learned from you. And since you told that, I am trying to do it because it's so so good. And for me, I feel good about myself, you know, that I am doing something for me. So great. Yes, great. I'm so happy to meet you, you know, in person. You know what I mean? Me too, me too. Very happy. You know, we had a joke at Watch Me Work at the Public Theater every time you would call in and stuff. We'd be like, oh, it's Melania, Melania Trump. You know what I mean? And I'm so glad you're not. Although if she were here, you know, we'd help her too. That's true. Yes. But I am the real one. I say that. I am the real one. I know you. I know you're the real one. OK, amazing. So the next person we have with the hand up is Andrew Martini. Hold on, unmute. Andrew, are you unmuted? Yeah, I think so. There you go. Hi. Hi, Andrew. Hi. So my question is I feel like I've had some really great experiences in like writing workshops or classes where I really thrived off of the feedback from other students or from the person leading the workshop. And I've been having trouble sort of trusting my own instincts as a writer when I'm writing on my own. And I was just wondering if you had any advice for trusting your instincts or, you know, does it ever get any better? You know, do you start trusting your instincts more? Or, you know, just what was your advice for that? That's a great question, Andrew. That's a great that's a great question. Sometimes it's tricky for me when I have a lot of like really smart people around giving me notes, you know, and they're smart and they mean well and they want, you know, the thing I'm writing to succeed and all that. And they give me a lot of notes. And sometimes it's like it's a real old song. Nobody remembers about me. I'm sure like everybody's talking at me. Can't I can't hear a word they're saying. If you don't know it, it's from the soundtrack of. Anyway, a movie that I will remember a minute, not Urban Cow. It's the one with John Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Anyway, too many voices in my head, you know, and Andrew, sometimes if you've taken a lot of really wonderful writing workshops and you have really wonderful teachers. It's great. Sometimes they're teaching you to listen to them. What I'm trying to teach you guys is to listen to you. Which is slightly different, right? And this is why this is such a great question. So it gets easier because what you're going to start doing is you're going to get better at doing what we talk about. Melania, talk to the hand. Right. I mean, sometimes look at. I have these little things here. See these little orange things. You see these are these are these are not, you know, right? So they go, you know, how these work, right? Yeah, the the earplugs. Yeah, right. They're amazing. Don't go outside to buy them. Right. Unless, you know, you own a hardware store downstairs. Stay inside and and, you know, if you know, you can get them on Amazon or whatever, or if they're on strike. I don't know. Anyway, earplugs, they help you. Listen into the sound of your own head. OK, you got to get in touch as often as you can, Andrew, and anybody else who has this issue with the sound of your own thoughts. Do you have a meditation practice, Andrew? I do sometimes to help me before I go to bed. I usually meditate sometimes to help you go to bed. OK, Andrew. So I would suggest stepping that up a little bit. Especially now, right? Now is a great time, right? You're not going to be, you know, you can you can you can meditate for what do you do? A certain amount of time or what do you do? I it's a it's a color meditation. So I go through like four or five colors and then they trigger certain emotions or feelings I'm supposed to focus on. Yeah, it's been a wonder. OK, could that be something that you could also use in the morning? Or something? I mean, would it? Yeah, it doesn't have to be sleep related. OK, OK. And is it is it long or is it kind of bite size? I mean, is it like five hours long or is it just? No, it's pretty sure. Yes, pretty bite size. OK. So I would suggest I mean, everybody get a meditation practice going. Andrew, you've already got a sort of technique that you like. Those of you who have a technique that you already like, double down. You know, if you only use it to go to sleep, that's great. But you can also use it, you know, first thing in the morning again. And I don't get money for these, but you can't get them on Amazon. First thing in the morning, I put my timer on. It's 20 minutes. You can meditate for five minutes if you want, especially if you're home and people five minutes a day. You get up maybe before your kids, you know, and just sit on a comfortable. I'm looking because I have a meditation cushion. It's over there, but you can sit on your couch with, you know, a straight spine, eyes closed, you can put your feet on the floor. If you can sit in some kind of lotus position, great, it's not necessary. You can just breathe. Eyes are closed, you're just breathing. You don't need a fancy mantra. You don't need to go to a fancy class. You don't need an app or whatever. Meditation practice, Andrew, will help you get in touch with your inner voice. OK. Yeah, that's something that you're going to be working on. You can even say to yourself every day, I want to get in touch with my inner voice. I want to get in touch with my gut feelings. OK. Yeah, thank you so much. The more writing you do, the easier it will be to stay connected with that. OK. Great. OK. Thanks for the question. Thank you. Thanks. And the next person we have is Raven. Raven, are you unmuted? Yes, I'm unmuted. I'm muted. Do you guys hear me? Yeah, yes, I can hear you, Raven. OK, hi. So I guess my dilemma is I I've been working on this piece for two or so years. And I've kind of like I've hit many walls, but I'm at a new wall, new color. And pretty much I feel like I know like I know why I wanted to write this story. I was really excited about it and I still am really excited about it. But I don't know what I want to say about this and I feel like however I end this play, because I'm like about two thirds along the way. And I feel like however I end this play is how I feel about this. And that feels very like I have such a big responsibility there. And it stifled me in writing. I've like I write every day, but I I've started writing a bunch of really cool other things, but I want to finish this. So, yeah, I don't know. And this is yeah, this is something I really care about. And I feel really frustrated by my inability to really articulate like what I'm trying to say about this person, this this person. And by this person, I mean these kinds of people in the world. That makes any sense. Mm hmm. So that's a great question, Raven. I would say how many. So you said you're two thirds of the way through. Yeah. And you've been working on it for a while. Yeah, I also I had a reading with my family and I realized they really like people always receive it well, and then it strokes my ego. And then I go, oh, I'm like, I'm a good writer. I don't need to write it like I don't need to do anything. And but I felt like it was plot points, if that makes any sense. Like, you know, the like, like fluff in between the points. I didn't feel that. I felt like every scene was like super functional and you can feel it. Well, that's good. I mean, that's not that's not necessarily bad, but you're not finishing it and you want to and you and you said and you what? I'm sorry. I said I should should fuck should, baby. There's a great you want to. That's what we're talking about now. Right. You want you want to. And that's why that's why it's important to you. And that's why it's important to me because it's something you want to to to accomplish. Right. Yeah. And you say correct me if I'm wrong, but you you're having difficulty finishing it because you're not sure about what you're what you're saying with the piece. Right. OK, I've written a lot of things. And I'm yeah, I've written a lot of things. I've never ever so far really thought about what I'm trying to say. So if that's helpful, they might not be. If not, there's another there's another person. There's a quote like from either Emerson or the row or somebody or maybe neither of them. I know by going where I want to go. That's a horrible bastardization of that line. But the idea that you don't need to know what you're trying to say or in Ernest Hemingway, here's a better one. If you want to send a message, go to Western Union. So the idea that we have to have, we have to know what we want to say, like, like, but here's a great thing I want to say, Black Lives Matter. Now, that's not a play. It's a it's a truth. It's a slogan, you know what I'm saying? And if you don't have to figure out what you want to say, you have to you have to develop your characters and tell me a story. I do know with everything I write, what I want to show. What do you want to show your audience? Raven, what do you want us to see? You know what I'm saying? A lot of times people offer critiques like, yeah, what do you want the audience to leave with? I'm like, you know what I mean? That might be a valid question to critics and producers and people who are going to invest money to put on your play or your your to develop your movie or whatever. But for the creative artist, I think that's a less important question. I think it's very important for you to decide what you want your audience to see. What do you want to show us? Not what you want to tell us, because if you're going to tell us, I think you're better writing an op-ed for the Times or Slate or Salon or something. You know what I mean? I don't like any of that. Well, I think op-eds are great and wonderful. But I think plays that are, you know, yeah, are a little like, you know, I think the works of art are much more interesting than that. This is my opinion. This is not some or some rule or anything. This is just me talking. OK. So I would suggest finishing it. I think you're putting obstacles in the way of your finishing it. And I think you need to tell us how many pages you think you are going to need to get done, how many pages are you away from the finish line? Probably like 30 to 40. Great. 30 to 40. So that's 30 to 40. So if you wrote like, you know, two pages a day for like the next two weeks, yeah, would you kind of be done? Maybe two pages a day. Yeah. I mean, that's really freeing what you what you're saying about, like, not even considering what I need to say or this responsibility. I put upon myself. If I think it's wrapped up in your need to be told that you're doing the right thing or our work before it's done, it's because we need pats on the back. Don't rely on your family or whomever to give you pats on the back before they're warranted. If you were running a marathon, right? And you're like your your squad came out like, my 15 let's have a party. Wouldn't that be inappropriate? Wow. You know, when you cross the finish line, they're there for you. They put the blanket on you and all that. And they're like you party. Yeah. Yeah. But why are you partying at mile 15? Yeah. Right. Girl, you got to cross the finish line. Two pages a day or one page a day for 30 days. What else are you doing for the next 30 days, except staying inside? Yo, yeah. Dan's like, yeah, right. What else are we doing? One page a day. That's all. Just one. Get across the finish. Don't show anybody the play until then. Keep the lid on the pot. Don't seek praise from like, you know, whoa, do you like my play? Oh, please stop. Right. Yeah. Come on. Now's the time. Now's the time. Oh, look, look, more of the time. You can do it, Raven. Do you see most things? Do it, Raven. We'll be your squad, your squad will be dancing with you when you cross the finish line. I love the mile 15 metaphor. Yeah, thanks, Mom. Yeah, right. Mile 15 metaphor or, you know, right? Yeah, it feels like super me. I'm like, look, this is a great scene. I bet I bet you could cry. OK, that's OK. Yeah, that's OK. That's that there's nothing wrong with with meeting a pat on the back or encouragement. That's why we're here. We're giving it in the appropriate context. I'm giving it so that you can cross the finish line instead of so that you stop it. You know, look at me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. And you're gorgeous. Don't worry. You're gorgeous. So come on. So can you do one page a day? What can you do? I sure can. I mean, I'm doing one pages of every other thing to avoid. OK, play. So do one page a day. Do you have a printed out calendar, like a paper, you know, just, you know, you know, online, you can just print out a calendar. I mean, yeah, I don't have much else to do. You don't have much else to do. It doesn't have to be fancy. Just print one out, one page, you know, one page, you know, one sheet of paper calendar, you know, or draw one by hand. Don't make it fancy and just put. Yeah, check. Give yourself a check mark. If you're into that, I'm really into that. Me too. I like that. OK. Yeah, yeah. And then you can give yourself appropriate paths on the back. Yeah. Right. That's appropriate paths on the back. Like my kid when he says, I'm a genius because that's what kids say when they're in the third grade. I go, no, you're not. Just relax. Just just do your homework, yo. You know what I'm saying? You don't have to get swelled head. You won't be able to fit through the door, man. OK. Thank you. A page a day, a page a day, a page a day. We will be here. We will be here to go like, OK. Yeah. See, everybody's cheering you on. Look at it. Look at it. Thank you, guys. OK. All right. Thanks, Raven. The next person that we have is Rachel. All right, Rachel. Are you unmuted? Yes, I am. Hello. Hi, Rachel. Hi. So I'm actually a stage manager, production manager type from the Pittsburgh area. And I've been starting to bite slowly since I have nothing else really to do. But my biggest hurdle right now is letting myself switch from the management brain to getting, oh, my gosh, what can all these boxes? Can I take off instead and going with more creativity, being more flowy and accepting of that? Do you have any tips for that? Yeah, but I love I love that you're trying. So you're trying something new, which is awesome. I'm not new, but, you know, it's like a different way to be creative, a different way to be great, which is really, really great. I would say, you know, sometimes we try things that are kind of new. It's helpful to lean on something that you're really good at. So you mentioned these boxes, like ticking off boxes, right? I mean, we just told Raven, Raven can make a calendar, you know? So I think you should, it's funny, they say creativity is all about flow and inspiration and all that, not always, sometimes about ticking off boxes. If you could make yourself a calendar and go, okay, today I'm going to, and think about your creative process, like, do you wanna write a play? Is that what you're thinking of or screenplay? Yeah, I typically work in theater, so that's typically what I know. So I'm just trying to go into like a one act play, very simple, like 30 minutes. Great, great. So let's break it down into what kind of pieces. So we're gonna think of having a calendar again, right? And this is something that you're good at already. You're good at making schedules and getting things done on time. We're gonna lean on that heavily because that's a skill that you already have, okay? Okay, so day one, you can say, okay, I'm gonna like free write for 20 minutes and think about my character, right? Day two, I'm gonna try to think about what my main character might be, who my main character might be. Day three, what does my main character want more than anything? You see what I mean? And each day, you're only writing like 20 minutes, you can check off boxes, right? Day four, what's standing in her way? You know, this is kind of, I mean, it's kind of weird if you break it down like that, but if you think of really great plays and you kind of break them down like that, they can be talked about in kind of a simple way like that, right? Which doesn't mean it's gonna be a simple play, right? No, right? Day five, is there like a big moment she has? Like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll never go hungry again or Pamela, you know, to be or not to be. Does she have a big moment where she like loses her shit? What does that look like? You know? Yeah. You were some other characters. That's a week, then you go like day seven. What am I afraid of? This is just free writing stuff, you know what I mean? Yeah. Okay, and you can do that with every single character in your play. That'd be awesome, yeah. And you can check off these boxes as you go along. And see how it accumulates, right? Yeah. Right? And you're looking for that thread of the story to come to you. A character that goes, come on, Rachel, this way. Stories over here, follow me like that. And then you're following her or him or them or whatever, you know? Right. And it's fun. That's so cool. All right, thank you. Because I'm so used to being so like rigid and being like, hey, stop developing. Like we need to do this deadline. So it's very much a weird twist, but I like it. I'm excited. It's fun. It's fun. And keep coming back here because we can keep talking about it and this community is supportive. Awesome, yeah. Thank you, SOP. See that? Raven's gonna be cheering you on. Thank you. Thank you, Raven. I'm excited to be here for this play. Thank you. All right, we've got about three minutes left. Do you have time for one more question, SOP? What else am I doing? I'm just sitting here. All right, China, we're ready. We're gonna unmute you. Oh, should I? Am I unmuted? You're unmuted. Yeah, wait, am I unmuted? Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Oh, I'll get over it. Hi, so really quick. So I've been reading out loud. I've been going to like watch me work for a while now and I'm restarting my play because one woman showed, we don't need to talk about it. We got three minutes. So I wanna know the top three checklists for tone for different characters, if that makes sense. Like, I feel like when I read it out loud, sometimes it sounds like we can be on the same page and we're different motherfuckers. So it's like, you can't all sound alike. I mean, we could, but I think you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's great to see you again, China. I know you've been, you've come live. China, but it's not like China. No, I don't care. It's fine. Hi, thank you. It's China. I love everyone. But China, so get grounded in what they want. Because, you know, if like, you wanna go to the store and I wanna say your name right, we're gonna be saying different things. I'm gonna be like, China, China, China, China. You're gonna be like, okay, hazmat suit, check, you know, wipes, check, you know, glasses, check. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna be saying a whole bunch of different things. So again, like we said to Melania, you know, two points make a line. Right, yeah. So what characters want really defines what it is that they say and what it is that they do. Even in waiting for Godot, right? They're waiting. I get it. You know what I'm saying? So just get more specific about your characters. If they're all sounding alike, then either they're all the same person. They are. I just feel like when I'm reading it out loud, like the writing is different, but the sound is like maybe we don't all live in the same household. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no. I'm just trying to understand your question. Well, just get specific of what they want and maybe that'll help. Maybe. Okay, I mean, thank you. Okay. It's 5.59. One more or no? Are we late? Yep. We can do one more. One more, quick. All right. Lili, I'm muting you. Oh, yay. I'm so glad I'm the last question. Thank you for doing this. I love you so much, Mrs. and Lily Parks. I wrote my question down so I wouldn't ramble. Okay, so a lot of people have asked questions about their main character and their characters and their voices and tones and it's all been crazy helpful. So I'm writing a plan and I do not like my main character. Like I love, like he's just the fucking worst. Like he's, I feel like, you know, is it, I feel like maybe too preachy. I think you were saying that. And I'm wondering if he's, he's interesting. So I don't think that he's one dimensional but I feel like I'm like getting that like, ah, hey man, sort of like anger and aggression out on this, this character. And he's sort of becoming internalizing like all of that. But I feel like, yeah, it may be a little one dimensional. And I'm just curious as to how I can like take that character and allow for him to exist in a way that's real instead of one dimensionalism. Like, yeah, like he is this person or he represents this versus, yeah, that makes sense. Right, we're right. Like, like you want to do maybe what, you know, I don't know, Shakespeare did with Richard III. Make him like, wow, cool guy. Have you, have you, have you, well, no two things, Lily. One, he's a, they, he, they're a part of you. Okay, cause where else is it coming from? And have compassion for that part of you. That's two things. Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, and three, walk around in their shoes, be them. Get out, get out, just get out of yourself. And be your characters. You gotta be your characters. If, you know, so you're gonna be this character that you don't like, but they're gonna be things about them, him, that you find likeable. I mean, everyone, what's that line? Everyone's a hero in their own, in, you know, everyone's a hero in their own mind, you know? I mean, we can think of some ridiculous people on the public stage, not the public theater stage, yo, but the public's world stage right now. And you know, you know the crazy, yo, motherfucker, they need a hero, and if you, if he were in a play, you know, there'd be something about him that would be like, huh, interesting. Because while there is no I in team, there is a me and enemy. Hmm, yeah. And what a lovely place to end, watch me work today. I knew I would get to fit that in somewhere. Thank you. Amazing. And if you want to, as a reminder, if you want to sign up for the rest of our sessions, you can look at publictheater.org and you can click on, watch me work and we've got signups for the rest of the week. We'll release more signups on Friday. Thank you guys. Thank you. You've made my day fun. I know I can't. Thank you. See you tomorrow. Those of you can make it. Thank you. Thank you. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Wash your eyes. Wash your hands. Moisturize. And write! Get your work done. Yeah. One page a day.