 go Monday away? We had a very nice potluck with our writers, our merging writers group. It was lovely. We love potluck. Yes. And so good to see. What a beautiful day today we're having. Right? Right. And here we are. Hi, everyone. Everyone. Thank you. New work development. Amazing people. Hey, folks. It's five o'clock. It's Monday, which means it's time for Watch Me Work. We're the me and the title is you. We've been doing this show for like 14, 15 years. We started in a little theater on East Fourth Street in Manhattan, and we quickly moved to the public theater lobby. And then when COVID came, we moved on to Zoom. And we have been on Zoom ever since. Loving it. We love technology. What we do, we do every week. We work together for 20 minutes. And then we talk with you about your work and your creative process, whatever your work might be, while we don't have the time or the bandwidth to have you read aloud or share your work. We do have plenty of time for you to talk shop, talk process, things like that. And the questions you ask and the conversations we have, everybody help everybody. Yes. Okay, new work development. What do you guys got to say? Tell us. Yeah, thank you for being here once again. Once the 20 minute work session is up, we'll ask you to please go ahead and use your raise your hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. And we'll get a nice little cue going and then we'll ask you to unmute and then we'll go from there. That's as easy as it gets. This is as good as it gets. Here we go. And interesting. All right. The eggs are cooked. Now's the time when we talk with you about your work and your creative process. Anybody got a cue? I'll find an A somewhere. Yes. So as a reminder to what Zoe shared everyone. Yes, please raise your hand using the raise your hand function. We'll call on you. So we're going to start with Sharon. Please unmute yourself. Hi, SLP. Hi, everyone. Hey. So my question is I have a solo show. I made for a commission for a one night only opportunity. I performed it once a year and a half ago in front of an audience. And and it was great. And I, I loved it. But it also felt like it was a commission and it was a one night only. And I sort of felt like me and my director, we kind of rushed and putting it together. And I have had the dream for a while of revisiting it, revising it and putting it up again. But I find myself as I'm as I'm about to begin. I am really about to begin. I start tomorrow to the revision. And I know what I'm going to do on day one, which is actually something I got from advice, you gave somebody else at a different watch me work, which is I know that on day one, I'm going to stand up, read it out loud and mark it up with what I love, what feels funky, and take it from there. But I also find myself with this feeling of like, but I already finished that I did it, I memorized it, it's done, it feels like a sculpture that's already been like fired and finished. And it feels weird to go back into it. I don't totally know. Does that make sense? It feels like it's already stuck in my head as what it is. And I also know that I want it to be something new. And I'm trying to work with that resistance. That's great. That's really great, Sharon. Yeah, I mean, there are different ways you can look at it. And I'm taking from what you said, but you can either, if it's something that you finished, that's done. And if you felt like, Hey, it's done. I'm good. I don't need to, you know, or I want to revisit it as you do, you know, we go and revisit, you know, the Great Migration series or, you know, Starry Night, or whatever, you know, you go and just look at it and go, Wow, yeah, good job like that. You don't have to give notes to the artist, you know, meaning this time yourself, right? That's not what you want to do. You want to go, it sounds like you want to go in and rework it and you're feeling resistance, which isn't coming from a feeling of it's exactly like I want it to be. The resistance is coming from somewhere else. That it's already in my head as what it is. So how do I undo this like stuck idea of it? Right. Yeah. Right. Just, you know, pour some water on it. I don't know. It's we have just to know that you, however old you are, I think you're older than the age of 12. I'm guessing, you know, we all have stuck ideas in our heads about things, you know, and if and what's beautiful about your question is we have people in the world right now who have ideas stuck in their heads about the way some people are, the way some kinds of people are and this and all that, right? And we are hoping through our our love and service and challenging as a world culture that we can move some of their thoughts around a little bit, right? So here's where you have an opportunity to do the same kind of loving service to yourself. You have an idea of something that's dear to you that you made that stuck in your head and you want to you want to loosen it up a little bit so that you can grow so that you can improve it so that you can make it better so that we can make relationships better. We do that so that we can make countries and world systems better so that we can make all kinds of things. But that's what we do. Okay, so here you are. Yay, you have this opportunity. I would say just acknowledge it. Hey, I've got some resistance. You know, you know, where you where you have places where you're where as you go through it and say, this is perfect. I don't want to change anything. Maybe that's page one, you know, and then you, I mean, hopefully, if you haven't memorized, you can take the print it out, right? Have the paper, you're going to stand up, you're going to read it aloud, looking at the paper, right? I really love that I don't want to change it. Fine, don't. Oh, but this line, I could improve. Just circle that line, you know, and maybe your first pass, you'll only have two sentences that you want to change. Then see, but the water's already starting to do its work, right? Meaning the water in your body, the water in your life, the water of your consciousness is already starting to encourage you, encourage you help you develop the courage to take steps forward to improve it as you want to, you know, this isn't somebody out there telling you that you need to fix it. This is you saying, Hey, you know what? I could, I could make this better. Okay, so be gentle with yourself. Be proud of yourself that you did the work. You know, you gotta pat yourself on the back. It's not like you're, you're, you're no good. You know, it's not anything like that. You're just going, Hey, great. I got to this stage and now I'd like to, to, to work on it. So, it's, it might take a couple of weeks of reading it aloud two or three times a day all the way through. Circling something, writing something in the margin, you know, a hands on, you know, paper and pencil or a pencil and paper are very helpful in this kind of thing. It might help to get away from the screen, you know, and do it on the screen. Get it, you know, read it, you know, it's a beautiful, you know, I don't know where you live, but it's, you know, it's beautiful weather in some parts of the world. Get outside if you can, you know, go to a park, go to a park bench, go to a coffee shop, go to the beach, wherever you live, read it out loud, you know, walk down the street and read it out loud. Get some space in between those words, you know, and know, know that you're doing the kind of work that we ask of the whole world. And we wonder why it's hard to change your mind, you know, right? So it's cool. So you can have compassion for yourself and you can have compassion for everybody in the whole world who's kind of stuck, you know, in the way that they need to go. Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, I think like who have changed my mind about and how can I relate that to this? And, you know, then you can also be proud because you will be in the world of rewriting and that's where the real, that's where the other kind of courage is, let's say. You know, people say, oh, rewriting is where the writer's really made. You know, I think the writer's made all over the place, you know, or the creative person is made all over the place every day, every act. Rewriting is the other kind of courage. You know, writing is one, getting it down for the first time, performing it is another one. That's, that takes a huge amount of courage and performing a solo show takes another level of courage and rewriting takes another level of courage, especially after something's been appreciated and celebrated and, you know, applauded, you know. So go for it. Thank you, thanks so much. Thank you, it's great. Cool, cool question. Thank you Sharon. Hi Crystal, you can unmute yourself. Hey, hey girl, how you doing? I'm good, hi everyone. I'm really good. How are you? Good, good, we're here. Good, good. So you, I took a lot of notes on what you were saying about revisions, because I've spent a lot of time away from the play that I finished. Oh, great. Yeah, a lot of time, maybe like two or three weeks. Uh-huh. Now that I'm coming back to it, and I still have to present it on the 8th. Right. It's been a little bit harder to, to, to, to see what I, what needs to be revised regarding now the research part, like the, the historical events that would have taken place in order for the relationship to work or not work, the friendship to work or not work. And so I'm, I'm, I'm also having trouble finding the right, I don't, it's that rabbit hole of like, you know, finding things but not really, it's not really, so you just keep looking and looking and you're kind of digging and digging. So I guess my question is like, how can I infuse the right historical context without compromising too much of the story? You know, still stay true to what the story is, but like, I think I'm just, I'm, I, I had, I had so much trouble writing this in the first place that it's like, oh man, like now we're adding another level to it. So I, I'm just, I'm just, I need a little guidance, just a little bit. Yeah, I, now I hear your crystal and it's, it's tricky because it involves a historical situation. What would be the idea, your ideal outcome right now? The ideal outcome? That the, the events, the events that take place in the play, right? Because I, what I've figured out is that the, the protagonist is actually their friendship and the antagonist is their society, their world. And so if I could get more of their world kind of in the, like the slice of life part, you know, like maybe they might not be affected tremendously by World War II or after World War II, but how does it trickle down to like a woman working now where she might not have been? You know, that how, how much can you, so how much leeway do you have? What, can you make up what you can't find in a book? For right now, I mean, for right now, this is again, this is all, you know, your question, insurance question, these are rewriting questions. So we're on a, we're on a road, you know, we're on a road and you have a draft, you had a draft two weeks ago and you had a draft two years ago and you have a draft today and you'll have a draft tomorrow and next week and you'll continue to rewrite it and revise it. So I think we, we're trying to get it all right all at once, now and forever and I think that's part of the problem. I think we need to acknowledge that we're in a process, we're in a process of revision and rewriting and especially plays get written and rewritten and rewritten and rewritten all the time. Even, you know, I have stories about James Joyce, the famous writer, great writer, who was rewriting, you know, in the margins of Ulysses, his great, one of his great novels, you know, he's rewriting, he's rewriting and writing. So, so we're allowed to do that. So for the, for now, since it's due soon, if you can't find what you need in some kind of history book, you know, you know, craft it for the purposes of getting it across the finish line now and then maybe find it later. Maybe write a disclaimer, you know, some of these, some of these incidents that are presented as historical are the workings of my imagination and they will be, you know, substantiated at a later date. I mean, it's a, it's a rewriting process, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. So give yourself some space and some grace to get the work done and, and enter into the workshop or presentation situation where you're allowing yourself the opportunity to rewrite, revise, get notes from your collaborative team and go forward that way. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Cristal. Thank you so much, Cristal. Rebecca, please unmute yourself. Hey, Rebecca. Hey, SLP. Good to see you. Good to see you. So reporting back on the rabbit hole I was diving in and out of and I feel like that I, I have some resolution. It, it changes parts of the narrative and, and it's okay because it's actually a more interesting place to go than what I was trying to make happen with kind of different parts of the family story that goes into the longer manuscript. So. Oh, cool. Yeah. So, yeah. So I'm, I'm now, you know, rewriting that section and, and moving into a section that more naturally follows. I was constructing, I was trying to construct a narrative that links the rise of the Black press in the Midwest with the event, the main event of the manuscript and, and my family history. And that is, there's no linkage there. So, but it's, it's led me into really, I think, fruitful reflection on, on kind of endurance and what endurance was like in the 1860s after the Civil War and choices being made that are unknowable and just from a historical context of there being no records and, and also family secrecy. So, but that family members endured and, and the ways they made those decisions that are visible is that, that I can find is important, I think, to the work that. That's what my, it's definitely important. So, so now my goal is to have a, I think I'm in draft two and a half, so to have a third draft completed by May 4th, which is the 20th anniversary of my father's death and the anniversary of when I, he started, you know, you know, old, old black men of his generation didn't always talk a lot. And so I'm, until the very end to tell you things. So, so I want to, I want to have that draft done and I'm, I'm doing other things around kind of the business of writing and it's, it's in a place where I feel like I can pitch it effectively and, and have some solutions for the holes that are, are still, bless you, informational holes that are still there. That sounds good. I like, also, I like that you've got, you've got a self-imposed deadline. I think that's really smart, you know, and you'll move toward that. That sounds great though. And then, yeah, that sounds great, Rebecca. So that's my report. Sounds great. Congratulations. Yay. Yay. Great. Thank you, Rebecca. Larissa, if you could please unmute yourself. Hi, good afternoon. So thank you for this entire awesome experience and so far. I am part of an emerging playwright program and the, the end result of it will be a production of the short play that we're writing in June, like in two months. And so, my, I'm trying to, with the writing, because we're still kind of in the writing and the workshopping process, and I'm, I'm, I'm telling a story of a very specific subsection of Jamaican family life. Very tiny subsection of Jamaican family life. And I'm trying to balance that, what it, to, to portray it accurately. I'm also trying to balance what the producers are pushing on me and saying, hey, this is our budget, like this is, this is, so we can only have this amount of actors and things like that. So how, I'm just struggling with the rewriting process in not sacrificing the, the, the actual story for what, the limitations of the production, I guess. So how, I'm just, I'm really kind of in a, in a, in a place where there's a push for me to edit in a certain way. And I'm like, but that's not what it needs to, you know, that's not the accurate. So how do I, how do I, how do I rewrite? I think is the question that I'm asking. And yeah, that's it. Yeah, I think it's a great question. I love your blue wall background. That's very beautiful. That's very pretty. It's gorgeous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's beautiful. Um, yeah, that's a great question. Um, excuse me, my sniffles, I have allergies. I've had allergies for years. I haven't bad today. Um, let's see. I would suggest that you encourage yourself to believe that the, what you're calling now the limitations, right? Is that the word that you used? I think, I figure, the limitation, I'm sorry, I think you're muted. Sorry, yeah, the needs, I was like, the needs of the budget to like, we, you know, I want to have four actors, they're like, we need three. So, um, yeah. Okay. Okay. And, okay. So, there's a couple of things. One, know that this is not the be all end all version of your play, like we were talking about. It's not a continuum. So, this is one version that you're doing for this specific set of circumstances, right? Okay. Okay. Also, so that's number one, know that you can write a, a, a three character version that, well, you can write a version that's going to fit within the, the means of this producing company. You can do that and you can write a more fleshed out for character version, for example, you can do that. That's one thing. You have to sort of, we, we constantly need to, to engage our minds in a more imaginative way. We are people who are imaginative. We're, we're artists, right? Writers, painters, choreographers, what have you? We need to use our imagination. Okay. So, number one, you're on a continuum. You can write several versions of this play, right? Number two, encourage yourself to think of what you're calling so far limitations, which you said a little earlier, as opportunities. Flip, flip the script. Flip your mind around. Okay. Limitations. Okay. Opportunities. Hey, it's an opportunity to figure out how I can do, how I can do this with three characters. Because in, at least in my experience, and everybody has a different experience, in my experience, no matter what you're making, there's a limitation. There's 24 hours in the day. There's, you know, if you have a show on Broadway, there's a budget. If you're making a TV movie for, for, for Hulu, which I mean, there's a budget. There's always a budget. There's always a, oh, we can't afford such and such, right? When you, when you get into a mindset where you're going, huh, another limitation. Well, now I won't be able to realize my vision. That's, that's the limit, the biggest limitations between your ears. And you will do yourself a great service if you reframe it and start saying, okay, here's an opportunity to tell the story with three characters. Okay, you just, you flip it around. Okay. And it, it's not, because otherwise we can I would suggest you spend your writing time on a letter writing campaign to get yourself that fourth actor. You can do that. Sure. But then you won't have learned how to work within the limitations. And the next show, if you have a show at the public theater limitations, Broadway limitations, the Atlantic theater limitations, every theater in the country, in the world, every situation, a movie, a Hollywood movie, it's going to have a budget, right? A certain star needs, it's only available for six days limitations. She's not available for seven days. How are you going to get her shot out in six days? Right? How are you going to film her, her part in six days? Always, always, always. We, you're from Jamaica, my, my step-grandfathers from Jamaica, you know, we learn, we, we are a beautiful and brilliant people because we learned to work within some limitations that are, as you know, there is some much more difficult, we're much more difficult than this. So call on your people. There's a hand of God right there. Hold the hand of God, Narissa, and say, this is an opportunity for me to, to write my play with three characters. That's ma'am. And you can figure it out, it's going to be beautiful. And then next draft, hey, you got your four characters. Yes ma'am. But ain't nobody going to turn you around, Narissa? Who are you? Right? Okay? And then it's joyful, and then it's like, okay, here we go. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Right? I mean, and just, we gotta, we gotta practice that liberation, right, with each other and remind each other, like your back, your wall, the beautiful blue wall you have in the background, reminds me how beautiful it is out there. We gotta remind each other that. So I know you can do this. I know you can do this. It's going to be beautiful. You're going to get it done on time. People are going to love it. You know? I'm just, I was just scared. I'm just scared to your point about Jamaican. I just want to make sure that the people, my people in the audience who almost never see themselves in the theatrical play, like, they won't haul me off. I know. I know. And hug me tightly, but like, not, not hugging me. I know. Your people are my people. I know. I know. And you know, you gotta, I mean, one, you know, you know, you can't be pleasing everybody. And, and you're going to do your best, and you're going to do your absolute best, and you will make your people proud. You're going to make them proud. You know, you know that. You know that. You're going to make them prouder than you know. And just, just know that you've come this far, you know? Okay? And if you have to refer to somebody, think of like, think of what's that play. I forget the name of that play. Anyway, Hippolytus, Hippolytus. Yeah, we're, you know, Poseidon, the god. He, you know, and the messenger talks about how Poseidon roared up out of the sea and took the chariot off the path and all this stuff. There are so many creative ways to have scenes and characters that you never have to actually cast in a play. You know? Oh, we do that all the time. We practice economy and, and brilliant. So just, yeah, you do it. Do it and tell us how it went. Tell us how great it was when you're done. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Narissa. Hi, Kimmy D. You can unmute yourself. Hey, Kimmy. Hi. Thank you. Apologies for yawning. I haven't been sleeping so well. So it's not anybody putting me to sleep. I'm just old and tired. So there's that. So there's my disclaimer. I, um, I came across a book. Um, it's out of print. Uh, it's about a woman who, she wrote this about, uh, herself. She has since passed away and I'm wondering where do I go to get the rights for an adaptation if someone has passed away? I know, uh, bless you. Thank you. Sumeric and raw honey. If you mix it up and suck it down, it should help dry up your nose. Uh, said. Thank you. Said the girl who's had allergies all her life too. Um, but I am, I'm just, I don't even know where to go, where to start to uh, find out where her estate even is or how to, how to go about that or even if she has an estate that would be interested in giving me that. Not, not, not, I'm not sure about that one, Kimmy. It's a great question and I'm not sure. Um, uh, you can look her up on the internet, you know, look her up on the internet maybe. There's, there might be some information about the writer there. Um, and you can do some digging on the internet and they might well have some kind of, you could call, you could contact the publisher. Okay. Okay. You know, of the book in question. Um, I'm assuming that it's, it's not yet in public domain, so you do have to make some, some inquiries. Yeah. Um, but I would start the internet, contact the publisher. It might have a, a link to her agent on the internet, you know, maybe, um, you could look on the, for her agent who represents, you know, this writer and, and, uh, yeah, kind of go about it that way, I think. Okay. Oh, that's a big help. Thank you so much. As always, thank you so much. Welcome so much, darling. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Colette. You can unmute yourself. Hey, Colette. Hi. Um, I'm going to be very brief. I read the New York Times article yesterday about Susan Lori Parks and it was, it brought me right back into this room and, um, your, your compassion and your humanity and your vision, um, elevates us all and I want to thank you for that. And it really was lovely and I felt so privileged that I got to be in this room, not to be, I know you're wonderful and all that, but it makes me want to be my better self and my braver self and, um, I'm actually, I'm pretty emotional today. The thing I got today, the question I got today, because I'm not writing enough, I, you know, I wrote, I wrote a poem, you know, I'm changing genres, but the question I got today, um, yeah, by surprise, you know, who knows, but, and I stayed in the poem, which surprised me because, you know, yeah, I wanted, I stayed and stayed in, but the gift you gave me today is where is your courage? You know, where is your courage? And I think it's very brave, um, to put the pen to paper. I really do think it is. I've been in a struggle at work with the woman who's a reading writing teacher and no one has a pen in their hand ever, um, but that's what I'm going to take away today in my life from this session. Where is my courage? And I, I want to thank you also for the way you listen because the noise in my head sometimes keeps me from listening to other people and it's just, it's a facade of fear. So thank you. Thank you, Colette. I just want to comment. I really appreciate all the things you, you said and the things you're bringing, you're lifting up for us, um, and for, for me and just to remind us, uh, and I might have shared this, I have a 12-year-old kid, you know, the culture is designed these days more, more so than when I was growing up to distract us, to distract us, um, it really is designed to distract us and we need to do, uh, what we can if we want to be focused on, on the beautiful things that we have and the beautiful things that our community can offer, our world community, our universal community, if we want to be focused on those things we need to do what we can to, to, uh, listen to as so many, you know, spiritual leaders have said that small still voice within or just listen to your gut or listen to your, your friends and, and that takes work, that, that takes some, some work, not as much as you think, not as much as you think. I, Kole, I, I love when you said pen, writing instrument in hand and this, this is a good way to slow it down. I say as much as you can take a news fast, a, stay off your gut, you know, first thing in the morning, don't be picking up the crack pipe, sorry, I don't mean to diss anybody who might be on the substance, but I'm saying that this, while it is wonderful, it's a phone for anybody who doesn't know. Do some meditation before you check and see if your best friend texted you back about those new shoes she bought, you know, you know, as much as you can and to your, your, what you're meditating on today, Kole, where's your courage, just something about my, I wrote, I was writing a song at my little band, writing a song about John Lewis and the Pettus Bridge and there's a refrain in there that goes where are you from, where's your courage, right, and I think a lot of us can find our courage in the folks who were, we are the stuff that their dreams were made on. Oh, beautiful. We are the living proof, we are the living proof and maybe all your relatives weren't great, maybe most of them weren't, you know what I mean, but maybe there was one, there was one who was wonderful, if there wasn't, there weren't any wonderful actual blood relatives, maybe there was a neighbor who was kind or someone you saw on the street today who smiled, just that is enough to get you through, just think Kole of yourself, remember, remind yourself that you are connected to not just the people you see on the screen right now, but to so many people energetically you are connected, that's where your courage comes from, you know, that's where your courage comes from and just lean on that and draw from that and give to that, living in the dead doesn't matter living or dead, you know, I was telling somebody in class today that when they had a dead character and they said, you know, the dead character was giving them things and I said and we need to also give the dead character gifts, you know, the lifeline works both ways, the love works both ways, that's and that I feel like is the only way it works and we all know that hate will only get you so far, love will take you all the way and we have to practice that, it's not just something we sit around and talk about and and we don't just talk because, you know, we're hunched over our notebooks or computer screens or in the dance studios making our beautiful things or painting our pictures and, okay, just remember you're deeply and profoundly connected to so many things that's where your courage comes from or that's one of the wonderful places from which you can draw your courage, thank you, yeah, thank you, yeah we've got so many people around us who love us, it's true, it's six o'clock, oh my goodness