 Yeah, Linda's had her, not just, not just. It's all a blatter. It's all a blatter. And if people say, that's a, you have a lot of gold. You can say, I don't. I don't know, I've never gotten rid of that for it. And wow, wow. So where's the, like, do they take it through your, they take it through your navel? Through your navel. Yes. So it's good. Yeah, they, like, three holes in you and then they pull it through your navel and your navel looks like a big smile for a while. And you're like, huh! Yeah. Oh my God. Ah. Yeah. Wow, cool. Yeah. And then it goes back to being just navel. It goes back to being just navel and I just eat without having acerbina. I love acerbina. So I did not know that that's why I had acerbina. Wow. I didn't even know you had acerbina. Well, you have to get closer. Right. It's not because of crudgy. Well, we'll talk, yeah. Okay. But we'll talk about it after a while. And, uh, hi people. So we're just talking about the, the dog ladder. No longer with us. The dog ladder. Yeah. This is the kind of thing we talk about on Watch Me Work. Okay. Because this show is all about you. It's all about you. So whatever you've got going on, especially when it's work related, but whatever you're working on, whatever, it could be a play or a movie or a TV show or a novel or a song. I'm just putting a song on a staff cloud. This is very good. Or a movie working project or a dance piece. We call it synchronized swimming. I was watching the work on the synchronized swimming today and I was like, hey, I've got a lot of work. She was like, boy, do you know how to spell a lot? Oh, yeah. Anyway, so does anybody not understand what we do here? I mean, I know it looks like all fun and games, but it's actually not. Does anybody not do you? Relatively me. You're your first time. What are your names? Do you understand what it is that we're about to do? Just so you can be in on it before we start doing it and then, or do you not just want to be surprised? Yeah. Okay, great. Yes? Yeah. But you understand what's happening. You understand that you're part of the collective dream that we're having. Don't wake up. You'll say, okay. So it's going to be okay. Does anybody else think you want some more participation? So we've been doing this for many, many years now and it's always been pretty much the same. This is about your work and your creative process. I am not lying. Okay, what's your name? Isabel. Okay, Isabel. So this is about, Isabel's creative process. No, this is about everybody's creative process. So what we're going to do is we're going to work together for 20 minutes and then we're going to talk about your work in the time remaining. So for about 40 minutes, you're going to talk about your work. So should you, anybody have any questions about your work, your creative process? You can ask me and I'll give answers and we'll have a conversation, okay? So if you're into the actual thing, this is also a play. That's why we have this thing. This is a play. That's what we teach our teachers here at school. Because the first thing we do is we create the action of the play together so we all work together and then we create the dialogue of the play together. We talk. It's a play. And what else? Anything else you want to talk about together? That's right. I'm just going to help with the next part. Hi. So if you are watching at home, you can actually tweet your questions because there's actually a bunch of ways you can get a question. But one way is to tweet it. And it's app-watching-work-slp, hashtag HowlRound which is H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. Or we also have a chat that's on the side of the HowlRound. We know you're working at HowlRound.tv. You can also comment on Facebook, on HowlRound's Facebook, or on the public theater's Facebook. We got them all. Our goal is that by the end of this, at six o'clock, no more creative... That's our goal. We never make the goal of what we try. Audrey and I, me and Audrey, us, we're going to set our timers, and we're going to get into it. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Okay, here we go. You can get the dialogue, which is basically if you have questions about your creative process, now's the time. I know it's not gel five, but I'll pretend I'm an oracle. Pretty good illustration. And then we've got snacks. There are snacks. There are delicious snacks. Wacomoli. Wacomoli and salsa. And salsa. Oh, no! There's chips. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. There's chips. There's everything. There's everything. There's everything. It's how for you. Curry and chips for you. Curry and chips for you. Okay! Anybody have a question? You have people with another card? You don't have to. No pressure. We've been side-hacking and writing about a person's stuff. So I've wanted to get back with Hopefully The brauchen, taking the time or more, in 20 minutes? I know. um well yeah that's like the yeah that's the part that you know how does one so how does one begin so if you if you've you know been a diligent practicing artist for a while and you're happy with your practice and all that and something happens and it can sideline you and you become concerned and you turn your attention to other things how do you begin again it's like that was turning away yeah sure a timer for 20 minutes it's like maybe going back to the gym maybe you know or we beginning anything like keep it simple keep it short I would say because you say yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna go out there and work for five hours you know it might be kind of hard and give yourself lots of hats on that because I think part of the thing about beginning again or beginning at all or shooting down the right or anything it's the sort of man feeling you're feeling the impression that comes we're not to not to say that that's what you're feeling but that's what I was feeling that's a charm a kind of lovely slide you know and so you kind of might slow down and you have to give yourself a lot of encouragement and you should know that those 20 minutes a day are gonna get you back on the track so really didn't even think you know what you thinking something extra, you know, so right. So there's a lot, there's a lot. And then the thing is, is that, you know, we go to parents of our lives where it's like, whoa, I have all the time, we spend all these hours writing and you know, somebody might brag about it or post about it. Look, I've just spent seven hours in Starbush, you know, writing or whatever. Yeah, and then sometimes we have to deal with other people to help other family members, or kids, or grandkids, or you name it, you know, ourselves. And the most important thing is to start, you know, and do things like, I mean, courty-shit, I mean, this is what I think, I think always courty-shit. Like, bring out a calendar, like just a page, you know, bring out a calendar, just for the month of December. Get some gold stars. Give yourself a gold star every day and you'll be right for 20 minutes. We have things like that that make you think, like, see, I'm doing something, you know, and I bet if you do it in January, by the end of January, you won't meet the gold stars anymore. You'll be feeling more like yourself, you know, but you do have to prioritize your work if it's important to you. You know, you do, and it's hard to prioritize your work. Because not only is the world maybe telling you that it's not important, but your life is hard to say. And I'm really thankful for you. About eight or five months ago, there was a deal that changed, and she gave me eight quarters. And I said, thank you so much, and she said, pay it forward. I just finished my book. Did you hear? Okay, go ahead. It wasn't enough to pay the bus driver and he said, oh, just $1.50. We both know. And I said, thank you so much. Wow. And she said that at that moment. Right. She was like, you know, I didn't have stayed with me. Right. And you set out this now. But she said, no, she said, pay it forward. She said, pay it forward. I just finished my book. Stop writing. No. No. That's sort of like, ugh. You know, but that is, it's like, there's that dream. I mean, you're really, really. If you're lying, if that were a dream, what would it mean? Right. Pay it forward. I just finished my book. Right. So just, just know that the, I mean, it sounds very woo-woo and all this shit. Oh, look, the universe is inspiring. Before you're happy. Is that a little what the fuck the universe is doing? But in that instant, in the circumstances congealed to talk to you in a way that you needed and tell you something that you needed to hear. And when that happens, we need to take that and go, yeah, okay. You know? Okay. So pay it forward. I just finished my book. I didn't just finish my book. But I just did a little bit of writing. I was like, pay it forward. Pay it forward. We're here for you. Pay it forward to me. Pay it, pay yourself. Pay yourself. You did. You're going all the stuff through. I know. Oh, yeah. But pay yourself, too. Anybody else? Okay. I just want to add to that that when you provide another segway, a trick that I used to get myself going after I haven't written for a while because it's easy to fall into a downward spiral where you're like, I haven't written anything in a long time. So I'm just going to keep not writing and getting out of that negative self-talk. I'm not even really knowing what you want to be writing about next. It's just keeping the pressure low, like not putting too much pressure on myself so that when I do get up the courage to write for 20 minutes, I just tell myself, I don't have to put this in anything. I don't have to show anybody this. This can be awful and nobody needs to know about it. And then that will kind of trigger something that's like, all right, maybe this is all complete shit, but if there's like one word in there that sparks my idea for something that doesn't feel like complete shit, then that can get snowballed into something that I am excited about again. That's great. That's really good. That's exactly the perfect word for it. That's so great. And that's really really helpful. Yeah. No, that's so helpful. You're right. You don't have to remind me of your name. Isabel. Or Izzy. Izzy. No. Izzy, you're so right. It's like, yeah, you can write something and work up the courage. And don't worry about it. But that's why I like the gold stars. Because even if there's, sometimes I sit down and turn around and there's nothing. But the gold stars like, you know, and you can activate, you can remind yourself that once you were seven years old and getting a gold star on your paper felt good. And you get out of it. So that's a great good thing. Anybody else? Yeah. Okay. Like, can you? AI. AI. So meet yourself where you are. Same, same, right. Like, be okay with wherever it is you are. And just go from there. You know, that's really important. And even if you're working on something that, you know, requires you to show up to the same work day after day after day for a long time, you still have to meet yourself where you are. You know, and do what you can. You know, in yoga we say just best effort. Just do best effort every day. Which might look to others, you know. She's the only one. Or she, you know. But so what? Fuck that. Oh yeah, actually. I know. So put this thing down. You know what I would say? Sometimes it just needs to do something creative that may not be the writing. Maybe put something that you enjoy that's creative. Maybe it's coding that day. Maybe it's drawing something else. If I get stuck writing, I go painting. Paint the watercolors really, you know. So I get creative pieces, you know. And then channel it into what I really want to work on. Did you get there? I did. Did I miss people? I don't know. I know. Yeah, it's more. Mildred. Mildred. Hi. Well, two things. I find starting off small instead of just tacking on like a big script or novel or whatever. Lately what I've been doing is index cards. I literally just write a plot or whatever the conflict is going to be in a scene. And then once I know like, OK, so this is how it's going to start. This is how it's going to end. Now I can write all the middle stuff and nuances into the bigger picture. And the other thing, I have a question for you. What are some ways that... I remember in your last workshop I was listening while I was writing. You said to just write in the whole script all the way to the end. Right. Now, I've written the ending. Oh. I'm just missing like a piece before it. Right. What are some ways that you tackle on writer's plot? Right. How do you pursue that? Right now. Right now. So it's a long conversation, but it's great because I just want to... This is my favorite thing to talk about really. It doesn't...it's like Santa Claus, you know. It may or may not exist, but we spend a lot of time thinking about Santa. Write his plot the same way. I don't know if it exists or not. It might just be an opportunity, you know. It might just be an opportunity for you to go deeper. So how do I give opportunities to go deeper? You just...if you call it something different, first of all, call it something different. Write his plot. It's a big plot in front of your face, right? It won't let you write. Ha ha, little dude, you can't write because I write his plot. That's really good. So what if we say, ha ha, little dude, I don't have an opportunity for you to go deeper with your work? Isn't that fun? Isn't that fun? That's fun, right? That's good. Okay, so maybe that's all it is. Ha ha, little dude, I'm saying slow down because you need to go deeper with your work. You need to look at something close to that guy's face. It's really fun. That's why I asked him to have his mic on. Okay? Yeah. How do we deal with opportunities to go deeper with our work? Right? That feels maybe inside. It feels like, do you feel the writer's opportunity to go deeper with your work anywhere in your body? Where do you feel it? That doesn't go good. It doesn't go deep. Or...it's a push and pull. Like, stomach flu? Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Like, ah, I just ate a good meal. Or like, hold on, I don't feel it. I ate a good meal. Okay. But your difficulty or your opportunity to go deeper with your work, if you have a part... So you've written all the way through when you get to the end, right? Yeah, you're rolling your eyes. Yes or no? Yes. Okay. But you have a piece before the end that's not quite right. Yes. Okay. So it's an opportunity to go deeper with your work. Right. So what you do, what I usually do, I would suggest making a list. I love lists. And last time we had someone who talked about lists. Anyway, yeah, check it out. Very interesting. So make a list of ten stupid things that could happen. They have to be stupid, and they have to, you know, have something to hold into your life. Right? Ten stupid things that could happen. And invariably you're going to life one of those tremendous things. And that's probably the one that you can use. Right? But that's along with what Izzy was saying. We lower the bar. So ten stupid things that can happen. And then pick one. And go with it. Okay? That's kind of a... But we write all the way to the end so that we can get an idea of what it is. Instead of trying to perfect the beginning. Which allows us to do... I can only get the first line right. You know, two of these. You know? Write all the way to the end, and you'll have a better sense of it. And that's in my experience, that's what I do. So, would that be helpful? One, we reach bring the things we call writer's block, and look at it as an opportunity to go deeper with them. That's what it is. Number two, think of stupid solutions. And invariably, you know, one of these really doesn't exist. Okay? It'll be fun. What is this? It's something that I'm learning for a time. Right. Any time. Have you done... Have you gotten all the way to the end? Exactly. These flaws are with each person, and why it's kind of created this dynamic. That they're all part of. Right. But kind of identifying... And maybe it doesn't need to have like one specific idea. Maybe that is the idea, is that all these issues are just encompassed. The idea, and it'll get there at some point maybe. Like, what's an example? Like, do you know the play? It's a play. Yeah. Do you know the play... Hamlet. Have you ever heard of that play? Yes, I do. I love Shakespeare. Dave, it's a... Right? What's a Shakespeare? Well, I don't know if you could say adaptation or if it's based on... Oh! But I don't really know what the difference is. But maybe that's like a technical question. That's a technical question. I mean, but it's a good question. So it's Shakespeare by Hamlet. Yeah. So what's the... You said what's the thing you needed to do so with Dave? You said... The... But what is it? What's the... What's the idea? The idea. What do you mean? What's the idea of Hamlet? Because I'm not sure why I know what you mean. Indecisiveness, I suppose. What's the concept of... Ocean. Yeah. Did you go to the grad school? I mean, I'm hoping to. Okay. Right. So, right. Indecis... So the theme of Hamlet, the idea of Hamlet is Indecisiveness. Right. Right. Personally, me... I could never write a play. That would... I would be so confused. Right? But I could write a play if I said, What's the story of your play? Then I'm off and running. Because that's a character who's doing shit. Right. Right? What's the story of Hamlet? I can tell you that. I don't know what the theme of Hamlet is. I have no idea. I have no idea. You know? But I can tell you the story. And for me, literature... is one of the great stories. And they're told well than all those things like theme and idea and meaning of all that fall from the tree of beautiful, great, sort of, you know, great sort of grouchies and apples, you know? You know what I mean? So think maybe of the story. What's the story? Character. You have some characters, right? Character A. What does she want? She wants her own identity. And what will that look like? Right. So what is she doing in the course of your play? So just focus on and go through each character. What are they... Character A wants this. What is she doing to get it? Character B wants this. What are they doing to get it? But I think of the play from the getter and the not. And what do they realize along the way? It sounds kind of like paint by numbers. It might be. But it's a good place to start. You see what I mean? So that kind of... So think of it in terms... I would suggest think in terms of story and less in terms of the idea of it because it makes me feel... You know what I mean? I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. You know? Ideas will come. I think the paraphrase of Sam Shepard, you know, the play is in the ideas. The ideas come out of the play and not being around. That's what he was into. That's what I'm into. Another writer. Every writer is different, you know? Is that what you said, Sam? For sure. It also grounds you in the everyday nuts and bolts of people and characters. If your play has characters, then it's helpful. You know? I'm not going to have a conversation about the play to kill a mockingbird. A new play by Aaron Sorkin. Interesting. Interesting. No, I did not. I did not. I did not. I did not. I did not because to go to the theater costs time and money, I had to get a big sitter. So I had to choose a very... You know, she's very wise. I don't know if you like yourself. But so, you know, so an adaptation. So I would say an adaptation is taking the nuts. You know, when you have the... It's very easy in jazz. You know? Jazz music. John Coltrane. My favorite things. He made a song called My Favorite Things. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. What does it sound like? Oh, it sounds like Oscar and Ross in the Hair Stay, right? It's an adaptation. You know, right? He's taking it. Then in jazz, there are things called contra-facts, which are... You know the song I got with him? Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. You know the song in Flutistown? It's the same song. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Same chords underneath. Same chords underneath. Right? One is a contra-fact. So, when you straight... Like a fucking A, is a rare for a contra-fact on the Scarlet Letter. Okay? It's nice that... If you looked at the two of them, you wouldn't... What? You know, there's a lady named Hester. You know, by the time I got down. They're in the blood, same thing. Okay? But something like when I get the Gershwin's Port of the Invest, very happily called it the Gershwin's Port of the Invest didn't have to say a new libretto like, simply for your part. You know? Yeah. You know, we adapted it. What I... I was recently hired to do an adaptation of a very famous opera. And when I told the people, hopefully they'll all come through and we'll work with them at, which is very exciting. And I told them the original composer has made the wheel. Right? All we gotta do is roll the wheel forward. I don't need my name all over it. I'm gonna roll the wheel forward. It's adapted by... But it's not a new... You know what I mean? Right. You know, it's a whole conversation about who gets licensed and who doesn't. Who wants to say they discovered something when there are people already living there. It's a whole big conversation. Which we're not really gonna have today. But I would say, if you're straining very far afield, then you're doing a riff. Or, you know, you're being inspired by. Right? And if you're following very closely too, then you're adapting. You know? That's what I would say. I would always be on the side of giving credit. Let me just do an adaptation of Dave's son. Actually, it's been opened Sunday. Adapted by... You know? Giving credit to the person who actually invented it and actually did the original work. So, you know what I mean? Yeah, bro. Hi. Hi. What's your name? Naji. Naji, hey, Naji. Hi. Thank you. Oh, you're laughing. You're producing a piece. Yes. And you're inspired to write a new piece. Yeah. How do you balance the two? So, you're doing one. You got one show in production. Yes. And you're working on it as a producer? Yes. Okay. And then this other show here is something that you'd like to write. Yes. That I'm writing. Right. I feel inspired to write. How do you balance the time? Right, right, right. You're just producing the show, taking up, like, dawn till dusk? Can't see? You can't see? I mean, what's the schedule? You're going to, when you're doing rewrites, and like, you're trying to, you know, figure out new things and the way things are working. Right. You know? Like, do you suggest that I focus on just producing and working on that show or hold off on the new piece? How long is the, when are you going to, when is your, the piece you're producing, when's it going to open? Is there a finish line soon? No, no, no, no. Oh, okay. Is there a, is there some kind of end point to the current cycle of rewrites that you're in? You see what I mean? Like, we're going to do some rewrites, we're going to do a workshop, we're going to, and then by the end of the year we're going to take a pause, and we're going to, is there a certain... This is a question that I asked you a while ago. Uh-oh. And I never, I never got a chance to get an answer. Oh. Okay. Sorry. Was it here? It was here. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Uh, because I was struggling because I was writing this new piece, but I was producing something, and it did go up, but I found myself stopping what I was writing to work on and producing, but like, to produce. But um, I really wish there was a way of working on both pieces at the same time. Well, there is. It's time management. Which is what we're going to do right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I'm asking is, is there an end point? Meaning, a lot of the projects that I work on we work to a certain place, and then we do a workshop, and then we push pause. Okay. You see what I mean? So, like by the end of the year you work with a team where you're producing. Okay. You guys are going to push pause, and there might be a two week. I get what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's when you work on your other piece. Uh-oh. You see what I mean? Uh-oh. So you don't try, I mean, unless you have, you know, that's a way to do it. Okay. And then mid-January you're going to get back with your other team. Yeah. And work for a month. Okay. And then you're going to push pause, and then jump on your piece. Okay. So you flip it like that. I love it. Yeah. Okay? Is that possible? That's possible. Okay. Yeah, and come right and see. See how easy it is. You can walk more slowly if you want. But so how, yeah, so how do we break rules? For me, it's all about listening to what the piece means. Listening to the character. Listening to the story. Right? So I don't just, like, somebody be like, break rules because they want to break rules. And that's boring to me. That comes out of nowhere. It's just like, that's more of a will of the artist, which is not as interesting as the will of the spirit, which will suggest things to you. Right? So if the character say, I want to do this, let's move that a little bit. We'll follow that. If the story says, hey, this would be interesting, I'm going to follow the story. You see, does that make sense? So I'm not willfully breaking rules just because I got to break rules and show the man that they're white men that I can't do something else and go break it. I could go there. And I could. I go there all the time. But that's not why I'm going to break a rule. Right? I'm going to break a rule because my character wants to do something different or more extra. You know? Especially when we're doing adaptations we're working on established text. You know? The writer, I feel like the writers should have lived a long time ago and they're holding your hand and saying, push the wheel forward girl, keep pushing it forward. And they're very excited if we're respectful to them. If we're not just going to kick their shit to the curb, do whatever I want to do. That's so lame. Not lame. That's actually inappropriate to say. But that's just, there are better choices to make. You know? The antagonist of your show, the theme being the antagonist. I don't know. What does that even mean? Sorry. I don't know what you mean. I have no, sometimes people ask me questions. So maybe someone else will know. So can we ask a group? Maybe they'll know. So what do you think about making the theme the antagonist rather than a character? Oh good. Say no. Great. Oh yeah. And it's very much about the disease. The action is one character being a referee. That's what it is. I don't know. That's great. That's awesome. Do you also remember? Yeah. I also do it too. It has to be, it has to be. It has to be. It has to be. But the theme and the verbatim by the person that's working on it that is being whatever you would tend for what the music is and it's still really hard to know. So you never know. Maybe it will affect your弦 and your own work. I would still suggest. If your play has characters in it, they do it. Yeah. Then, you know, ask yourself what do my characters really want and what are they doing. It'll be about, you know what I mean, and what's an example, can you think of an example and maybe share what you guys' characters are going to be? Yeah, it's one lifetime character. You're trying to find a character that would represent one being. Like two different characters. Yeah, so you're talking character now. I say find a character. So find two characters. Or like sliding doors with a palco. I don't know, I'm serious, because you know what I mean? Because it sounds like you are interested in people and what they're going through and being in my personal space to have a play, watch a play or a movie or whatever and everybody comes away thinking the same thing about the thing. And now, boo boo, you know, if people come away thinking 500 things then you've created something that you've created a feast instead of just a snack or a beer. I don't know. It's just a thought. Hey, it's going to be the new year. And think about what you want for yourself in the new year. And not just yourself, think about what you want for the world. Think about the good things that you want to bring into the world that you want to manifest for the world in 2019, right? Because we are relying on you. We are relying on you. People are still... We don't have the age quite yet because under the radar is going to be taking over the building and then I'm going to be in rehearsal right now. But we won't have dates because it's so fun and we'll have dates and we'll put them out there on the website. On the website, we'll email you, we'll tweet them. It'll be accurate. Okay, so we'll leave it at that. Okay. Awesome. Thanks so much. Happy new year.