 smart. Yeah, so this is what's my work. I was thinking as we go into the summer, if you guys and you guys online are interested in the weeks to come, because I'm going to be here but I want to make sure that people are interested. So the people and you guys here and people who are out there could tweet it or tweet it. Notify us so we can engage. I'm going to take a few weeks off here and there and I'm going to make sure that people are interested. I'm going to release an email blast to people. You know how you get jessie or somebody? You, you sit in front of the table. Okay. So this is, can I eat them now? Are they on? No. Oh, okay. It's okay. No, wait. I'll just have to, I feel like I'm in a still life or, or I quality. What are the names of Tiberius? Whatever their names are. Anyway, this is watch the work. This is my part from the log in public theater and so what we're going to do, this is a play and we're going to do the action first by working together for 45 minutes and then we're going to do the dialogue, which is you guys here talking to me about your creative process and your work. And it's also a free writing class. It's also a minute the action for free writing class. But so that's what we're going to do basically. If you want to contact me out in the internet, so if you want to contact us now and we will answer your question live, Patty will give us the information. You can tweet your questions to at watch me work SLP hashtag new play. At watch me work SLP hashtag new play. And maybe some people are on Twitter. Maybe they aren't. And if they aren't, we'll figure out another, another idea. If they aren't ready now, I'd be a better, you know, just like fire a question or something like that. Because I'm on Twitter and, but I'm not. There's no Twitter account. Then that would be weird. That would be weird. I know. What is everybody thinking of right now? I think there's some tragedies in the world right now, but there's also that elevator thing. There's an elevator, right? Right? They could be in here. We could. Who would you want to be? Oh, okay. Jay-Z. Jay-Z? Oh, that could be Beyoncé. You ain't got much to do. You just fall back. That was bad. That was bad. Talk about, like, sisters, like, stick to games. I'm not. Oh, man. You can see what's really important. In life, in general. No, that's just because we can really, to really think about the Nigerian girls as like, too pressing. So we have to think about it. Oh, like this. Yes, yes. Well, do you have a lot of work to do? We do. I'm sorry. I know we could spoof an elevator. We could spoof it, like, now. Like, at now o'clock. You would get a lot of views. Can we, can we, like, can we... No, no. Jay-Z, can we take an elevator? Take an elevator? Maybe next time. Later? Next time. Next time? No. Oh, but that's old news. That's an old news. That would be great, though. Yeah, you have to be so honest, because I'm too like that. Right. You have to be honest. You know, and I can hold the camera so you could be Jay-Z. There it is. You have to be, like, up in the corner. Yeah, right. Up in the corner. You could be the security guard. Oh, good. Like, serious writing business. Right? Starts now. Yeah, right. 40 minutes? Yeah, let's do 40 minutes. We just put the last five minutes talking about it. What? Something is silly. Because... What? It's not actually... I was on my watch a day. But I needed to be my life. You won't let it ruin your... No, I needed to be my life. Okay. But not really. Not really. Not really at all. I know, I can't even do my... I don't know what to do. 40 minutes. 40 minutes. I don't have to do like 40 minutes, because y'all... 49.3 seconds. 49.3 seconds. 2.5 seconds. Black and white. Y'all crazy. Y'all lucky to be getting it over. That's a bit of a second. I'm sorry. Then there's the head of the man who kidnapped the Nigerian girls. Because he's the same man who said that he would kill Margaret Thatcher. Six months after she was already dead. So that's who we got. Oh, the world is starting on itself. That's what's happening right now. Okay. Oh, sorry. 39 minutes. Oh. Here we go. Here we go. Time to get serious. Right. It starts now. Work. Okay, it works, duh. She's acting. I got a gay face on. I'm acting my entire life. I'mensity. I'm typing. 40. 40. 40. 30. 30. 40. 40. 40. 39 years to live. Yeah. I think we could... I was just like, let's just take my phone and do it. Forget Jake. We just need your body in the elevator for me to swing out. I think you kind of hold them. You've got to be the superior guard. You know what I mean? I mean, I can edit them together. Right. Oh, I have this one. But then, you know, I'll just write it out sketch wise just as a means of having corrections. And then we'll just post it on the wall of the elevator that is not going to catch. So we can know what it's supposed to be done. He's like, I'm ready. I'm ready for my clothes. Is that like a Venshi jacket? Yeah. You know, close up. It's a diesel. You know, who knows? Not able. Anyway, so onto the seriously. So we have a question from the Twitter. I don't change YouTube. So what do they, does anybody have a burning question? I kind of go to Twitter. That's good. What if I'm on the outs with my way trying to make noise and sense and power, but I fear it's crap? Go on or scrap? Oh, wow. That's like a crap. Yes. These, these, right? Power, but I fear it's crap. Go on or scrap? Yes. Wow. That's like less. I know. Go on or scrap. I know. Right, right. Yeah, you had that. Yeah, Lily was asking, I saw my question last week. Amy Peterson, where is she from? She's from, she's from somewhere. Yeah, I know. It's okay. It's okay. It doesn't matter where you're from. You're in that place where we all tend to go. The place, what I'm writing is crap and what I do. And it's hard. It's hard. I would say, you know, continue. She's from Iowa. She said, she says she's from Iowa. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. She's from Iowa. And maybe you know some people. I know in Iowa, a lot of people who write his workshop out in Iowa, they grow a lot of fantastic writers out there and you're probably one of them. And I would suggest going over it. I would suggest going from is there a way if we haven't already gotten to the end of the play, then try that. Just some exercise. Alright? Get to the end. That's all we see. And if you need to, if you get in the middle of a rewrite, maybe put it away for a couple of days and come back to it. And if you print it out, pick any page at random and rewrite it. And just like, maybe get on with it somehow to sort of get back into it. I would say, but I would say definitely, definitely, definitely continue. Definitely continue until you're done. But I think, I hope that's helpful. I would say continue until you reach sort of an end point, meaning you get to the end if you write in the first draft or you get to the end of the rewrite and maybe ask some friends who are nearby to read out loud for you. That's helpful until somebody here a couple of weeks ago read your work out loud. It might make you like it more. And find one thing that you really like about it and try to grow that. That's also very helpful. I was telling someone that in my class this semester, find one thing that you really, really like and grow that sometimes that's very helpful. And putting it in a way for a couple of weeks and coming back to it. Lots of things, but continue. So we won't let you abandon it. We won't let you abandon the play. You know, that's, that's, it's an option, but it's not an option. I'm going to exercise right now. And we'll wait to exercise that. Well, this week we had a discussion with my playwriting professor that Amy Baker who gave us really sound advice as far as coming out of grad school, out of the grad school program playwriting, which, you know, I'm kind of on the same boat as you as far as what that even means, but it's like, the, but the advice was more sound for people who were beginning their careers a little bit earlier than I am. So I'm feeling some anxiety around like she said, something to the effect of it took her five years after I think. I want to, I want to say it's not, she got a BFA at NYU but her grad somewhere else. Okay. She got her degree somewhere. Yeah, somewhere, yeah, somewhere else. That's been great. And I feel like she said it was five years after that. And while they, like she's younger than me and while that, you know, it feels comfy if like, if I were even in my earlier 30s I would feel more comfy with that but somehow it struck me it's terrifying. For things to really pick up and to get productions and things like that if I should choose to stay in New York. Right. And so it's like, I guess my question is how do I quell my nerves? Right. And not focus on the five year mark and try to enjoy the process of writing and actually getting, I don't even know where there is for me by the by. Like I don't even know what I want there to be. So far none of this has been anything I've planned at all. And so it's like okay, let the universe do it or drive myself crazy for five years. Just doing, trying to do everything in an attempt to hit or whatever that means. So because I know your career trajectory was, it was not typical. Right. So I didn't have that. Right. Yeah, that's a good question. So it's tricky because you said you don't even know what it is for you that you're trying to get to where you were trying to get. So and what would happen if you don't reach where you don't even know if you want to it's like saying I'm going to walk out of my house and walk for an hour I don't even know if I'm going to walk for an hour I don't even know where I want to go but I'm going to be nervous walking. So I mean you might want to develop a game plan that might put in some parameters and guidelines and game planning and all might, sure by increasing anxiety in the day at least you know what you're going for. Instead of like I don't even know what I'm doing and I don't even know bonus for five years I don't even know what happens in year six what happened in year six for her she sat down and put her feet up on the table right okay so she said it took her five years to actually get like a solid production here and I think her career kind of took all five years after the basketball process right but I know also the politics of our careers are going to be different this fall so it's like I'm almost afraid to name the things I want and that's always been an issue for me like even applying to grad school I didn't think I deserved to apply and so I think now that I'm here I don't deserve to I have that I don't deserve to be successful so it's like I have to always overcome the next level I don't deserve so maybe that's just what this is and maybe I just need to name the things that I want because I think that's I think it's time to agree and I think it's like they won't have to you don't have to put them on billboard or an elevator you know what I'm saying you don't have to put it right in an elevator or at all right you don't have to tell right but you might want to tell yourself what it is that you're going for even if it's I like a production here in one of these theaters one of these ten theaters either in the city or somewhere else yeah you know I like a casting but I like a production one of these theaters I mean that seems to be yeah because otherwise I feel like you're just and you're anxious and you're thinking five years you know I mean so there's no I think the five years thing I think you can throw that out the window I can just say I want to production one of these theaters I want to read one of these theaters I want to get into these groups I want to do this and this and that I think that's a good thing to do instead of benchmark groups and you can say five years if you want and you have to decide what's going to happen after five years and I'm going to move to L.A. or D.C. really I never say five years actually it's just it's not what you realize when you're here someone else is talking about her career where you're going oh that's not me so I'm going to not have any guidelines because that's not me so let's go suit me and then you build it accordingly you build your game plan according to what suits you I mean which I'm sure what you're doing so just write it in a notebook or whatever and start with this year by the end of this year I would like to practice someone said I was teaching in the programs and someone said I need to develop these skills when I graduate because then I'll develop them now develop them now so we graduate so develop the skill of planning you can go by oh wow one man I did it like good jazz I've also taken two that if it took many makers five years she put those five years in yeah there's something to be said we're not giving up too soon yeah it may take you much less than that yeah one would hope talking about age don't worry about how old you are that's true yeah that's a really successful artist I've got started I don't know I don't know why I think of myself so welcome to the club it's great it's in the grass it's it's like I want to enjoy this and I don't want it to be this grace to the finish I always get to this point where I have to talk myself down on the ledge about where I'm from or where I think I shouldn't or what I think I shouldn't and it gets a little I heard some stories writing is a career it's a life when you're feeling that you can do something live your life go out and do things those are the things that you tell me about that's another thing she said in our class discussion was that she's like I don't think about writing a lot at all she was like I just when I write I write I just walk around think about other things there's that so I'm kind of transitioning from directing my own work to other people directing my work which is great it's the dream but I'm wondering if you have any advice on checking my directorial stuff and working with my director knowing when to let him do his thing versus talking about what I envisioned when I wrote it or how I did it last time because I since I'm primarily a director I have a lot of respect for what directors do and I don't want to yeah and so I want to let him do his thing because I know him and he's very talented so I don't know how you work with directors but do you think there's like when are there times when it's better to speak up than when you disagree with the director Liz two weeks ago it went really well it was great thank you she's great too now this is a different play and a different it got into a festival and a different director and it's a play that I've directed twice already and I don't want to direct it ever again why do you want to direct it again? a couple of reasons first of all for me it was always directing was as a way of writing it I thought that I needed to direct it in order to write it and now that the script is basically set I'm happy to make it with someone else's problem I always believed in my experience that directors and playwrights need each other that it's that other people's ideas are going to make it better compromises and disagreements are going to make it better but and I really prefer directing other people's work to directing my own for various reasons so you've had your experience with it you really feel good about getting it all off because you have really strong ideas having directed it twice you said you have a really strong idea of what it should be what it should be you're not really sure what it should be and now you're writing someone else's and you come in and then probably do you have any kind of record as to what you did before do you have a videotape? and have they seen it? no, I've never watched it you've never watched it it was also a difficult experience the second time I directed it not related to the script which is a big part of why I don't want to right that's interesting and I think that the production I don't even think that it's not like the tape is bad I just don't I haven't watched it I would say I would say tragically this is how I animation it this is how I see it you're inviting them in so that they can express themselves visually and you want them to feel like they can have a really guidance and you're you're not giving them that job kind of a thing so I would say tragically this is what I think when it comes down to the lines or when it comes down to the voices of course that's true when you're going to have to do some rewriting while you're putting it up you can also say if it just doesn't it's something that's not working and you've already figured it out already you can say well this is your idea what do you think always ask it do you think this might be interesting this is what I would or make a list of things you'd like to see again in the show and you go clear before you get on the show and I would say let the director as you know let the director read because if the actors are sitting there wondering who they're just listening to you or them or you or them that's going to be kind of messed up so you have to really if you're really going to have it off you just step back and allow them to be the front person and you're going to be it's like you go from what in a band to put up with the awesome guitar play you know like you too you're going to be in the edge or maybe you're going to be the bass player or maybe you're going to be the drummer you know so if you're not going to be the front person you're necessarily right now you're going to let someone else it's tricky it's tricky but be clear before what I'm saying about what you want did they see each other before? no they asked which of us chose each other and I offered it to get specifically known each other he directed he was assigned to direct a short piece of mine last year and that went really well so you like it so you get someone that you really admire hand it over good question put it in doubt Chell you don't have to say everything everything comes about you really don't you have to get your opinion on everything okay good question welcome back you have a question? sure I'm pretty new to the world of writing I've been a performer for a long time and I'm experiencing a level of phoneability that I have never experienced and it's terrifying world of phoneability what's your name? Kathleen so what do we do? how do you handle how do you keep going? how do you let other people read your work and continue? right how far along are you? pretty far along how many pages are you almost finished with? yeah how many pages? well it's a series and I have seven of the eight right and we're doing a reading Sunday night oh good, okay let's go work on really really really you're fine who's reading it? myself and a bunch of other friends friends, where are you reading? in a studio in midtown and who will come? people who advise on the production people who advise on the production? yeah producers or what do you mean? a producer, well she's directing okay I'll be directing okay and a producer it's for the web right and an editor is coming possibly a sound person an editor a film editor yeah the composer is coming and they've never heard it? no and you're reading on Sunday? yes four is there any way to do a reading before you do the reading for people who have never heard it before? possibly is there? I don't know I'm available, I don't know about anyone else I'd have to ask we can meet in my parents place beforehand it's for actors so that means do you do it? I need two other people I'm just saying you'll feel a little more comfortable if you do it for maybe a smaller room where the stakes are as high a smaller room how long will it take to read? a couple hours? one hour try to see if you can do it before even if you do it on a day before Friday just do a quick fast read through you won't feel so like you know it's really fun right it just makes the whole experience unnecessarily difficult if you can somehow do a reading a couple days before there are only four actors and it's under an hour pull something together get two more friends and just sit around a coffee table in your apartment Friday night, Thursday night read through even if it's not all finished you know and then on Sunday when you have a reading just feel like, great, I heard once I feel good about it I feel a little more relaxed it's just part of your practice what happens is writers, when you do more writing you start to hear in your head so you don't have to have those as many energy steps for this first time you won't have to be so critical it's great anybody else? what's your name Amy? Amy is here from Iowa Iowa is not on thank you thanks Jamie behind the camera thank you guys for coming here we go