 Wednesday, it's the 15th of April. I don't think taxes are due today. So that's kind of a good thing, I think, but don't hold me to that. I'm just repeating what I've heard. I'm Susan Lee Parks. I've been doing this show for 11 years, mostly in the lobby of the public theater and also in theater places around the world where I spend time with the audiences, helping them, encouraging them along the journey of their creative process. And this is how it works. Well, just a little thing. First, thank you to the public theater who's been helping me bring this to life for the past 11 years. And also thank you to HowlRound, who's come on in the past few years to help us livestream and certainly has come on to help us create this beautiful online community in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, which everyone should know is called COVID-19 because it came to light in 2019 and not because it was number 19, which someone said recently in a position of power. Anyway, this is how it works. Basically, we work for 20 minutes and you can write or do whatever, write on whatever you want, write on whatever project you want, or do any kind of work that you are interested in working on. Work for 20 minutes, creating the action of the show together, and then for the time remaining, about 40 minutes, sometimes a little longer. Hope someone's okay. We, I answer questions about your work and your creative process. What we do have time for is plenty of time to get into conversations about your process, but we don't have the bandwidth for in this format. What we don't have the bandwidth in this format is for me to offer specific critiques about something that you have worked on or written. Okay, so just in, as long as we talk about process, we'll be able to keep the conversation that's gonna be helpful to everybody. Anything else, Amber? Tell her. Oh, I have things. Hello, everyone. If you would like to ask a question during the questions portion and you're inside the Zoom, please click the raise your hand button. It should be in the participant tab. That's more than likely on the bottom of your screen if you're on a computer or laptop. If you're on an iPad, it's more than likely at the top of the screen. I will see that you raise your hand and I will call on you and mute you when it's your TV. You'll be able to ask questions via the public theaters Twitter and Instagram. You can also ask questions via the Watch Me Work Twitter which is at Watch Me Work SLP. Be sure to use the hashtag HowlRound. That's H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. And that's it. I know your spiel so well that I can pretty much almost perfectly time it out. Okay, I had to grab my guitar because today I'm gonna be working on, I'm gonna mute, of course. Okay, so we got our timers and here we go. All right, I thought that was right. Was that right, Amber? That is right. Okay, are you keeping time also? I am, I don't do it as high. I should lift it up. You should lift it up. You gotta get it in the frame, as they say, in the business. Keeping the frame, okay, yeah. Okay, so that was 20 minutes of some work time and now we're gonna, for about the next 40 minutes or so, entertain some questions. Who's got a question? All right, it looks like we have a question from Ms. Vita. Hey, Vita. Hey, how you been doing? Good, good. Thank you. How have you been doing? So far, so good. Yeah, and we never got the story about your eyeglasses, which I really would love to hear sometime. Okay. Yeah, you were gonna tell us and it never happened. Okay, but I'm writing because I'm writing this, I'm writing a few things at once and so I'm so relieved to know that I'm not the only person who does that, but one of the projects is really big because it involves, it's larger than I tend to write. I tend to try to keep things small with a protagonist and antagonist. Maybe it happens in a day. I sort of try to keep it under control. This is an event that actually happened. It's really serious. It's one of those. And I have my protagonist and my antagonist. So I have a lot of it sorted out, but there's so much information and there's so many people. And I'm not gonna do it where you could recognize who they are. I try very hard not to do that, but I don't wanna leave some of this out. Clearly I'm gonna have to have a few different stories. I've eliminated some big people. I just said I just can't do this much, but I'm just wondering like, how do I maintain control over it if it's not my usual thing? Like I feel like it's like the water level is like all the way up here, even though I know what I wanna say and what they look like and the whole thing. So, well, so you're growing. We talk about, it's a time of growth. I mean, sometimes it's, we do the same kind of thing over and over and over and there's a comfort in that. And sometimes when we branch out and do something that's different, right? It can be like unsettling and weird and feel odd, right? And kind of feel maybe more difficult than something we do often and with great ease. So congratulations on trying something that's different. It's really great. And you just, I mean, if you want to, if you know the story you wanna tell, then allow the characters who are helping you tell that story be included and the ones who aren't helping you tell that story, you know, save them for another project maybe, you know, or certainly not this one. Yeah. You know what I mean? You know, there are, there are, think of all the thing plays and all about the Revolutionary War, for example. You know, there's all different ways to tell it and there are millions of people involved and not everybody is in every single telling of a certain maybe historical in that case event. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like you just decide, you know, I wanna focus on, you know, the character of who is this? Jane, you know, here she is. I know she's actually humidifier for her guitar, but it's okay for right now she'll be Jane. We're gonna focus on Jane and it's gonna be her story. And so her journey, Jane's journey as she goes through the story is gonna be the thing we're gonna be focusing on and Lucius over here, wow, he's so amazing. He's so great, but he really doesn't have anything really to do with Jane's story at all. So we might put Lucius on the side there and say, you know, maybe next time around or maybe we'll tell a story next time all about you. Cause right now it's Jane's story. You see what I mean? Or you find a way that Lucius is going to somehow impact somehow, whether it's directly, you know, their friends or they know each other or whatever or parallel metaphorically, he's working on, you know, this level and she's working on this level. You can see my props here. You know what, but do you see what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I do see what you mean. I just think, I guess there's also this struggle with like, well, in reality, these people were really important in the real, you know what I mean? Like I've made up a lot of stuff. I, in fact, I made up a whole part of it that is not what actually, you know, I did a lot of that work, but I'm just wondering what you do when you feel this obligation, like, oh, well, I should really, I really have to, I mean, in order for it to get really dark and for these things to happen that way, then I have to tell this part of it in that part. So do you just do it anyway? And then take it out. What different things? Number one, in reality, it really happened that way. But you're, unless you're doing an historical piece or some kind of factual, you know, document, then reality, you know, is not the most important thing. You're creating a piece, I think, right? You're creating a piece. So in reality, I mean, like some people say, well, they're writing a story about their life. And they say, it's got to happen this way in my play because it happened that way in life. Well, okay, well, then that's limiting. But if you want to do it that way, that's cool. In reality, you put reality aside and you focus on the story that you want to tell, which means that as you're doing, you invent, you know, and you practice the cool thing, discrimination, which is not the discrimination that makes those of us with any sense want to vomit and holler. It's the discrimination to know what you should leave in and to know what you should leave out. Uh-uh, pumpkin, I'm talking. Oh, hi. Hello. Hi, hi. Hi, hi. Aw, so cute. Yes, oh yes. We make him cute in this family. Okay, goodbye. Yeah. But you see what I mean? What to leave in and what to leave out. What belongs in your story and what doesn't. And if a character is necessary, if Lucia's character, he's necessary because he's gonna take it to that disturbing place that the story has to go to, then that would make him necessary to the story, Vita. It's, you know what I mean? Right, right, right, right. Then he's necessary. But if Sandy over here is someone interesting, that, you know, okay, Sandy, maybe next time. Your story is gonna magnetize the elements to it, okay? Ah, yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Vita. All right, next we have Sahar. Sorry, there. Hi, yeah, I'm here. Hi. How are you? I'm good. I'm fine, Sahar. I love your background there. That's pretty cool. Thank you. That's not my house. Oh, darn, all right. That's in Cuba. Oh, cool. Hi. So my question is, how do you know when you're done? I've been working on two plays and pre-pandemic. I enlisted my students to read them. So we did a few readings. And my question every time was, is it done? And I just, I don't know. And I was wondering like, how do you know when you're done? And then what do you do if you are? Good questions. Good questions, Sahar. Now, done would look like, I mean, that's good. That's what I really wanted to know. If you're done, would you wanna send it out? And is that kind of what you're feeling? What would you like it to look like? What would you like your next step after writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting to be? I mean, I would love to see it come to life. Sure. Yeah, so send it out for there to be more readings. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. So when you had your students read it for you? Yeah. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So you teach at a college or a school? Yeah, I teach at Columbia. And you had your students read it? And how did that feel when they read it? Oh, it felt really great to finally hear it outside of my head. Right. That felt really great. It was also, I mean, every reading, I felt like I heard something else that I wanted to work more on. Right. And when I came to the end of both pieces, like one reading, I was like, yeah, I'm satisfied with this ending. But I think during another reading, like two of the readers were like, well, maybe you could end it like this or you could end it like this or what happens if they were to do this? And then I started thinking like, oh, maybe it's not finished. So I went back and forth. I felt like sometimes I was like, yeah, this is the end. And it's not like, it's not going to be resolved in any way. And I don't wanna resolve it. And then I started thinking, oh, but there are more possibilities. Yes, I could write this scene to end it. So that's how I felt. Like I had like different feelings every time. Right. So you have to just sit with yourself. I mean, it's great to get feedback, especially from people who want you to succeed and all that. But at the same time, you wanna know for sure for yourself. Otherwise, anybody with an idea is gonna, you wanna be the strong flame in the windy city. You see, you know what I'm saying? You know, the wind's coming, but you are focused, because anybody on anything you've ever written can come in and say, hey, it should be different. Oh, okay, okay, maybe it should. You wanna know for yourself. You wanna have your primary relationship is with the thing you're writing, right? And that should feel, you should give that the work, the spirit, a feeling of safety or it should feel sure that when it talks to you, you're gonna hold, you're gonna have the back, you're gonna have your plays back in a way. So you're not gonna save you go to a Sundance or you go to a theater that they do a wonderful workshop of your play with awesome actors and great dramaturgs and everybody's got ideas. You're gonna be just open to everything and your play is gonna say, hey, what about our relationship? You see what I mean? It's kind of like dating or being married or being in a committed relationship. You know what I'm saying? You walk down the street with your SO, right? I mean, hopefully your head ain't, look, you know, who are those people? Oh, look at that. Oh, wow, ooh, wow, ooh, right? I mean, hey, hey, beautiful people, attractive people are all over, but you are in a committed relationship, right? So you understand what your play needs. So you need to have more conversations with your play. Okay. Okay, and decide this is the end. I like it. Okay. I'm good. Moving on. And finished with plays and even screenplays, teleplays, films, all that, you know, we know that finished is just maybe, I'm finished on this level. And then I send it to some producers and then we do workshops and then we do this, you know, there are many levels, you know, I mean, even in a teleplay or whatever. So there's lots of, you know, workshop notes, rounds of notes and all that that will keep happening until the thing is maybe produced or filmed or whatever. But you have to decide. So you've got an ending, stick to it. This is what I like. I like this ending. Yeah. I mean, think of any play, think of Hamlet. Do you know Hamlet? I mean, not personally, but you know Hamlet. Oh, it could have, you know what? He could have gotten married to Ophelia. Why does she have to drown? Now that really bothers me that she had to drown. Drown herself. I mean, gee, what does that say about her, right? I mean, she should have gone and, you know, I mean, women these days are heads of really important countries that are doing very well in response to the coronavirus. Why couldn't she have been the prime minister of Denmark, right? I mean, that would have been an interesting ending. You see what I mean? And you go, yeah. Yeah, it could have been, actually, maybe I'll change it. Instead of saying, no, for my play, Ophelia drowns herself. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah. So not, you know, stick to your, you know, guns, not your, you know, stick to your, right? Yes. What does it say in that play? One of the screw your courage to the sticking post. You know, do you see what I'm saying? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Sahar. I think next we have question from George. Hi. Hi, George. Hi, George. How you doing? All right. Thanks for taking my question. I appreciate it. Oh, we appreciate you. Well, thank you. Mine is about the process of actually getting the work done. I find that with a lot of my full length plays, I never start to write until I know the beginning. I know the ending. Okay. And I know two to three critical moments that happen along the story arc. Okay. But the rest of it, a lot of times is there for me to fill in to see which way the characters go. And hopefully everything stays the way I planned it. It almost always does. But I'm just wondering if that's something that's common. Have you dealt with that sort of thing where you've got a few points in the play that are the play to you and you have to fill out that arc? Sure. Well, I think more importantly, George, how does that work for you? Do you enjoy your writing process that way? I love it, but it's a little terrifying sometimes. Terrifying because you don't know everything or terrifying because why? It's terrifying because I don't know everything. I've always started with my last full length. I tried to map out, I tried to do an outline of where I was going. Because it's a process other people have encouraged me to do. And I figured, okay, I'll give it a shot on this one. Normally I don't. For me, a lot of the joy is looking at what a character has just put on the page and going, oh, that's interesting. I didn't know he or she was thinking that. So, okay, let's run with this. To me, it's epiphanies and discoveries. And like I said, sometimes it's a little terrifying because I will labor over a beat or a scene for sometimes a couple of months. Trying to figure out a way to genuinely and organically make this thing work. So, I think so far. Yeah, I think it's, I think, I think regardless of the process, I think that's what we all do. You know, we're all laboring over beats, sometimes for long times, making something work genuinely and organically. There are many ways to do that though. Just like there's many ways to look if you're human. You know what I'm saying? We're all genuinely and organically being people here. We just look really different. People's processes look really different. I talk a lot about outlining when people are often stuck and they're scared to commit to a story point. Doesn't sound like you have that problem. You know, you find your story points and that is your outline. Some outlines have three beats, beginning, middle, and end. That's an outline. To me, some outlines have 23 beats. Some outlines are detailed, some are not, but there's still a lot of discovery. So I think, I mean, it sounds like your process works great for you. It sounds fun. It sounds like you're getting a lot of work done. If you wanted to change up and do something else, go for it, but if not, you know, keep going. Like you're doing, I wouldn't change. It sounds like you're having a good time. I love it. It's the most guilty pleasure I've ever had in my life is just getting into one of these things. I live it. I breathe it. I do nothing else for, you know, a year sometimes. That sounds great. It sounds great. No, it sounds like you've got your method and you should stick to it. And, you know, I like to try different things, you know, for different projects. It's all good, right? Yeah. Thank you. Okay, cool. Thanks. Thanks, George. All right. Like next we have a question from Phoebe. Hi. Hi, thank you for taking my question. I'm wondering specifically about how to make your work unprecious. Like I'm finally working on a play that I've been threatening to start for like years and years. And I think what's held me back on it for so long is that I love the idea so much. And I already have like such profound affection for the characters that if it turns out anything other than exactly how I'm imagining it or like how excited about them, I'll be like crushed, you know. Oh wow. Oh wow. It's like, it's like dating again. Everything's like dating. I know you meet that person and you're like, oh, they're so amazing. Oh my God. Right, it's because I really, and if it, and I don't wanna get involved because if it's not, then I'll just be in a puddle on the sidewalk where we first kiss. Yeah, so I think that's on like getting past that. So what do you think? What do you think you have to do, Phoebe? I mean, I think I just have to do it. Yeah, because there's no other way to know. And I mean, quite honest, I might think of the world, Phoebe. Right, I mean, think of the world. Sorry, I just heard myself say that sounds nuts. But think of the world. I mean, whoever, whatever created the world probably didn't turn out like they thought, you know. America, think of America, Phoebe. You know, right, right, right. So there's a lot of disappointment involved in creation. I mean, I'm a parent. You think when my kid is, he's wonderful. Sometimes he didn't really feel, you know, right? You kind of have to dive in, you know. Any relationship, any act of creation involves a huge amount of courage, perseverance, effort. You know, you gotta work, you gotta put a lot of time into it. And you also have to be okay with the thing that happens. Yeah. And that's part of being a real artist instead of a control freak, masquerading as an artist. Those of us who, again, the catch and release thing, the spirit sends something to you, you do your best work and you let it go. Because if it's a play, it's a play, right, Phoebe? Okay, great. So it's a play, which means the spirit sends it to you. You're gonna do your work with it. You're gonna let it go. Who are you gonna let it go to? Actors, right? I mean, I'm guessing. And a director maybe and producers and costume designers and all those awesome people who are gonna do different things. Or if your play gets done in different cities or whatever or on different platforms, they're gonna do different things. And you're gonna have to be flexible because you're an artist and we roll with it, right? If you're a control freak, you're gonna, well, try to control every moment, which is not really, I don't know. It's a different way of creating. There's plenty of artists do that. Samuel Beckett, right? One of his plays done a certain way. Edward Albee. They want them cast a certain way. They want the actors to look a certain way. They did that, you know. I follow, you know, God. You know, which means you create it and hope for the best and, you know, go on to the next world that you're creating, which is probably why there are many worlds because they haven't really turned out so great. Well, you know what I'm saying. Yes. So do your best work. Do your best work and let it go and go on to the next thing. Great. Okay, but by doing the work, you have a chance of getting it the way you want it. By not doing it, you don't have a chance. Yeah, thank you so much. You're welcome so much. Good question. Thank you. Thanks, Phoebe. We don't have any questions at the moment. I love not having questions. Oh, never mind. We have a question from Ms. Crystal. All right. Crystal, are you New Jersey? Hi. Hey, Crystal, how are you? How you doing? I'm good, I'm good. I've been working with the things that you told me about as far as trying to build this story. And I have 20 different plots and I have characters, but it's weird because I still see like, I don't see the faces of my characters and I still don't feel like I have a strong enough plot. Like I still struggle with having a beginning and a middle and an end or just something to just start writing a story. I still feel like I'm in handwriting mode of trying to figure people out, trying to figure stuff out, but it doesn't feel like the answers are coming. I can't hear anything. Does that make sense? Yes, yes, I hear you. So you've done like you're 20, what tell me, tell me what you've done. You're 20. 20 like plot possibilities, the dumb, the dumb. The dumb ideas are any of them interesting to you? You don't have to tell me what they are, but are there some on that list that are interesting? They're like, they're like, they don't like call at me, but there are a couple that are like, okay, I guess this is something that's possible. Wait, can you do 20 more? Can you do three more? You see what I mean? Just keep throwing stuff at the wall. See what's interesting. That's one thing. Number two, you don't need to see your characters' faces to write your play. Sometimes it's better that you don't because the face will be inhabited by, if you're fortunate, thousands of faces. You see what I mean? Yeah. Think of any play, think of again, of Hamlet. I know we're using Hamlet to death today, but Hamlet, how many thousands of thousands of people have played Hamlet, you know? Right. So they might have, Shakespeare might have had a face in mind when he wrote the play, but it's not necessary to write the play. You do have to hear the voice and I'm trying to get you to hear the voice, which means you haven't yet struck water. If you're divining, you know, like a divining rod, you know, that action? Divining rod? You don't know what a divining rod is. Oh, look it up after we're done. Knee, you know, it's a stick. I can't show you. It's a stick shaped like a V. Yeah, I don't have a V anyway. It's a stick and it's used to find water. Okay. You haven't yet found where the water is yet, maybe. Right. So that the sound of the story is more interesting than the sound of you telling yourself that the story is not interesting, right? You wanna capture your imagination. So you haven't, maybe you haven't found it yet, you know? Write a few more. Think of some more stupid ideas. It could be your story. Think of some possible endings, maybe, to go along with them, you know? Do some more just, you know, beginning, middle, and end, basic little outlining things. It could be fun. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's interesting because I feel like I've always had a face or something, a loud voice or... Well, you say, you always had a face or something or a loud voice. So what I'm saying is faces aren't necessary to write. That's all I'm saying. If you're looking for a loud voice, I'm trying to help you find a loud voice, a voice that's louder than yours. Yeah, louder than yours, telling yourself that your ideas aren't good enough. You see, right now, that's the loudest voice in your head. None of these are interesting. That's the loudest voice in your head. I want to help you find a voice of a character or a story that's louder than that voice that says none of these ideas are good enough. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. Okay. Okay. Keep digging. It's like you're digging for an underground river. Keep digging. Dig mini-holes. Dig around the yard. Make a mess. Get lost. Get confused. I'm definitely confused. Good, good, that's okay. That's okay. Get lost. What better things do you have to do today? Right? That's true. Okay. Yeah. Keep working at it. I will. Okay. I know you will. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thanks, Crystal. All right. Next, we have a question from Terri. Terri, are you there? Maybe. I'm here. Hey, Terri. Hi. I was trying not to be all aggressive and try to be on every day, but I'm glad I got a chance to ask another question. Thank you. Thank you. So I am not a playwright yet, but I write stories that involve a number of characters. And I'm trying to learn how to effectively transition through dialogue, move through dialogue. So for example, if it was a play, then everybody, you're gonna have different people saying the character's part. But when I'm writing this story, I've just seen them to be struggling. I have a small writing group and we meet a couple of times a month. And one of the things that has been recurring is I kind of got confused in the story as to who was speaking. So any suggestions? Right. You got it. Okay. You got confused in the story. Are you writing or in a play that you're writing? In a story. Right. So eventually I would like to turn some of my stories, I think that they could be play material. No, no, no, we write all things. We write all kinds of things. I certainly write across genres. So I've written a novel, I've written all kinds of things. But for me, it's always, for me, it's similar across genres, meaning two points make a line. We talked about this a little while ago in geometry. One of the rules in geometry, two points make a line. This point and this point are gonna create a line between them. And with character, it's the same thing. Right? So two points make a line of dialogue. Where the character is, where she wants to go can help you figure out what she wants to say. Okay? Now, because characters in plays and short stories and novels are going different places and want different things, their lines of dialogue might have different textures. Also, they're coming from different places, right? If you have a mom who's in Walmart looking for an elbow macaroni because she wants to find elbow macaroni and you have a single guy in Walmart looking for love, right? Because he wants some love, right? Okay, he wants to hold somebody's hand. Yeah. Well, you're gonna sound different, right? Yes. Okay, okay, and that's what I'm saying. So because they want different things, they've come from different places, they're hoping to go to different places, right? Okay, so just drill down and get more specific with your characters. And that can help you hear them focus on what they want. Remember, two points make a line. Remember where the character is and what she wants and write out of that desire, okay? Okay, thank you. Yeah, sure, and it should work for anything. It's work for me in screenplays, teleplays, novels. What else is there? Plays, you know, it works in a lot of different medium. Okay, thank you so much. Thanks, Terry. All right, looks like we have a question from Carol. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, and you've got your video working. Got a little thing? Okay, I'm so glad I was able to do this. I'm working on something right now. It's the story that I've worked on from time to time. Whenever I'm finished with the project, this one is right there tapping me on the shoulder saying, write me. And it's a wonderful story based on my great uncle. And when I tell his story to people, it's amazing. And when I start to write it on paper, I can't quite find the viewpoint, I guess. Is it a one-man show, him telling the story? Is it him telling me the story? Is it me trying to figure it out? And I'll write it. It keeps coming back periodically for many, many years. So I know I want to write it, but I'm kind of stuck in, at the moment, I wrote the story out as if he was telling it to me. And it started to come out for some reason, to get it free, it came out in rhyming at times. I don't know what that's all about, that's new. Anyway. That's fun, that's like fun. But Carol, so you said, is it a one-man show? I mean, you also write novels, so is it a novel or? That's possible too. Right, so why do you write a short story? Sure, why do you feel like you haven't found the way in? What is feeling wrong about? I think it's because I'm wanting it to be a show, a play. Oh, okay. And I hear it as, and I can see it that way, when I see, when I can see it, but when it becomes too much telling and not enough action, then I'm thinking maybe it's not a play. Right, right, but there's lots of different, you know, as you know, there are lots of different plays. I mean, there's, what are those, there's The Weir, there's Wally Sean's plays, which are a lot of people talking, I mean, you know, long monologues about, you know, which are really cool. So there are lots of different ways to make a play. It can be a long, it can be a, you know, 50-page monologue if you want. You know, I mean, that would work. It just has to be satisfying to you. Uh-huh. You know, I think, you know, the one man show sounds good. It just has to be alive and full of, you know. But wouldn't it be so much telling? And what would the person be doing? Well, that's your job, Carol. I know, I'm not asking you. I'm not asking Carol. No, Carol. Carol, he's gonna be, I mean, sure. And you know, I always say, what is he doing aside from talking? Right, exactly. Or maybe a different way to frame it is, what does he want, Carol? What does he want? You know, okay, maybe he wants to tell the story. What else does he want? He wants to tell the story because then it will affect some change. Right, it will affect others. He wants it to affect other people's life. Okay, okay. Or he wants to figure something out maybe. And by telling the story, he's gonna figure something out. I mean, these are, you know, so what is he, what is he doing? Maybe you can give him a series of activities, actual activities, physical activities to do on stage, which are, which people make it exciting. But also the narrative has to have a drive. Yes. You know what I mean? Even Ulysses, you know, James Joyce's Ulysses is a novel, granted, but it has a drive. Even though, whoa, all over the place, it's got a narrative drive. You know? Right. And that's what rivets the reader and the writer too, I think. It magnetizes the energy, as we were talking earlier, you know? You want to magnetize, we were talking to Vita, magnetize that energy through desire is a great way to magnetize the energy. What does the character want? What's he, why is he talking? You've been at cocktail parties, Carol, where people just talk and talk and talk. I think, why the fuck are they talking? You don't want your character to be like that. No, no. He desperately wants to explain something or figure something out or, right? Right. Hey, so just dig around and find out what he wants. Yeah, just keep digging and listening. The voice is there, it's coming. It's coming, eventually it's going to... No, you always find it, Carol. You're going to find it. Oh, thank you anyway. Thank you always for doing this and it's so nice to see you and good luck going through all this. Yeah, you too. We're right down the street. Family. Yeah. And miss you. Likewise. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks, Carol. It's 6-0-1. It is, it is 6-0-1. We'll definitely do this tomorrow. We'll be back. Yes. Just a reminder, everyone, you can sign up to be in each day Zoom class at publictheater.org by 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time each day. We will email the link out between 3 and 4 30 p.m. Thank you and see you all tomorrow.