 So check the website, is that correct? It'll be on the website, and probably, and also I'll email it out to you. Okay, so website email, you can't go wrong. It should be two weeks, but we'll check to make sure that it's all kind of accommodated. So two people, so my auntie will pass away. And that's a very great, great person that we all know. And another person some of you might not know is Gail Great, who also passed away today. And Gail Great is an actor, actress who I was lucky enough to have act in several of my plays that happened right here. So she was Lucy in the American play of the Barnsons, and she was also bully in the blood that was Shiva. And she was one of the actresses who joined us when we started doing the 365 days 365 plays. We had a table full of fabulous fabulous actors who read to her with us before we put it into publication and started the whole year-long festival. She was one of them, and she was sent through all the time, and she passed away today. So she's made it out of mine. I had to go. She's the main director, and we really missed it. So today we're going to talk about the important part of the technique, or we can think about ourselves and our own work, which is probably going to be a bit disappointing. So we're going to work for 45 minutes an hour, so those of you who don't know what we're doing, does anybody know what we're doing? I wonder why they're here or what we're doing. Sure. We're here for the first time. Does anybody else want to go upstairs for a second? Oh my god! Yay! That's amazing. This is amazing. Look at you guys. The first time here. Okay. Well, now I have to explain what we're doing. So this is Watch Me Work. This is one of the parts. This is the lobbying of a theater. And so what we're going to do is we are... This is two things at once. It's a two group. It's a meta-theatrical free writing class. And those of you who have gone to grad school or been hanging out while learning meta-theatrical means, I'm not sure I do. It's a meta-theatrical free writing class. And it's also a play. So what we do is first we do the... I have people online watching also and maybe they'll tweet in their questions and Patty is going to give us the address for that. But what we do first is we spend 45 minutes doing the action of the play, which is basically you all are doing your work. Whatever your work is. It can be writing. It can be whatever. And you guys all can also. And then we spend some time after 45 minutes doing the dialogue of the play, which consists of you all and also online asking me questions about your work. I'll say it again. You ask me questions about your work. Not you asking me questions about my work. It's you asking me questions about your work. So it's about you actually. So what's your work? The B is you. If that's not complicated enough, all you gotta do is be quiet before you start to have some energy to work. So Patty is going to give us the address for folks online who want to tweet in their questions. I don't watch me work SLP with the hashtag you play. I don't watch me work SLP with the hashtag you play. Yeah, I'm sorry. I just repeated that. I turned my brain off. Great. So we're going to work for 45 minutes and we're going to time it. And then we'll have another dialogue. Okay? And I... Just wait a minute. Yeah, let's wait a minute. Come on. What if they see that? You can get up in a while. It's not that we don't distract you in your chairs. This isn't that program where you can't pee or whatever. Just call somebody over. Just pee. You ready? Okay. Let's do 45 because... Because... Because... Because... Because... Because... Because... We give your email addresses if you haven't already to Patty. So we can remind you of what we're doing together. Okay? Here we go. Yes, sir. Excuse me. Your work. Your work. I'll do it like this. Your work. Since you have your creative process. Last week we were talking about... Like, being really specific about the back story. And we also talked about... You know that... At least it boils down to no character wants something. No, you don't want something. And then there's a conflict. So does that... So if the character comes in and gets what they want. Can you change? I mean like... Can you change? If my character comes kind of gets what she wants and doesn't get it all the way. So she comes for something kind of gets it. And I don't know what to do after. Right. She comes for forgiveness. Kind of gets it. Just get it all the way. Right. And I... Is there something else that's going on? Not the guilt shit where she's guilty of it. Okay. That's there, right? Yeah, yeah. But there's something else, sure. His shoes and characters want a series of things, you know. One thing, then another thing, then another thing, then another thing, then another thing. Okay, so that... Yeah, that's pretty sure. There you go. She might want to take her out to dinner. Okay. She might want to borrow those shoes. She might... You know what I mean? This has to be just one. Right. You're going to be a series of little things. You know, I mean... To read some plays where they're two character... Two character plays? At least in two character plays, you know, where that... where there's... that, you know, there's a story there. There's a knight called the... you know, the two knights. This is the story nine. Okay. Yeah, you know, that might be helpful. We're just in any place, actually, where we're just sitting in the same room. Because you'll see the things, you know. Is that a good sense of screen? I think there's a bunch of character plays that you can read. I'll type your name. Which character? I'm just thinking something great. I said, do you have a story? You know, I'm a best person. I can't come out to a story. I'm... I'm just... I've got to use it for... Okay, okay. So you get... So just reread the... you know, maybe try to go, I think, what does she want here? What does she want here? What does she want here? What does she want here? What does she want here? Or maybe you would be able to discover, oh, well, maybe, that thing she wants, maybe she shouldn't get it so easily. You have... You have... She'll have to jump with one loop together and then she needs 12 loops. You know. So if I can't get hard again, she can get hard again. Anybody? Do you know people? Where are you from? You're all from the same place? You don't know each other, you don't know all the others, or anything. You don't come on a bus. And he's like, blue man goes across the street. Oh, shh! I didn't think this was blue man going through. You're just checking, just making sure it doesn't happen. Yes? Stage of it? Okay. Truggling with just writing when it becomes the interaction needs, he's saying that to the set, or do you recommend the workshops? That's just great. The actors will really help you with dialogue, but they're not going to help you with this. They might not help you become a better writer. They might help you become a better transcriber of actors' dialogue. Right? I mean, they can help, right? So, they maybe don't help them become a better writer. Maybe after you got Tracy they might help you become a better visual artist. I don't know. Maybe. But, maybe a combination. Maybe eventually doing some more trouble with actors, sure, but not to come on them for dialogue, necessarily. Okay. So, maybe reading the something really great script, thinking of some writers that you really like, or some movies that you really like, and finding their scripts that are easy to find, they still want to read. Right? So, easy to find. Maybe watching some movies. You don't even have to read them. Just turn on the Netflix or the Amazon Prime or whatever. You don't know who or whatever you've got. And watch them. Just listen. Maybe really focusing, focusing, focusing on what your characters want. So, they're not going around about things. You know, they're not, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, that's not you know what I mean. They're, they should think that kind of thing. Yeah, even if it's a romantic comedy, still, especially a romantic comedy. You can't do that, you know, you know, so like, Rock, rocks and soft, panellas, you know. But, they should always be, you know, in the pocket and there. Even if they're So I would say after you've done the watching and the reading and focusing on your character's intent or desire, and I've seen all the cake as a workshop, I think, in my opinion. Yes, you've been here before, no? Nope. No? Yeah, I've stayed for a while. I get told that a lot, so. I'm learning a play about the Booth Brothers and specifically the rivalry between Edmund and John Wilkes and the role that had in Lincoln's assassination. Right. So being that it's just a really kind of large sweeping story, I'm trying to ignence as much as I can of the action, and I find a lot that I'm getting forced to use like a letter metaphor, kind of letters back and forth to this, not a metaphor, sorry, a device to tell the story. It just seems like it's getting static because it's a lot of just monologues. Right. So I'm wondering if you have any advice on how to maybe find a cleaner path through that and to move the action forward without getting kind of caught up in those? Did they write letters back and forth and talk a lot? Yes, quite a bit. So that's a real thing you're using, which could be cool. Were they often in the same room? I mean, not all the time, but sometimes. I mean, any time that they were sort of in the same place, I'm trying to focus on that and really expand the scenes there. But there's so much information from, you know, one year when they're in the same room or one place and then one year later that I'm trying to cover. Right. That I just feel like to try and get it out in dialogue then it just becomes an entire scene of just expository information. And the information is necessary for driving the story forward? Yes. Okay. I mean, I don't know. I don't see why a letter would necessarily be boring if it's, you're not just taking it from the actual letter. I mean, I'm trying to use that for inspiration, but I'm also not. Right. I mean, I'm not just a copy-pasted. Right. The letters sound kind of interesting if they're taken from actual historical documents. And what makes you think they're boring then, just a bunch of them? I mean, I think part of it is just I'm still in first draft and that's kind of, you know, a lot of it is just kind of part of my friendship, but it's like verbal diarrhea. Right, right. It's just kind of all spilling out on our page and it feels like they wonder a lot about it and getting the information out and just getting through it. You're right. So you're going to think, how close are you to taking the first draft? Probably another week, two weeks worth of writing here. So finish it. No, look at it. I mean, if you, you know, your first person pulls you out, you know, look at yourself as a tail. Throw away. You know, you should be like, no, no, no, no. We'll finish it. We'll bring it to turn and then we'll take a look at it and see if it's worth keeping or worth whatever. It's a lot like a lift and they let you live, whoever they were. Here you are today. So if we can use the same idea for our play and get to the end of it, we need to turn before you're going to look at it and start picking it up. Right? Give it a chance to become, you know, the first draft. Which is the first date. And then start writing again and see if they're boring and you can fix them then. You're going to see where it goes. You know? You know, you give a chance and you start to judge it. Because if we were to repair that problem, something else would jump up. You know, it's always that, that's, or you'll start worrying about disappointing your dad or something. May I ask you a question? Yeah, yes. What's your name? Justin. Justin? Yes. Okay. And sorry, this is about how you were. Oh, then what did I say? I apologize. Pause. Pause. Does anybody else have a question about your or your creative process? Just pause. If it's not a lovely writer who is talking about dialogue, it's just something that I do. Yeah? I take the subway. I find that the subway is a great, if you listen on the subway, you will hear so many, how people really speak. And it's just a wonderful tool. It's, it's kind of a joy. I'm going to take this away from the spoon. There you go. I'm going to take it away from the spoon. Take it away from the spoon. You're right. You're doing great. Yes, it's the way people speak to each other. Yeah. What's tricky though is to say, if you pick up in your writing, and it's also great when you can get into the train. But what's, what's tricky is the way people talk in real life isn't necessarily not necessarily. No. Or the way something that happens to you in real life isn't necessarily, if you just silly funny to down the page, it's going to make a great play. Or it's going to make a great screenplay or a song or whatever. You have to use that right in your mind. So that's good for the living. The living is good for your brain. We'll get back to you. We're just taking people to have issues about their stuff. Do you mind having a first one? Yes. Okay. How's it going? So, you know, I'm back to the play. We had struggles with it from the very first time I came here. And I'm finding that I'm wondering if my character's point seems to constantly be evolving with what's going on in my life. If I like, there are more things to add on. And one of the, I guess they're both of the characters. But one of them is still kind of, his objective is still the same, I guess, in the whole arc. And I don't know exactly where we're going again with this play as far as even down to, I had four characters, and it went to three. And now it's the two of them. Do you want to do the names though? No, this is something, yeah. Something that the other one that I've been lost the work, we went through. Oh, yes. Yeah. I have to add just a varma, varma. But so now I just kind of trying to figure out where to go, what to do with them. Because again, one seems like, I don't know if it's, it takes place in one place in one setting. And so it's like, are they just going to sit and just talk? Or 90 minutes, or 87 minutes, or what are they going to talk about? What are they, you know, I don't know. I don't know if that's even a real question. Have I asked a question? It didn't have a whole thing at the end. That was the question. It had a thing that they call the question mark. I guess I didn't mark it. Did your voice kind of go off? I guess, what do I do with them? Sounds like a question to me. Now? Yes, now. I do them now. Oh my God. Please write me crazy. Yes. Okay. So, and do you, I know you have kids. Right. Do you meditate? Meditate. You got medicated. You do? You meditate? Meditate. Meditate. You're in there? You're in there. How about you meditate with people? You have to have fear 20 minutes a day. You have to talk about this fear 20 minutes a day to yourself that you can tie your children up in the classroom. Very late at night. Very late at night. You're awake enough to have some rest? About. About? About, yeah. Yeah, I can do that. You have a timer and you have a train. You can take a train. You can take a train. You can take a train? Yeah. So, you've got 10 minutes. Right. You've got a notebook. Yes. Great. So, I just try to, I want to start with, is every day do a writing meditation. Okay. Writing meditation. This is not my day. This is a, you do a sim meditation or you can do, you know, those famous Julia Cameron. She has these morning pages. Julia Cameron, you have the writers, the artist, Matt and Goldberg. That's one of them. I know what she calls it, but I call it writing meditation. She might call it singing. The way is it, it's kind of, I think, better than the morning pages because you're up early in the morning. And again, it does not have to be three pages, but she says to it for 20 minutes, which magically comes out to be three pages. But it's better because she says, keep the pen moving on the page. The morning pages, you get lost in your mind. Like, oh, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then an hour goes by and you have two pages done. This is better. 20 minutes. 20 minutes and you do it. So, every day, writing meditation. Keep the pen moving. Right? We're in a long-handle type of play. Right? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And you can start thinking about your point of view. Just be that. Don't worry about your dialogue singing. You could just stand in the room. Just write it. Just be that. Just write about the play or just... You can write about the play. Sure. Or anything. Yeah. Like a journal. Yeah. Like that. Don't worry about the play. Don't worry. It's trying to be crazy. It's like someone's driving a crazy car. I'm going to do the same. A real smart fuck-off thing. It's taking ahead. You've got a lot going on. You've got a lot going on. Get ready to focus. Try this. You might find a play starting to make more sense If you're not staring at it, well, wait! Why don't you get a pracer to play up? Just...attach. It's fair. You're not gonna burn it or lose it. Or do your brain medication just... Just be okay about your play, sir. Don't pull it that straight. Try that for...I don't know. A week or so. Yeah. And then specifically, go, okay, yeah, I'll go by play. Let me write for 20 minutes about my play. What do I think? What do I think? What do I like about it? What do I like about it? Still don't have it. Now, what do I hate about it? What do I like about it? Oh, maybe that's true. Maybe I'll burn that. Take it easy. How about it? Alright, alright. Eight and then my son is turning six. Take it easy. Take it easy. Alright, we'll make sure you get the right attack. We're going. Okay. I have a question. It was similar to... Justice. It was about exposition. I have some of my characters asking questions based on, you know, like the media, what they've read, in order to bring, you know, some exposition into the scene without having a direct question. Or didn't I hear that you had two kids? That sort of thing. So, I mean, how do you know what you have even when you're using that method, you know, how the characters convey information that you want the audience to know about, you know, the names, how do you know when you have too much of that? Right, that's a great idea. That's a great question. What's your name? Desiree. Desiree has a question about exposition. So, again, there are a lot of questions which I think you're right. You've got to get some information out there. How do you get the information out there and how do you suggest connecting to the urgent desire of the character? Right? So, I can't give you one example of that, actually. But think of what the character needs and their need is going to move them to ask the question of their character. Right? So, it might not be a direct thing. Like, you know, are we going to make a conversation? How many kids do you have? That's a way to get the person talking about their... And I heard that one of them is really tall. But your husband isn't, right? You know what I mean? I don't know. You've got to get to know the character. You've got to get to know the characters. Okay? Connect it to the urgent need for the characters. And not the urgent need of the playwright to get the information out to the audience. That's the difference, I think. We sit there and go, hopefully I know this. And you get the characters... It has to be connected to the character's need and not the playwright's need. How can this be connected to my character's need? What does she need? Why is she asking these questions? You know? And once you start getting to that, then you're going to get to... The questions will formulate themselves in such a way that... What about leaving? All the time? What's the end for that? It's hard to get out of the workshop. It's like an interfaith workshop with open-ended situations and too much decomposition. I mean, it's like... Even if it's your first or second track, you need to go over there to get that with yourself. And I just want to... I just want to know when it is too much. Or you'll know, I guess, when it's too much. No, when it's too much. I mean, I have... I like types of theater that are big-on storytelling. That's the type of theater that I like. And so... I like, you know, when the message that comes in tells you, oh, man, I saw him at the crossroads. Man, he was like swimming in the club, and it was deep, man. And you kill somebody else. I like that kind of theater. It's interesting. When it comes in with the need to tell a story. So that makes sense. That's a good guess. Yes. I don't know. But it fits, right? It's not too much. It's not too much. It comes in with the needs. Oh, man, you're the guy who had to think that I took you to the outside. Look at who you are now. Right as a need. I don't know when it's too much. Hi. My name is Ali. Hi. I'm going to open it up to everybody. Good. So, I'm having trouble writing an actual play. I write like little scenes, because I see little scenes in my head and how the people would move. But I have no idea how they speak or even if I want them to speak. So then I'll write these little scenes or these little images. But then I'll bend with them. So I have all these little paragraphs that I just leave. And I want to bring them all together. And I don't know if it's to create one whole actual play with dialogue or if it's just going to be an image piece. And if it's an image piece, how do I even know where to begin with that? Because I don't have experience with that. But I feel like that's the way I'm wanting to go. Because I'm not really caring about words. So I don't know if anyone has experienced this before. Probably. How do you deal with that? And where do you go? Sure. I'm just editorial background. So I'm a documentary teacher and their start is like I cut these small things that don't really make sense to the picture. And they're small scenes or interesting characters or cool images or motifs that just interest me. And then I just like string it along into a random order or a chronological order. So I'm going to try just putting it into an instinctual order and just like reading it together. Not yet. I've literally just been abandoned in a pile. I'll see you. I mean my instinct would be to take those things like every bit that you've kind of obtained it and just like put it in any sort of an order and try just like reading it in a chronological order not chronologically. Just like step back and take a look at what that means. I think that would like that effect. That's sort of like the fun part of writing what you're doing. It's sort of like the fun part of writing just letting the ideas go on to your page and it's okay to me to have things pieces like you're doing and pile up and then look at them when you're ready and see if they fit someplace that's stirring my desire to write. And you may not be at that point yet but I think it's great that you're doing it. It'll come right at you. Yeah. My first one the first draft you go to the first thing you wrote is just about you just keep going until you take notes on it and it happens real fast. Keep going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Often happens you go back and get perfect and then it won't make any sense until you make it to the end. So keep going, make some notes on post-its or whatever. Yeah, wait in the end. Just as an exercise. You know what I mean? Okay, good question. And then go back. Alright, we're out of time right now. So I want to thank you guys for coming out and I want to thank JV for the camera and thank you guys and Andrew for the chat. We'll be back.