Well, after eight hours of monologues (one comedic, one dramatic) from 58 actors (translating into 116 monologues, some of which were the same), we have a cast of four. Yes. Originally I had eight actors. That was cut to six, then four. It should work out fine, though. We got some great actors for the leads. The girl playing Ayla is good and I like her.

I never expected that sitting through other people auditioning for you would be so damn exhausting. It was nice to meet the other playwrights (well, three of them, two didn't come) and the other directors. I finally got to meet Nick, the guy in charge of all this. Everyone was really cool, but I'm pretty sure I was the youngest one in the room (until the actors started coming in).

It feels good, though, to have it all done.

I revised Redboy Burn after meeting with Dana (the director). If you're interested in reading the newest version, you can go here.

Also, auditions are tonight (10/20) from 7-10pm and tomorrow from (10/21) 12-5pm. I'll let you know how that goes.

I finally have my official dates! My show will be going up the weekend of February 9-11, 2007. I'm expecting a ton of people there!

I met with Dana Sachs, my director, last Friday, 10/13. I snuck out of work to meet him at the Greek Olive on Sargent Drive. It was an awesome meeting. We tweaked a few things and cut a few characters. I'm still considering cutting an actor, meaning one woman will play two characters. We are very dead on and agree about a lot of things. We want a sparse set, with lighting serving as time and place changing. We streamlined the script a bit, in ways that I really felt comfortable with. I have to finish those revisions within the next 24 hours. We also made Joe's age (the person that represents Lenny, my cutie-pie for life!) irrelevant, so that we don't throw in any weird Freudian interpretations. The line about his age will be replaced with something about the fact that he's a water zodiac sign. Since the play centers around burning and fire imagery, the fact that Joe, the "knight in shining armor," counters Kevin, who is the one represented by fire, by being a water sign sort of ties things up nicely. I'm wary about tying it up too nicely, but then, if you're going to use the fire imagery, it does need to have a final conclusion. It's part of the story arc.

It was like stepping back into the perfect pair of jeans, meeting with Dana. It felt absolutely right. I didn't want to stop talking, I didn't want the moments to pass so quickly. I felt like a real playwright, collaborating and getting feedback from someone who does a lot of theater. And Dana's pretty cool. He is super-friendly and we get along great. He really respects my opinion as a playwright. He also said, previously, over the phone, that he was happy that he got my play, because it was the only one he really liked. Over lunch I asked him what he liked about it and he said that he cared about the characters. He liked the writing. I honestly wasn't fishing for compliments, but rather trying to figure out what I had done well. I mean, it's just as helpful to know what I do wrong, or what is weak, but there does need to be something positive, especially after fifteen years of writing.

Oooh...when can I do this full-time and forever?

I was at Starbucks one day, during my time lag between two city buses, on my way to work. I idly read the announcements on the bulletin board waiting for my white mocha or extra-shot latte or caramel macchiato. A flier caught my eye, asking for submissions of one-act original plays to eventually be featured in a festival called New Works New Haven.

So I entered.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. My computer's hard drive crashed and blue-screened me about a month prior to seeing the ad. So I had my best friend email me pieces that I had sent her, part of a project called Redboy Burn. We both had similiar experience of dating Irish boys who were with someone else at the same time, so we were trying to create an artistic piece paralleling our lives. It never worked out, because she was interested in a graphic novel and I wanted to write a play.

Either way, I got my material sent to me and I holed up in my office at work for a weekend, working 6-8 hours for two days. Somewhere, a play congealed and by the end of the weekend I had emailed my submission.

Then came the waiting. The call-by date came and went. I hung my head in defeat. And then this email came, on December 13, 2005:

Hi Rosana,

Congratulations! Your play "Redboy Burn" has been chosen to be produced in the 2006 New Works New Haven Festival. This will prove to be a great project as we forge ahead...

Once again thank you so much for participating in this years festival and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Sincerely,

Nicholas J. Clarey
Executive Director
New Works New Haven

And then I was in.

Slowly, more information trickled in. First, that my director was Dana Sachs from the Actors Ensemble in Branford. Second, that the festival would be at Stage II of the Long Wharf Theater (this was HUGE!). Third, that it'd be in fall of 2006. Then that was changed to January or February 2007. Then just February.

But this month, October 2006, is when things get rolling.

Stay tuned for more adventures of a playwright in a newborn festival.