Saturday, January 5, 2008
The Picking of Plays
First Thing in the Morning.
9:05 am. Again, the internet has failed.
WRITER’S AND DIRECTORS MEET.
Seven plays were written last ANTHONY WINKLER JUST WALKED IN LATE night, and the writers look tired but relieved. They’ve written two ten-minute plays in the last…36 hours. There’s lots of “who’d you get” and “tell me what you’re thinking for this part” and “is it too early for a beer?” Everyone is in deep thought in the CHAC lounge, trying to stay away from the open door that’s letting in extremely cold air. Why is it that when you’ve had no sleep and you’re delirious and it’s early in the morning does it always have to be so cold? Someone should shut that door. Oh. I could shut that door. I’ll just move.
“I’m not sure how to do it, either.” Says a director.
“I’m not married to the two.” Says a writer.
There’s quite a bit of silence between pairs scattered around the room, as well.
Ooh, look there’s coffee.
So the plays are brought in by the writers at 9:00 after having received their topic and assigned number of characters the night before, around 10pm. They bring in their new plays with the theme "A Reason to Believe" to receive a director. The works are put into manilla envelopes and fanned out to the candidates and chosen blindly. You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit. ALEX JUST HIT MEGHAN WITH A COOLER (NOT DUE TO A PLAY).
There’s food again. Yesssssss. Donuts and fruit and oatmeal. Cofffeeeeee.
Writers not presently hooking up with directors are hooking up with designers, who are reading all the scripts too and finding out with they are to create for the day. There is excitement, but for the most part lots of “well, maybe we can fly to Mexico and be back with the authentic lake water from a remote village and be back by tech…?” I think I’ll talk with a designer today and get the skinny on their situation.
“You might want to find another option?” says a designer.
“HaHaHaHaHaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha.” says a writer.
“Ok…how much do you NEED a special?” says a lighting designer.
“Can I sit here?” I am asked by Don, the first actor to arrive. We huddle together by the cold door, having not moved, away from the hubbub, and observe. And drink coffee.
There is an outburst of laughter. Andy Jensen, a director, is pleased.
Oh hi, Meghan Arnette! Good to see you too.
“I got up this morning and I was all ‘I need some tea’ and I opened the freezer and stood there a while. Then I was like, ‘This isn’t where I need to go!”
She mimes closing the freezer and doesn’t mime flashing me her boobs before she scampers off to the bathroom. Thanks, Meghan.
Don asks Troy how his nards are from last night’s show. Troy says they’re swollen and now the right size.
-------
9:42 am More artists trickle in. Band members, actors, late people. Getting ready for the 10:00 meeting. Actors discuss last night’s show and compare bruises.
*There is a feeling in the room right now that needs a lot of words to describe it. I’ll try, but it’s hard to know it if you’ve never been a part of the process. I really don’t want to sound like an elitist when I say that. But it is a unique experience. The feeling is carefree, in a way, even though there’s a lot to be done. Happy. Excited. Everyone is glad to be where they are, no matter how tired. It’s a good tired. I suppose the way to describe it is like camp. We’re all kids at camp. Just having a good time. (But there’s no relay race to prove your love) Very positive. Everyone wants to succeed and wants you to succeed.
Internet is working, and everyone is here for the 10:00 meeting. It’s gonna be a good day.
Friday, January 4, 2008
in a nutshell --- blogging ERIN and ANNETTE
sad. face. sad.
no internet for annette n erin.
hello ms word...
LATE
Okay here we are last moments last minutes. Last words.
GO BIG
Or
GO HOME
Coming in post work. I strolled in at a clean 6:30pm. I stood. I held a bag I sipped some coffee.
I got a beer. I tipped.
People were sitting. Eating Milling. Trick looked confused.
Currently. I sit I watch.
And there is an intense conversation about blood.
Where is the blood? Have you seen the blood?
Ask Trick. Trick asked me to ask you.
Nope no blood.
Trick comes by “Have I asked you about the blood?”
Nope no blood.
Ah… blood…
FIN
So either this is going to be a very STRESSFUL next 2 hours or an AMAZING next 2 hours. The band sounds good from down in the lower space of CHAC. That’s always an exciting thing to see – the music. The BAND. They go off in their own land and learn how to perform toge
ther as a group, which I suppose actors do too, but it’s just different with music. I want “Let’s Get Retarded” to cut out from the speakers and the band to begin.
8:06pm. Ah. Lights flash. Woos are wooed. The perch is crammed and a bit scary. No turning back now. Directors, you’ve had 10 hours and now there’s nothing you can do. Actors, got those lines? Writers…oh writers…
The 14/48 Band has started to rock. Here comes some Ancient Wisdom.
9:00pm Intermission. 4 down, 3 to go. Most of the audience gets up to get a drink and pee. Actors who just performed breathe a sigh of relief and talk about what to do differently at the 10:30 show. Writers either are very satisfied or hide in a corner.

Music plays Erin goes to grab a program I dance in place.
Ah! A List Of Who's Involved:
ACT 1
A Farewell Toast
written by Brendan Healy
Directed by Andy Jensen
Actors: Teri Lazzara, Peter Dylan O'Connor, Nellis, Shawn Law
Contact
written by Scotto Moore
directed by: meghan Arnette
Actors: Juniper Berolziheimer, Tom Jones, Jon Lutyens, Nick DeSantis
Mom's Carpet
written by David Tucker
directed by: Anthony Winkler
actors: Kate Jaeger, Llysa Holland
If You Go Into the Woods Today
written by: S.P. Miskowski
directed by: Mark Jared Zufelt
actors: Audrey Bates, Michael Katt, John Bianchi, Michael Patten, Nick Perleros
ACT 2
Polyfidelity
written by Becky Hellyer
directed by: Aimee Bruneau
actors: Khan Doan, Kate Parker, J.D. Lloyd, Cory Herndon
Look of Love
written by: Brian Neel, Paul Shipp
directed by: Alan Bryce
actors: Morgan Rowe, Erin Kraft, James Wiedman
You Know What They Say
written by: Rachel Atkins
directed by: Kibby MacKinnon
actors: Susanna Wilson, Troy Fischnaller, Galen Joseph Osier, Don Darryl Rivera, Chris Bell.
Jen Moon has SARS --- just read her shirt-
From a distance.
People Mill. Bathroom Lines are long – the women have camaraderie in waiting, checking for feet. Laughter.
Good crowd good sprits.
Second half posed ready to begin. I saw a little face painting happening – curious about that action.
Playing some booty-tastic music. I approve. Bass beats are nice to pump a crowd. Serious.
I just scored a beer.
Thanks Erin…
Still typing into MS Word due to complications with Inter Web Access
Much sadness.
But on a positive note it checks my atrocious spelling.
First half went well – some well timed laughs – some solid acting – great band atmosphere action

The plays linked nicely together
Which is one thing that I for one am always curious about. How the writers take the suggestion. The theme. How they deal with it. If they stray - if they want to stray. If straying looks too purposefully strayed. If staying too close looks too close
UPDATE – apparently the prop cock used and thrown into the audience ended in the lap of young Zoey Belyea – sorry Shawn.
9:53 first performance ends. BREATHE. Curtain call. The topic is picked for tomorrow’s show “A REASON TO BELIEVE”.
My last post
At intermission, I end up with two glasses of wine. (A friend bought me one right as I was ordering another!) I throw one in the garbage. I can't risk that level of intoxication tonight. Andy says a woman from the P.I or some other paper is there. I think about how impossible it would be to review 14/48. It's different every night - every year. Sometimes it's works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it kicks ass. It's always great.
I love my piece. No messed up lines. Good pacing. Strong choices. They've made it better than it was.
The show is over. I get my next assignment - three men, one woman. The theme is "Reason to Believe." I know it from a song by Rod Stewart about desperate love. Jodi-Paul swears it refers to a Bruce Springsteen song.
The writers head out again. Paul Shipp says, "Good luck!" Brian says, "Don't get too drunk!" My friends congratulate me on the ride home. "Even if you fail tomorrow," says one, "you've had 50% success." It's a great way to look at it.
My blogging duties are offically over. So, I head home and pop some popcorn and think about reasons to believe. "If I listen long enough to you, I'd find a way to believe that it's all true." Rod Stewart. Gotta love him.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
Before the show
Aimee is in the bar with Eric Ray Anderson and she tells me the actors have memorized half the lines (not bad!) and she hopes I like what they've done. I tell her I'm sure I will. And I am sure I will.
This is that time that is weird for playwrights - right before the Friday show. Yes, this play is important - we care what happens - absolutely. But we also know we have to do it again tonight - and part of us is already there, writing the next one. So it doesn't surprise me when fellow playwrights Brian Neel, David Tucker, Scotto Moore, and S.P. Miskowski all mention to me that they're thinking about doing it again. We're all thinking about it.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
No sleep
The play must be written by midnight or I'm screwed.
Please let it be a good theme.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
First Draw: First Show
These actors are all great. The three guys play brothers and they're perfect. As long as my blocking doesn't fuck them up, were in good shape. They get to actually drink beer in the show. I am lucky with my draw, these guys can hold their liquor.
Break is over, back to work.
My rehearsal
So the actor selection process is a blur to me. I do remember noticing again that people applaud the selections which I find supportive and sweet but kind of confusing. We don't know if the script is good - if the actor will fit what the director is looking for or what the playwright envisioned. We don't know. So why are we clapping? I don't know.
Andy Jensen picks his cast. We clap.
So does Alan Bryce. We clap.
It's announced that one of the scripts is a musical and they draw actor names. At this point, I understand the applause. Everyone is clapping because they didn't get selected.
Finally, we get to my script. Aimee chooses two women and two men out of the cans - Kate Parker, Khan Doan, Cory Herndon, and J.D. Lloyd. I'm excited that I don't know any of these actors. But that's also scary. Who are they? Will they get the story? Will they understand their characters?
We're rehearsing in Caution Zero's old office. It's cold and the sound from the band is coming though from upstairs but it's got west facing facing windows so it's light. It's a good place to rehearse, I think.
I meet the actors. Aimee has them read the script silently to themselves first. They laugh aloud as they're reading it. I love them for it.
Aimee has them read it outloud three separate times with a different combination of casting each time. The last one is good. And I'm really happy with these four people. They get it. They're funny. They're making adjustments. This will be good.
And suddenly - in a single moment - I am extraneous, unnecessary. The playwright has done her job and now needs to go home and take a nap. I wish them well - they're going to have a good time, I think.
On my way out, I see Alex Samuels and Annette Toutonghi putting cheese and meat on plates for later in the day. I see Khan going over her lines in the lounge. Michael Patten is yelling, "Look at you!" in the Lower Level while SP watches him. Dante moves quickly through the lounge with her clipboard. Loud voices are coming from the Nave. Shawn Belyea, Jason Harber, and Jodi-Paul Wooster-Brown are working in the back office.
It's naptime, if I'm lucky. If I'm not lucky, it's time to lie awake and fret. Maybe I'll go spend time with my daughter today and blow off the whole sleep concept.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
So it begins
Scotto and Meghan Arnette are sequestered in a corner. He looks happy. Brian Neel has a crazed/tired look in his eye that I completely recognize. SP is getting a bagel or something while her director reads her script. I see Alan Bryce going over a script alone at the bar. I'm looking around for someone looking for me but everyone seems pretty much busy. So I find Jodi-Paul and ask him. Aimee Bruneau has been assigned to my script.
I really admire Aimee's work and I'm glad to get her. She is what I would call a serious person. Her questions for me are geniune and she listens to my answers. A playwright is sometimes looking for enthusiasm from a director after the first readthrough. I'm looking for serious and genuine questions. Aimee asks me to sum up each character in a nutshell. She has the most trouble with "Zack." I tell her he's a youngest child which I realize is not very helpful if you didn't have siblings. Then I find myself telling her that the play for me is about the disappointment of discovering that you're traditional and mundane - that you're really just like everyone else. I hate revealing things about myself in my writing or in discussing my writing. I feel like I'm in the middle of the gym shower room and my towel just fell off.
Dante, the prop/set coordinator, comes by to do a director check. She refers to my play as "the one with the house." It's always funny to hear your work reduced to a phrase by someone with a narrow focus. The play with the house. That's what I should have named it.
David Tucker and Anthony Winkler are sitting across the table from me and Aimee as we talk. It's impossible to really pay attention to what other playwrights and directors are talking about but I do see that it's an animated conversation. Later, I'm horrified to see David scribbling re-writes on a scrap of paper. It's one thing I've never done at 14/48. I'd rather have them rewrite it during the rehearsal than try to touch the thing on 3 hours of sleep and half a donut. But David explains the rewrites to me and I see that he's feeling good about it.
Actors are showing up. The drawing of actor names is about to happen. The energy in this room is so different from last night. Where last night felt like the beginning of a fun reunion, this morning feels like lacing up the boots and checking for supplies before heading up the trail. Artists in preparation mode - it's kind of a beautiful thing. And this is where we are when Teri Lazarra is given the Mazen Award for her contributions to 14/48 in the past - it's a lovely moment, especially when she and Shawn Belyea open mouth kiss.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
Dang, it's early.
I got home last night with the theme (Ancient Wisdom), my character assignment (2 men, 2 women), and stuff to make a ham sandwich feeling pretty confident. It's my fourth time. I know that it eventually comes and you just have to trust it.
My confidence left me after 90 minutes of flailing. My brain wasn't working well. I had a false start - I headed down the wrong path as far as to start writing some dialogue for a couple named Monica and Brian - only to realize that Monica and Brian had blown out like a match on a windy day. (Monica? and Brian? Even the names sound stupid now!)
(Speaking of a match on a windy day - this is the first year I've done this since I quit smoking. I miss ciggies during this process! Cigarette smoke is a is a great way of dreaming up a world. I'm having to use black licorice. Not quite the same thing.)
I finally got traction at 11:30pm when I remembered about an article I'd read on non-monogamous relationships - committed groups of adults that live together in sexual relationships. I remember at the time I read it thinking it was idealistic and potentially funny. Makng a "marriage" work between two people is really hard - between three? Or four? Are you out of your frigging mind??? Who believes in something like that?
So I re-read the article, did four character sketches, thought about a woman I met who lived in a commune and worked in the kitchen (how traditional for a non-traditionalist, I thought) - and off I went.
Wendell, Julie, Carly, Zack, and an unseen character, Lila and her dog Schnazzy, appeared and spoke to me. Somtimes I pushed too hard and had to retrace my steps to the last time I'd actually seen them alive on the paper - and then I'd start again. At 2:00am, I wanted to just send what I had and go to bed. At 3:00am I finished. My piece is called "Polyfidelity" and ends with a conventional marriage proposal.
How is the script? I've found that when I hate my scripts the most, they're the best. This one is possibly too short - that's a good thing. But, I think it's funny and that's a bad thing. We'll just have to see. Sometimes what ends up on stage surprises the hell out of me.
And 3 hours of sleep? I'll tell you what - this woman needs her sleep. Especially in order to do all this again tonight. I have that too-little-sleep sweaty/shaky thing going on. Basically, this is not good.
Becky Hellyer - 14/48 writer
Pictures of the Evening
there is a video coming but i'm waiting for it to upload onto youtube.
enjoy!

Name tags:
Beer and Suggestions:
A closer look at Suggestions...
A captivated audience:
Writer's get assignments:
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Ancient Wisdom: Theme for Friday, January 4, 2008
As you read this, 7 playwrights are furiously creating a play, one of which I will have to direct in 9 hours. Time for bed. Ancient Wisdom... Thank God I'm not writing...
PS Congrats to Mark Boecker, Winner of the January 2008 Mazen Award for exemplary dedication to 14/48.
the outside looking in
Living in that alternate reality bubble for just about 54 hours is part I miss the most when I don't do the festival.
Have fun, my cupcakes! My important stuff exists to support your far more important stuff!
-Peggy G.
Final Thought?
continued...
I'm confused...but yay!
Meet + Greet + Keg = Delicious
It's Here! Stay tuned for the drawing of the theme
In one hour, 50 of Seattle's most daring and son-to-be sleep deprived artists will complete that sentence and one sentence will be chosen at random from the ice cream cone for tomorrow evening's theme for 7 World Premieres.
What would you write?
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
What up, kids?
I will officially start tomorrow, January 3rd, with the Meet 'n Greet at CHAC, or The Capitol Hill Arts Center. The meeting will be attended by pretty much everyone involved in the 14/48 process, from actors to writers to the band to volunteer staff to the mamas and papas who created the weekend festival itself. Everyone gets the chance to meet and greet (hence, the Meet 'n Greet), sip off the complimentary keg and get amped up for the long days ahead.
No more on the Meet 'n Greet today, or I'll run out of things to say tomorrow...
I will be joined for the majority of this blogging time by the lovely Annette Auger, so we will be able to be bloggy twins and take pictures and annoy people twice as much.
Until Tomorrow...
Erin Stewart