Seven Snakes Production Journal #2

Saturday I get to hear the latest version of Seven Snakes out loud. It has been quite a while since I've heard actors speak these lines. It was the very first Mammal artistic activity when we moved into our recent digs, the Zoo Studio. In order to beat the heat (we are waiting out summer before we start production again), my good friend, Don Hall, has offered to let me have the reading at his place.

I was hoping to have an ending tagged on by now. I'm very close, but as of Saturday, there will be various endings in my head, but none yet on he final page of the script. Some might wonder what is the good of having this reading without having a fully finished draft. For me, most of the scripts I write have been generated in this sort of fashion.

I kind of like doing it this way. I like hearing folks opinions of the direction a script is going in before they know how I'll end it. It is a great way to see how the first half or two thirds of a story is setting up expectation. It is also a great way to shape language and style. Sometimes hearing a scene out loud helps me discover a necessary adjustment that has to happen before I can even conceive of a subsequent scene.

I like to think of it as sculpting a script. When do you decide it's time to hear your words out loud?

Seven Snakes Production Journal #1

The script is coming along. There are some incredibly wild moments in it that I can't wait to see onstage. This Saturday we will have a read thru of the working script. Next Saturday we will have auditions. Then August 1st we begin rehearsals. I am excited, but also I am anxious. I should find comfort in that the feelings like butterflies don't seem to go away. It means that it still matters to me. This play represents brand me territory for the Mammals. We are having our way with the mythology of the West. Right now, we are sort in a Lewis and Clark frame of mind filled with adrenaline due to the thrill of the adventure, but also just a short distance from throwing up from all the excitement.