It’s difficult to write a play. I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I think the thing I’m scared to do is write about things I don’t know. It’s infinitely easier for me to write if there’s some element of autobiography in what I’m writing, because I live very much in my head and I constantly think about stuff I do or did or will do. Et cetera. But I’ve realized that if I challenge myself to write outside of my head, yes, it might not be as good as it would be if it were based in real life. But it’ll be a risk. And that’s what this class is about, isn’t it?
Theatre is about learning your limits, pushing them, and breaking them. The way to act really well is to over-act and then scale yourself down so that you can pare your character to reality. Acting like that is inherently risky, because you have no idea what’s going to happen to you if you go huge. All I need to do is treat writing the same way I treat acting. Success or not, at least I’ll have gone big.
Yes, this means I’m going with the raccoon story. We’ll see what happens.
Love, Alec
