Conrad's Playspace

witty stuff

2011-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

"He sure went out of his way to stick up for Donald Trump (because he is just so shiny!)"
- Jason Linkins, CNN Correspondent Asks White House About Obama's Birth Certificate. April 28, 2011. Huffington Post

In other words, he’s pretty far from being a can.
- Chuck Mindenhall, Ellenberger leery of avoiding 'the trap', April 28, 2011, Espn.com

In need of DISCIPLINE

2011-03-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

"Trying to work on a script and developing an artsy-fartsy attitude telling meself that "it feels too early to slip into that writing mood." Not cool to feel that it's "right" to create in that 2-3am world. Need more discipline to be able to write at any time."

The above was a facebook status post. I'm thinking that it's just the atmosphere that I'm writing in: American Idol in one ear and being distracted by it and feels like there's just too much light. In short, I'm not in that zone. I don't think it's a matter of being focused, but more so that I don't have the discipline yet to be able to slip into that zone. Zone: that place (kind of like where I am now) where I have that skill to block out everything around and actually get lost in the world that I'm creating.

Discipline also means that I should block out WRITING TIME every day so that when I do slip into these distracted moments, I know that I can automatically slip into that Zone. Well, I'll have to work on that as well. Being a writer shouldn't be easy at every second when you want it to be. Let's go!

Taking Your Play for a Test Spin: The Un/Staged Reading

2011-03-05T10:20:00.003-08:00

Stories High 12 Reading Cast of Thicker Than Wine (l:r-Patrick Silvestre, Rob Trinidad, Alan Quismorio, Aaron Niles, Gemma Calderon, and Aura San Miguel)

Ooooos Ahssss And Hahahas are what hooked me into the Theater game in the first place, but those audience reactions were always a by-product of seeing a story brought to life on stage. One of my favorite audience moments was during the reversal scene from my play, BORDERS. In it, a woman discovers that a flirtatious guy sitting at the next table in a cafè isn't whom she (or the audience) thinks he is. "Oh my God," was caught from an audible whisper of the person next to me as I watch the scene unfold from my back row seat at the old (current Boxcar) Bindlestiff Studio Blackbox Theater.

Sometimes I get so caught up in being solo in writing a story that I tend to over intellectualize it. From dissecting the level of conflict, flow of dialogue, to character names, especially in during the incubation of a play can be a very personal and sometimes lonely journey. But the light at the end of the tunnel appears when I finally get that story in front of a real AUDIENCE during an un/staged reading. I'll define audience as consisting of a sample size of more than 10 strangers "off the street" type.

What I love about writing for the stage is, duh, the ALIVE audience! If they're asleep, you fail. Bored, looking around, reading the program, talking on a mobile - all the same. Fail. That's why the value of these pre-produced readings is Gold!

I recently had one of these readings produced by Bindlestiff Studios for my newest play, THICKER THAN WINE. I've already heard my play hundreds of times in my head, so I know it's good, but that judgment isn't worth spit if the people I'm writing for aren't engaged in the story I created.

There is a caveat to this though: don't let the audience change the core of the story. Their reaction can cause you to re-write the entire play, but the core/theme/message chose you to write. I've been down that road with THE GIFT. After a reading, I re-wrote the whole script with new characters and setting! Lesson learned: Don't do that again. But I did learn from that audience reaction from this staged reading.

Look for these opportunities to get your play seen in these types of readings cuz you'll def learn so much from them. I did!

Launching a career as a Playwright

2011-03-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

One of the things I learned from the Anthem Salgado's workshop on Blogging was to have a "search-friendly" Blog Post title. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts that will bring more insight on what's the goings on as I really do launch into this career that I've always felt was my calling and have honestly took for granted.

I've been writing plays since 1995 and I believe the exact moment that set me on this path was hearing an audience laugh at a line during the PCN (Pilipino Culture Night) Play I wrote for Samamhang Pilipino at CSU, Sacramento in 1995. I remember when everyone was off to the Union at the reception after the final bows, I was left cleaning up the Music Recital Hall where the production was performed. I sat down in one of the seats of the auditorium, and soaked in every moment of that night. People actually cared about the story I remember handwriting in the bed of my old pickup after having the different characters' stories intertwine during the life of a marketplace (palengke) in the Philippines. Back then, I didn't know what drama, conflict, structure, or a dénouement was. I just had a story that needed to be told. And by golly, I did it and an audience reacted to it. It also taught me how much working in a production can't be done on it's own. I "directed" it, but I knew how much each individual person would bring to the role. I felt bad because I had to re-cast one of the roles, well, the actor missed A LOT of rehearsals without explanation, but other than that, I've been hooked on storytelling for a live audience ever since.

It's 16 years, and quite a few plays later, and I'm now ready to make that leap into trying to turn this into a career. A career? Like actually trying to make a living at this? I'd love to, but it's also a comfort to know that I have a really good day-job to fall back on as a Web Developer. But it's still nice to dream. BIG!

The Batmobile

2011-01-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/mis/2161327767.html

Location: Chevron on 41st
Me: Cute girl driving black Civic - my friend gave you a thumbs up :)
You: I think you're Batman, but I need to know for sure. You drive what's known around here as the Batmobile. I've seen your car around before, but today I got to see you through those skinny windows. I liked what I saw.

To be honest, your car really turns me on. I'd love to go for a ride sometime. Let me know if you're interested. ;)

=================

The Batmobile
by conrad panganiban

GABRIELLE
So how long have you had the car?

BRUCE
Not that long. People really call this the Batmobile?

GABRIELLE
Well, maybe just me and my friends. You're new here, aren't you?

BRUCE
Not that new. You just never saw me before.

GABRIELLE
Right. The skinny windows.

BRUCE
Right.

GABRIELLE
So. You gonna take me out for a ride?

BRUCE
Depends.

GABRIELLE
Depends on what?

BRUCE
If you're worthy.

GABRIELLE
Worthy?

BRUCE
Yeah.

GABRIELLE
Trust me. I am.

BRUCE.
Not in that way, Gabby.

GABRIELLE
It's Gabrielle, and how'd you know my name?

BRUCE
Well, then excuse me, Gabrielle, but not in that way. I was talking about something you can do for me.

GABRIELLE
What I can do for you?

BRUCE
I need the keys to your dad's shop.

GABRIELLE
What are you talking about?

BRUCE
You said that you wanted a ride?

GABRIELLE
Yeah, but…

BRUCE
Well, how much of that ride do you want? Or is it, how much do you want to drive it?

GABRIELLE
I told you, the car turns me on.

BRUCE
350 dual-cam carburetor with a

GABRIELLE
500 cubic manifold intake valve.

BRUCE
It's 550.

GABRIELLE
You might want to check again. So what do you want from my pop's shop?

BRUCE
Does he still have the three-quarter Edge Spring for the '66 Chevy Firesnake?

GABRIELLE
A '66 Firesnake?

BRUCE
I guess you're not very interested in the Batmobile anymore.

GABRIELLE
It's a Prius compared to a Firesnake. No offense.

BRUCE
I wouldn't say Prius. More like Mustang… but definitely not a Prius.

GABRIELLE
You know what I mean. So… how'd you get the other one? Since there were only...

BRUCE
Can you get me the Edge Spring?

GABRIELLE
He's gonna notice it's gone.

BRUCE
Of course he would. But by the time he'd notice, we'd be long gone too.

GABRIELLE
We?

BRUCE
The people I work for would appreciate your line of expertise, Gabby. A lot more than your father does.

GABRIELLE
How much more? And it's Gabrielle.

BRUCE
Let's just say that the Edge Spring isn't for my car. It'd be for yours. Trust me. The best thing to ever come out of this rinky dinky town is you, but if you wanna stay rinky dinky, you can stay right here taking orders from your old man who'll keep you trapped swapping oil underneath Soccer Wagons and Priuses forever. Call me crazy, but I'd think that working on Lamborghinis, Bugattis, or a Koenigseggs would be a step up.

GABRIELLE
A Koenigsegg?

BRUCE
The Agera, Trevita, and I almost forgot, the CCXR. You think you can handle those?

GABRIELLE
I… uh.

BRUCE
We don't have time for "uhs", Gabby. 1:23am. In the back of your pop's shop. You're there with the part, and we're gone. If not… then I'll be. I'll see you soon… Gabrielle.

THE END

Standing... Blind writing

2010-12-23T00:34:00.001-08:00

What I mean about blind writing is that I began writing this script, Standing Above Pajaro, about two years ago and while I have my notes a out the play on my home computer, which I'm currently away from, I'm rewriting what I have of the script from memory. It's going pretty well but now I'm near the climax of the story and it feels like it's kinda falling apart because I don't have my notes on what's going to happen next.

But overall, I'm happy with the pacing of the dialogue, which is more my style. Which is to say that, I'm incorporating the LaBute quickfire overlapping (using his same script shorthand / at the point of overlappage) while paying close attention to how much to reveal and Jeanie's rules of what every line needs to do: 1) push the story along, 2) describe the charter and 3) show/infer action. If the line does neither of these three, kill it!

So hopefully, I can present this at a Wordy Word to hear this skeleton script: how it fits together before adding flesh/soul/meat to the play.

My goal on this vacation is to finish this one as well as a re-write of Boys Don't Bake Cake.

Ciao for now!

Trickier Than Wine

2010-12-04T06:48:00.001-08:00

I finished the latest draft of Thicker Than Wine in October and I'm going to revisit it since there's finally another deadline of Dec. 14. I'm a little apprehensive about revising it again for fear of overediting. then again all playwrights have the right to edit their plays when they wish. just don't want to over think it. you know what it is? it just might be that I think that I had a pretty good last reading of it and I don't want to do anything else to wreck it! but it doesn't hurt to look at it from a fresh perspective.

onto the topic of adaptations. the lesson was GREAT! but at the same time very constricting in the fact that I'm afraid to share this in fear of getting a cease and desist order. I love what I've come up in spite of the play time duration. maybe I should just contact the author to get her blessing. I mean, I should have in the first place, but then again I didn't even know that it would work out so well, cuz I was hecka strugglin'! should ask Allan first.

I need to write.

Boys Don't Bake Cake - Script

2010-09-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Boys Don’t Bake Cake
A short play by conrad a. panganiban
Version: 2010/09/25

Cast of Characters
Malou Gaspar: 23. Female.
Karen Gaspar: 21. Female. Kristine’s sister. Malou’s cousin.
Kristine Gaspar: 22. Female. Karen’s sister. Malou’s cousin.
Justin Basa: 24. Male. Malou’s BFF.

Setting

Malou’s apartment dining room.
Lights up revealing the apartment dining room of MALOU GASPAR. A “Congratulations” banner hangs on the back wall. A table with 3 chairs is on stage.

ENTER MALOU, KAREN, and KRISTINE carrying flowers and gift bags. MALOU is still in her graduation gown.

KRISTINE
I’m telling you, he’s so in love with you.

KAREN
It’s so obvious.

MALOU
Guys, give it a rest. Just put those over there. Thanks. I told you, we’re just friends.

KAREN
Did you see his sign?

KRISTINE
Who could miss it?

KAREN
Those posterboards must have cost a fortune!

KRISTINE
I know. How many letters are in CONGRATULATIONS MALOU GASPAR, YOU ROCK exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. That’s like, one, two, three… a lot of letters.

MALOU
I barely noticed, Kristine.

KAREN
How could you have not? They were hot pink big cards with gold letters.

KRISTINE
And they were glittery.

KAREN
Glittery?
KRISTINE
Yup. Glittery.

KAREN
Glittery! You could see your name from outer space!

MALOU
It was nice.

KAREN
Girl, you got him whooped.

MALOU
Karen. I told you. Justin’s just a friend.

KRISTINE
What kind of friend could convince (counting with her fingers) a lot of people to hold up each of those letters for you.

MALOU
A good friend.

KAREN
A good friend with benefits?

MALOU
(laughing)
Shut up…

KRISTINE
Just how good are those benefits?

MALOU
Guys! Stop it!

KAREN
He is cute.

KRISTINE
A lot cuter than Monté.

KAREN
Ew. Malou’s crush in elementary school.

MALOU
Middle school.

KRISTINE
And he dresses better than Howard.

KAREN
Ulk. Howard the Duck.

MALOU
Now, that’s just mean.

KRISTINE
Malou. For reals. Didn’t you think that his lips look like a duck?

KAREN
Yeah. How did you kiss like…?

MALOU
Guys.

KAREN
Sergio?

KRISTINE
Yes! Oh my God! Sergio! Trying to get him to even say hi was like pulling a tooth! Remember at Papang’s 90th birthday?

KAREN
Exactly! (to Malou) You would go around to the family introducing him. And all he would do is move his head up and grunt.

KRISTINE
So embarrassing.

MALOU
What’s so wrong about the quiet type?

KAREN
Quiet like a stalker.

MALOU
Okay. I haven’t had the best record with men lately?

KRISTINE
We’re not hating on you, Malou.

MALOU
You sure?

KRISTINE
It’s just that we see this really cool person who is so obviously in love with you and you can’t see it. We just want you to be happy.

KAREN
Yeah.

MALOU
I am happy. I’m ecstatic! I just finished 5 years of college and I’m finally heading out into the real world.

KRISTINE
Alone.

MALOU
Independent.

KAREN
Well, wouldn’t you want Justin out there in the real world with you?

MALOU
Have you been talking to my mom?

KRISTINE
Well, she did say something to our mom, and you know how sisters are.

MALOU
Yeah. Always meddling.

A knock is heard. MALOU gets up and heads to the door.

KAREN
(to MALOU) But it’s out of love. (to KRISTINE) Right?

KRISTINE
(like duhhh…)
Yeahhh…

Enter MALOU with a bouquet of flowers with JUSTIN right behind her carrying a cake box.

MALOU
They smell so fresh.

JUSTIN
That’s because I got them from the campus garden.

MALOU
Dummy. You could’ve got caught.

JUSTIN
You only graduate once. And I know that they’re your favorite.

KAREN & KRISTINE
Awee…

MALOU
Shhh… And you remember my cousins. Kristine and Karen.

KAREN & KRISTINE
Hi.

KAREN
Loved the sign!

JUSTIN
Thanks.

KRISTINE
Must’ve taken you forever to make it.

JUSTIN
Just a couple of weeks. Had to sneak it in between finals. Plus had to make sure she never knew about it. Did you?

MALOU
Total surprise. Thank you.

JUSTIN
And that’s not all.

JUSTIN holds out the cake box.

MALOU
Uh…

JUSTIN
Just open it.

As MALOU opens the box, KAREN and KRISTINE gather around to see what’s inside.

KAREN
Wow.

KRISTINE
That’s a lot of letters.

JUSTIN
I’m getting better at piping.

KAREN
You didn’t? This?

JUSTIN
Red Velvet with Buttercream frosting and filling.

KRISTINE
(to MALOU) Your favorite?

MALOU nods as JUSTIN puts the cake box on the table.

JUSTIN
Please dig right in. There’s clean plates and forks still in the dishwasher cuz this one doesn’t know how to use it. Lou, there’s fresh towels in your bano?

MALOU
Just put them up this morning.

JUSTIN
Cool. We can leave when you’re ready. If you’ll please excuse me. Enjoy!

JUSTIN exits. KAREN exits to get three forks.

KRISTINE
If you don’t take him, I will.

MALOU
I told you. He doesn’t like me in that way.

KAREN re-enters with forks in hand and sits at table with KRISTINE. BOTH take turns eating the cake through this scene.

KAREN
Woman, he baked you a cake? Not a Twinkie. Not a Ho-ho. Or that other thing…

KRISTINE
Suzie-Q.

KAREN
Thank you, Ate. Yeah. Not a Suzie-Q. A cake!

KRISTINE
And boys don’t bake cake!

KAREN
He’s so in love with you.

KRISTINE
So in love.

MALOU
No.

KAREN
Yup.

MALOU
Can’t be.

KRISTINE
He’s got it bad.

MALOU
Bad?

KAREN
He baked you a cake!

KAREN takes another bite of the cake.

KRISTINE
(imitating JUSTIN)
I’m getting better at piping.

KAREN
(with her mouth full of cake)
And it’s SO GOOOOOD!

MALOU
Justin?

KRISTINE and KAREN nod their heads as their mouths are full.

Enter JUSTIN. As JUSTIN says his lines below, MALOU begins to walk over to him.

JUSTIN
I fixed your bathroom lock again. Just remember to lift it up a little with a little jiggle as you press the…

MALOU is about to give JUSTIN a kiss… when he stops her.

JUSTIN
Malou. What are you doing?

MALOU
I… Uh… I just thought.

JUSTIN
Remember Greg?

MALOU
Yeah.

JUSTIN
Well, we’re getting back together. I was going to tell you.

MALOU
Oh. Oh… well. That’s uh… That’s uh… great. That’s great news. You guys look great together.

JUSTIN
Oh, honey. Whatever gave you the idea that…

MALOU looks over at KAREN and KRISTINE. BOTH look down at the cake.

KAREN
Butter cream frosting? Yummy!

KRISTINE
So moist.

MALOU
It’s just. I’m scared okay. School’s finished and now I have to face the real world alone.

JUSTIN
(hugging MALOU)
Silly Willy. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.

Holding out his pinky.

BFF’s?

MALOU intertwine’s her pinky with his.

MALOU
BFFs.

MALOU and JUSTIN hug.

MALOU
I’m sorry.

JUSTIN
Real love is never having to say you’re sorry, or some other stupid saying like that. Capiche?

MALOU
Capiche.

JUSTIN
So, are you ready to go?

MALOU
The party? Right. I forgot. My cousins are here and we’re…

JUSTIN
Well they’re, I mean, Karen, Kristine, you’re invited to come as well.

MALOU
It’s alright. They flew here for the graduation and we were just catching up. Sorry.

JUSTIN
Hey! Remember what I said about having to say sorry. But that’s great. Family together time. Cute. It’s all good. Still on for brunch tomorrow?

MALOU
Like every week.

JUSTIN
It was great seeing both of you again.

KAREN & KRISTINE
Bye. Thanks for the cake.

MALOU
I’ll walk you to the door.

MALOU and JUSTIN exit. MALOU re-enters. KAREN holds up a fork. MALOU takes the fork, sits between her cousins, click their forks together to say “cheers” and MALOU takes a little bit of the cake. KRISTINE and KAREN just watch her while KRISTINE brushes the hair out of MALOU’s eyes and KAREN strokes her back.

Lights fade.

THE END

Stuck (revised 2)

2010-08-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

STUCK

(DRAFT Version 2. 08/31/2010)

CAST OF CHARACTERS
Phoenina Toots: Mid to late 20's. Female. Clown.
Huggie Aloni: Mid to late 20's. Male. Clown.

SETTING
Chuck E. Cheese.

HUGGIE and PHOENINA, dressed in clown outfits are sitting at a table. PHOENINA is sipping from a straw from a paper cup. HUGGIE is looking out of it. A Happy Birthday banner is hanging from a wall upstage. A couple of balloons and some streamers are on the floor around them.

HUGGIE: Look at 'em. I bet those are the most filthiest balls on earth.

PHOENINA: Huggie, they're kids. They're just having fun. You're telling me you never did that.

HUGGIE: Never.

PHOENINA: You should try it sometime.

HUGGIE: I don't know how rolling around in germ infested balls can be fun, Phoenina.

PHOENINA: Not when you put it like that. You know, you really need to loosen up. One of these days you're gonna like have a stroke or something. And then what will I do?

HUGGIE: Find another partner.

PHOENINA: But I've already gotten so used to your grumpy face. And speaking of which, why are you so grumpy today? You're supposed to be Huggie Aloni, the Funny Clown! That's why I brought you here.

HUGGIE: We're here to work.

PHOENINA: Yes. But it's also for you to have some fun.

HUGGIE: I swear, if you have that big rat and his robot freaks, come over here with a cake, I will cut you.

PHOENINA: You're not that good yet.

HUGGIE: Don't try me. Especially today.

PHOENINA: Then at least be happy for what you got.

HUGGIE: A dead-end job with a partner who's a goodie two shoes who likes to party all the time.

PHOENINA: It's a job, right? But I appreciate the effort of throwing in an obscure Eddie Murphy party song to alleviate the tension.

HUGGIE: The only tension is the crow's feet around your eyes because you can remember that song from the Eighties.

PHOENINA: Would you just grow down a little? I'm trying to cheer you up.

HUGGIE: Nothing worth cheering up about entering the later stages in life.

PHOENINA: You're not that old.

HUGGIE: Wow. Not 'that' old. Phoenina, when did you start doing this?

PHOENINA: You know that I started...

HUGGIE: 16. I started doing this when I was 16. I'm 35. And look at me. Should I be happy?

PHOENINA: You look happy. C'mon. You have to lighten up! Enjoy life. Look at those kids over there.

HUGGIE: They're cheating.

PHOENINA: No. They're having fun. They don't know it's against the rules to walk up that ramp and put the balls in the holes.

HUGGIE: The parents are making them do that.

PHOENINA: But look at them. They're smiling. And watching the co-workers not care is hilarious.

HUGGIE: That's being irresponsible.

PHOENINA: Oh my God! What's the matter with you? You know that life is short. We live it. So just live a little!

HUGGIE: (softly) I don't know how.

PHOENINA: What?

HUGGIE: I don't know how! Okay? I've never learned how to.

PHOENINA: Have fun? How's that possible? I thought you loved what we do?

HUGGIE: No. Not really. I mean, it's just a job.

PHOENINA: I love what we do. What about the travel?

HUGGIE: We go from Chuck E. Cheese to Chuck E. Cheese to make a couple of bucks and what do I have to show for it? Do you know what I have to show for it? Nothing!!!

PHOENINA: Keep it down a little. You're gonna scare the kids.

HUGGIE: We're gonna scare them soon anyways. You think I like making kids cry when they see me?

PHOENINA: I like making the adults cry.

HUGGIE: Okay. I do too, but I'm tired of this life. I need something more. I just feel so stuck. This is my last job.

PHOENINA: You've said that before, remember? So, we change things up again. Start over in another part of the country. Like last time.

HUGGIE: You're young-er-ish, cute, and adventurous. Just get another partner. You'll do fine without me. Better even.

PHOENINA: Stop saying that.

HUGGIE: It's true.

PHOENINA: You know you'll miss it. Especially when we round up all the families and we pop off a couple of balloons...

HUGGIE: Behind their kids heads. Good times. Good times.

PHOENINA: And then it's the parents who fork over the money like crazy? What's not fun about that? Now that's the clown, I know.

HUGGIE: Ready, Phoenina Toots.

PHOENINA: Ready, Huggie Aloni.

HUGGIE and PHOENINA get up from the table and take out machetes from inside their Clown outfits.

HUGGIE: Alright everyone! Stop what you're doin and gather up your kiddies, cuz this is a hold up!

THE END

Working working working

2010-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

so my new project is to adapt a short story or poem written by a filipin@-american author into a 20-minute play. i've selected the short story "A Portrait of an Aristocrat" from the novel WHEN THE ELEPHANTS DANCE by Tess Uriza Holthe. i've been drawn to this story ever since reading this 3 years ago. for some reason, it's really taken a hold of me. i think it's just seeing a scene where the protagonist, Fredrico Jacinto-Basa is mixing it up with the contagonist, Divina Zamora. The scene is where Divina first confronts Fredrico in his painting studio after he runs over her mothers vegetables in the market place with his Kalesa. she splashes wine all over his painting and i see him totally enraptured by her passion... something that none of his other portraits have.

at any rate, my task is to take this story of about 21 scenes and compress it into 15-20 minutes. it's gonna be hard, but it eases my mind to know that i've taken the steps to get to that point:

- re-write the story in my words point-by-point
- break this point-by-point re-write into scenes
- identify all of the characters
- identify the main theme
- create a "This story is about..." sentence. Learned this from Philip Kan Gotanda.
- this actually changed from my initial thought of what i thought the story was and this was only accomplished by having the point-by-point re-write.

This story is about how an aristocratic painter changes his beliefs on social equality after meeting his muse and her family during the late 1800's of a Spanish-colonized Philippines.

what i still need to accomplish:
- edit out the scenes which will help me tell the story into 20 minutes
- figure out what's the best method to do this
- cut out as many characters as i can and maybe combine characters

i'm on my way and the more times i go over what i've already done, the story will come more clearly into focus :)

Stuck

2010-08-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

STUCK

(DRAFT Version 1. 08/25/2010)

Phoenix - Early 20's. Designer.
Gynn - Mid 20's. Web engineer.

(PHOENIX and GYNN are standing in line at a sandwhich shop.)

PHOENIX: What do you think, Gynn? Should I get it?

GYNN: (passive) What?

PHOENIX: Should I get it?

GYNN: The #11? Yeah. Sounds good, Phoenix.

PHOENIX: I wasn't talking about the sandwiches. I was talking about getting the Ford Fiesta. What do you think? I just love that name, Fiesta. Just sounds so... fiesta!

GYNN: Sure. Why not?

PHOENIX: I know. It's like my Civic hella breaks down all the time now. But I don't wanna get rid of it.

GYNN: Harper mentioned your road trips.

PHOENIX: So, that's what my ex-roommate's been telling you. All our adventures.

GYNN: San Diego to meet up with some guy you met on MySpace?

PHOENIX: Hey! Ya never know where you'l find your soulmate. That person could be right next to ya or 600 miles away. Ya won't know 'til ya let go and find out. I'd love to have what you and Harper got.

GYNN: (beat) So, what are you going to order?

PHOENIX: The #24 sounds snazzy.

GYNN: Maybe I'll try that.

PHOENIX: Wawa-what?! Mr. Consistency is even considering verring off the course of his beloved #11. The sandwich you've been ordering everyday since ever.

GYNN: Sometimes it's good to change things up.

(PHOENIX stops and stares at GYNN with great suspicion.)

GYNN: What?

PHOENIX: What did you do to the real, Gynn? The real Gynn don't change for no one. He only wears a black shirt, jeans, and New Balances every day because he has a thing for Steve Jobs.

GYNN: It's called efficient dressing. And Steve Jobs is a national hero. All I'm saying is that sometimes, change is good. If you don't change, you stay... stuck.

PHOENIX: That's pretty damn deep.

GYNN: I love you.

PHOENIX: What?

GYNN: I love you, Phoenix. I love how you can go for hours without taking a breat between sentences because I can see your thoughts dance in your eyes. I love the fact that you can drop everything and jump in a car and drive all the way down the state for that chance of meeting The One.

PHOENIX: Gynn. Stop.

GYNN: I'm just...

PHOENIX: Harper.

GYNN: Stuck. (beat) Phoenix, say something.

PHOENIX: I... I can't.

GYNN: I know that you and Harper are...

PHOENIX: I like you too.

GYNN: What?

PHOENIX: I'm not stupid. I can see that you and Harper are... and I can see how you look at me. You aren't that slick. But you know that we can't.

GYNN: You're right. You're right.

PHOENIX: So, what are you gonna tell Harper.

GYNN: The truth.

PHOENIX: About us?

GYNN: There is no us.

PHOENIX: Right.

GYNN: Right. Are we okay?

PHOENIX: No. I mean you just don't come out and say I Love You, and everything's okay.

GYNN: I'm apologize.

PHOENIX: It's... all good. Not relly, but let's just chill.

GYNN: Right. Chill. Order our sandwiches and head back to the office.

PHOENIX: That's the plan. (to the sandwich maker) Uh, excuse me... Hi. I'll have the 24.

GYNN: And I'll have the #11... wait. I... I changed my mind. Please make that a #15. Thanks. (to Phoenix) Um... out of curiosity, if you and Harper weren't?

PHOENIX: Sisters?

THE END

staring down the pipe

2010-08-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

getting back into the swing of things to hit another play out of the park after a very long break. however, I'm back and i'm staring down the pipe at a slow moving ball to swing at!

the assignment: adapt a play from an established (rather than emerging) fil-am writer. i have the theme. i want to have the way. now i'm just looking for some inspiration!

here i go again!

Melissa's Monologue/Character Study

2009-04-27T03:15:00.001-07:00

Written as a character study.

Character: Melissa Anne Crawley
Play: Standing Above Pajaro

MELISSA ANNE CRAWLEY is facing the audience behind a table where she’s being interviewed by the Watsonville Sheriff about the disappearance of her son, BOBBY JR.

MELISSA
Where do you want me to start? Okay. From the beginning. Okay. My name is Melissa Anne Crawley. I was born… truthfully, I don’t really know. My parents, well the ones that found me, think I’m 40. They picked my birthday on May 20th, 1890. Why are you looking at me like that? My eyes. Yes, they are really that blue. I know that everything else about me looks like I’m Mexican, but as far as I know I’m from here in Watsonville, not Mexico. The only time I left this city was when my late husband, Robert, returned from the war in the Philippines to the old Ord Barracks, down in Monterey. We stayed there until my parents passed, and that’s when we moved back to work in their store. The same one I run now with my son, Bobby Jr. Anyways, when Robert returned from war, he wasn’t the same person I married. He didn’t have such a bad temper before he left. I guess that’s what war does to a person. Let’s just say that I quickly learned how not to say anything back or question anything he said. Anyways, he passed on a few years back. Like father like son, Bobby got the same temper and quick-draw reflexes. We tried to make the best of it running the store. But Bobby was always out with his friends though. Teenagers. But that was good. I got to sing out loud. Something that I never got to do when Robert was alive, or when Bobby was around. They said I had a terrible voice and was tone-deaf. But in those moments alone, either singing to myself, or making up stories, I felt alive. I also got to read the old books that my parents had. I didn’t get to go to school so I could help out with the store, but they taught me how to read and write. They probably knew that I’d take over the store for them. But this was something I kept from my husband and son. That I knew how to read and write… well, I made them think that I just knew the basics. I needed to keep some things for me, I suppose. But I wasn’t stupid. No matter, how much they told me that. I wasn’t. I had a family and responsibilities. I didn’t have a need for fancy clothes or anything. And I would keep my hair in a bun, just like this. Robert thought that it was improper to let my hair down. Even when Robert had already passed, Bobby caught me with my hair down and he scolded me for it. He said that’s the way those girls at that Filipino Club down in Palm Beach had their hair when they danced with those Goo-goos, that’s what Bobby called them, those Filipino workers and they would drive them crazy. He said that it wasn’t enough that they were taking away the real American’s jobs, but they were taking their women too. I didn’t know what to believe, but he’s my son and I have to believe that he was right, right? I just wished that sometimes he would…. The night of the 30th? I was at home. Above the store. I heard a lot of commotion going on outside. I knew from the last couple of days that the whole town of Watsonville was after those Filipino field workers. Bobby would tell me some of the things they would do to them. I knew it was wrong, but… I just stayed home and let things play out. Can I ask you something? Is it true that a Filipino was killed at the Murphy Ranch? Oh. What was his name? Oh my. No. I didn’t know Fermin Tobera. Oh. Excuse me. I was just thinking about Bobby. No. No, I don’t know where he is. Do you think he had something to do with this killing? Of course. Still under investigation. Please let me know if you find my son. Can I go now?

Ostara's Rave

2009-04-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to another script I wrote for Bindlestiff Studio's production of Good Friday: Carpool to Hell. It's called Ostara's Rave. Even though this didn't get produced, I'm really happy to have it staged in a workshop. Plus, I got pretty good reaction to it from the cast.

The biggest lesson I learned was the ability to form a story from doing research on the origins of Easter. I wrote this in total of about 3 hours. 2 hours of research and notes and another hour of writing. When I get time, hopefully I'll do a proper re-write.

Enjoy :)

http://www.uptil3.com/scripts/Ostara's Rave.pdf

Call of Duty: God's Army

2009-04-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

CALL OF DUTY: GOD’S ARMY
v.2 3/25/09

Produced by Bindlestiff Studios
Good Friday: Carpool to Hell
April 9-11, 2009
Thick House, San Francisco, CA

Original Cast:
Lola - Sarita Ocon
Grandchild - 4/9-10, Kat Evasco & 4/11, Joe Cascasan

Directed by Judith Ferrer

CALL OF DUTY: GOD’S ARMY
by conrad panganiban
directed by Judith Ferrer

Characters:
Lola – Older. Catholic.
Grandchild – the grandchild of Lola

INT.BEDROOM.NIGHT

Lights fade up to dim as GRANDCHILD is holding the Wii video game controllers and playing a game. Two people are both DSL&R facing the audience. They are the human sound effects.

LOLA's voice is heard off-stage.

LOLA
What's all this noise?

Lights up as LOLA enters GRANDCHILD's bedroom.

LOLA
Hoy! Why are you not sleeping yet? You have to wake up early for Easter Mass.

GRANDCHILD
Lola. Just a few more minutes. I'm almost done.

LOLA
You go to sleep now!

GRANDCHILD
Almost done.

LOLA
Is that a rosary on the screen?

GRANDCHILD
Yes, Lola. It's a new game called CALL OF DUTY: GOD's ARMY.

GRANDCHILD is making the sign of the cross with the controller.

LOLA
Now what are you doing?

GRANDCHILD
I'm converting the Pagans.

LOLA
Oh... Who is that running at you? They look mad.

GRANDCHILD
Wait. You're distracting me.

LOLA
Are they throwing rocks at you?

GRANDCHILD
Switching to the Cross.

GRANDCHILD makes the motion like she/he is hitting the rocks like a tennis racket from Wii Sports.

LOLA
Ay! Move that way! No the other way! Watch out over there! Ay-ya!

GRANDCHILD
Lola! Look what you made me do! I died!

LOLA
Well, if you moved that way, you're not going to die.

GRANDCHILD
You think you can do better.

GRANDCHILD and LOLA pause and stare at each other.

LOLA
Give me.

GRANDCHILD gives the controls to LOLA.

GRANDCHILD
Press the A button.

LOLA
Which one is A.

GRANDCHILD
The one on top.

LOLA
Now how do you move?

GRANDCHILD
With the other controller. With your thumb.

LOLA
Like this?

GRANDCHILD
There you go. Now go over to those people.

LOLA
They look like from a Pilipino Village. They look nice.

GRANDCHILD
Nah. That's fear. Okay, now convert them with the sign of the cross.

LOLA makes the sign of the cross with the controller.

LOLA
Bless you. Bless you. Amen. Bless you. This is easy. Oh oh, here comes the pagans again.

GRANDCHILD
Press the B button. It's the trigger. Good. That's the cross weapon. Now, hit back the rocks!

LOLA hits the rocks away like she's playing Wii Tennis.

LOLA
I'm pretending it's a slipper. Hayop! Take that! Who are those other people coming that way?

GRANDCHILD
They're called the Mayans.

LOLA
How do I convert them?

GRANDCHILD
You can't. You have to kill them.

LOLA
What?

GRANDCHILD
Switch to the Holy Water weapon! Now, sprinkle the water on them.

LOLA makes the motion of sprinkling the holy water on them.

GRANDCHILD
See. They're melting!

LOLA
What's that hopping around?

GRANDCHILD
Easter bunnies! Switch to Holy Smoke!

LOLA makes the motion of making the holy smoke... smoke.

LOLA
They're falling asleep. Now what do I do?

GRANDCHILD
You have to stab them.

LOLA
But that's some more killing.

GRANDCHILD
It's okay Lola. It's all in the name of the Father.

LOLA
Oh, okay.

GRANDCHILD
Switch to the knife and start stabbing them!

LOLA starts stabbing the controller down. Victory music is heard from sound effect people.

GRANDCHILD
You did it Lola! You converted the world and killed all the Heathens!

LOLA
That was fun. I'm glad that it's ONLY a video game.

LOLA and GRANDCHILD face at the audience with the look of knowing that it really isn't just a video game.

LOLA
Wait a minute? Who are they?

HOUSE LIGHTS are turned on.

GRANDCHILD
It’s Bindlestiff’s Good Friday Audience.

LOLA
Oh my.

GRANDCHILD
Convert them Lola! Yeah!

LOLA goes back to playing the game and starts to make the motions to the members of the audience.

END

Obama's Press Conference

2009-04-12T20:40:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of new scripts that I've written for Bindlestiff Studio's sketch comedy show

Good Friday: Carpool to Hell
April 9-11, 2009
Thick House, San Francisco, CA

OBAMA PRESS CONFERNECE
by conrad panganiban
v1 03/30/2009

Original Cast
Obama - Franz Jundis
Trent – Dianne Chui
Rosary Sox – Terry Alabata
Jejomar – Jocelyne Ampon

directed by Judith Ferrer

Characters:
Obama
Trent – reporter, Fox News
Rosary Sox – reporter, ChristianScienceMonitor.com
Jejomar – Union City Pic-and-Save

INT. PRESSROOM. DAY

PRES. OBAMA is center stage standing on chair. A row of reporters are facing the audience asking questions.

OBAMA
I want to thank you all for coming to this Easter Press Conference. For all the Christians viewing this. Happy Easter. To everyone else. Yes We Can. Now, I’ll start with some questions.

PRESS CORP raise their hands.

OBAMA
You. Trent McBlue.

TRENT
Trent McBlue, Fox News. How do you respond to the recent Harris Poll saying that you rank as the number one hero in America above Jesus Christ.

OBAMA
Look… I uhh… I’ve said all along… while I was campaigning… that I should not be compared to uh… Jesus Christ. I am Barack Obama. Not Jesus Christ. Obama. Barack Obama.

PRESS CORP raise their hands.

OBAMA
You. Rosary Sox McHanus.

ROSARY SOX
Rosary Sox McHanus, ChristianScienceMonitor .com, President Obama. What would you like to say to the people who voted for you on how you should deal with the CEO’s on Wall Street?

OBAMA
Well, I say to them… that uh… Change has come to America, so that means that… uh… these unscrupulous CEO’s won’t get the same treatment as before. But, I’ll do what I can to save people’s jobs.

ROSARY SOX
So then, you are willing to be their Savior?

OBAMA
Again. Look… I’m not a Savior. But the people who have abused their corporate responsibilities will be dealt with.

TRENT
Are you saying that your Father will put the plague on their houses?

OBAMA
My father? Look… I don’t know how to say this any other way, but I’m not Jesus. Now, let’s get to more serious issues…

PRESS CORP raise their hands.

OBAMA
You. Jejomar Franks. I hope this is a serious question for these serious times... which I will respond with a serious answer.

JEJOMAR
Yes, Mr. President. Jejomar Franks, Union City Pic-and-Save. What are your goals for your upcoming trip to the Middle East?

OBAMA
I will uh… tell them that uh… the American people want peace in their region.

JEJOMAR
So you’d be like the Prince of Peace… Like Jesus.

OBAMA
Look… uh… look. I just said I want to be able to organize a peaceful solution.

ROSARY SOX
Jesus was a community organizer too. He got 12 people to follow him, but you got a whole nation to follow you. It’s like you are the Messiah.

OBAMA
Look. I am not the Messiah. I am not Jesus. I am not Sam I Am. I am who I am. And that’s all that I am!

TRENT
Amen!

ROSARY SOX
Halleluia!

JEJOMAR
Popeye?

OBAMA
I give up! I Bless You and the United States of America. Good Night.

END

The Gift - the script

2008-08-18T01:13:00.000-07:00

Now that the play is wrapped up, here is the script. Just to cover my butt, even I don't really see why, I've copyrighted it. I'm ALWAYS open to critiques so please Lemme have it. I'm the most critical of my own work, so please be as hard as you want, but I ask that your comments be CONSTRUCTIVE! That's the only way both of us can learn :)

Thanks!

http://www.uptil3.com/theGift.pdf

And that's a wrap!

2008-08-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

Well, my play, The Gift, directed by Nicole Maxali and starring, Aaron Niles, Jocelyne Ampon, and Sarita Orcon closed last night. THANK YOU for breathing life into the characters that came to me at 3am on the morning of June 16, 2008! Special thanks to Ed Mabasa for the coolest tech effect to bring a blast to the ending!

Here's some notes from my observations about Stories High 10 from this playwright's POV:

- Of course, I learned this after the fact but don't use one-liners for effect. I tried to come up with a couple of one-hit one liners that seemed so disjointed from the flow of the script. boo. i have to do better than that.

- Create the "Awwweee" character. From John Raposas's character in his play, One Year, he's crafted a character that made the audience pull for him. Make the audience say "Aweee" by playing the sympathy card. A lesson John taught me from a critique session we had. From the time of the first Awe, that's when you HOOK the audience.

- Create the lyrical play. My personal FAVORITE play is Last Verse written by Ed Mabasa. Honestly, it took me a couple of times to watch it to really understand it and to realize just how beautiful it is. I know a lot of people still wonder what it's about, as did I, but what I took from it was a love story that had the protagonist, played by the awesome Dennis Rodis, ask how do people fall so in love? what causes this? True this is written from an 18th century vampire dark standpoint, but that's what made it appealing to me. I also said lyrical because some of the lines are truly poetic.

- Comedy. My next couple of scripts are going to be comedies. Comedy and laughter is what sells the audience! Honestly, that's what roped me initially into being a playwright - hearing the laughter of the audience. Holy shit?! I wrote something that made strangers laugh? In my growth, my focus has been taken away from that, but after getting that infectious feeling of happiness from Ava Tong's Non Quite Unrequited, One Year, and Non-Sequiturs by Cathlin Goulding, I can't wait to create that joy again.

- The Love Story. One Year and Josef Anolin's Choices explored the relationship genre. I've kinda taken that out of my repertoire after writing Garden of Dreams, but I totally plan to go back to it to explore Love and the complications thereof soon. Unfortunately, I really haven't been in that mood to do so. Kind of when trying to write a Christmas play in June. Not the same feeling. Gets? But it was nice to see.

- The political play. Out of all the plays, Nomi's Brothers and Sisters took me the most to get used to. Honestly, it took me a while to warm up to it mostly because I felt that the message beat me over the head with what it wanted to say. But that's talking from the (ick) analytical pov of the structure of playwriting. HOWEVER, it's a very very worthwhile play to create and is needed! There are bad things happening in the Philippines regarding US/Philippine relations, political and economic, that needs to be addressed and it's great to see it done so. Much props to Nomi for writing this.

Stories High 10

2008-07-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

I'm SO thrilled that my play, THE GIFT, is a part of this years Stories High production of One-Acts produced by Bindlestiff Studio here in SF! Another step towards my dream...

Press Release for Stories High 2008

Bindlestiff’s staple production, Stories High, reaches it 10th anniversary with a new batch of writers, directors and actors eager to grace its stage.

Stories High is a series of theater workshops that culminates into a show. Artists and anyone who is interested in getting involved with community arts is invited to choose from acting, playwriting, directing, backstage managing, marketing, and producing workshops, all at affordable rates. Stories High hopes to discover, cultivate, and nurture new emerging artists. This is Bindlestiff' s 10th Stories High workshop and show.

Teasers for your tastebuds:
A couple in a bitter feud during their one year anniversary…
An insecure English high school teacher makes sense of her past…
A young woman meets the mother of her savior…
The power of love, and the fight for it, during a dancing class…
A soldier chooses between his family and his perceived country…
A murderer commits his last act of violence…
A confused boyfriend must decide between fidelity and guilty pleasure…

Featured Plays:

One Year written by John Raposas and directed by Thomas Paras
Non-Sequiturs written by Cathlin Goulding and directed by Ava Tong
The Gift written by Conrad Panganiban and directed by Nicole Maxali
Not Quite Unrequited written by Ava Tong and directed by Christina Ying
The Last Verse in Despair written by Ed Mabasa and directed by Kevin Correa
Choices written by Josef Anolin and directed by John Raposas
Brothers & Sisters written by Mario “Nomi” deMira and directed by R.J. Lozada

July 31st – August 16th
Thursday- Saturday
$10 - $15 sliding scale

Off Market Theater
965 Mission Street
Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Writing Facilitator – Samantha Chanse
Acting Facilitator – Allan Manalo
Directing Facilitator – Jeannie Barroga
Producers- Anthony Tagudar, Susanna Yu & Dianne Aquino Chui

For more information, please visit www.bindlestiffstudio.org. If you would like to make a reservation, please email Susie@bindlestiffstudio.org with the show title, date, and number of seats you’d like to reserve.

About Bindlestiff Studio
Established in 1997, Bindlestiff Studio is the nation's only independent and permanent community-based performing arts venue dedicated to the cultivation of emerging and established Filipino American artists. Its mission is to inspire community involvement and social awareness through the arts. Bindlestiff provides an affordable, professional theater to encourage artists to redefine the boundaries of social and artistic expression and provides the community access to diverse offerings in theatrical productions, music and film festivals, workshops in directing, production, acting, stand-up comedy, and writing, in addition to a children and youth theater program. Bindlestiff needs your support as it enters into a new phase of artistic and organizational development. To donate or to volunteer, please call (415) 255-0440 or visit our website at www.bindlestiffstudio.org

Looks

2008-06-20T14:54:00.001-07:00

Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined

This is a name of a book that I just saw on this book service I'm with. It's an interesting topic for a play... maybe.

unrequited love/friendship

2008-06-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

I just had to get this out in terms of exploring unrequited love/friendship as a theme for a new play. Most likely this will be thought of into a 10-minute as it's an artform that I've not only fallen in love with, but really understand the structure and elements of a play. Of course, writing for this won't keep me from wanting to write a full-length, but I'm pretty sure that if I can nail this format, I'll be able to nail the full-length as well.

Back to this theme. I'm just really feeling strongly towards this theme because I'm going through this right now. I know that it's probably all in my head, but... sometimes I wonder. Regardless if this is in my noggin', it's still a pretty real "emotion" - the feeling of loving someone more than they love you. There's just so many varying degrees of this feeling that I'm going to explore from my point of view. It's really interesting. If I was younger, I'd be going through... let's be honest, I have gone through this again. Probably to the point where this relationship I have with this other person is irreparable, well to the point where it was at one point in time, but I am much older and wiser now to not get too caught up in the sadness, jealousy, spitefulness, and otherwise NEGATIVE, yet human, energy. I mean, sure it's there, I am human, but honestly, not to the degree as it was in another phase of my life. I know I'm rambling, but that's what blogs are for.

Okay, now prefacing all that I have, loving someone more than they love you is a universal thing. Sometimes, if a person's not careful, if the other person senses this, they can, and probably should, take advantage of that person's affections. But I think the tragedy is that sometimes the person giving the affection will probably try harder the more the other person doesn't reciprocate. Sad. This is good, but I have to be aware not to make the hero a sad sack of poo instead of a sympathetic character.

At any rate, this has been weighing on my mind. Something I need to write about.

Another crossroad

2008-06-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that I should be writing this on my other blog site, but it applies here as well. I'm at another crossroad it seems. I can either audition to act in a play which will take place later this summer or continue writing by seeking out lessons and looking for other theater work. I guess I'm at this juncture because I can finally take stock of where I truly am in this time and space that some call life. I've spent so much, if not all, of my life trying to fit in by doing a lot of things, more recently within the last 5 years, by doing the theater thing. I love the theater. And this weekend, I solidified my love for writing for the stage. And to my surprise, possibly writing for film/video/DV.

I'm 36. I don't feel like I have anything yet to show my existence in doing something I love. In order to do this, my goal in playwriting terminology, I know that I have to focus on WRITING. I got close to so many people with Bindlestiff, but is that what my ultimate goal is? Or should it be to hopefully one day, write something that these amazing performers can take and run and make fly.

You're the first to read these thoughts are pouring out of my fingertips and spilling onto this keyboard, but I'm have to step away from the stage. I have to do this in order for the amazing artists to grace the stage and take my words to transport an audience into my world. A world that can only be seen through my journey through life. This journey that I've been so lucky to have been on as to where I can finally see the top of my Hierarchy of Needs - self-identity. Knowing what my role in life ultimately is - a playwright.

The Gift

2008-06-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

I just finished what can be considered the final script of The Gift for Bindlestiff Studio's Stories High Production which will take place on the last week of July and early August. Here's a taste of what I wrote:

FEMALE
I can’t believe that this is happening to me!

MALE
How can this be happening to me?

FEMALE
After all the auditions I’ve been on. After all the “You’re
just not what we’re looking for right now.” Or the
countless hours of checking my phone after the “Thanks,
don’t call us, we’ll call you,” it’s finally paid off!

MALE
Correction. We were going to get married. I don’t know what
happened. Look, if I knew I wouldn’t be talking to you now.
All she said was, “I think we need a break.”

FEMALE
I know crazy! So it was during my lunch break when the
director called and asked if I’ve ever been to Orlando. Do
you know what’s in Orlando? I swear I almost peed in my
pants! Hold on. Did I? I don’t know? I don’t care. Holy
shit! Dreams actually can come true!

MALE
Over the phone. I never thought that I’d break up over the
phone. I never even thought that we’d ever break up. All
these plans after graduation. Shot. All these dreams I had
for us. Over. What am I gonna do, now?

FEMALE
Duh, I’m hella excited!

MALE
Numb. I can’t feel anything.

FEMALE
Stupid happy!

MALE
Fucking crappy.

FEMALE
It’s like I got all these emotions running all over my
body…

MALE
And I wish I can make them… stop.

Lights out on FEMALE and MALE as
YSA collapses from emotional
overload.

That's all for now because I intend to tweak this a little bit in order to turn this into a couple of festivals. After these have been turned in, I'll post up the script here :)

Finally learning

2008-05-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

forgive me for not writing in here for what really seems for ever! but i've gotten caught up in rediscovering the wonderful world of acting. i'm taking a workshop with bindlestiff and i'm learning and rediscovering a lot of the the things i've learned from acting classes at Sac State and a lot that I've learned just from being on stage in general. this is gonna be a short entry, because i needed to get this story out of the way. so last night in class, we were broken up into 2 groups. one as the audience, the other as a group of liars. as part of the group of liars, there is one of us who's telling the truth and the audience was to guess who's real story it was. i was lucky enough to convince the others of my story of tripping over a step at a hotel in Baguio.

story: on vacation to the philippines, i went with my cousins and their friends to Baguio. The whole trip, they made fun of me because I wasn't married yet, especially my cousin Dayo. Anyways, he was trying to hook me up with the front desk girl at the hotel that we were staying at. The next day when we were going to check out Mine's View, as we were going down some steps at the hotel he saw the girl at the front desk and started teasing me again, until he tripped over a step. I hecka laughed at him because that was hella Karma. And as I'm laughing at him, I tripped over the same step. I looked up and saw the cutey at the front-desk laugh at me too. Hella moded. I never got her name either.

so i lied! that's good right? no. the instructor, allan manalo, knew that i was making it up because as he put it, my story was too cute. he knew that i'm a playwright and that my story was wrapped up too well with a beginning, middle, and end. daymn him! daymn me for thinking up this story on the spot. at one point, i was happy that my acting skills convinced a whole group of SIX people to believe my story, but at the same time, i was in a way, more happy to know that a person recognizes that i'm a storyteller. that i knew the structure of a story and as a writer was recognized as such. that was cool! i didn't convince him, but i thought i told a good believable story.

BOA in SF

2008-03-15T00:47:00.001-07:00

I know. I know. It's been a while. Tonight I went into the city to watch a friend's play as it is featured in Bay One Acts Festival by Three Monkeys at the Eureka Theater. Not saying this because he's my friend, but his was the best play. It's called "Toss of the Hat" by Mike Ricca. It's kinda funny watching it because it totally sounds like him! And what's funnier is that when people hear my stuff, they say that they could totally hear me. I just never thought of it that way, I guess. But his play is about a guy who throws caution to the wind and steps up and asks a girl that he likes, and whom he know she likes him, to be together... despite the fact that she already has a boyfriend of two years. He used the device of breaking the fourth wall, something I love, and can't wait to be able to write that into a play ala Zoot Suit.

Luckily they were selling the play as compiled in a book in the lobby. It must be a sign when all the crumpled bills that emerged from my left front pocket was exactly the amount of the book. Hopefully I'll get him to sign it when I see him at the next random meeting.

Anyways, his play closed program two of the festival. the programs consisted of short 30 - 40 minute plays. on this night, there were 4 plays. The first rocked cuz it involved cutting off a person's finger and tongue... which eventually led to his death on stage. Creepy and disturbing... right up my alley! The third play was amazing because of the heart that the playwright displayed. I was about 20 minutes long and I wished it was longer because I loved the characters.

The one that I surprisingly didn't like was the second play. It was about a man and a woman who are at a theater in NYC to watch an Edward Albee play, but they get there 24 minutes early, so they just sit there talking about there relationship which try to answer the question of why don't they have a baby yet. I didn't like them and I was always trying to figure out where were they going with this. I understood why the playwright was trying to paint their differences, but in the end, I just didn't like and care for either of them. The only really going for it was the very witty banter between them. Snappy. Back and forth. Like a tennis match of heavy hitters - fast. And I realized that at one point, I really really liked this style of conversation. Smart. Quick. But, for some reason, that style started to feel that the lines were just there to make the characters seem witty and smart... instead of just being real. I wrote a whole paragraph on this play because I really learned a lot from it... and about what I like and don't like. Something I hope I can use and know what not to use in my plays.

the mightiest force known to exist

2008-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about what being an artist means to me. This sprang up from watching AOTS (America is on the Stage) and watching the potential there. I say potential not in a belittling or condescending way, I admire them for what they are DOING, but potential in terms of being able to continue to pursue the creation of art/song/dance/jokes/graphic design/etcetera long after college is done.

For me and the people that I'm on the same spiritual vibration level on (spiritual speak), we're still and will always continue to be Artists. The ones who seek pleasure of getting away from the world of worry, pain, bills, politics, hollywood, by going into a place of rehearsal, being on stage or even putting a scrapbook together - the place where the hands of seconds, minutes, and hours fall in your presence because you are on a higher level that allows you the freedom to be what God/Vishnu/Bathala/Whomever you consider the Mighty Supreme Being to be, and has always intended for you to be - YOU.

If you consider yourself an artist, then you know it is so engrained into your soul that you couldn't erase it if you, or anyone or anything else, even tried. It's that something that won't allow itself to be killed. It's the one thing that even if your physical presence is no longer with us, that creative soul lives on through what you created for us to carry us through. (Shout out to our boy, BJ Alisago!) Something that powerful because at it's core is the mightiest force known to exist on ANY level - love.

Back in the Saddle

2008-03-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days of writing has been amazing! I actually forgot what it feels like to get lost in writing the words that come out of my characters mouths. It's actually getting to the point where it feels like I have to "kill some of my babies" because of length. I have this one scene that was so thin before, but now that i've added so much meat to develop and push the story forward, I know that I have to cut some of it. Hopefully, I can find somewhere to put it back into.

But yeah. Just nice to lose total track of time and to see the action just appear in the consciousness.

Green Light

2008-02-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Ya-ta! I got a green light to produce my play "Garden of Dreams" for April 25-27 at Sacramento City College. Unfortunately, there might be some things that might block this dream from happening but I look at this as just another obstacle and a challenge. One of the other challenges happen to be that the play is to happen in Sacramento which is about 150 miles away. I've turned down this opportunity before because taking the advice by one of my mentors, and by a couple of books I've read and playwriting podcasts I've heard, was not to direct my own play. Another obstacle. But you know what, it needs to be done. I'm not even sure if I'll have my original reading cast. Another obstacle.

Given these, I honestly feel like the deck is stacked against me but for the first time in a long time, I am determined more than ever to get this done. Even if it's in a park with puppets... wait, maybe not that far, but close. The other thing working for me is that I have a lot of friends who can help me... i hope.

The other thing that is going to get me through is the example that the artists of Bindlestiff Studio have led. They are about my age, but ever since I started watching their productions, they have done it themselves. They had a support system that I marvel at and more importantly, inspired by.

As time goes on, taking Robert Rodriguez's book, Rebel Without a Crew, as an example, I'll create a journal, maybe a blog on its own, on the process of the production.

Character Dosier

2008-01-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

Sister Mary Clarence:...If when you wake up in morning and you couldn't think about anything, but writing, then you're a writer.

After my 9-to-6, I head on over to borders to do some writing. I'm feeling good about this story idea I've had for quite some time. Before I get started, I even do a little writing exercise: A wants something from B, but B wants something from A first. A little tip: when starting this exercise on a laptop, write down the two character names, which is better than A and B, one line on top of the other, copy those two lines, and copy and paste, etc., down the page. And bada bing, before you even have any lines written, you're committed to this little drama because you have outlined two characters that go back and forth WAITING for you to insert the story. I'm a visual person, and when I saw this, I got inspired.

So, I'm writing this little scene and half way through, I realize that in a short play like this, I still don't know what this is about. Not good. And I started to think that in my last couple of short plays, it takes me a while for me to get into not only what is this story about, but what are these characters like?

I stopped in my tracks and, with this question in mind, I started to write my play... but in a very different way that I've written everything else. There are two different philosophies of writing. 1) sit down and start writing. The characters will eventually start talking to each other and to your own wonderment, a story happens and in a very schizophrenic kind of way, these characters start to write their own story while you're just there as a stenographer. 2) start out with writing down what each of these characters are like. write down everything they went through; what their history is; what is their needs; what makes them... them. In doing so, in theory, the characters will start to write your play, but with motivation and forethought.

I believe in both philosophies, especially the first one, because of that artistic sensation of really creating something from nothing. Very organic since you're just letting it happen. But last night, I started writing out the Character Dosier for each of my characters, but in the organic kind of way, I've discovered more themes to the play itself. I was as excited to write this as I was when I just free wrote.

Needless to say, I came out of this writing session with more that I thought I was going into it: stronger individual characters. I'll still be working on this for other characters, but the goal is still the same in the anticipation of seeing what each of them has to say to each other.

Notes from Stories High

2008-01-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post these notes from the latest Bindlestiff Studio's Stories High Reading series for my 10-minute, Leaving My <3 In SF. Even though I don't know who wrote these, I'm very thankful for the time that they put in to write anything down! Thanks! Now, to get the final done soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to have some time to do another reading with the final:

Leaving My Heart in San Francisco

Ending sorta muddled – don't think Mrs. Ayala is well-developed with son – how did he die? Too serious as a comedy!

In the story, they talked about the mother having a bag with "something." In discussion, we couldn't figure out if it was a heart or a conclusion.

Very dark, ha ha. You are a great writer but could be better developed as far as the context/background. I like how you keep us "wondering" though.

The mother character is very creepy! What do you want the tone of your piece to be?

Nice and unique payoff with the postcards.

Script is very funny, touching and original. Pacing of reading is good and should be kept.

Funny stuff. Didn't think lion heart and chicken shit part was too effective. Can't wait to see it in action.

I thought this play was very deep. You could feel Cora's pain. Also had humor.

Funny! Especially the hearts lamb part.

Strong energy, good performance by mother Ayala, cryptic- she emotes well.

Unique script, great acting.

The lady in the pink did really well! I like her accent. AWWWW!! I like this one too!

Yeah! A new idea for a play

2008-01-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

This story is about...

Mindy Garcia is the editor of her school’s newspaper who meets a young farm-worker named Fermin Tobera. While helping him recover something from his past, she uncovers the town’s longest secret. At the same time, she unexpectedly falls in love with him. Unfortunately, there’s a big problem: he’s a ghost.

I can't believe it. This idea had just come to me as I started writing out a scene and everything... just happened. I actually have a story: beginning, middle, and end. Characters. And most importantly, an ending. I know how it ends. I really can't believe it. Welps, the next step - write it! Good luck na lang!

Leaving My <3 In SF - Reading

2008-01-18T06:19:00.000-08:00

So the reading of my short play, LEAVING MY <3 IN SF, went well last night. I was also very pleased with, not only the actors, but also the person who directed it. After it was read, he came up to me and as always, gave me some really good notes. And I whole-heartedly agreed with him. The version that was presented was a total 180 from the original script, but I felt was better just because in this version, and in the end that's what mattered.

The thing that I learned from the reading:

don't let Cora get off the hook too easy. makes the ending just... end. the climax was just a blip instead of a Holy Shnikeys

when there's a reading of multiple authors, I just can't help but feeling competitve. "Why wasn't my play as funny as theirs?"

want to expand the Wife's character to establish her role

Getting back to the second point about being competitive, it was just inevitable. Being in that situation where you're piece of art is on display with other artists, you want to see how your piece compares to others. And you have the judge right there, the audience. And the biggest barometer is laughter. It's all about the sense of instant gratification. The upside of having experienced this instant gratification is that I don't really seek it that much. Of course there are those lines that were written down with the wonder of, "is anyone going to laugh during this line?" But what I'm trying to say is that I HAVE to be concentrated on my play and not worry about if the previous or next person's play garnered that instant gratification. In the end, it's my voice and subject that I'm trying to push forward.

All in all, I was pretty happy how everything went last night. Like everytime I see a live theater performance of any kind, it just inspires me to keep writing. And that's a very good thing!

Bindlestiff's 10 Stories High - Reading

2008-01-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

Ready for the 10th Anniversary of Bindlestiff Studios' Stories High!!!!

2 Nights only!!!

Come support our new, emerging writers for an exclusive glimpse of potential screenplays that will be showcased in this year's Stories High production. In two nights, we will cover nine brand new plays in a professional reading by various actors and directors. Each reading will also have a Q&A session, where you can ask the writers anything you want!

Thursday, January 17, 2008
“2 Cheat” By: Josef Anolin
“Leaving My Heart in San Francisco” By: Conrad Panganiban
“Not Quite Unrequited” By: Ava Tong
“Brothers and Sisters” By: Mario deMira (aka Nomi)

Friday, January 18, 2008
“The Art of Waiting” By: Cristal Fiel
“Anytime. Anyplace” By: Jasmine Ty
“Non-Sequiturs” By: Cathlin Goulding
"One Year" By John Raposas
“Last Verse in Despair” By: Ed Mabasa

Show dates: January 17-18 Thurs-Fri starting at 8PM

Location: Space 180 at 180 Capp Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94110
Ticket Prices: $5-10 Sliding Scale

Reservations are being taken immediately at
(415) 255-0440, or you can contact Susanna Yu at Susie54@sfsu.edu for ticket reservations

This year, Bindlestiff will be breaking ground with its relocation to its original space on 6th street, with its brand-new and cutting–edge facility as the only performing arts space for the Filipino or Filipino American arts in the nation. Stories High, as one of Bindlestiff's signature productions, will be one of the first shows (OR FIRST SHOW) to grace its stage. Make sure not to miss this historical event!

For questions or more information, please contact:
Susanna Yu
415.255.0440
Susie54@sfsu.edu

The Power of Desire

2008-01-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

With gleeful intent I've been watching and more importantly learning from various forms of fictional media specifically movies, a play, and reality tv. I haven't written anything that can be construed as new for a good couple of weeks, but this time away from the Script Template I got going in word, has given me a chance to get critical about the things I know makes a work of drama worth seeing. Rule number one: ask what is the character's ultimate desire/want/goal. Numero dos: write what it is that is stopping said character from achieve that goal/want/desire. My problem is that I've been focused on the delivery of the words that characters use rather than the definition of clearly defining these seemingly simple objectives. Without this desire of the characters, not even the cutest, read quick-witted, of lines will resonate with the audience after the first step outside the theater doors.

And, taking the much valued lesson of Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA, the more desperate a characters want to grab his or her desire, the longer the cathartic reminiscence remains. I still think about the ramifications of Louis's decision to leave Prior. I guess what gets me is not only the fact that it goes against everything I believe was wrong in his decision, I still think about WHY he made his choice to leave the person he loves... who is dying. And for some unknown reason, I can't let morally incomprehensible, aka fucked up, decision go.

There's a lot of things I need to explore in this Pulitzer Award winning play, but I'm so glad to have experienced this. It hopefully makes me a better writer.

New short play - Leaving My <3 In SF

2008-01-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hi... geez, getting back to this blog kinda makes me feel like I haven't seen the friend in a long time that I purposely didn't want to meet and now I fumble for the right excuse... not that I do this or anything. lalala.

Anyways, as you can obviously see, I took a break from writing. Subconsciously, because of what happened at my last reading of the play entitled above. It went horrible. Understandably so. And as a creator of art, I should have the forethought of knowing that any sense of make believe I conjure up will be subject to ridicule, but... it hurt. Again, the battling forces of what my mind thinks and how my ego responds ensued. For the last couple of months, the emotional ego got the best of me.

The best cure against this kawawa moment of writer non-worthiness... a deadline. a producer from stories high (~~the one i'm secretly in love with~~ can't say this cuz i don't need the drama... plus i'm a total dork around her - which might be possibly construed as a sign of liking someone. hmmm... dorkiness factored with the i ~~like~~ lust after you variability. but i digress...) called me and asked where was my script for a reading that will take place on one of my best friend's birthdays. I really hope that it goes well if this play is selected.

here it is: the obligatory click here leads you to my new 10-minute play, LEAVING MY <3 IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Update:I just re-read it again. Not too bad for a first draft, well, technically second draft. Has some potential. eh... still not my best, but that's what keeps me coming back for more abuse :)

Tips from Kurt Vonnegut

2007-11-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

Eight rules for writing fiction (http://www.troubling.info/vonnegut.html):

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

back to reality...

2007-11-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

so i workshopped BLANK CANVAS/LEAVING MY <3 IN SF and it didn't go over very well. and to be truthful, the play wasn't my best, WHICH SUCKS!!! cuz I know that i write better than this. I know it and I'm really disappointed in myself more than any ribbing I can take from anyone else. I really can't make excuses, well I can, but that excuse will be remedied very soon... like in 2 weeks :)

but yeah, play sucked, but you know what, it just made me stronger. and it was a real reality check for me cuz after going from a high with the reading I had in Sac in front of an audience to what happened today... it just makes me want to write more than I ever did before. just a little setback. but one thing's for sure, i'm gonna burn this play and start another one... and another one... and just keep trying to get better and better. i've ALWAYS been a slow starter.

Still focused on death

2007-10-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

My subconscious is still focused on death and I don't know why! I thought I got over this by first writing GARDEN OF DREAMS and ROOM 812, and the newest short play I finished last night BLANK CANVAS circles around death once again. I've discovered that my writing style is to just write, much like PGK, after trying the outline view. However, I DO have in the back of my mind a structure, I still free flow and have the characters speak through my pen... and I keep coming back to someone crying because of someones death. I need therapy. It's been two years since the passing of my dad and one of my best friends and this still keeps coming back, like some really deeply rooted theme that needs to come out, which it does in my writings.

OKAY. Now that I've gotten this out of my way, hopefully, I'll consciously move on to something more lighthearted. Meaning that I have to read some Durang to get me in that mode of thinking!

more ideas

2007-10-18T18:40:00.001-07:00

2) The Greeter... about a person who's job is it to greet hundreds of people everyday, but sinks more and more into a hole of depression from lonliness.
3) Rent-a-wife: a story about a person who posts an ad about being a part-time-wife/escort/made. based on a real posting i found on craigslist.

10x10 Exercise

2007-10-14T00:35:00.001-07:00

Here's the exercise: on a piece of paper grid out 10 boxes by 10 boxes. by doing so, you'll have 100 little squares just big enough to put 1 word in each. using the following instructions, put a word randomly into any of the 100 boxes. At the end, you'll come up with some really funky 100-word prose/spoken word/word art that might or might not make any sense, but it's cool creative prompt to get ya goin'!

1) someone you love
2) place where you grew up
3) name of a body of water
4) a body part you don't like
5) 5 verbs
6) 5 adverbs
7) 5 nouns

This is what I came up with today :)

Chair underneath the immovable earth hurridly spinning while dizziness runs numbing wildly brown hat from where Marina meets the blue ocean. I laugh in peace even though life's lamp is tossed in the pacific bay where cooking and cleaning inhabits the Raine of my mind's resting place. I journey into the center of my soul gracefully stepping around my quietly everchanging mind - shoot the scene. I walk down the block of blood fearlessly spitting in the eye of a speeding car careening into undeniable murder by running over tummy after eyes over hearts where my life's book ends.

===

wtf was that? there were some incredible examples read during the workshop, but i learned that this really didn't make sense mostly because my mind was really random today. *sigh*

Things I LOVE in stories

2007-10-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through the channels this morning and saw david duchovny in a movie. i was admiring how natural, in his "look at me. i don't look like i'm acting, doesn't it?" kinda way. and wished that's what i like to see, the acting part - very human that doesn't look like they even care to be in a movie/stage cuz they're just THERE. i guess that's why i love watching one of my best friends on stage acting. i first noticed it when he auditioned for a role with a theater company in sacramento, and when he read, this was cold reading, it just came out naturally for him. like a character, who's a real person, stumbled onto that stage and became, not became, but is that person/character. i'm doing such a lousy job of explaining this... but that's what i look for in actors, can this actor transcend the stage into being a person i can relate to. and i think that this can only be seen in the minute details, especially on screen. the details of an actors action is what makes a character human. and that's what i look for in a writing a good character which in turn translates to a story i'd love to watch, and write, and hopefully an audience will love as well.

so after this long introduction on david duchovny's acting style, this is my list of things I love in Drama (and that's the general term for anything that's on stage or screen since i've stopped discrimating against that medium - i've grown.) this is an ongoing list, but hopefully when i'm stuck on saying, "this scene just doesn't float my boat," I can refer to this list and say, cool. this is what i love to see and this is the stories I want to write. WRITE!

- i LOVE characters that are 3-dimensional, in other words, human. if they are evil, what about them not only makes them evil, but about them reveals that there is some humanity left? compassion... or humor... but of course they are evil because of the dramatic action that drives them to their evil doing ways. and of course, this includes "good" characters too. if they were too cutesy-tootsey then they would make me throw up. their flaws greatly interest me, and maybe these said flaws would best be done with action instead of words!

- family and home. i love stories having to do with families. maybe it's because, not in spite of, i'm filipino. and i'm speaking of the family in the, i wouldn't say in the broad sense, but in the close sense of what a family is. in my case, i have a really small family - me, mom, and sister. but in a bigger role, i TRULY consider my best friends my brothers and sisters - not by birth, but meaning, i would do ANYTHING for any of them. it's that sense of belonging. that "i'm not alone, nor will i ever be again" family feeling that i want to bring out in my plays.

- sharp and quick hitting humorous wit. durang and sorkin are currently my favorites. a nod would go to simon, but i'd need to read more recent stuff of his work. but with durang, i'm absolutely ROFL! another great comedian that comes to mind is Craig Furgeson. Recently on a blog by BAMBOO NATION, Prince wrote a post about this guy, and there's a clip on it as well. i remember hearing about it on ET when Britney shaved her head and all the hosts of late night tv were bagging on her, but Craig said he wouldn't do that. i can't put into words, as well as Prince does, but this monologue had me uncontrollably cracking up one second and at the next beat, made me care about this person. i admire him for not this monologue... but for this wonderful work of art in weaving his personal demons, suicide attempt, urine (not sure if it's indeed his), and Britney Spears. genius for the construction of this piece, and also human because of the content.

The Good Old Days

2007-10-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

This story is about two elderly Pilipinos working as security guards at the Asian American museum at the opening night at the Great Filipino Artists exhibition. As they reminisce about life back home, a woman in one of the paintings brings these memories to life.

Trust Me...

2007-10-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

Based on my SHORT play, "Burgundy, Cerise, and an Apple" which was posted on this blog last year.

Writer's Block

2007-10-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I'm standing on the corner of lazy and another episode of Heroes which intersects with Dancing with the Stars and I'm wondering why can't I write!? Sucks to be feeling like I'm in a catatonic state of mind on the Writer's Block. Just means that's it's time for me to head out to my special place where it's crowded, yet not within a 4 foot distance - the Marketplace in Emeryville. It's a "food court" if you will, without the mall. It's attached to a HUGE Borders Books, but there are hecka tables, and the last time I was there I think I re-wrote part of GARDEN OF DREAMS. Nonetheless, it was productive. But yeah, it hecka sucks to be stranded out here!

Luckily another cure for this incipid writing disease I have is called a DEADLINE. Either the 20th or November 3rd is it. After I have my outline done today, I'll make a decision on when it'll be done. Okey-dokes, off to my day job!

Raiders of the Lost Anting-Anting

2007-10-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

This story is about... a gambler/alcoholic tour guide of the Bayou who is hired by a wealthy business person with corrupt morals to find a faith healer in the Louisiana swamplands who holds the key to immortality.

This is one of the stories I'm thinking about for Stories High. I really see this as again an exercise for what is part of the backdrop for my next full-length on Fermin Tobera. We'll see where this leads.

This story is about...

2007-10-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

So, i'm starting a string of posts for ideas that I have for plays, short and full-length, because I don't want these nuggets to go to waste and forgotten. To make sure that these plays will get written, I'll start each post with "This story is about..." This is a lesson I learned from Philip Kan Gotanda. When he'd grill us in the class/workshop, he'd ask us this. These four words brought initial fear in all of us because it truly is a struggle to concisely break down a whole concept for a play into one sentence. However, this statement lays the foundation of the play. This short sentence begins the elevator pitch!

(elevator ding. an artistic director for a theater company gets into the elevator with you.)

ME
Hi. I'm Conrad Panganiban and I've written a play I know you'd want to produce.

AD
Really... what it's about? You have 3 floors.

ME
The story is about...

Pamilyas

2007-10-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

This story is about... how a struggling community is brought together after a woman refuses to sell her family's restaurant to a vindictive businessman who happens to be her ex-fiance.

I've actually finished the outline with character names, for this musical, but I got stuck on a scene... and a few months, about 6, i still haven't returned to it. When I dig it out, I'll edit this post to at least have it down with hopes of sparking new ideas.

Congratulations! You Killed Your Son!

2007-10-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

This story is about... a game show with parents competing against other parents to see who can make their child feel the most guilty. The winner is determined by who's child commits suicide first.

Of course this is a satire, but it's based on my truth. Dark, di ba? I've held off on writing this because of the content, but it's been biting at me for so long, BEGGING to be written. If anything, the script will be posted on here!

King Lear - Script Review

2007-10-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Going back to the classics, I decided to read KING LEAR by William Shakespeare. I initially decided to read this because this play was mentioned in another book I'm reading called Reverse & Forwards...or is it the other way around? At any rate, the book was an analysis of how to break down a script. Even though the main focus of the book was on Hamlet, I've already read that and this play was mentioned just as much as Hamlet. Oh... I also use the No Fear Shakespeare Editions of his plays because I want to focus on the plot, characters and structure instead of taking the time to translate the language, albeit beautiful, of their times.

SYNOPSIS
Lear is an aging King who wants to retire by abdicating to his three daughters. However, in an act of petty ego stroking, he asks them who among them loves him most. While two daughters eagerly toady to him, his one loving daughter, Cordelia, refuses play along with this foolish charade. In a rage, Lear exiles her along with his one loyal aide who dares to stick up for her. This foolish move works to Lear's sorrow as his two remaining daughters cruelly and gradually strip him of his status and possessions until he is rendered an insane hermit attended only by his fool. All the while, the illegitimate son of another lord is plotting his own ambitions while contributing to this tragic tale of ego and familial cruelty. {kchishol@home.com} Written by Kenneth Chisholm for the tv version of the play for imdb.com.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- I LOVE how he sets up the wickedness/virtues of each of his characters. Very "classical". Without any BS, I know who the bad people are and who the good people are.
- He doesn't dumb down too much, meaning that if someone dies, and like everyone dies in this play, he'll allude to it. For instance, Edmund gives a note to a soldier who leads Cordelia and King Lear to a prison with a note. But being that Edmund is such a dirty scoundrel, you know that it's not good news for either the King or his daughter. We don't know of their fate until Edmund is about to die and is heightened when the King carries his daughter's body into the next scene.
- There has to be a way for me to incorporate soliloquies in my plays to further have a voice for the antagonists dirty thoughts leading into deeds.
- What I like about Shakespeare is that he uses really CLASSICAL themes. Good vs. Evil. Justice. Being blind to what is good and wanting flattery and glitz instead. He really tapped into Human Nature, both good and evil.

The Odd Couple - Script Review

2007-10-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

Another script finished. The ODD COUPLE by Neil Simon. This was originally produced on stage in 1965, but the story is still applicable to today's culture.

SYNOPSIS
A divorced slob invites a group of the boys over for cards, one of the guests, who happens to be very meticulous and tense, has just been separated from his wife. The slob and the neat-freak decide to share one apartment; but patterns of their own disastrous marriages begin to reappear with hilarious results.Credit to the description page of the play at - stageagent.com.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- Neil Simon's timing is incredible and I guess that's what makes great comedy.
- There's a lot of play on words in this play that makes things funny. Grrr.. If I had the script (i had to return it to the library) I'd quote some great lines.
- Unlike the other plays I've read so far, this was very... down to earth. The dialogue just flowed as if it was made for TV. Very natural and at first I thought I was watching the TV Show, but towards the end, it had a deep message and understanding.

Unfortunately, I didn't see too much of an arc with Felix's character. Plus, at the beginning of the play, they kept mentioning Murray's a Cop, but nothing really followed up with him being a cop. Like, because they played it up so much, there should've been something more significant, like a murder or a theft, that used this follow of him being a cop. The other characters seemed a little thin as well.

Scene Stream - Exercise

2007-09-29T00:13:00.001-07:00

One of my goals for having this blog is to keep record of the exercises I do in order to become a better writer. So this is an intro of what I'm calling, a Scene Stream. It's basically writing a scene, that's timed, out of thin air without thought or any preconceived notion of where the play/situation/characters will take me. Of course, for a real play, knowing me, I NEED to have an ending for me to plot out where I'm going and how I'm getting there.

This is an exercise that we learned in class 2 weeks ago. 2 characters are in a situation and I have to write a script based on their conversation. To begin, I'll need character names which are RANDOMLY picked from my iTunes library and base the character's names from the artists I select. After the character names are set, I'll find a situation/event/dialogue snippet to place them taken RANDOMLY from the book, The Writer's Book of Matches). After getting the names and the event, it's fair game from there!

But there are objectives that I must try to achieve:
1) each character MUST have their own voice
2) there is dramatic action (drive towards one's goal) constantly happening with EVERY character ALL the time
3) each scene and/or beat must:
    - move the story forward
    - reveal something about the character
    - infer action
4) keep writing CONTINUOUSLY for the allotted amount of time.
5) after I'm done writing, give the piece a KICK-ASS unique title!

Oh, yeah... i'm not expecting these scenes to be any good at first! As I said, this is an exercise to get me writing. What sucks is that I don't get into a groove with the story until the last couple of lines when I realize just where the hell is this story going? But in a way that's the fun of all this!

My Destination Ends at You

2007-09-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

My Destination Ends at You
a Scene Stream exercise

Character 1: Brian (Littrell - Jesus Loves You)
Character 2: Nelly (Furtado - Say It Right)

Situation:
While driving to work one morning, (Brian) decides to pass the office and keep on driving.

Time: 20 minutes (start: 11:34pm)

NELLY
Brian, what are you doing? You just missed the exit.

BRIAN doesn't say anything.

NELLY
You know that I have a meeting at 9:30 with the marketing person from Tokyo. I can't miss it.

BRIAN
You'll talk to him next time.

NELLY
You crazy? I've been prepping for this presentation for a month now. I even learned some Japanese.

BRIAN
Like what?

NELLY
Like, "I need this job!"

BRIAN
That doesn't sound like Japanese to me.

NELLY
That's because my Learn to Speak Japanese in 1 month book is on my desk where I need to go but you just missed the exit.

BRIAN
Let's just take this time off.

NELLY
What's wrong, Brian? This isn't like you.

BRIAN
But this is me.

NELLY
No, the Brian I know gets freaked out when he's 5 minutes late for anything.

BRIAN
Didn't you ever have one of those days when you just wanted to explore life and everything around it. You know not just the everyday stuff?

NELLY
Sure, who doesn't?

BRIAN
I don't. Every morning I get up at 5:30am. Put on a pot of coffee. Put on the Jogging shoes. Head out the door. Run until 6:30am. Take a shower. And get the clothes from the hanger that I selected the night before, get dressed. Read the paper with my coffee and jump in here and be at work by 8:45am. Every day.

NELLY
For the last 5 years. Every day.

BRIAN
Exactly.

NELLY
So, what's the change? What's different today than those other days in the last 5 years?

BRIAN
Kevin Sparber.

NELLY
Did this Kevin Sparber tell you to drive passed your work?

BRIAN
He couldn't have. He's dead.

NELLY
So if he's dead, what does he have to do with me missing my Japanese appointment?

BRIAN
Kevin and I went to school together. High school. He was a good guy but I never saw him really achieving much. He was always happy, but the thing I didn't ever connect with him on was that he never achieved. He was a slacker. I haven't seen or heard of him since we graduated from High School... like all high school kids did, we lost contact. We're from a small town, and all I ever wanted to do was move to the big city and make it big. Have the best car. The best Job. Respect. Power. Yeah, that's all I ever wanted... until this morning, in between sips of my Sumatra Blend, I read KEVIN SPARBER from Marina, CA leaves behind a wife and 2 kids ages 9 and 4. He's my age... and I came to think to myself. I don't have anything that I can leave behind. How sad is that? I clawed myself up the school and corporate ladder to travel the world and have this success and now not to have anyone to share it with is... sad.

NELLY
Uh... geez thanks. I thought I was something you'd... fine.

BRIAN
That's not what I meant. I meant that.

NELLY
Why are you stopping? It's the middle of the freeway.

BRIAN
That's why I wanted to drive passed the lives of us trapped in a building. Why we're here on 101 in the middle of the freeway during rush hour. Look, everyone's constantly moving with a destination in mind, when my destination is sitting right next to me. I want to end the crazy pursuit of what I thought was life. I want to have something to leave behind. I want you. Will you marry me?

DONE! time 11:57pm

I totally forgot the other objective to this exercise and that's to have the other person, NELLY, have a totally DIFFERENT voice!!! she has to sound different and I guess my character of BRIAN got too monologue heavy. Eh, it's an exercise, and I'll learn to get better with each one of these I do. Hmmm... now I gotta come up with a title....

Remembering Fermin Tobera

2007-09-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

I started doing research about the 1930 Watsonville riot that claimed the life of Fermin Tobera. A play is in there somewhere. The weird coinikidinky in this research is that the riot started at The Filipino Club in Palm Beach which is 7 miles SW of Watsonville, so that would make it near Moss Landing. Anyways the club was owned by William and Charles Locke-Paddon. William Locke-Paddon bought the land called, Marina - My hometown! I can't believe all this Filipino-American history was only 18 miles from my home. here's where I started my research: Remembering the Watsonville Riots from a website called, ModelMinority.com.

The story is about two brothers: Venancio, aka Ben, and Fermin Tobera. Fermin is an idealist who believes in labor workers' rights. Ben just wants to have fun and is always trying to get the girl and having fun. One night when Ben gets in trouble, they come to their house at night where one of the girls' that Ben's has been messing with, anyways her brother shoots up the house killing Fermin. This play is based on the 1930 Watsonville Riots.

Garden Of Dreams

2007-09-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

The cast of GARDEN OF DREAMS
Well it's over... for now. On Sunday, I had the first public reading of my play, GARDEN OF DREAMS. I was nervous as fuck, but i got through it okay.

LESSONS LEARNED
- LISTEN TO YOUR ACTORS - A concern was brought to attention by one of the actors. He was having some trouble getting out some of the lines because they read melodramatic. Unfortunately, being the writer with blinders on, I couldn't see it myself. He was absolutely RIGHT. What he calls 'melodramatic' I call 'barf dialogue'. You know when watch something campy, and we see someone saying something utterly romantic or over-the-top that it makes you want to throw up in your mouth. Well, that's what I had in my script by that character.
- OFFENSIVE ACCENT - An audience member came up to me telling me that 1) he liked the whistling device I used and 2) he found it offensive for someone to fake an Filipino accent. I told him that I appreciated his honesty. I'm not going to take that part out! but I will add on to Lisa's character as a reaction to the use of this accent. It's my hope that this is a powerful action by her as to how using this accent can be offensive to people. It was in the play for a reason, and I'm glad someone caught it, but lemme flip it on its ear to teach a lil sumn-sumn.
- DON'T BUTTER UP MY ACTORS - I did this. I'm not taking it back because whether they know it or not, they helped make one of my dreams come true. But moving forward, I'll try and refrain from doing this publicly, but to let them know of this in a more private manner will work just as effectively.

Luckily, I have the reading on videotape which I'll try to review tonight and come up with more notes to post here.

Six Degrees of Separation - Play Review

2007-09-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

So I watched SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION tonight at the SF Playhouse and I really liked it. It's so weird now to watch a show from the playwright's POV. Being from the "actors" world before in another life, I would always watch the performances and analyze how they do what - but now, I'm so focused on ALL the elements that I've studied so far and see how this play, or any play I watch, adhere or break from those rules. SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION blew me away, except that I could've done without the naked guy with his thingy flopping around...

SYNOPSIS
Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, claiming he knows their son at college. Paul tells them he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier, and that he has just been mugged and all his money is gone. Captivated by Paul's intelligence and his fascinating conversation (and the possibility of appearing in a new Sidney Poitier movie), the Kittredges invite him to stay overnight. But in the morning they discover him in bed with a young male hustler from the streets, and the picture begins to change. After kicking him out, Ouisa and Flan discover that friends of theirs have had a similar run-in with the brash con artist. Intrigued, they turn detective and piece together the connections that gave Paul access to their lives. Meanwhile, Paul's cons unexpectedly lead him into darker territory and his lies begin to catch up with him. As the final events of the play unfold Ouisa suddenly finds herself caring for Paul, feeling that he gave them far more than he took and that her once idyllic life was not what it seemed to be.Credit to the description page of the play at - Dramatists Play Service.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
There's just SO MUCH that I'm STILL trying to absorb from this play! But there are something things that I'll take from this experience:
- The characters would break the 4th wall and Narrate the scene as if they were telling the story to someone. e.g. After we got done with dinner, I cleaned up the plates, but Paul took them away from me and walked into the kitchen.
- Paul's monologue about IMAGINATION with allusions to THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is AMAZING!
- The beginning of the play began with the moment RIGHT AFTER the major event where Ouisa and Flan are shocked about what they just saw. They start telling the audience of how the evening started that led up to that point and then went back to that point. ie. say the play was from 1 to 10. 1 being the beginning and 10 being the end. The structure went from 4 to 1 to 4 then up linear to 10. I likes!
- Monologues are used very strongly in this play.
- Phone calls are handled by the person on one end of the phone facing the audience and the person on the other end of the phone behind a scrim that is lit up as they are talking. IMPORTANT: neither one of them are pantomiming that they are on a phone, but the fact that it's in the text (e.g. I got Paul on the phone) works and pushes the action through the dialogue instead of being literal.
- A true mystery play! I was on the edge of my seat wondering who was he going to con next and what would eventually happen to him.
- I recognized who the protagonist was at the end of the play, where I was seeking which of the characters had their own arc - it was Ouisa. The only thing missing was that I couldn't really see when Ouisa had that instance of connection with Paul as he was on the phone.
- The use of subtext is what's truly blowing my mind away. Sure there is the con plot that's above the play, but I was intently listening and trying to comprehend, WHY? why does this person who fools others into giving him money and a place to live do such things. At the core, Paul, the con, is lonely. He makes up this world to always have someone with him. And he is SO INTELLIGENT, yet so troubled that my heart bled for this cat all alone in the world. And it's in this dramatic action of him doing anything to have a place to call home, or for company, that I try to find any of the text that supports his drive, and it doesn't even have to be in his text, but overarching with other characters. It just opens up more questions about Kandinsky, JD Salinger, and South Africa. How do these appearing random subjects support this theme.

Yankee Dawg You Die - Script Review

2007-09-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE by one of my teachers, Philip Kan Gotanda. Again, I'm inspired by it. For some reason, I always thought the play was something that it obviously is not.

SYNOPSIS
Bradley Yamashita is one of the new breed of Asian-American actors. Highly political and outspoken, he will only take on acting roles that are dignified and unstereotypic. He has recently starred in a small independent film that is the darling of the art crowd, and he arrives in Hollywood full of himself and his politics. Vincent Chang is a survivor. He cut his teeth on the old "Chop Suey" circuit as a hoofer and went on to star in feature films, even garnering an Oscar nomination in the 1950s. Now, though still regal and debonair, Vincent is forced into taking often stereotypic and undignified roles. Through a series of quick-moving scenes, we follow the two men as they meet, form a tenuous friendship and together do battle amidst the often humorous and at times ruthless backdrop of the Hollywood film world. While maintaining the portrayal of integrity as all important, Bradley must face the reality of the same lack of work for Asian actors as Vincent faced in the early days of film. Vincent also teaches Bradley the dignity of survival as he learns to take on more of the cultural responsibility Bradley wishes him to accept.Credit to the description page of the play at - Dramatists Play Service.

MY TAKE
The play is about VINCENT and BRADLEY. 2 Asian American actors trying to make it in the movie industry. One is older, the other is younger. 2 very different views of what they see their roles are being an Asian American actor - yet the art of acting is what brings these two unlikely characters together. I saw these 2 begin at a party with the beginnings of animosity, to them working together, which bred true dislike for one another, and then eventual friendship and respect. Both of the characters had definite arcs and I was really happy to see their turns.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- Philip uses Interludes, a monologue/short scene, to set up the next Scene. I've seen this done with COWBOY VS. SAMURAI by Michael Golamco. But I've never really seen this written on the page.
- Another thing I've yet to see in written form in a play is that Philip titles his scenes. I like this idea because it truly sets up the scene and structure wise, i saw the play as a series of individual scenes rather than all together. YET they still work perfectly all together.
- On these previous notes, he also ends each scene and interlude with "End of Scene" or "End of Interlude"
- Wraps things up nicely. Something I love to use and do with forwards. He'll mention something and will reintroduce it later on to make interject a point or use it in a different way to magnify the same or different subject. This technique of using the same lines and reintroducing them to mean something else happens a lot in this play. Effectively done so, without getting to the point of tiresome. Well maybe in some points, but because I'm usually slow at catching on that he's doing this for a purpose, as EVERY WORD in a script should be, I appreciate it more. The play begins and ends using this method as well!
- I love how the characters tell a story. One of the most challenging things for me to even wrap my head around are MONOLOGUES. How? Why? What? are mainly my questions, but seeing how Philip use them to tell stories and using sub-text between the lines to have meaning/lessons to these stories is a valuable lesson.

In summary, this play has affected me more than just reading it. I saw a lot of things I could use, and made me question how I see myself as an Asian American in this crazy world of succeeding and what, if any, personal sacrifices I allow myself to take. A definite goal of what I want to write.

Zoot Suit - Script Review

2007-09-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

I just read ZOOT SUIT by Luis Valdez play and I LOVE IT! There's just so many great things that I've learned from reading it.

SYNOPSIS
In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder — and the Zoot Suit Riots. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Henry Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster and his gang, who were unfairly prosecuted, are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. The play is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II.Taken from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_%28play%29

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
OMG! I don't even know where to begin...
- In wonderful surprise, well not maybe considering Valdez's history with SFMT, that it felt "like" at Mime Troupe production. There were songs and music and dancing to totally bring to life the era that this production takes place in. If I was in the audience, I'd me immersed in the chicano flavor.
- There was a court scene where Della is explaining what happened that night at Sleepy Lagoon and it switches between scenes of her giving her testimony and the actual night that her and Henry were there. Visually amazing even though this was written on the page.
- Pachuco was the inner voice of Henry. He was also the narrator. In a way that I've never seen, he controlled the play. In Act 1, Scene 9, when the judge says, "The zoot haircuts will be retained..." and then Pachuco, "You hear that one, ese? Listen to it again." (Snaps) The Judge repeats the line automatically. So cool!
- In the same way, he changes the end of Henry's story 3 times.
- Like Equus, when there's a scene where Alice writes the boys, she speaks what is in the letters, but also answers the letters as if they were having a conversation... through the letters.
- I really loved the Family aspect of the play.

How to write a 10-minute play

2007-09-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

HOW TO WRITE A 10-MINUTE PLAY
copied and pasted from 10-Minute-Plays.com (http://www.10-minute-plays.com/index.html)

TWELVE RULES FOR THE ASPIRING PLAYWRIGHT

1) NO EXPOSITION! Just jump into your story. This presents a puzzle for the audience to unravel and allows them to play with you. Remember—we are fascinated by the unknown!

2) EVERY DETAIL MUST RELATE TO THE ACTION OF THE PLAY. You've got ten minutes—there's no time for anything extraneous. Nothing is random. (Although at first it may appear to be so!) If you are writing a play about dogs, the curtain goes up, and there on the stage is a bone.

3) KNOW WHAT YOUR PLAY IS ABOUT AND WRITE INTO THE METAPHOR. More than anything else, this will give your play a sense of unity.

4) A CHARACTER SPEAKS TO GET WHAT HE WANTS. All characters have DREAMS. These dreams are what make him unique. How are they fulfilled? How are they not fulfilled? How do they turn in on themselves?

5) A CHARACTER SHOULD BE OFF-BALANCE IN SOME WAY. Real characters are excessive in some areas. Deficient in others. If there is no disparity between what your characters are saying and what they are doing, you probably aren’t writing theatre.

6) DON’T WASTE TIME TALKING ABOUT ANYTHING YOU CAN SHOW. Images are more powerful than words!

7) EVERY GREAT PLAY HAS A POINT OF NO RETURN. The protagonist crosses the line. Now there is no turning back!

8) NEVER LET YOUR CHARACTERS OFF TOO EASY! If you do, what they’ve just been through won’t have meant anything. They may escape with their lives—but just barely!

9) EVERY PROTAGONIST MUST HAVE A JOURNEY. He should end up someplace radically different from where he began. BIG THINGS HAPPEN—not everyday life with endless pouring of coffee and lighting of cigarettes. LIFE-ALTERING EVENTS. If your protagonist ends up in the same place he started, he must go through Hell and back to get there.

10) FIND WHAT IS UNIVERSAL IN YOUR SCRIPT. These are windows that allow us to enter your world. Fuck Brecht! We want to relate!

11) REMEMBER THAT THE CLIMAX IS WHERE A PLAY WINS OR LOSES! The audience is rewarded for their attention. (The big pay-off!) The test of a great play is SELF DISCOVERY.

12) EVERY DETAIL COMES TOGETHER IN THE END. (See Rule #2) Somehow or another, we come back to that bone. Always pay off the bone!

Stories High Session 2 - Playwriting Notes

2007-09-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

Here's some general notes that I took for me from the latest class.

- Beat:
  - building blocks of theater/play/script
  - each beat moves the story forward
  - can be seen when different tactics or strategies are used to develop the protagonist's Action (want)

- If you have a block, look at the play's Action, Conflict, and Event

- Event: the moment when a character either gets what he or she wants,
or definitively does not get it; there are normally many smaller
events in a play, but the main event is the result of action and
conflict; an event may take many different forms, but is always some
sort of change. (from Sam's notes)

- Reading/Listening tips:
  - write down beats
  - what sounded good
  - what doesn't make sense
  - what information is revealed by the dialogue/action

- Stakes:
  - goals should be high to make the protagonist NEED to get their want
  - explore what would happen if the character DOESN'T get what they want

- EACH character should have an action!

- All characters need a sense of history.

- Characters:
  - General Qualities: ie. how would you/others describe them
  - State of mind: ie. if they are lonely, how does this drive their action
  - Speech and Act: what do they say and do to define themselves and their drive towards their action.

Where's Your Brother?

2007-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Where's Your Brother
by conrad panganiban

Louise Parker - Mid 50's
Benny Parker - Late teens

Setting: Night, The Parker living room, Rural Kansas, Present

LOUISE and her teenage son, BENNY, are in their living room where BENNY is cutting his mother's toenails. There's an pizza box and a glass of wine on a table.

LOUISE
Don't cut my toe nails too close, Benny.

BENNY
Sorry, Ma.

LOUISE
Did you hear from your brother yet?

BENNY
No, Ma.

LOUISE
It's getting late out there.

BENNY
Yes, Ma.

LOUISE
Just one at a time Benny. You don't have to go so fast. Look at that. They're crooked.

BENNY
Sorry, Ma.

LOUISE
It's okay, Sweety. Did you eat all your slices?

BENNY
Yes, Ma.

(BENNY gets up to open the window.)

LOUISE
Look at you. So thin. Don't they feed you anything at that school of yours? I swear, this heat is killing me. Open the window dear. Let some air in. Doesn't it sound pretty out there? Me and your daddy used to sit under those stars and just wonder how our life would turn out. I miss him. While you're up, get me that glass on the table will ya? (BENNY gives wine glass to LOUISE) That's a good, son. Your brother shoulda come home by now.

BENNY
He'll be here soon Ma. He told me after he dropped me home. He always keeps... keeps his word Ma.

LOUISE
I wished your daddy did the same.

BENNY
What are you thinkin' Ma?

LOUISE
Just where the hell your brother's at.

BENNY
You... you don't have to worry about him Ma. I'm... I'm here. You don't need him to protect you.

LOUISE
I didn't mean it like that.

BENNY
I think... I think that you did. I'm a big boy too, Ma.

LOUISE
Oh Benny. I know you are.

BENNY
The you don't need... him... any more.

LOUISE
I love you both Benny.

BENNY
No... no you don't!

LOUISE
Now, don't get huffy and puffy.

(BENNY picts up the bottle of red wine.)

LOUISE
Benny. Put that down!

BENNY
You don't need him!

(BENNY throws the bottle of wine down causing the red wine to splatter everywhere.)

LOUISE
Look what you did! The wine's all on the carpet. That stain's going to be hard to come off. And look at your shirt. You got wine all over it.

BENNY
I'm a big boy, Ma. You don't need him.

LOUISE
Oh, my. I ran out of Clorox the other day. How'm I gonna get that red out of your brand new shirt? I told your brother to bring back some clorox on the way back from the store, and it's already late.

BENNY
No Clorox! No Clorox coming!

LOUISE
Okay, I'll call it bleach.

BENNY
Why do you love him more?

LOUISE
And I just washed the whites yesterday.

BENNY
Ma?

LOUISE
Take off your shirt, boy. I'll get rid of that stain.

BENNY
No! No Clorox coming! Never. Why don't you love me?

LOUISE
What's this have to do with this stain?

BENNY
The stain is Robert. Barn.

LOUISE
Robert? What about your brother? Where you two messin' with the barn paint again? No wonder this stain is so red.

BENNY
Robert... stain... love me Ma!

(BENNY starts to sob.)

LOUISE
Oh dear. Don't start cryin'. It'll come out. Look, it's a little red. Where is that brother of yours now that I need him.

BENNY
Stain... Robert...

LOUISE
You said that already. Robert this this stain on you at the barn.

BENNY
No! Robert is the stain. He's already home.

LOUISE
Well, why didn't you say that? Where is he?

BENNY
Behind the barn.

LOUISE
Well go get him.

BENNY
He's dead and I killed him.

LOUISE
What?...

THE END... for now.

NOTE: This is written as an exercise for my Playwriting Workshop. The workshop is offered through Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco for their Stories High Program. The assignment was to write a dialogue between two people. We were given the names and the setting with the rule that these two people would not be allowed to leave the room. Also, we had 20 minutes of continuous writing to come up with this scene.

So, I had no idea where this was going when I first started writing. Slowly, the characters started to open up and tell their story.

Every Character needs to have an Action

2007-09-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Before I run out again, I just got back from the Stories Hight Playwriting workshop and , for me, the most important lesson I got was that EVERY character that appears in a scene needs to have an Action defined as having a defined want and goal at that particular space in time. I'll write down my notes in a new blog. bye!

Defending A Treasure

2007-09-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

This story is about... a young lawyer who is assigned a case to defend a recently retired U.S. Navy veteran for treason.

Write Actions to Show Character

2007-09-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm still at home waiting for the electrician to get back from getting things for my stupid doorbell and address light fixture. But I'm flipping through the channels and stopped on THE INSIDER on HBO with Russell Crowe.

Anyways, in 2 short minutes, there's a scene with Russell Crowe and his daughter as she's having a asthma attack. He hooks up a machine and she's cured. In this scene we can tell that this isn't current because it's a machine not an inhaler. and also, really briefly, before the scene started it looked like there was conflict between Russell's character and his wife. after the daughter's asthma attack subsided, the wife is sitting next to the daughter, Russell is in front of the daughter with the machine, and we see the wife put her hand on Russell's hand. The conflict is resolved. True, with the use of camera, we can see that the spouses give each other the 'understanding' look, but still it communicated.

I've been having an internal conflict of whether or not to write stage directions in my scripts. You can see examples of that from my previous posts labeled 'script'. but with this brief action, a hand on top of another, that direction spoke volumes to me.

Briefly, another direction/action that comes to mind is when I watched a production of MACBETH. Macduff, when talking about his wife, kisses his wedding band. Not written, but again, spoke volumes.

There are times when I'll opt not to use stage directions, which I'll feel the director can aptly take care of, but when it comes to an IMPORTANT action to reveal a character and move the story forward, I will. Huge lesson learned.

GARDEN OF DREAMS - A Play Reading

2007-09-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks, the Sinag-tala Program of SFTPAA will be hosting a script reading of my first full-length play GARDEN OF DREAMS. No lie, I'm nervous as hell. In fact, I don't really know how to feel, since it kinda changes every day. Now, I'm really glad that we're having a quick rehearsal a day earlier. Also, luckily, at least I had the first read in February where hopefully I've addressed some issues, as well as take the feedback from PKG's workshop.

What I hope to gain from this is to see what works and what doesn't. I'll tape it cuz of my on and off memory for details.

I'm NERVOUS!

On The Page - A Scriptwriting Podcast

2007-09-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm racking my brain about the best way to "attack" writing my next play. My biggest hurdle seems to be Research. I have my subject, but I think that I'm taking way too much time figuring out how I'm going research this subject instead of actually writing the play. I was, still planning to, write to my previous instructors on how they research subjects for their plays, but then this topic came up on a podcast that i'm listening to called ON THE PAGE hosted by Pilar Alessandra.

In the most current episode of ON THE PAGE, it was kismet that the topic of Research came up. What her and her co-hosts/producer advised to do was WRITE THE SCRIPT. All the research stuff can come up after the story is done. Which makes perfect sense to me, since that seems to have pinned the nail on my problem of not even starting to write the play - I've been spending too much time worried about how to research it.

Other advice from them regarding research:
- Use the internet. Luckily, with this medium, I can research different locations and thoughts even.
- Ask someone with knowledge on the topic. Spend a couple of bucks on a coffee or Jamba Juice and the information you get back might be ten-fold that amount - which is $20 - $30... but you know what I mean.

Thanks ON THE PAGE for the advice!

A Few Good Men - Script Review

2007-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I'm waiting for the electrician to knock on my door to fix the broken doorbell. In an earlier post, I said that my next script will have something to do with U.S. Filipino Navy Veterans and their families. I'm thinking about wrapping that theme around a courtroom drama - something I have yet to see involving a filipino family, but an idea that's been floating around since that kid got busted for planning a Columbine attack on DeAnza JC in Cupertino. Anyways, in trying to figure out how to attack writing the play I'm starting with some research, which brings me to A FEW GOOD MEN by Aaron Sorkin. I love this movie and I also loved THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT which he also penned. But I needed to see how it read for the stage.

SYNOPSIS
In this dramatic courtroom thriller, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a Navy lawyer who has never seen the inside of the courtroom, defends two stubborn Marines who have been accused of murdering a colleague. Kaffee is known as being lazy and had arranged for a plea bargain. Downey's Aunt Ginny appoints Cmdr. Galloway to represent him. Also on the legal staff is Lt. Sam Weinberg. The team rounds up many facts and Kaffee is discovering that he is really cut out for trial work. The defense is originally based upon the fact that PFC Santiago, the victim, was given a "CODE RED". Santiago was basically a screw-up. At Gitmo, screw-ups aren't tolerated. Especially by Col. Nathan Jessup. In Cuba, Jessup and two senior officers try to give all the help they can, but Kaffee knows something's fishy. In the conclusion of the film, the fireworks are set off by a confrontation between Jessup and Kaffee. Written by Matt Curtolo {curt@epix.net} Unfortunately, I didn't like the ending in the play as much as I liked the ending of the movie, however, I'll give it a pass since Sorkin wrote the screenplay as well. The movie ending was MUCH MORE taught including the moving of the famous 'You can't handle the truth!' line.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- I LOVE Arron Sorkin's INSANELY quick humor and one-liners. But each one liner has a background to them as well as planted history. Example, we first meet JO (played by Demi Moore in the movie) in WHITAKER'S office because she wants to be assigned to the Santiago case. History is planted because JO made his staff handwrite court documents during Christmas. Almost 50 pages later, when ROSS (Kevin Bacon) first meets JO, he brings up, 'Ebenezer Galloway?' Genius. There's more examples of this in the link provided below.
- Like EQUUS and HYSTERIA, Sorkin used a device of "flashback" through a letter from PFC SANTIAGO.

WHITAKER
This letter that Santiago wrote wasn't the first.

JO
In fact, it was his twelfth...

(Lights up on SANTIAGO)

SANTIAGO
Dear Senator, My name is PFC William T. Santiago. I am...

FAVORITE LINES
here's a link with some of my favorite lines... which makes me think. I'll do this to moving forward - a new section with my favorite lines/stage directions pulled from the printed text.
A Few Good Men Lines

Hysteria - Play Review

2007-09-13T01:09:00.001-07:00

On Sunday afternoon (aka the Blue-Haired Show), I went to see a play called HYSTERIA at the Aurora Theater, which is right next to Berkeley Rep. It was hilarious!

SYNOPSIS
Set in 1938, in the study of the aged and dying Sigmund Freud, in his Hampstead home in London, the peace of a wintry night is disturbed by an unexpected visitor. This is Jessica, a young woman who has a complex emotional problem to resolve. Upon further exploration it soon becomes apparent that Jessica is the daughter of a former patient of Freud’s. Freud is reluctant to engage in discussion with Jessica but she is persistent. As the action progresses, the suburban calm is further ruffled as a further two visitors appear. First is Abraham Yahuda, close but critical colleague and friend of Freud, and then the Spanish maestro of surrealism, Dali himself. In an attempt to take control of the situation and manage the meeting of the three very different visitors Freud becomes embroiled in the most ridiculous farce.

From then on nothing is what it seems. The clock on the wall seems to melt, the telephone turns into a lobster, files and manuscripts mysteriously change places, and Dalí begins to pursue the young Jessica with blatant advances. As the play unfolds, the audience is subjected to dark and disturbing stories, juxtaposed with hysterically funny mishaps and revelations that beg the questions ‘is this real, or the product of Freud’s unconscious mind?’ ‘Is Freud, dead or alive?’

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- this play used a bookend structure - it begins and ends with the same scene. Using this device made me question whether if Sigmund Freud was already dead or just about to die in his search to uncover the mystery of Jessica's Mother's death.
- In his final moments of life he continues to "cure" himself of his fears and questions his prior work if they indeed meant something.
- There was a clock UR on a back wall. Between Acts I and II, the lights faded on stage except a special on the clock, which forced the audience to see the clock's hands fast forward.
- Jessica starts to read from her mother's journal entry about her mother's session with Dr. Freud. She has committed it to memory whilst Dali read's Dr. Freud's part. While reciting, she becomes her mother in that moment as she describes horrendous acts by her father.
- In reciting this story, she uses ACTIONS of 1) constantly wiping her right shoulder while keeping her 3 middle fingers togther and 2) constantly gagging because of the saltiness she tasted in her mouth used in the beginning of the play. Also, these two ACTIONS were used to describe 2 different stories, first as a guise, second as the truth.
- Farce was used amazingly. I haven't seen a good farce since NOISES OFF at CSUS. a lot of switched identities, slamming doors, and absurd images abound!
- I guess that there's no limits to special effects: 1) the walls melted 2) clock melted 3) lobster phone 4) train smoke and lights at the door 5) rubbery door knobs...

Wanna see a play, but they're too expensive?

2007-09-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, money's a grip which sucks cuz i really want to see as much theater as I can. Luckily I found a group that I was a part of a while ago, but I forgot my stupid password. So I signed up again, and I'm glad that I did. It's called Goldstar.com! I've noticed that I'll be able to save up to 50% on tickets. Hella stoked! something i'll be using a lot.

But it wouldn't be fun if it was only me using it, so if I'm passing the savings on to you too, if you want! click the logo above or this link to start saving: Goldstar Events.

Thanks!

Equus - Script Review

2007-09-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Here's my first Review of a script that I just finished reading. This is actually my FIRST review I've written about anything. But the more I do, hopefully I'll learn from the devices the playwright uses and adapt them into my writing.

The play is called EQUUS by Peter Shaffer. It was first produced at the National Theater in July of 1973. I think I messed up when I bought this version of the play from Borders. It wasn't until Act I Scene 5 when I realized the stage directions used in this production was used in the book. But when I was looking for an image to use for this blog, I saw a whole bunch of pictures that pretty much looked like they were from the descriptions in the play I read. That didn't make any sense...

MY SYNOPSIS
In my first reading, meaning that I really need to read it again, I was really taken in by how the play began: a monologue by the Narrator, Dr. Martin Dysart. There's an image of Alan Strang, the main character, as he is with a horse. Dysart reveals that Alan had just blinded six horses in a stable where he worked. Alan was sent to Dr. Dysart instead of prison because the judge felt that he is a little too looney for life behind the bars. So the play is about this Doctor deciding whether or not this kid is crazy or putting on an act to stay out of jail. When we first meet Alan, all he does is sing jingles from the tele (the play takes place in England). The play reads like a courtroom drama because the Dr. asks him questions about why he did this? The themes of religion and parent-child relationships hold strong with this play. We are introduced to both his parents and we see how they affect his outlook on life. Each parent is different: Mother, very religious; Father, not. We slowly get to see how screwed up this kid really is because he thinks that the horses are talking to him, and actually he thinks that they are Gods. When he is with a girl, Jill, in the stables "doing the do" he feels the horses are mocking him. This drives him crazy to do what he is accused of doing. Of course, there's more to this script, but you'll have to either read it or find a summary of it.

WHAT I'LL ~~STEAL~~ LEARN TO USE
- The play is about how the Dr. explores Alan's family and his past. One way this is done was having a character remember sitting in front of the television and from behind the actors playing the parents start to explain their case why television is bad.
- The set is minimal. The human actors are seated around the set and when they are needed they step into/around a light to designate a location.

My goal

2007-09-12T20:42:00.001-07:00

My goal is to have a play produced in a state outside of California by the age of 40. Can I do it? Sana... But that's why I started this site. Hope you take this ride with me... like all good drama - will i succeed or fail?

Constant learning

2007-09-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

So another thing that I'm doing aside from reading other scripts and writing is looking at other sites on the web to learn about the craft of playwriting. PLUS, I'm also compiling a list of blog sites of other playwrights. See if I could glean something from their experience. I'll post links on this site of the ones I really like and learn from.

Welcome to Conrad's Playspace

2007-09-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hola! I've decided that I'd set up my own blog just for my plays, reviews, and randomness about my journey into being a playwright. I'll be transferring all of my entries from my personal blog onto here so I can officially journalize this trip, plus so I can have my personal space back to itself to comment about random things that happen in my life. I'm excited about this new blog/journal.

These are all the stuff I'll have on here:

My Short Plays
Links to my longer plays
Reviews of Plays I've seen
Reviews of Plays I've read
Lessons I've learned about Playwriting from various sources
Personal thoughts of Playwriting/Theater
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera

Thanks for dropping by.

Gabriella in the Hood

2007-09-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Gabriella in the Hood
by conrad panganiban

Mac G - early 20's
Gabriella - mid 30's

Setting: Sidewalk. East Oakland. Present.

GABRIELLA
What? You're cutting out. I said that I'm in East Oakland. It's near San Francisco. I'll be fine. What? Research. This will be good. I swear. Hello? Hello?

MAC G
Nice phone.

GABRIELLA
Thanks.

MAC G
Looks expensive.

GABRIELLA
Not really.

MAC G
Give it to me.

GABRIELLA
What?

MAC G
I said give it to me and your bag!

GABRIELLA
Are you in a gang?

MAC G
What?

GABRIELLA
Are you in the 12th Street Crew?

MAC G
Bitch! I ain't playin'! Does this look like a toy?

GABRIELLA
Crap. Hold up. Can you say that again?

MAC G
What?

GABRIELLA
Start off with 'bitch'! I like how you said that.

MAC G
Fo realz, I ain't playin'! Get that tape recorder out of my face.

GABRIELLA
Biatch!

MAC G
What you call me?

GABRIELLA
No. Can you say 'Get that tape recorder out of my face.' again? And add 'Biatch' to the end of that.

MAC G
What the fuck? Nobody says biatch.

GABRIELLA
What about 'bizzle mah nizzle'?

MAC G
Just give me your shit! Damn, this bag's heavy! What the fuck you got in here?

GABRIELLA
Just some books and paper.

MAC G
That's it?

GABRIELLA
Yeah.

MAC G
Then give me that too.

GABRIELLA
You can take everything but this. I have all my notes recorded on this.

MAC G
Imma bust a cap in yo ass if you don't give that to me!

GABRIELLA
Good stuff! 'Bust a cap in your ass!'

MAC G
In YO ass!

GABRIELLA
Right. 'In YO ass!'

MAC G
What the hell are you doin'?

GABRIELLA
Research. I'm writing a script about girl from the rich suburbs kidnapped by a gang and then chooses to become one of them to spite her over-protective parents. It's going to be called, "Chloe in the Hood." I haven't had a script produced in a while, and I really need this story to work.

MAC G
What? That story's hella wack!

GABRIELLA
Why? Because your gang wouldn't kidnap anyone, right?

MAC G
Stupid cuz no one chooses to be in a gang.

GABRIELLA
But it's to spite her parents.

MAC G
I'm just sayin' that shit ain't real.

GABRIELLA
Then what is?

MAC G
I'm warning you! Get that shit out of my face.

GABRIELLA
Research. I need to know what you know about the gritty life in the innercity.

MAC G
Told you this ain't a game out here! Shut that recorder off, before I permanently shut you off!

GABRIELLA
Oooo... that's good! What's your name?

MAC G
Fuck it! You're pissing me off.

GABRIELLA
Hey! Where are you going with my stuff?

MAC G
You wanted life in the innercity? Think of me as Ashton Kutcher of the hood. You just got JACK'D!

GABRIELLA
I need your name for the movie.

MAC G
Movie?

GABRIELLA
I might not give a shit about my things, but I believe in being fair. Do you want to help me out?

MAC G
With the movie thang?

GABRIELLA
I need to fly out to L.A. in a couple of days to show my boss what I got, but I can't leave without a story - a Real story. And I don't think I can do that without your help. So, are you interested?

MAC G
Marcus Gardley, but everyone calls me Mac G.

GABRIELLA
Gabriella Montez.

MAC G
Hold up? Like in Gabriella Montez from High School Musical? I meant, yeah, fuck. My little sister watches that shit.

GABRIELLA
Yeah... I get that all the time. My ex-boyfriend wrote the screenplay. And his name is Troy.

MAC G
No shit. Like Troy Bolton and the Wildcats?

GABRIELLA
Nice to know you like that kind of stuff.

MAC G
Yo... I said my little sister watches that. I just happen to catch it when I'm babysitting her.

GABRIELLA
So, do we have a deal?

MAC G
Will I get paid?

GABRIELLA
As a consultant.

MAC G
Fuck yeah, I'm interested! I mean. Yeah. S'all good.

GABRIELLA
Great! Thanks. Take my card from my bag.

MAC G
Oh shit. Sorry. Here's your shit back.

GABRIELLA
As I said, take this card and call me tomorrow and we'll make this story... real.

MAC G
Coo... I mean, Thanks!

GABRIELLA
Fo sho.

THE END

NOTE: This is written as an exercise for my Playwriting Workshop. The workshop is offered through Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco for their Stories High Program. The assignment: Write a scene with two characters. Character A wants something tangible from character B, and character B wants something intangible from character A.

Michael Jordan Killed the Fil-Am Mullet

2007-09-09T03:30:00.000-07:00

Michael Jordan Killed the Fil-Am Mullet
by conrad panganiban

Will - Early 20's
Theo - Early 20's
Lisa - Early 20's

Setting: Theo's kitchen. Early 1990's.

WILL
Hey Theo. Theo! Lemme in fool! Open up! Hey... Waaasssuuup?!

THEO
Hey. 'Sup Will?

WILL
What's wrong with you?

THEO
Shhh... not too loud. Words of advice... don't ever something called a 'Tequila Popper!' Oh, my head.

WILL
That'll teach you to get drunk for the 3rd time this week.

THEO
It's Spring Break... It's what we're supposed to do. Speaking of which, where the hell was your ass last night? I kept paging you. Jocelyn Enriquez performed at DV8.

WILL
I'll catch her next week at the Fiesta, but last night, I was busy.

THEO
Too busy for (singing and dancing) I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT YOU, AND I DON'T Ouch! My head...

WILL
Where do you keep the aspirin? Take this. I was talking to Lisa last night.

THEO
If you're not talking about Lisa Lisa from the Cult Jam, I'm not listening.

WILL
No. Lisa from Chicago.

THEO
Oh, yeah (yawns) that girl you met at your cousin's debut.

WILL
No, she's my sister's College roommate.

THEO
Same thing. Hey, can we hook up a little later? I need my beauty rest.

WILL
I don't have forever to wait for your beauty to come around. She's on her way here and I need your skills.

THEO
Not now, man. I can't even think straight.

WILL
C'mon. She'll be here soon. My sister's picking her up from the airport and I can't have her seeing me with my hair looking like this!

THEO
Just put on a hat!

WILL
I want to impress her.

THEO
If you want to do that, why don't you just take her to the Warriors' game against the Bulls tonight?

WILL
Duh. That's why she's flying in. C'mon, Theo. Hook a brotha up.

THEO
You coulda hooked me up with a ticket to the game too.

WILL
One step ahead of you, Bro.

THEO
Sit down.

WILL
Thanks, man. Wait 'til you meet her. She's great!

THEO
Yeah. Yeah.

WILL
Remember the way I like it. Short on the sides...

THEO
And long in the back. I know.

WILL
We talked for hours last night about everything. Like the new BoyzIIMen CD and even the OJ thing in the Ford Bronco. You'll love her, Theo. Theo!

THEO
What?

WILL
Dude, you were falling asleep! I heard a snore!

THEO
If your story about Lisa wasn't so damn boring, I'd be awake.

WILL
Shut up and cut. She even told me that Filipinos are different out here than in the Midwest.

THEO
Yeah? (yawn)

WILL
Yup yup. She says that she's never even heard the word 'hella' before.

THEO
Yeah. (yawn) Hella interesting.

WILL
Remember. Keep in long in the back. Hey. Do you still have any more spray in the Aquanet can? I wanna spike my hair in front.

THEO
Yeah... I got.... .... Oh shit!

WILL
What?

THEO
Nothing. Nothing! I'm awake. I'm awake. You said that she's flyin' in just for the game?

WILL
Hopefully not just for the game, if you know what I mean. But, yeah, she got mad knowledge about basketball. Well, duh, she's from Chicago. Home of the greatest basketball player to ever live.

THEO
Bill Weddington?

WILL
No, fool! Michael Jordan. That's her favorite player.

THEO
Yeah. That's cool.

WILL
Are you done yet? Where's the mirror?

THEO
Not yet!!! Uh, almost done.

WILL
Everything okay?

THEO
Of course! Why'd you ask? Everything's fine. Perfect even. You just haven't... had a hair cut in a long while. Yeah. Lots of hair. Lots of it...

WILL
Dude. I'm a guy. I don't have that much hair... which is all on the... floor?! What the hell?! Where's the mirror?!! Where's the... What the hell did you do to my head?!

THEO
I told you I was tired... besides it's the new thang?

WILL
Short on the sides - not all the way around!

THEO
The Fil-Am mullet is going out of style anyways.

WILL
Then let me get rid of yours!

THEO
Now, let's not talk crazy!

WILL
I'll kill you! Where's the knife? You're dead! Come back here!

(Enter LISA)

LISA
Uh, Hi. I'm Lisa. Will's sister found a note saying that Will would be here. But I can come back later...

WILL
Lisa. Hi! It's me. Will!

LISA
I didn't recognize you without your...

THEO
Mullet?

LISA
I was going to say hair.

WILL
Uh, yeah. My EX-best friend and next door neighbor got a little carried away with the clippers, and...

LISA
No need to explain. I kinda like it. The shape of your head looks a lot like Michael Jordan's. I really like it. Especially, how it feels...

WILL
You do?

LISA
Hella.

THE END

NOTE: This is written as an exercise for my Playwriting Workshop. The workshop is offered through Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco for their Stories High Program. The assignment: Write a scene with two characters in which character A wants something from B, and gets it or doesn't get it, but in getting/not getting it, gets a third, unexpected thing.

Subliminal Devices of Microscopic Marketing

2007-09-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

Subliminal Devices of Microscopic Marketing
by conrad panganiban

Harrison - early 20's
Marié (Mah-ree-yay) - early 20's
Mirabella - early 20's

Setting: Harrison and Marié's apartment

MARI´E
Looks like they got you good, Harrison.

HARRISON
Shh... you don't have to yell. How bad does it look, Marié?

MARI´E
Lemme see. I don't think that a penis on your forehead will come into fashion soon. Luckily, markers aren't too permanent.

HARRISON
Fuckin' Dino! He's always carrying around a Sharpie. Oh, my head. I swear I'll never drink again.

MARI´E
Sure you won't. Hey, I was wondering, didn't you have a class with Professor Lee?

HARRISON
Yeah. I'm glad I got that class out of the way.

MARI´E
Who'd of ever figured that a class called Business 319: Subliminal Devices of Microscopic Marketing would be so hard?

HARRISON
It really wasn't that bad.

MARI´E
Wasn't that bad? Did you hear about that one student a couple of semesters ago?

HARRISON
Jeremiah Splat?

MARI´E
That wasn't his name.

HARRISON
What else do you call someone who jumps off the fifth story of the Business building after failing one of Professor Lee's tests?

MARI´E
It wasn't just a test. It was a final. Not only that, it was the Final Final. The one all marketing majors need to pass to graduate. And you're saying that it wasn't that bad?

HARRISON
Eh...

MARI´E
So, what'd you do get through it?

HARRISON
I'm just naturally gifted. What? What? Okay, fine... with... where is that thing? Bingo! With this.

MARI´E
Big whoop. Everybody needs that for the course.

HARRISON
Open it.

MARI´E
What the...? Where'd you get this?

HARRISON
And you said that the only benefit for joining Zeta Omega Psi was the Raging Keggers!

MARI´E
Isn't it?

HARRISON
Well, yeah. But another thing is hookups from frat brothers. Dino gave it to me.

MARI´E
I love you, Harrison! The notes in here will so get me through to graduation.

HARRISON
Sorry. I'm giving this to Mirabella.

MARI´E
But you know how much I need this to graduate!

HARRISON
You can buy one from the bookstore.

MARI´E
Hello? I can't buy the Teacher's Edition at the store.

HARRISON
Sorry, muchacha. Yo no can-oh do-oh.

MARI´E
My dad will kill me if I don't graduate!

HARRISON
I already promised her.

MARI´E
I'm your roommate.

HARRISON
But you don't sleep with me.

MARI´E
I will if you give me the book.

HARRISON
Ew... you're like my sister.

MARI´E
You're right. I think I just threw up in my mouth. Okay. Okay. I'll pay your share of next month's rent.

HARRISON
You don't have to do that.

MARI´E
I'll also take care of the cleaning duties for the rest of the semester... including your bathroom.

HARRISON
The whole semester... No. I can't do it. I'm in love with Mirabella. She needs it to graduate too. And when she does, we'll both get good jobs at marketing firms, get married, and live happily ever after.

MARI´E
Don't forget to visit my rotting corpse at the cemetery with your wife, kids, and minivan after my dad kills me for failing that class because you didn't give me that book.

HARRISON
Guilt won't work on me, cuz you're not my mom. Besides, he's not going to kill you.

MARI´E
Yes, he will! When we went to the Philippines last summer, he did things with a bolo knife to a pig that would make Jeffery Dahmer proud of him.

HARRISON
Speaking of which, is there any lechon left in the fridge?

MARI´E
Didn't you even listen to a word I said? And No. Don't you remember what you did to it after the party?

HARRISON
Why? Did I do something inappropriate with it?

MARI´E
You kinda blew chunks all over it. You really don't remember anything from last night?

HARRISON
The last thing I remember was falling into the tub filled with Jello shots.

MARI´E
What about what happened after that?

HARRISON
I woke up naked in the laundry room. Don't tell me that you took a picture of me in there. What's that?

MARI´E
Dino borrowed my phone to take some pictures of ya! What else do we have here? Whoa. Uh...

HARRISON
What? Who is...? Give me that! Oh my God... Erase those picts, Marié!

MARI´E
Do you even know her name?

HARRISON
I don't even know her.

MARI´E
Looks like she got to know you very well.

HARRISON
Oh my God. What did I do?

MARI´E
I know what you will do and that's to give me the book.

HARRISON
That's blackmail.

MARI´E
And this is cheating on your girlfriend.

HARRISON
You wouldn't.

MARI´E
Apparently, you did.

HARRISON
(despondent) What did I do?

MARI´E
You can start by giving me the book.

HARRISON
Here. Keep it. Crap! What am I gonna do?

MARI´E
Harrison. I was kidding. Look. I'm deleting these. You know that I wasn't really going to show these to Mirabella.

(Enter MIRABELLA)

MIRABELLA
Show me what? Hey, babe? Why's there a penis drawn on your forehead?

THE END

NOTE: This is written as an exercise for my Playwriting Workshop. The workshop is offered through Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco for their Stories High Program. The assignment: Write a scene with two characters. Character A wants a book from character B.

my new full-length play

2007-09-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

my new full-length play will be about Filipinos in the US Navy. That's my subject, but i have no idea about what the story will be, YET! i'm hoping that by brainstorming here, something will come out.

so this started from going to a wedding this past weekend down in san diego. the wedding was on a naval base, and the daughter for one of my dad's closest friends was the one getting hitched. anyways, it made me start to think about these men. what made these men join the navy and provide for their families? i just found out that the US started granting filipinos to join the us navy in order to have a military base in the pi. just everything about this subject is very personal and add onto that... i miss my dad. we never really talked about anything, well except when he'd yell or nag at me about something. but being at this wedding... seeing his compadres. all navy retired men.

so, as i said this is my subject. i have no story. i'm almost finished reading a screenwriting book by this guy named syd field. at first i was very weary of picking up this book for the simple fact that i'm going to be a PLAYWRIGHT, and i was feeling pretty stuck up. but i had to put that aside and tell myself that at the core of ALL OF THIS is that i just want to be a storyteller. this book, "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting" has totally opened my eyes and really made me aware of a story/films structure. something that i never really thought about, but something that i definitely needed.

so here a couple of story ideas that are floating in my noggin':
- a group of navy retirees get together to honor someone who's died and there's a hidden treasure involved
- something to do with a navy family
- more things...

anyways, i'll write more later.

btw, i had a lot of fun just getting away! very much needed!

becoming a playwright

2007-08-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

becoming a playwright has been 13 years in the making for me. i started writing in 1994 when i wrote a script for the filipino club i was associated with. "ang palengke" started out of a very visual dream i had. i saw all these characters who worked in a marketplace in the philippines and the story was about all of their dreams. i remember physically in the garage of my parents house writing the first draft. what started out as basically writing down everything that exactly happened in the dream, turned into a story that added onto itself. a very weird feeling came over me and something very unexplainable until i recently talked to others who felt the same way i did. nonetheless, i finished the script, had the pcn coordinator and others read it, and on mother's day 1994 had my script produced. what's running through my head was the production process. that was the first time i directed anything as well. and mind you this was BEFORE joining Sinag-tala, so I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE what i was doing. and if you read the script, which is odd, cuz i haven't read the script in a couple of years (it was just by happenstance that i saw the word file on my other harddrive) you'll see how novice i was as a writer. back to the production stuff, i was 22 at the time and i think that was the first time i really stepped into a leadership role. it was then when i also found out what kind of producer/director i know myself to be. i casted about everyone who asked me for a part. BJ was introduced to me by some other folks and I casted him for a part i don't think i even wrote yet. i had to tell a person, actually a key character, that she was out of the pcn because she missed rehearsals and never really felt like she wanted to be with us. then i cast a person who i was a little iffy on about but she did REALLY well. there was A LOT of things that changed between when i first thought of the story to what became on stage, but going through all of that... i found my purpose in life.

i already went through 4 years of college and here i was just FINALLY realizing what i wanted to do with my life, which kind of shows how (in)valuable college can be for some of us. and I'm talking about this now because it's been 13 years later, and i'm finally realizing this "calling." in a month, i'll have a public reading of my first full one act play. "ang palengke" was 17 pages long... "Garden of Dreams" is 55.

Finally FINISHING "Garden of Dreams" has been a long road. i had just finished having my first 10-minute play "BORDERS" produced by Bindlestiff, but it was still after the death of my dad and one of my best friends. The combination of writing and these events shaped this script, so the story just means so much to me. I started the play as a tribute to my friends, and this will remain at it's core. But, this play also signifies the beginning of a solid foot forward on my path. Just in the last month, I've been blessed to have taken some classes by AMAZING and established playwrights in Jeannie Barroga and Philip Kan Gotanda. In total 4 sessions with them. And I've learned so much from their techniques, advice, and experience.

I'm proud to say that "Garden of Dreams" is my first official play. It took me a year-in-a-half to write, but this play was truly 13 years in the making.

theater...

2007-08-16T02:17:00.000-07:00

the more and more i'm getting into this journey and realization that i need to be a playwright, the more and more i'm falling in love with the theater. i just love to be around it and thinking about it. i love watching plays and musicals. i love being around other people who love theater. i'm actually reading more books on how to be a playwright as well as listening and watching podcasts produced by the American Theater Wing on playwrights and their views on being a playwright. it's like a course in it, i'm like diving into it head first.

i'm still up re-writing my script, Garden of Dreams. Yup, i've shortened the title once again, and maybe 85% sure that this title will stick. I have a writing workshop with PKG tomorrow at his place in berkeley, where i am more than ready to be torn to shreds! i have a couple of things that STILL doesn't make sense to me that i need to iron out before sending this script to my cast. a couple of questions:

- why doesn't DOC want to help R.J. right away? Actually, I kinda have this answered. It sucks cuz i had to cut out one of my lines that I really loved, but it needed to be done :(
- i want to build more of Jasen's character. It started out that he's fine without having any direction in life while R.J. is the complete opposite, yet they are still best of friends. urgh, this isn't making sense, but it's something i want to explore.
- i hope that the new scene between DOC and R.J. will work without it being to cliche. we'll just have to see.
- build R.J.'s arc. that's a little harder to grasp, but it's definitely rollin' around in my noggin.

yun lang. that's it.

i started this idea from my "writer's matchbook". it's a book FULL of really short phrases or plots that will start a fire of imagination for a writers next work. anyways, here's the idea that's sticking and burning to be read... "a man and a women find a bloody knife underneath their staircase" that's it, but i have an awesome story for it... START WRITING! :)

oh.... i'm gonna see avenue q with a good friend next week :) love the show and i hope she likes it too! night, inkernet!

Take Me Or Leave Me... Scene

2007-08-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

This is a exercise on taking a monologue from a musical and remixing it as dialogue between two people.

===================

Take Me Or Leave Me
Adaptation from Jonathan Larson’s RENT

MAUREEN
Joanne, what’s wrong? I didn't stay and dance at the Clit Club last night, 'cause you wanted to go home...

JOANNE
You were flirting with the woman in rubber!

MAUREEN
That's what this is about!? There will always be women in rubber, flirting with me... Gimme a break.

JOANNE
Maureen, I’m asking you to remember that you’re with me.

MAUREEN
There is only you.

JOANNE
Then don’t flirt.

MAUREEN
What? That’s a part of who I am.

JOANNE
A skank?

MAUREEN
But I’m your skank.

JOANNE
That’s exactly what I mean. Can’t you take yourself seriously? Can’t you take US seriously?

MAUREEN
I am serious… just not all the time like you. Pookie, can’t we just have just have fun?

JOANNE
Don’t call me Pookie!

MAUREEN
What?

JOANNE
All I’m saying is that I want to be yours, and not some nickname that you call all your other skanks.

MAUREEN
Where’d you hear that from?

JOANNE
From Mark. Your ex-boyfriend told me that you called him, and apparently all the other people you slept with, Pookie.

MAUREEN
Fine. I won’t call you Pookie anymore!

JOANNE
And no more flirting with women in rubber.

MAUREEN
Again with the rubber women! Joanne, I walk down the street and men, and women too, yell out, “Hey baby! You lookin’ sweet!” I can’t help that.

JOANNE
Well, you don’t have to acknowledge them.

MAUREEN
What would you have me do just walk on by?

JOANNE
Yes.

MAUREEN
Just in case you didn’t hear me the first time (Pantomimes sign language and speaks) “This is who I am!” I will stop and say hi and let them know me, something that you just don’t get.

JOANNE
I know who you are because that’s what attracted me to you in the first place when I saw you on stage. But do you ALWAYS have to be in the spotlight?

MAUREEN
And be a droll, yet lovable, geek like you? Jesus, why do you have to be so anal?!

JOANNE
Well, this is who I am. I make lists in my sleep. I follow through on my promises. And also unlike you, I need to see what I’m leaping into instead of just putting on a blindfold, wear a stupid smile and just jump.

MAUREEN
You didn’t mind the blindfold the other night. (pause) My point is that every night I’m in bed with you and that should at least count for something. Don’t you see how lucky you are?

JOANNE
Lucky I am?! Me? Lucky? With a mess you?

MAUREEN
Alright, that’s it! I quit! (gathers some of her stuff) All I was asking was for you to take me for who I am… and you couldn’t even do that. I’m leaving.

JOANNE
Fine!

MAUREEN
I’m gone!

MAUREEN exits.

52 Cents

2007-08-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

52 Cents
by conrad panganiban

Raining. Market and 6th Street in San Francisco. THEOLONIUS is on the street corner with a box of broken umbrellas.

THEOLONIUS
52 cents. 52 cents! Stay dry for 52 cents!

Enter MAXIM as he tries to take cover from the rain holding a Wall Street Journal over his head, talking on his cell phone and trying to hail for a taxi.

THEOLONIUS
52 cents, Mister?

MAXIM
(on phone) Brigid, can you tell the candidate that I’m running late to start her interview? (pause) I’ll be there in 10. Okay. Thanks. Bye.

THEOLONIUS
52 cents, Mister?

MAXIM
Sorry not today.

THEOLONIUS
I’m sellin’ not beggin’. 52 cents for an umbrella?

MAXIM
52 cents?

THEOLONIUS
That’s including tax.

MAXIM Picks up one of the umbrellas. Opens it to find that 2 of the brackets are bent broken.

MAXIM
This is shit.

THEOLONIUS
That’s what you call it. I call it a cover for the top half of your body against the elements, otherwise known as an umbrella. And despite some of it’s flaws, it’s worth 52 cents.

MAXIM
It’s worth almost nothing because it’s broken.

THEOLONIUS
It ain’t broke. It still opens up and happily functions to the will of it’s owner… like protecting that finely gelled quaff of yours. It might not be much but it will have a purpose and I’d have to admit that that purpose is worth 52 cents.

MAXIM
What’s with the 52 cents?!

THEOLONIUS
The cost is a penny for each year I’ve been alive, which I’d have to say is more than nothing.

MAXIM
Look, I’m just trying to catch a cab.

THEOLONIUS
No, you’ll be catching a cold if you don’t buy one of these here umbrellas for only…

MAXIM
52 cents. I get it. If anything, I’d have to admit that you’re persistent.

THEOLONIUS
This is my job. One of the only things I have left in this world since I’ve been living out here for the last five years.

MAXIM
You mean here in San Francisco.

THEOLONIUS
And meaning here on a bench in Golden Gate park, a doorway on Geary, or under a tree near the 80 on Howard.

MAXIM
Sorry, man.

THEOLONIUS
Sorry for what? You didn’t force whiskey down my throat when I did have a home, a family, and a job.

MAXIM
What’d you do?

THEOLONIUS
I was in Realty. How’s that for irony? A homeless man who used to sell homes. And I was damn good at it too. So, I guess that’s where my persistence comes in… speaking of which, that paper of yours is starting to leak.

MAXIM
52 cents?

THEOLONIUS
You know the price.

MAXIM takes out his wallet and pulls out a couple of dollar bills and a business card.

MAXIM
Here’s a couple of dollars and here’s my card. I could really use a persistent sales person.

While THEOLONIUS looks at the business card MAXINE hails and gets a taxi to pull up.

MAXIM
I better get going, Mr...?

THEOLONIUS
Macabenta. Theolonius Macabenta.

They shake hands

MAXIM
Nice to meet you Mr. Macabenta. I’m Maxim. Give me a call.

As MAXIM enters the taxi, THEOLONIUS grabs an umbrella and gives it to MAXIM.

THEOLONIUS
Almost forgot to take your umbrella.

MAXIM
Thanks. Hey, I was wondering, what do you do when it’s not raining?

THEOLONIUS opens up his jacket to reveal a collection of sunglasses.

THEOLONIUS
Can I interest you in some sunglasses? Only 52 cents.

THE END

Workshop

2007-08-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

Well I just got back from the workshop with the playwright above - Philip Kan Gotanda. This was one of the best workshops I've had and this is without any writing! We got to basically pick his brain about how to write a play.

One homework assignment was to write a 30-page play and we'll break it down for our next meeting. Luckily, I had "A Dance..." with me, so I turned it in. And for the first time, i'm confident with it. I'm not saying that it's good, or that this particular play is something that is a masterpiece, but you know what? it's mine. it's the story that i wanted to write and it's done... for the most part. there's still more i need to work on, but it won't matter how much he tears it apart - i don't really care cuz the way i look at it, i did it. i wrote a play. and it's just the beginning!

new AATC Workshops

2007-07-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I knew it was a bad idea to move to an office that's overlooking the bay! it's friday and i'm looking out the window at sailboats that float by. yeah, i'm rubbing it in! kidding lang. i'm just not in the best of moods to work, especially on a project that needs to be done by tuesday! maybe, i'll come in on sunday and work on it. haven't done that in a while.

anyways, I'm so excited about these workshops that i just signed-up/paid for with AATC. 1) a vocal workshop for musicals
2) monologues for musicals - with Jeannie Barroga
3) PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP WITH PHILIP KAN GOTANDA!!!

http://www.asianamericantheater.org/

i can't wait for all these workshops to start, but c'mon now, a workshop with the playwright of one of my favorite plays that i've ever read - THE WASH. I'm sure I've written a blog entry about my loving this play. but yeah... i'm stoked. One thing I am nervous about though is that I have to submit 5 pages of written dialogue for his workshop! i'm scanning all my past work to see what i want to turn in. right now, i'm thinking about my revamped scene of when R.J. and Lisa first meet in "A Dance...". I just found my re-write of Borders and I forgot how good the dialogue between my characters were... it's their dialogue and i'm just recording what they say in my head. and yes, i'm mental that way. again... we'll see, but i have to turn this in soon.

alrighty, better get back to trying to work.

writing

2007-07-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

as you can see in the previous post, i FINALLY finished Room 812. I started writing this scene 2 years ago. i got side tracked with BORDERS and A DANCE... it's funny cuz i remembered talking about this play with Jeannie while driving her back to her place in Marin. I asked her one bit of advice on that trip, "When will I know what to write about?" she said simply, "Just write what's on your mind. What are you feeling at this moment and put it down." This was just one thing that i felt passionate about at the time and i'm glad to have finally finished it. Not sure if I'll submit this to Stories High or save this for something else. at the very least, i'd love to hear this read to see how it flows.

Hip-Hop Theater Festival

2007-05-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Just got home to wind down and check in with you about two plays that i've just seen. last night was watching the Suicide Kings Trio's "In Spite of Everything" and tonite's "Representa" which played at La Pena in Berkeley.

"In Spite of Everything"
It's a theater piece that combines spoken word and interweaving personal stories of a school shooting and the questioning of 3 poets who last talked the shooter. INCREDIBLE! i was mezmorized watching the poets bare their souls and experiences in their poetry and stories. i was also impressed how they infused their delivery with a story of the police interviewing questioning them as it was their fault for giving this kid who killed 29 other kids in his classroom the idea to do this. they weaved personal stories with stories of other people who could be involved as to insights on why this happened. and that's really the goal of this play - what could have made this person do this? this play that ran about 100 minutes with a 12-minute intermission blew me away. my favorite parts were the way one of the cops forensically told another detective exactly what happened in that classroom. "he fired two shots at that girl. (looking at a sheet) miss davis, one missed as you can see on the far wall another stuck in her abdomen. by this trail, she crawled to this spot before said shooter fired point blank into her temple..." and he continued to detail this slaughter WITHOUT feeling for the victims. matter of fact. by the book. were these all these kids were? matter of fact? then they'd mimic a news reporter who was only there for the story. then the dad of the shooter. powerful. and finally, they profiled the shooters from Columbine and that eventful day - in reverse! from the point where they committed suicide in library at 11:23 am and worked backwards: "the fire inhaled the smoke and bullet into the chamber of a 9mm with the eric kleebold's hand moving back down" just incredible use of telling a story in reverse. at the end, using the fact that they travel the country facilitating poetry workshops, they encounter a kid who is quiet and ask him to share his feelings, not with guns, but with poetry. for more info on them, check out their myspace page: www.myspace.com/thesuicidekingstrio and their page: suicidekingsspokenword.com

"Representa!"
Taken from La Pena's site: REPRESENTA! A hilariously, entertaining & provocative bilingual play combining spoken-word and poetry. Despite an atmosphere laden with stereotypes and anxieties between North Americans and Cubans, Chicano spoken word poet Paul Flores & Cuban rapper Julio Cardenas struck up a friendship when they met at the Havana Hip-Hop Festival. A fiercely incisive commentary on terrorism, immigration, Cuba, U.S. foreign policy, Bay Area lefty culture, New York after 9/11 and pan-Latino identity. A bilingual theatre, which combines spoken-word poetry with character portrayals, that is hilariously, entertaining & provocative. Directed by Danny Hoch. Presented in conjunction with Hip-Hop Theater Fest, SFIAF, & Mission Cultural Center. Saturday at 4pm a post performance talk with artists.

Again, INCREDIBLE! the story telling is incredible as they weave a number of different characters from their personal lives that interact with each other. it's hard to describe, but one that i definitely want to experiment with.

All in all - INSPIRED. not only do I want to Write, i want to perform.

Bio

2007-05-09T05:03:00.000-07:00

USA wanted a new bio, so here's mine:

Conrad A. Panganiban
Conrad has been active in the Arts for the last 20 years. Beginning with Music, he has played the trumpet in front of a sold out stadium with the UC, Berkeley Bear Band, with the Northern California Youth Symphony in Stockton, CA, and the Monterery Jazz Festival's Youth Orchestra. He has also been honored to have played with the California Central Coast Section's High School Honors Concert Band for three consecutive years. In 1995, Conrad released a compilation CD of his orginal compositions where he sings vocals and plays all the instruments including piano and guitar.

He has also had his artwork displayed for the Filipino Community in Vallejo as well as in Maganda Magazine published in Berkeley, CA.

He began his artistic endeavors in Theater when he began college in 1990. As an actor, Conrad has appeared on stage with the Sinag-tala Filipino Theater and Performing Arts Association (SFTPAA) of Sacramento, with San Jose State University's Akbayan Club's Pilipino Culture Night, with Inter-ACT in Peter Mellencamp's STRUGGLING TRUTHS, Sacramento City College's production of Jeannie Barroga's WALLS. He has also filled the director's chair with CSU, Sacramento's Samahang Pilipino 1994 Pilipino Culture Night and Academy of Art University's Pinoy And Pinay Artists. He has also been honored to have directed segments for the Sinag-tala Theatrical Revue. As a playwright, Conrad has written for Samahang Pilipino of CSUS Pilipino Culture Night, Bindlestiff Studio of San Francisco's STORIES HIGH PRODUCTION OF ONE ACTS, and again for the Sinag-tala Theatrical Revue. Using his technical savvy, he has also worked as the Digital Visual Designer for Sinag-tala, Parlance Production's SEPIA RESERVATIONS, and most recently with the Visual Theater Troupe of San Francisco.

Recently, he was found on stage as one of the lead characters as a puppeteer with Bindlestiff Studio's Visual Theater Troupe's production of PROGRESS IN WORK/WORK IN PROGRESS. His next production will be found behind the scenes controlling puppets and projections with the Filipino-American troupe of perfomance artists called The Movement. He plans to produce and direct a collection of his plays in Sacramento and in San Francisco in 2008.

While not creating artwork for the stage, Conrad spends his day as the Sr. Technical Designer for Gap.com in San Francisco, CA. He also works as the Webmaster and Designer for www.sinagtala.org.

A Poem for Lola

2007-03-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

I'm off to the library to work on my play again, but before i go, I wanted to put this up. I never knew both of my Grandmothers but I felt compelled to write this based on the events of last week. This is a shorter version because I didn't weigh down LISA's dialogue and rhythm within the scene. Also, I'm not a poet. I actually gave up writing poetry since one of my poems got rejected by Maganda Magazine. All wasn't a loss since one of my artworks got published.

Dedicated to my lolas, to LeRoid and xLe's grandma who recently passed (I pulled some of these lines from the eulogies heard), to my Smokey Joe Sister's Granny whom i never met, but I know how much of an impact she made on her, to Francisca Balderama, the closest lola that I've ever had without the blood relation, thank you. And all the lola's who've made a difference to their grandchildren.

R.J.
You can't just jump in and say that there's something wrong with what I wrote and not give tell me how I can fix it.

LISA
I guess that wouldn't be right, would it? Alright… let me get this straight, Jasen's grandmother is on her death bed, right?

R.J.
Right... his Lola, just in case you didn't...

LISA
Riiight. And he's trying to tell her how much she means to him?

R.J.
Right. Also, can you add in the dancing stuff since he's in the Modern Dance segment and he really wanted that in his monologue?

LISA
You're not making it easy on me, are you?

R.J.
Nope.

LISA
Okay...

Lola, I know that you can hear my voice between the ever growing silence between each inhale… and exhale you take.
Please listen to my words of praise and thank yous for everything that you have given me.
From the time I first heard the stories of how you hid in the hills with your children in tow
As strangers invaded our land of golden sunsets and fragrant sampaguitas… again
Protector of my mother and uncle when you moved to a new land of velvet fogged-in mornings and cable cars that went up and down California Street
To the one who helped raise me and my brother
to know wrong from wrong and
right from right
to left to right to left
and back again
the dance steps you taught me from the Jitterbug to La Jota to the Tinikling
of bamboo polls that still resonate from my ears to my core
click click clap
click click CLAP!
I snap out of my trance Lola, when I hear your voice call out to me, “Did you eat yet?”
And before I could even get out the words, “I'm fine, Grandma.”
A plate of Rice and Diniguan is placed before me
Which is made with the recipe, of not chocolate meat, which we Should Not try to pass off as a euphemism to ignorant Western palettes
But made with the special ingredient that only YOU can provide - Your Love
Because of you
I know what love is
Because of you
I know what strength is
Because of you, Grandma
I know the importance of taking the time to take in the essence of a rose with a single breath
To take in the essence of life and how to live it
With each Step
I Take
In Dance
In YOUR HONOR
Dahil Sa Iyo, Lola
Alam ko na kung sino ako
Salamat po at
Mahal kita

Sucker!

2007-01-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Sucker!
by conrad panganiban

BIXBY (early 30's) and GRASSHOPPER (early teens) sit at MUNI bus stop. GRASSHOPPER is sucking on a lollipop.

BIXBY: You are not 25!

GRASSHOPPER: I am so.

BIXBY: Then what year were you born?

GRASSHOPPER: Why you want to know?

BIXBY: Cuz you look like your...

GRASSHOPPER: 13. I get that a lot.

BIXBY: So... what year?

GRASSHOPPER: What's your name?

BIXBY: Why you wanna know?

GRASSHOPPER: Cuz, I don't share personal information with strangers.

BIXBY: Bixby.

GRASSHOPPER: 1981

BIXBY calculates the age with his finger in the air on an imaginary chalkboard.

BIXBY: I still don't believe you.

GRASSHOPPER: If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.

BIXBY: Then what do you do for a living.

GRASSHOPPER: I'm a CPA.

BIXBY: Shut up! You are so not an accountant.

GRASSHOPPER: That I am.

BIXBY: So you go to work dressed like that?

GRASSHOPPER: Duh? Of course not. I just wanted to take a day off. Woke up this morning, looked outside the window, said hello to the sun, "Hi, Sun." and then said to myself, "GrassHopper, take the day off. You deserve it."

BIXBY: Your name is Grass Hopper? I don't know what's harder to believe, your age or your name.

GRASSHOPPER: Better believe it, Buddy.

BIXBY just looks at GRASSHOPPER.

GRASSHOPPER: You're kinda weirding me out, dude.

BIXBY: I'm still trying to comprehend that you're 25. Do you mind if I see your ID or something?

GRASSHOPPER: Yes, I do mind, cuz one, I don't know you, and two, you're gonna see my address and I just don't have time in include a stalker in my already chaotic lifestyle.

BIXBY: Then what if I just ask you some questions that only a 25 year old would know.

GRASSHOPPER: I ain't doing anything else. Shoot.

BIXBY: Where did you go to college?

GRASSHOPPER: Sac State for my undergrad. Then went to Golden Gate University for my MFA.

BIXBY: Who was your favorite boy band in the 90's?

GRASSHOPPER: I can proudly say, Backstreet Boys.

BIXBY: Your favorite 80's movie?

GRASSHOPPER: Back to the Future. Only the first one, I don't count the other 2.

BIXBY: What kind of car do you drive?

GRASSHOPPER: A 2006 Mercedes-Benz S320 CDI.

BIXBY: Ha! Gotcha! You're so lying! If you had a car, then why are you taking the bus?! Ly--errrr! Liar! You're a 13 year old impersonator!

BIXBY does a little jig to celebrate his discovery. As he dances around, GRASSHOPPER takes out the key to her Benzo.

BIXBY: What's that?

GRASSHOPPER: The key to my benz, which is at the home that I own cuz I hate driving in the city with its superfluous amount of bike messengers and its miniscule number of parking spaces.

BIXBY: Oh... I guess you are who you say you are. Sorry.

GRASSHOPPER: Unfortunately, as I said, I get it all the time.

BIXBY: I'm really sorry. I feel like a complete heel. Is there any way that I can make it up to you?

GRASSHOPPER holds out her hand.

GRASSHOPPER: Hi, my name is GrassHopper.

BIXBY: I'm Bixby.

GRASSHOPPER: There. Reset. Start over.

BIXBY: You know, Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies too... One point twenty-one jiggawatts!

GRASSHOPPER: You don't say.

BIXBY: I do, and I'm also saying that the Regal out in Berkeley is having a midnight showing of it on Saturday, and if you weren't doing anything that night, perhaps you wouldn't mind joining me.

GRASSHOPPER: Sounds like a very tempting offer. But, I'm kind of... attached right now.

BIXBY: Right. I should have known that you had a boyfriend.

GRASSHOPPER: Not exactly. A little more than that.

Enter PAPANG, GRASSHOPPER's dad.

PAPANG: Hoy. Where's my keys?

GRASSHOPPER: Right here, Dad.

PAPANG: Let's go. (to BIXBY) I hope that she's not bothering you too much! These 12 year olds are starting to cause too much trouble.

PAPANG exits.

GRASSHOPPER: Thanks for the invite, Mister, but i gotta jet! See ya... sucker!

GRASSHOPPER exits.

BIXBY just stares in awe, and then goes into convulsions of what he just did. Ew!

THE END

Star-Crossed Love

2007-01-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

Star-Crossed Love
by conrad panganiban

At a store inside a mall. BREEZE is shopping, sees someone, and pulls JULIP to her side.

BREEZE: Don't look over there!

(JULIP looks)

BREEZE: I said don't look! Did he look over this way?

(JULIP shakes her head, "No.")

BREEZE: Thank goodness. Did I ever tell you about him? I didn't. I swear that I had. Doesn't matter. It was such a long time ago, and I doubt that he even remembers my name. But I'll never forget his - Zenith. Not only does it remind me of the old TV my family had where the knob broke off and we had to use pliers to change the channels, oh no, but Zenith as being the man whom was the pinnacle of all the men I have ever... been with. It was a splendid summer's eve because the air smelled so fresh, and there we were locked in each other's embrace in the garden under the shadow of the State Capitol. The heat of passion burned the fire within my heart... and now to see him standing there. I can still feel the warmth. Can you? Please tell me that you do for those deep brown eyes of his can melt the ice off a penguin's behind. But alas, when he left my arms for the last time, these once happy feet can no longer dance on air as they once did.

(BREEZE looks again and he is no longer there. BREEZE steps toward the spot where he stood.)

BREEZE: He is gone. I breathe in the smell of where he stood. He still wears the cologne I bought him for our anniversary.

JULIP: How long were you together?

BREEZE: It felt like eternity for our love had no time limit. All of three days. But what a glorious three days they were. I could tell by your inquisitive stare you have another question of why we are no longer together. What always happens to the love between two star-crossed lovers... our love faded away. Of course, if you were to ask him what had happened to us, his answer would be as transparent as the waters of a river called, Denial. Instead of saying that our co-existence were like two rafts that drifted apart, his claim would surely be that I was suffocating him with my affection. He would say that I called him every second of the day, but dear, what are phones, emails, text messages, and cameras for? Silly boy for misinterpreting my coyness toward him by strapping his arms and legs to the love posts of our bed. I told him I would return later that night for a special supper, which I did. Who would have known how easily the fibers of rope can burn the skin of wrists and ankles? (laughs) It was all a game I told him. Well him and the judge. A flirtatious game of batting the eyelids, twirling of the hair, a carving into the flesh of a little heart on his bronze pectoral muscle. So many fond memories. (sigh) Alas, all good things must come to an end. And as he stood here, I could still feel the passion of his gaze into my eyes as he proclaimed the words, "I never want to see you again, you crazy woman!" So much fire burned behind his eyes and bore into my soul. Oh, the flames of love. How I long for that feeling again. If only... if only had it not be for a court-ordered restraining document that keeps me 100 feet away from his touch, we would be together. Damn the government and the local enforcements that place these shackles on my heart! I am spent. I need air. Fair thee well, my friend. Fair thee well.

BREEZE exits, as Julip's friend, FARGO enters.

FARGO: Hey Julip. Who's that?

JULIP: I have no idea. I need a mojito. I swear you better not leave me again.

FARGO and JULIP exit.

THE END

A Scene from SHINE - the Musical

2006-12-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

A Scene from SHINE (working title) - the Musical
by conrad panganiban

[A song begins and MANDY and CARLOS dance and sing around Juice It. The song has crazy mad beats and it's about making dreams happen.]

As the song ends, a KAREN, enters the store.

CARLOS
Hey, Mandy. Got a customer behind you.

MANDY turns around and freezes.

KAREN
Ate Amanda?

MANDY
Hi Karen.

MANDY goes around the counter and gives her little cousin a hug.

KAREN
How are you doing? I haven't seen you in so long.

MANDY
I know. Since the funeral. Um, so, how's everybody doing down south?

KAREN
We're all doing fine. JB graduated last year and working at Cedar Sinai as a cardiac nurse now.

MANDY
From UCLA, right?

KAREN
Yeah. I'm sorry that you couldn't make it to his graduation.

MANDY
Well, I've been here running this store and the others. Plus, we're always short staffed. You know how good employees are hard to find. Soooo… what brings you here to town?

KAREN
Just a short business trip. I'm leaving early tomorrow for New York, then off to Dallas before heading back home. Hey, do you wanna get together for some dinner tonight?

MANDY
I'm not sure if I can get away. I have to do the totals for our regional stores… and…

KAREN
Well, then. Next time, I guess. Since I'm here, I'll give your dad a call, if that's all right.

MANDY
Of course. He'd love to hear from you.

KAREN
You're still at the same number, right?

MANDY
Same one for the last 27 years.

KAREN
Perfect. If you get off early, give me a call okay?

KAREN reaches into her purse and pulls out a business card.

KAREN (CONT.)
Or you can email… or text. It's all good.

MANDY
Thanks. Hey, did you wanna order something? On me of course, I own the store.

KAREN
Just some OJ. I saw a 24-Hour Fitness across the street and was headed there when I saw you dancing around in here. It made me think about when we were kids and we'd have those shows in the living room for Lola and Lolo. You taught all your cousins the dopest moves from the Janet Jackson videos.

MANDY
Those were the days.

KAREN
You still dance?

MANDY
Me… no. That was ages ago. And that was a silly dream… and this is real life. Here's your juice.

KAREN
Thanks, Ate. I better jet. Give me a call so we can hang out again.

They hug each other.

KAREN
Love you.

MANDY
Love you too.

KAREN exits as MANDY heads to the door to wave bye. MANDY just stares out there for a while and looks down at Karen's business card.

Enter CARLOS.

CARLOS
Hey, you better not let Dick catch you daydreaming again.

MANDY doesn't say anything or turn around.

CARLOS
Chica, what's wrong? Was it my Dick comment? Listen, you might not like Dick… but I…

MANDY turns around.

MANDY
Carlos!

CARLOS
Got you to turn around! Now tell Carlito what's bothering you.

MANDY
My little cousin just came by.

CARLOS
You have a cousin? I thought that it was just you and your dad.

MANDY
It is… but then there's my rich successful alter-ego family living in SoCal.

MANDY hands CARLOS Karen's business card.

CARLOS
Fancy shmancy. It even smells rich. Bet they treat you like Cinderella, before she got all beautified and shit.

MANDY
No, not even. They're really cool, it's just that I wish I could relate. I wonder what it'd be like to not always be living from paycheck to paycheck. To not feel like I'm lower than them. I mean, she never would make me feel bad. It's just me I guess. It just feels like everyone but me gets the breaks. When is it going to be my turn?

CARLOS
That time will come and soon. You're still going to that audition, right?

MANDY
Oh, shoot! That's right. What time is it?

CARLOS
Time to get a watch.

MANDY
Carlos!

CARLOS
Sorry, baby. You know I can never resist when someone asks me that. It's 4:30 child.

MANDY takes off her apron.

MANDY
Cover for me, 'kay? I gotta get home and change. I can't go there looking like this.

CARLOS
Or smelling like that too. Get going girl… and break a leg.

MANDY gives CARLOS a quick hug and exits.

Burgundy, Cerise, and an Apple

2006-12-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

Burgundy, Cerise, and an Apple
by conrad panganiban

BURGUNDY: Cerise, are you ready?

CERISE: I was born ready, Burgundy.

BURGUNDY: Are you sure?

CERISE: I've been practicing.

BURGUNDY: For 2 hours?!

CERISE: What's so hard?

BURGUNDY: Hitting the bull's eye.

CERISE: Piece of cake.

BURGUNDY: What if you miss?

CERISE: Don’t worry.

BURGUNDY: I don't know…

CERISE: Trust me.

BURGUNDY: You said that before.

CERISE: You got out…

BURGUNDY: Two weeks later!

CERISE: Just stand there.

BURGUNDY: Not too hard.

CERISE: Open your eyes.

BURGUNDY: No.

CERISE: OK. I promise.

BURGUNDY: What?

CERISE: Not too hard.

BURGUNDY: Is it sharp?

CERISE: When are knives not?

BURGUNDY: Aim for the apple.

CERISE: Then don't move.

BURGUNDY: Don't plan to.

CERISE: One… two… THREE!

BURGUNDY: (yelp) Agh! Call… 9… 1…

A Scene from GARDEN OF DREAMS

2006-12-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

I don't want to let go of the part of me that i really like... and miss. This is from a scene from a play i'm writing called "A Dance in the Garden of Memories" aka "Letting Go" aka some other title that i'll come up with in the next couple of minutes. this is my favorite scene because it includes the LAST song i ever wrote for someone and sang it for... peace and hopefully many more songs to come.

===========

(slow jam music starts to play)

LISA
I can't believe that seven years have gone by already. Thank you.

R.J.
Right back at 'cha. (pause) You know, I just realized that this is how we first met… with us dancing.

(Music fades out)

R.J.
Lisa, I just wanted to let you know that these years with you have been the greatest of my life. We started out as kids in college with no money, and now as adults… still with no money… but we'll get there… and I want to make sure that it's together.

(R.J. sings)
DEAR, DO YOU WONDER
WHAT IT'D BE LIKE TEN YEARS FROM NOW?
CUZ I OFTEN DO

THERE, WE WOULD BE
TOGETHER YOU AND ME
WAKING UP IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS

AND IT WOULD BE THE GREATEST
DREAM COME TRUE FOR ME
IF ONLY YOU'D SAY YES TO

(RYAN gets down on one knee and opens a box with THE RING.)

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

(Speechless, LISA just nods her head “Yes” and he puts the ring on her finger. They kiss and hug.)

RYAN
(Offstage V.O. through the walkie-talkie)
Dude, what'd she say?

(LISA Picks up the walkie-talkie)

LISA
She said, yes!

RYAN AND MOON
(Offstage)
Whoo-hoo! Yes!

MOON
(Offstage)
Ha! You owe me 10 bucks!

(“Celebration” by Kool and the Gang is faded in as the Lights fade out.)

RYAN
(V.O.)
This is for R.J. and Lisa - the newly engaged couple. See ya at the wedding!

a review

2006-12-07T04:23:00.000-08:00

why not...

from The Wily Filipino (http://www.thewilyfilipino.com/blog/archives/000768.html) blog:

Play number 3 -- the tense and well-acted "Borders," written by Conrad Panganiban -- nicely pulls the carpet from underneath the audience; the real trick here is not the dialogue, but the way the subdued emotional content of the acting suddenly makes a sharp, effective pivot into creepy territory.

hehe. thanks!