Scene Stream - Exercise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.