Picture stolen from Lady MThis is the fourth dance show I've written for. The technical considerations have been roughly the same for all four:
- A list of specific dances must be incorporated into the story in a certain order
- The story must span at least 4 eras (1840s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s). This year also included dances from 1810 and 1890. In the past, contortions to accomplish this have included doing a riff on Antiques Roadshow, time travel, and (in a show I was lightly involved with) past life regressions on a psychiatrist's couch.
- Educational: The audience should come away with some new knowledge about social dance through the ages.
- The skill of the actors: In the earliest show I wrote for, the actors were forcibly recruited dance group members, alumni and spouses. It was a grab bag of skills so the dialogue was simple and continuity was limited to a single scene.
This year, we've got three very experienced actors who have worked together frequently. They've also got great improv skills that they've honed through murder. It was much more complicated writing dialogue for three characters than two. I hadn't expected that.
- Costume changes must be accommodated with extra dialogue
- At a minimum, one coherent story arc. This year, I managed three:
SPOILER
1. the search for the holy grail of dance
2. the trials and tribulations of a dance teacher getting her students ready for a show
3. the personal journey of a dancing IRS agent
SPOILER
- Keep it light. The humor and the drama has to be kept very light. The idea is, you are showcasing the dances, not competing with them. I also try to stay away from put-downs. It's an easy way to do comedy, but not my style.
- Finally, I really try to stay away from stereotypes. Dumb, weak women is a big no-no for me. I try to be unexpected. Of course, I screwed up this time and made a wimpy guy character instead. I rectified that in draft 2.
We had the readthrough last month which was a hoot. Nothing fuels the ego of a writer like having actors bring characters startlingly to life right in front of you. After hours of reading dialogue out loud to yourself, it's nice to hear it come out of someone else's mouth.
The show is playing at the end of the month! If you're local, come on by.
4 comments:
i had a great time writing "steps to remember" with irvin. i definitely remember that the first time we had a read-through, the actors turned it into something amazing, and i kept thinking, "did i write that?"
you're amazing writing all the shows, and i look forward to another great one this year. :)
Seal and Otter show rocks on!
Sure would like to see the script-what a great job.
We were in front of the Prague Castle and the guide was explaining the statue of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk to us " This is the statue of the first president of Czech. This statue was removed once when the Nazis were here, and again removed by the Communist. But we put him back"
So I said " Oh, he is the first president twice removed". Lots of LOL.
Looks like the guy is trying to cop a feel off you, but of course, they are all gay, right?
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