The Reading of "Anatomy of an Anarchist"

Last night (or Sunday August 26 if I'm slow in posting), a play I wrote, "Anatomy of an Anarchist" was produced as a staged reading by the company Intravenous Theatre. In New York City. In Manhattan.

It was brutally hot and humid and the audience was made up of people I didn't know. It was hard to be there with strangers, and I definitely felt bashful going up for the talk back. However, that seems to be the nature of the beast and it was good to place myself in uncomfortable situations.

I was pleased, for the most part, with the results. The actors chosen did a great job, and helped illuminate some of the problems I had been unable to see just by reading. It reaffirmed, to me at least, the need to hear a work out loud to understand what it is you, or in this case, me, have written.

There were some lines that surprised me, I hadn't remembered writing them. I think that's a sign of good acting. Or my poor memory. I haven't read the play in some time, so it's difficult to know if any lines were changed. Normally my dialogue is rife with profanity, and I don't use damn very often. More often it's fuck. So... I wonder.

It was hard to listen to some of the talk back responses, some people were complaining about the effects that I intended to happen. I wanted the ending to feel almost pointless, like there wasn't a real change in the world from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. But this guy said that's what he felt, but seemed to imply it was a negative.

I was really happy with the enthusiastic response that the meta-theatrical nature of the play received. I want the play to be playful, especially when dealing with such a serious topic, and one of the comments I received was that the playfulness balanced out the preachy nature of the material and made it more palatable.

Well, I think that's all for the present. As I begin the rewriting process, there will be more to write here. A second entry on this play, "Anatomy of an Anarchist" will be forthcoming.

Click on the ads!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T