Sunday, May 3, 2009

THE TEAPOT COLLECTOR

Back to working on the play ...

I have now written about 50 pages, and am keeping 36 of them.

Progress.

I am being influenced.

A couple of years ago a friend was commenting on a work at the time, and suggested that a particular description of an event was "blah blah blah." She said - correctly - that although the description was accurate, it had no heart.

BLAH BLAH BLAH is now my screen saver, a reminder to occasionally stretch myself as a writer.

THE TEAPOT COLLECTOR has become a labor of love, and a true stretch. No Pratt falls, no chase scenes, everybody stays dressed. It would be nice, for once, if the merits of one of my plays would center around actual character development and plot.

In an earlier post, I wrote about an actor who is as unlike me as two people can get, yet I deeply value his friendship. A comment on the post said that my friends were like "a bouquet of wild flowers." I hadn't really thought about it that way, but it's true.

And, because of that, THE TEAPOT COLLECTOR has evolved. It started out to be a study of a friendship between an old man and a young girl. It has now expanded to include his relationship with a mean-spirited relative and a former co-worker. Each individual is represented by one of the teapots he collects.

Sounds good. We'll see if it works out that way.

And that's where I am so far. I'm still trying to come up with a logo for the play, but so far no pitcher has come to mind ...

Sorry. I can only stand it for

so long.

jb


And how was your day?

3 comments:

lorie said...

The evolution sounds interesting. I've been reading "Three Cups of Tea" with my daughter, and the metaphor within the title is that by the time you've shared your third cup of tea with someone (within the culture the book is set in), your relationship has evolved to a trusted friend, nearly family. The thought occurs to me--does the tea pot collector ever actually MAKE and share tea with any of these people? Which ones? And what does that say about him, about the other person, about their relationship? Just some thoughts...

(:))

Q said...

I too like the wildflower analogy. Can't wait to read the fruits of your labour!

Jack Petersen said...

yeah ...

me too ...