Also-- since Leah is writing... I want Barbara and I to be doing stuff.
I'm bad and I didn't do the other 2 sisters. So I'm doing those. Barbara, in terms of design can you think about the idea of appearing/ reappearing/ shrouding and how we might thematically connect that.
Obviously everyone needs to think about what the play is about...ha.
and everyone should watch the ring, seriously that's a VERY good aesthetic tool for us.
Leah, I suggest you read (or reread?) my 11/28 post called "some formal thoughts". I think there are some interesting articulations of thematic possibilities. Babs, take a look, too, will you?
xoxo
M
Saturday, January 17, 2009
cruisin' along
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the ROCKIN' meeting we had Tuesday night @ Fordham--
we decided Leah would have a draft March 1. We storyboarded (well, talked through, really) the whole piece. Came up with some amazing visual and textual ideas.
I love love love this momentum. Let's keep this up!!!!
time line=
march 1- first draft
in march- focus on dramaturgy of that draft, churn out some rewrites?
early april - workshop @ fordham during break?
late may/ early june- reading @ lark possibly
dramaturgical work intermittedly...Barbara and Morgan away during the summer possibly?
Hit the ground running in the fall to be ready to pitch it at Fordham in Nov. Possibly some mock up footage? Get a whole team involved?
-drawings, pics from the workshop, design ideas for our fall pitch. It's crunchy if Babs and I are away, but it can be done.
we decided Leah would have a draft March 1. We storyboarded (well, talked through, really) the whole piece. Came up with some amazing visual and textual ideas.
I love love love this momentum. Let's keep this up!!!!
time line=
march 1- first draft
in march- focus on dramaturgy of that draft, churn out some rewrites?
early april - workshop @ fordham during break?
late may/ early june- reading @ lark possibly
dramaturgical work intermittedly...Barbara and Morgan away during the summer possibly?
Hit the ground running in the fall to be ready to pitch it at Fordham in Nov. Possibly some mock up footage? Get a whole team involved?
-drawings, pics from the workshop, design ideas for our fall pitch. It's crunchy if Babs and I are away, but it can be done.
hmmm...
I'm going to start jotting down what we talk about (even informally, like last night at Sbux, Leah)...otherwise we will go MAD with trying to remember shit.
Leah and Morgan @ Starbucks in Astor place on 1/16/09--
OK-- BIG HUGE GIGANTIC TO DO-- WTF is this play about?
forgiveness/ redemption
the bond of sisterhood (both Leah and I almost gagged at that one)
we liked the idea that the play is about how people we've lost are never really gone and that fate will always remind you that you are bound to them...like what I was saying with Clothilde maybe accidentally finding the locket when she is freaking out and stacking the dishes.
what is the thesis? central conflict?
WE MUST NOT FEAR IGNORING THE BOOK. The book is a book. This play has to be theatrical and dramatically interesting with a journey. The book doesn't have that responsibility.
What essentially changes from the beginning to the end of the story?
design funness!
=
maybe instead of everything onstage at the top, there is nothing except the three sisters shrouded doing their activities. Then when Paris pulls off the sheet, it billows up, and by the time it settles, the girls are gone and the gate has appeared. And we do THAT throughout the play. Beginning with a bare stage and then populating it scene by scene object by objective. we REVEAL the furniture bit by bit...
how does this tie into fast forwarding and rewinding and elogating and speeding up? I think it can...I just have to think about that.
how does this link thematically? how does appearing and dissapearing and revealing and hiding play into what the play says...more importantly WHAT DOES THE PLAY SAY?
Leah and Morgan @ Starbucks in Astor place on 1/16/09--
OK-- BIG HUGE GIGANTIC TO DO-- WTF is this play about?
forgiveness/ redemption
the bond of sisterhood (both Leah and I almost gagged at that one)
we liked the idea that the play is about how people we've lost are never really gone and that fate will always remind you that you are bound to them...like what I was saying with Clothilde maybe accidentally finding the locket when she is freaking out and stacking the dishes.
what is the thesis? central conflict?
WE MUST NOT FEAR IGNORING THE BOOK. The book is a book. This play has to be theatrical and dramatically interesting with a journey. The book doesn't have that responsibility.
What essentially changes from the beginning to the end of the story?
design funness!
=
maybe instead of everything onstage at the top, there is nothing except the three sisters shrouded doing their activities. Then when Paris pulls off the sheet, it billows up, and by the time it settles, the girls are gone and the gate has appeared. And we do THAT throughout the play. Beginning with a bare stage and then populating it scene by scene object by objective. we REVEAL the furniture bit by bit...
how does this tie into fast forwarding and rewinding and elogating and speeding up? I think it can...I just have to think about that.
how does this link thematically? how does appearing and dissapearing and revealing and hiding play into what the play says...more importantly WHAT DOES THE PLAY SAY?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Ophile
The eldest sister. The matriarch. The smartest. The spinster. Blue hair. Prior to the arrival of Paris, it's possible she considered herself too smart for love, that she had evolved past the need for it. When Paris enters, her heart betrays her intelligence, making her feel weak. She is cruel to Bettine but self-flagellant. She regrets her jealousy.
Objective: To move past her feelings for Paris and her jealousy.
Main Action: Punish Bettine and herself for her jealousy.
Conflict: She is smart enough to know Paris doesn't love her, but she can't help her feelings.
Super objective: To not need love.
Not/But: Not unrealistic about her expectations for a future with Paris, but acutely aware of reality in spite of her fantasies. She is jealous because she believes she can't have the love they share with anyone?
Clothilde
The middle sister. Long red hair. A mystic. Possesses natural, often involuntary, powers of omnipresent ESP. Primarily communicates telepathically. Suffers from headaches, paranoia, self-destructive behavior. Social ties: Lighthouse keeper, Paris. Familial ties: Ophile, Bettine, The Saint, her dead parents. Most values: communing spiritually.
Profile: She's a bit of a mystic, but a prepubescent mystic. In the beginning of the story, Clothilde is more of a mystical dilettante. She has yet to realize the full potential of her powers. This changes when Bettine and Paris conceive The Saint. The split image of Paris and Bettine juxtaposed with Clothilde's head shattering symbolizes two kinds of epiphanies. Bettine experiences a natural/physical epiphany. Clothilde experiences a psychic/creative epiphany.
Questions : Is it an absolute rule that what happens to one sister happens to all three? If yes, then what kind of epiphany does Ophile experience in the moment of conception?
Does Clothilde have the power to turn her telepathy off?
Objective: Don't know, would like to discuss again at length.
Main Action: Cultivating her bond with the Saint.
Conflict: If she is always in tune with the feelings of others, are her own feelings neglected as a consequence?
Super objective: To find a connection with someone that is entirely her own?
Character Dossiers
Name: Bettine
Age: Youngest sister
Gender: female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Profession: N/A
Physical Characteristics & Health: Long blonde hair, slim, dies.
Level of Education/Use of Language:
Societal ties: Lighthouse Watchman, Paris
Familial ties: Ophile, Clothilde, dead parents
Most values: ?
Status/Social Role: Bettine is considered the prettiest sister. She also fulfills the role of youngest. As the story begins she fills these roles, but readers do not get a specific idea of how she feels about this label. We do not know how being considered the prettiest has affected her psyche or her choices. The sisters have always been connected and Paris comes into Bettine’s life and disrupts the seeming equilibrium of the sisters.
Main Goal/ Desire: a change. Bettine gives Paris an apple. She shares, letting him in and permanently changing something between the sisters.
Superobjective: To be fulfilled in new ways. Reconsider how she’s viewed by other people, find out if that is also how she would like to define herself.
Not/But: Bettine is not naïve but sheltered.
Name: Clothilde
Age: Middle Sister
Gender: female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Profession: Magician/Sorceress/Witch
Physical Characteristics & Health: Long red hair,
Level of Education/Use of Language: self-educated
Societal ties: Lighthouse Watchman, Paris
Familial ties: Ophile, Bettine, dead parents, the Saint
Most values: personal connections. She spends so much time alone but it is those connections in her history and those that develop that Clothilde thrives on.
Status/Social Role: Clothilde both needs everyone else and can survive with out anyone at the same time. In order to achieve happiness she must lose both her sisters. As the talented sister she is both most and least connected with her two sisters. She understands the choices Bettine makes and is especially connected during the Saint’s conception, but she does not show signs of begrudging Bettine even though it seems as though Clothilde may have wanted to be with Paris from the beginning. Patience and intelligence are virtuous even at the sacrifice of herself.
Main Goal/ Desire: to strengthen connections and find someone who understands and/or accepts her.
Superobjective: To find peace of mind.
Not/But: Clothilde crazy but lost in herself.
Age: Youngest sister
Gender: female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Profession: N/A
Physical Characteristics & Health: Long blonde hair, slim, dies.
Level of Education/Use of Language:
Societal ties: Lighthouse Watchman, Paris
Familial ties: Ophile, Clothilde, dead parents
Most values: ?
Status/Social Role: Bettine is considered the prettiest sister. She also fulfills the role of youngest. As the story begins she fills these roles, but readers do not get a specific idea of how she feels about this label. We do not know how being considered the prettiest has affected her psyche or her choices. The sisters have always been connected and Paris comes into Bettine’s life and disrupts the seeming equilibrium of the sisters.
Main Goal/ Desire: a change. Bettine gives Paris an apple. She shares, letting him in and permanently changing something between the sisters.
Superobjective: To be fulfilled in new ways. Reconsider how she’s viewed by other people, find out if that is also how she would like to define herself.
Not/But: Bettine is not naïve but sheltered.
Name: Clothilde
Age: Middle Sister
Gender: female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Profession: Magician/Sorceress/Witch
Physical Characteristics & Health: Long red hair,
Level of Education/Use of Language: self-educated
Societal ties: Lighthouse Watchman, Paris
Familial ties: Ophile, Bettine, dead parents, the Saint
Most values: personal connections. She spends so much time alone but it is those connections in her history and those that develop that Clothilde thrives on.
Status/Social Role: Clothilde both needs everyone else and can survive with out anyone at the same time. In order to achieve happiness she must lose both her sisters. As the talented sister she is both most and least connected with her two sisters. She understands the choices Bettine makes and is especially connected during the Saint’s conception, but she does not show signs of begrudging Bettine even though it seems as though Clothilde may have wanted to be with Paris from the beginning. Patience and intelligence are virtuous even at the sacrifice of herself.
Main Goal/ Desire: to strengthen connections and find someone who understands and/or accepts her.
Superobjective: To find peace of mind.
Not/But: Clothilde crazy but lost in herself.
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