Act 2 Begins

I began a scene that was going to be the Act One finale, but then when I realized that Act I was going end differently, I moved the scene to Act 2. Brian goes into the Spoon Coffeehouse, and dejectedly asks for a job. Turns out that the job's been filled... by Joe.

So beginning Act 2, I looked over my outline notes. I realized that the way I envisioned the show going was subtly different than the way it's going to go. The characters are different characters fully fledged out, so they will go about the show in a different way.

One big difference will be the location. The first three scenes of Act 2 were going to happen in different locations, now they're going to ALL take place in the coffeehouse. Brian will be sitting there, contemplating, when ALL of the breakups, arguments, and revelations happen in front of him, and this will fuel his decision to give up on finding work.

Also, I realized that the texting that was done in the Act 1 finale sets up the scenes differently. Many of these texts were "Meet me tomorrow, so we can talk." This makes it more feasible that the meetings might happen at the same time.

I wrote the Tiffany/Dan scene. Good argument, vented a little bit. Now, she's going to her apartment above the coffee shop, and getting ready for the date.

I've been nervous about the "rape scene" for some time. I originally envisioned the date ending at a beach, or some other place where the rape would happen. The other characters were going to intervene which moves the plot along. But how do we get the other characters to the beach, or park, or whatever? Turns out, Rob's gonna take Tiffany home, park in front of the coffee house, and make his move there. It's going to turn into a major fight, and Dan, who is ALWAYS at the Spoon, will see them and intervene.

Act I FINALE

The Act 1 Finale's written!

I had the entire piece outlined, and for the Act 1 finale, I just had down, "Find something for them all to sing about." And I left it at that. Every other scene up until that point was fine, because I knew where it was going; if there was a song, what the point of that song would be. But Act 1, I was leaving ambiguous.

It's a lame excuse, but the reason I didn't write the Act 1 finale all of last year, was because I didn't know what to write about.

Then came this year. I resolved to finish the piece. So I had to. I still had not a clue.

But I DID go back to my initial idea to incorporate technology whenever possible. I also re-watched the film, and thought about how Christine and Sean and I came up with the idea and wrote the characters in the first place.

So brainstorming I tried writing down the perspective of all 8 characters (not Rob, because Rob's a dick; and not Jerry because.... spoilers) and that helped set up the coup de grace.

"Good To See You" was about how technology enabled people to communicate more effectively. At the end of Act 1, all the couples are having problems with communicating, So, Act 1 will end with a pseudo reprise of "Good To See You," EXCEPT, technology is holding them BACK. The couples text each other, but then say, to the audience, what they're really feeling. The theme for all of them is "Why can't I tell them?"

And just to bring it to a close, a reprise of the "Love is comfort..." opening with new lyrics relating to this point of the show.

Obstacle averted, onward to Act 2, where there's a rape scene I've very nervous about.

2016

Once again, I'm making it my New Year's resolution to finish writing this thing. I wrote EXACTLY ONE new thing last year. I'm so embarrassed.

I'm stuck on the final scene for Act I. I know that I want all the characters to be involved, and they should share a song. The song should mark their respective situations at this point in the show, but also should have something in common. It should also be thematic, something about the nature of love, or the nature of relationships; upon which we could comment from the points of view of the different characters.

Perhaps I'll leave it blank, and finish the show, then come back and deal with it later.

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I'll get back into it in '16.