Writing Crooked in a Crook Economy
I always start writing from simple moments in my life. Usually something simple happens and I over react and write a play. But in this case it was not that simple. Many people’s lives were changed by the world economic disaster. Lives were changed and my perspective on life changed with it. Our shabby existence is now truly happening. Everyday I hear new sad stories of ordinary people, helpless due to the world economic crisis.
Even in crisis we fall in love and the events of the crisis impact on the path we take. I am trying to show the pathos in someone in high places and what they feel when they fall. This fall though is within a comedic music-theatre genre.
All the actors are non-realists but with a harsh real quality. I cast for the individual qualities of an actor. How they feel, how the look, how they respond to my language, how they themselves position themselves in the world is part of my casting process. The actors cannot be replaced because they are real. All the characters are waiting for something to happen in the real world but on my set they react in an unreal way.
I think the play is linear, sometimes there are abrupt changes in topic. That is perhaps why it gives the sense of a non-linear work. Maybe its better to call it crooked. And the music makes shifts happen as well. Songs can take you places words alone cannot. Ultimately that is one of my goals, going places.
Simple People opens May 28