The Imago Blog

In November of 2007, I began to write a play called “BEDS” a sort of sex farce that turned tragic.  I held several auditions (Imago is known for having auditions for plays that never get produced, you can probably see this pattern in the news archives of the city, its not that we are not intending to do the show, its that the show is not intending to have itself produced, anyway I’m rambling)…

I had several auditions for “BEDS” and it didn’t seem to “have it”.  Plus I never really found the right cast. So I shelved it.

Months went by and I was still jazzed from doing “Serial Killer Parents” with Carol so I thought “Hey maybe, If i take ‘Beds’ and have Carol and I  do all the parts. Maybe that it!”  (Writer/directors are always looking for the next ‘it’)

I un-shelved “BEDS”, read it and re-shelved it. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t any good.

I was determined to write a play with the intent that Carol and I would play multiple roles about male/female relationships.

I didn’t want to write in a vacuum. So I posted a notice on Craig List for writing consultants. I was flooded with submissions (’everyone wants to be a writer’ is not a cliche).

I assembled some smart writers.

From May to August I wrote four full length plays (yes four, I’m usually good for one play every four years).  Each play was reviewed and criticized by my writing consultants (rather harshly, at times,  which I encouraged.)  Some  of the plays were given staged reading which I directed.

The plays were:

• “Dangerous Calzones” - a sort of caper motif, where one couple cons another (Carol and I to play both parts)
• “Janus Victorius” - a sort of split personality piece, in which a woman (with split personality disorder) can’t determine her identity and seeks help from a psychiatrist who also may be her estranged husband (Carol and I play to both parts)
• “The Trailer” - a couple stranded in the desert begin to act out movie trailers and scenes from movies and eventually trap a passerby to join them in this ‘play acting’ which quickly turns to a  dangerous pyscho-drama (Carol and I play most parts, I might return to this play some year)

and then…

I some how came out of this world wind of writing to write “VLADIMIR VLADIMIR” which opens in less than three weeks (Oct 2)

What’s most interesting about the process was that with the feedback, each play had a set of problems, and with each new play I tried to resolve the set of problems created by the previous play, but not with re-writes but by writing entirely new plays.

More later.