On my 61st Birthday, one more than Charlie Brown
I don't have to be Grandma of "Playboy" magazine.
I don't have to be a silver and turquoise wearing follower of New Age enlightenment or a Craftsperson, but I want to know these women and learn from them.
I don't have to be someone's Wife, Mom, or Grandmom and never will be.
I don't have to be a homeowner or a "market" for goods. I am NOT what I buy.
I am not supposed to like Vampire Weekend. I adore Vampire Weekend and Green Day and the Beastie Boys and Miles Davis and any Classical music played on the original instruments they were written for. Bartok makes sense to me.
I have rediscovered Feminism after years of neglect and I will never again define myself through a man, but I will strive to understand Men and treasure my new male friends in equality with women. We're all in this together.
The world is changing whether we like it or not. Let go of the stereotypes. Lose the fear. You may have to go to work, but you have the weekends to rock and roll. Just remember to take a nap first.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #21
We Are Family
Sorry to use an old "Birdcage" song. In the Navajo culture, the clan is more important than the actual family you are born in. We are clan Theater of the larger clan Art. We have to have each other's backs. Especially in these terrible economic times. I just realized that my friend, Peter, a truly great artist (and animal rights activist and poet and novelist) is my Baby Brother in many ways. My friend, Brian, is learning how to write and produce film (and succeeding). And all of us are a little obsessive and pretentious and probably didn't pay attention to the details of life while we sweated over a keyboard or a canvas. I have no husband or children and never will. I only have a pile of unproduced scripts. But Brian acts for me in readings. Peter may create a flyer for me (please, please, Peter!). I can't do a damned thing without a cast and crew completing my canvas. Go to readings of plays. Buy people's books and sculptures whenever you can. Support. Support. Support or we will all surely collapse and be gone. And that's a generation of Art we could lose.
Sorry to use an old "Birdcage" song. In the Navajo culture, the clan is more important than the actual family you are born in. We are clan Theater of the larger clan Art. We have to have each other's backs. Especially in these terrible economic times. I just realized that my friend, Peter, a truly great artist (and animal rights activist and poet and novelist) is my Baby Brother in many ways. My friend, Brian, is learning how to write and produce film (and succeeding). And all of us are a little obsessive and pretentious and probably didn't pay attention to the details of life while we sweated over a keyboard or a canvas. I have no husband or children and never will. I only have a pile of unproduced scripts. But Brian acts for me in readings. Peter may create a flyer for me (please, please, Peter!). I can't do a damned thing without a cast and crew completing my canvas. Go to readings of plays. Buy people's books and sculptures whenever you can. Support. Support. Support or we will all surely collapse and be gone. And that's a generation of Art we could lose.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #20
Never, EVER Underestimate How Tough, Nasty and Cruel This Business Can Be
As I limp toward the end of a run at trying to break into the Theater, which is pretty much dead unless we fight to revive it, I'm looking around me at the casualties. Too many of us get stuck in the Temporary job. I was lucky to avoid debt and can return to writing, but many didn't and can't get out of the "Temporary" job. I am planning a novel about the people who basically just live in New York City and perform for family and friends but consider themselves in Show Business because they spend Saturday night having dinner with other Show Business people. And they really just want to live in New York City, and are thus happy. We latecomers couldn't afford the rents. Thanks to Facebook, I've had a glance into Hollywood and hey! Guess what? It chews up the talented and drives them away even more efficiently than New York! The concept of "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again" is true. But I've also met a group of Independent Film Producers and Artists who are having a grand time and making great little movies. I am trying to get theater started in Montclair, from the ground up, with readings at no cost. We are in danger of losing a generation of artists to the greed and the economy. I say we stand and fight.
As I limp toward the end of a run at trying to break into the Theater, which is pretty much dead unless we fight to revive it, I'm looking around me at the casualties. Too many of us get stuck in the Temporary job. I was lucky to avoid debt and can return to writing, but many didn't and can't get out of the "Temporary" job. I am planning a novel about the people who basically just live in New York City and perform for family and friends but consider themselves in Show Business because they spend Saturday night having dinner with other Show Business people. And they really just want to live in New York City, and are thus happy. We latecomers couldn't afford the rents. Thanks to Facebook, I've had a glance into Hollywood and hey! Guess what? It chews up the talented and drives them away even more efficiently than New York! The concept of "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again" is true. But I've also met a group of Independent Film Producers and Artists who are having a grand time and making great little movies. I am trying to get theater started in Montclair, from the ground up, with readings at no cost. We are in danger of losing a generation of artists to the greed and the economy. I say we stand and fight.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #19
Write the Perfect (Fill in the Blank With Play Name)
We did the reading of The Talking God last night and were delighted to discover that it is the perfect The Talking God. Doesn't mean it's a masterpiece or a huge seller, but that it is what it is and the story of The Talking God was told perfectly. That means, don't try to write Hamlet or The Twilight Saga (ICH ICH ICH), write the perfect version of your play. Get your vision out there. YOUR vision, even if it's as nuts as Najavo deities boinking all the women in the back yard of a suburban house. ("Gordon...what is he doing to her? I've never heard a woman make those noises!" "Neither have I, Martha. Neither have I.") "Frenzy Witchcraft" is my masterpiece, but you have to start with Charlie Malone. I was proud I could still just hear the words and not worry about the perfect casting. Prouder still that I blindly wrote exactly two one hour acts. BOOLYAH! And I again talked to the Pastor about teaching a playwriting class called REINHARD RITES!
We did the reading of The Talking God last night and were delighted to discover that it is the perfect The Talking God. Doesn't mean it's a masterpiece or a huge seller, but that it is what it is and the story of The Talking God was told perfectly. That means, don't try to write Hamlet or The Twilight Saga (ICH ICH ICH), write the perfect version of your play. Get your vision out there. YOUR vision, even if it's as nuts as Najavo deities boinking all the women in the back yard of a suburban house. ("Gordon...what is he doing to her? I've never heard a woman make those noises!" "Neither have I, Martha. Neither have I.") "Frenzy Witchcraft" is my masterpiece, but you have to start with Charlie Malone. I was proud I could still just hear the words and not worry about the perfect casting. Prouder still that I blindly wrote exactly two one hour acts. BOOLYAH! And I again talked to the Pastor about teaching a playwriting class called REINHARD RITES!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #18
Is It Only Possible to Develop Plays in New York City?
OK, granted, they LOVE having plays developed in Colleges because the University foots the bill for the first production. However, are new plays really developed in most New York theaters or are the Play writing Classes basically just there to pay the rent and throw on a performance night at the end for friends and family. And the big productions go to the Professors of Universities. I ask this because my Nephew and Niece want me to think about moving to Seattle. Now, granted, with the Internet, there are many ways to submit a script. None of which have much punch unless you have an agent...which tend to flock to New York City. As a 60-year-old woman, I have virtually no chance but this annoying thine happened...I'm writing better than ever. However, quality of writing generally doesn't have a lot to do with it. I might love Seattle. Maybe there's a theater to work at but is the road to publishing there...or here? Do my readings in Montclair matter? What does an apartment cost in Seattle? And can I start over and make new friends. Remember, I am very, VERY weird and nonconformist. Or is that Seattle?
OK, granted, they LOVE having plays developed in Colleges because the University foots the bill for the first production. However, are new plays really developed in most New York theaters or are the Play writing Classes basically just there to pay the rent and throw on a performance night at the end for friends and family. And the big productions go to the Professors of Universities. I ask this because my Nephew and Niece want me to think about moving to Seattle. Now, granted, with the Internet, there are many ways to submit a script. None of which have much punch unless you have an agent...which tend to flock to New York City. As a 60-year-old woman, I have virtually no chance but this annoying thine happened...I'm writing better than ever. However, quality of writing generally doesn't have a lot to do with it. I might love Seattle. Maybe there's a theater to work at but is the road to publishing there...or here? Do my readings in Montclair matter? What does an apartment cost in Seattle? And can I start over and make new friends. Remember, I am very, VERY weird and nonconformist. Or is that Seattle?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #18
Six Days Till The Reading of Talking God
I can't read The Talking God to myself again. It's starting to look frail and hollow. I can't worry about the actors as my faith in them will make them better. Joel told me he was going to have his script typed so I handed him a copy of Redemption so he can see what they are supposed to look like. I am aiding the competition. I don't have the heart to tell him I have a finished Gay wedding play. Someone in London is reading the script. I am thinking that London might be the place to turn to, my ego being great.
Glen and Patricia want me to move to Seattle. It is possible. I am so bored with Montclair and New York is too expensive. But what about the theater? Can I do anything anywhere at age 60? Still, the kids want to take care of me. But am I West Coast? Can I ever be a Moonbeam? Am I Jersey to the bone? This is the longest week of my life.
I can't read The Talking God to myself again. It's starting to look frail and hollow. I can't worry about the actors as my faith in them will make them better. Joel told me he was going to have his script typed so I handed him a copy of Redemption so he can see what they are supposed to look like. I am aiding the competition. I don't have the heart to tell him I have a finished Gay wedding play. Someone in London is reading the script. I am thinking that London might be the place to turn to, my ego being great.
Glen and Patricia want me to move to Seattle. It is possible. I am so bored with Montclair and New York is too expensive. But what about the theater? Can I do anything anywhere at age 60? Still, the kids want to take care of me. But am I West Coast? Can I ever be a Moonbeam? Am I Jersey to the bone? This is the longest week of my life.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #17
I Started With a Final Speech of Bulldog, Because of a Ghost
Me and men, some damned Feminist. We let them rule everything. We slave for them and mourn for them and alas, we spoil them. I did not say this. I should have said this. I should have not allowed the most brilliant human being...who taught me you CAN split infinitives in English, you just can't do it in Latin...I should not have let him disappear. Treasure such lessons as the split infinitive. We will never hear their like again.
Mary
You don’t have time, period, Burt! If you go out into the woods and rot in your Mother’s apartment, you will blow your chances to ever, ever give us all your beautiful words. Your mind. Oh, God! This is not about me! I know! I know! I’m weird and I’m crippled! I’m not beautiful! Got it! You don’t have to love me! But what about them? What about the readers? When God gives you a gift like this and you refuse, REFUSE to use it. What in HELL happened in your life that you can’t take pride in your mind...you can’t use your talents. Did your father beat you? Did a priest abuse you? What happened to make you hate yourself so much? Why won’t you fight back?
Me and men, some damned Feminist. We let them rule everything. We slave for them and mourn for them and alas, we spoil them. I did not say this. I should have said this. I should have not allowed the most brilliant human being...who taught me you CAN split infinitives in English, you just can't do it in Latin...I should not have let him disappear. Treasure such lessons as the split infinitive. We will never hear their like again.
Mary
You don’t have time, period, Burt! If you go out into the woods and rot in your Mother’s apartment, you will blow your chances to ever, ever give us all your beautiful words. Your mind. Oh, God! This is not about me! I know! I know! I’m weird and I’m crippled! I’m not beautiful! Got it! You don’t have to love me! But what about them? What about the readers? When God gives you a gift like this and you refuse, REFUSE to use it. What in HELL happened in your life that you can’t take pride in your mind...you can’t use your talents. Did your father beat you? Did a priest abuse you? What happened to make you hate yourself so much? Why won’t you fight back?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Reinhard Rule of Riting #16
Now, Comes The Hard Part
After months of whining, I have the actors. I have the room. We're ready to do a read through of The Talking God on September 20...and we seem to have an audience. Now, usually, I would ask you to do your first reading without any viewers, so you can just work. But the theater group at the church is feeling so much enthusiasm, I'm going to let them see it and pray. You have to time it. You have to hear lines go CLUNK! and fix them. People don't understand that you have heard the CLUNK! and want to fix it. They will just remember the CLUNK! And that is what they might tell their friends. I also have not heard 2 of the actors, but then, that's something one would have to deal with and the play has to help the actors do it right. I tell actors about my play set in the hills of Virginia not to worry about the accent. Because it's my job to make sure it's there. There is just something about the Southern Girl's "Fuck You", which is the phrase "Now, isn't that special?" that actors instinctively know. The most important character in The Talking God is Charlie Malone. I have to have that "He'd be a good friend to have right now, Son." laconic THING in the words. I cannot look at other plays. I cannot work on other plays until the 20th of September. I may explode.
After months of whining, I have the actors. I have the room. We're ready to do a read through of The Talking God on September 20...and we seem to have an audience. Now, usually, I would ask you to do your first reading without any viewers, so you can just work. But the theater group at the church is feeling so much enthusiasm, I'm going to let them see it and pray. You have to time it. You have to hear lines go CLUNK! and fix them. People don't understand that you have heard the CLUNK! and want to fix it. They will just remember the CLUNK! And that is what they might tell their friends. I also have not heard 2 of the actors, but then, that's something one would have to deal with and the play has to help the actors do it right. I tell actors about my play set in the hills of Virginia not to worry about the accent. Because it's my job to make sure it's there. There is just something about the Southern Girl's "Fuck You", which is the phrase "Now, isn't that special?" that actors instinctively know. The most important character in The Talking God is Charlie Malone. I have to have that "He'd be a good friend to have right now, Son." laconic THING in the words. I cannot look at other plays. I cannot work on other plays until the 20th of September. I may explode.
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