Reinhard Rule of Riting #27 Get to Know Me, Get to Know all About Me

It was stunning for me to actually be recognized by serious theater folk after ten years, but then, I had made a lot of noise back then. Not actually getting productions, but the usual reading-go-round. Readings are fine, but as I say, without memorization and sets and costume, you are trying to demonstrate a full painting without the full color palate. The Dramatists Guild Woman's Initiative did show me one important fact, you have to get your name out there. I may spend too much time on Facebook, but my scripts are being read around the world because I have them posted on Google Docs. A nice ego boost to get a compliment from London. I've discovered you should always be carrying a copy of your script. One nose twitch of interest and pa-pow! In their hand. But the possibilities of ever earning a cent on the stage are next to nothing. Even if you get to Broadway, you have to defer your cut to keep it running, sometimes for years. And you cannot get bitter. You cannot demand that they understand your script. It's your job to make it work. Period. There will be no explanatory sheets handed out. You either got it or you don't and if you do...it might be too expensive or it's been done last year...yadda...yadda. Do not make this the only thing in your life. It is just too damned hard.

Reinhard Rule of Riting #26

Do We Do it For Love...For Love of What?
My childhood being of the looney, spirit-crushing variety, I'm wondering if this made me a prime candidate for the Arts? I like to think I had a special talent that could not be denied! (No, I don't want to write a play right now, I want to bake brownies. GO AWAY!) Do I need to be noticed or do I need to have my characters imbue an audience with the truth? My truth. MINE! I haven't made that many sacrifices for my art. I always made sure I was sheltered and fed. That came first. I have watched the failure of people with greater talent than mine, who simply didn't have the mind to handle the business. I think of T. who had written a play so great the off-off Broadway audience was on its feet roaring every night. We wanted to move it on with bigger productions. He wanted to just tweak it a little and we never heard of him or the play again. I know how to dress and smile and shake hands. What in flaming Hell has that got to do with Art, except to sell it. But back in the day I was told that I was talented but they needed a gay or Hispanic woman. Changing my name to Tank Rodriguez would not be enough. Writing a masterpiece would not be enough. Needing it with ever fiber of your being...loving every moment of it...would not be enough. What I did for love gets superseded by what I did to pay the rent.

Reinhard Rule of Riting #25

Your Show Comes First. No Canapes at the DG Tonight
I was excited to go to the first meeting of the Dramatists' Guild Woman's Group tonight from 6:30 to 8:00 pm in New York, but then, we had a small crisis with the readings of The Talking God. My cast and I need to sit down and talk about things tonight. We have to write up rehearsal schedules and make sure everyone is on the same page. It was a good first rehearsal the other night, but we drifted too fast into a tech run, which should be later. We were not all on the same page with schedules and the new draft of the play was not clearly marked to differentiate it from older drafts. If the performances are about the audience, the rehearsals are about the actors. I am not just the Playwright and Director, I must function as Producer because I am the one who understands the job. I fell down there, thinking it was other people. And as a female in all 3 jobs, I can't look weak. Even the most liberated of people are unaware that they see a female slightly differently if she lets them. I cannot let them see me swear or bend. I have to come in smiling, with an orderly book. They need it. They're the ones out on the stage, stripping themselves bare for me. So, no DG Canapes tonight. The Talking God has spoken.

Reinhard Rule of Riting #24

You Must Concentrate on the Play in Production, But I have this idea....
With rehearsals starting Monday for The Talking God (now 2 TWO 2 shows), I really should put everything else aside so that I don't get away from that backyard in Montclair, but I feel a bit lost. This blog will someday be a play. Probably my one-woman goodbye to New York/New Jersey, or a course in writing plays. The actual next one is Bulldog, but I can't touch that because the style is so different from God. Even though I am bored, I should read or clean or take a long walk. So much of my life has been affected by Facebook. And no, it is NOT a replacement for real life. It's turning into an education and a caution. A place to find Art and Writing and astounding friends. So, with two movies out about it right now, there certainly cannot be a play. Or is there? Is this the title?
R U Here M I
Great title, if I must say so myself. I cannot allow myself to think of what it would be about, or who. Facebook is about hiding and it is also about exposure. I should just concentrate on The Talking God. But DAMN! That's a good title.

Reinhard Rule of Riting #23

We have the date, time and space...do we have the play?
And with a lot of further ado, we are doing the reading of The Talking God at 3 p.m. on November 13, 2010 at the Unitarian/Universalist Church of Montclair, open to the public. In the sanctuary, the big room and the big old Pro had better get it right. I've had to present myself as She Who Knows What She's Doing. I would kill to have a director like David Macy helping me, but he's not a member, so I am directing it. I wisely went straight to David Macy and got advice. It's a big room to fill. We should be miked. The FB crowd wants a taping of it. We'll get to that when we stop hyperventilating. I can't look at the script any more. It looks too simple. Too sexual (Hey! It's a Reinhard). I have made sure to keep my cast together because they are the best of the bunch and Brian's the only one young enough to play Rob. So, we will send bus directions and driving directions. We have to make my friend Peter Gullerud's painting Blue Raven into the flyer with the help of my graphics friend Paula Hoza.  And we will plaster the New Jersey/New York area. We have the seats. Any change, we will advise. AIEIEIEEIEIEIEIE!!!!

Reinhard Rule of Riting #22

Preparing for Networking--Am I a Crazy Old Lady?
I seem to have two events for one day on October 13 and that's a wonderful thing. One is the theater meeting at the Montclair Church, and the other is the new Dramatists Guild Woman's group, where I would be doing some NYC networking. DG, of course, forgot to note the time, so I don't know if I can do both, and I must decide. In the meantime, my sister and niece have gone through my closet finding better looking clothes for me. They also made me buy makeup and as I look at myself in the new guise, I realize that perhaps it can be Feminist to do what I want to make myself feel better. My new pictures all look terrific and I seem to be smiling, but how far does this go? What does attractive mean at 61? Is it obscene to think my life with men is not over? And if I've never been able to do the dating thing correctly, would it not be once more a source of pain and degradation made more so by everything running lower to the ground? I was told at 35 that I was too old to write plays...what about now? Dear God, what about now? But I must plant a smile on my face and shake hands and seem bright-eyed and optimistic. What choice do I have? If you have a time machine, I could be younger, but I was not the writer I am now. I'm so tired of cliches. I'm so tired of common wisdom. I want to be the exception to the rule, damn it!