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November 2009

Related Strangers

coming of age story of getting to know your family in the worst of times.

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Naplwrimo 2009 Winner and Participant Badges.

Rhinos,

Here are winners and participant badges for 2009. Feel free to use them on your blogs, websites etc...

Please do not hotlink to the images. As usual, right click and save to your hard drive. You can add your name easily to the badges by using your favorite photo editing software.

Enjoy !

"But orderly to end where I begun..."

That blog title is me quoting Hamlet like a nerd. Welcome to the final hours of NaPlWriMo 2009, everyone. I wish I had been a far more active blogger. I started off writing this post as a comment in the daily check-in thread, but for once I actually felt like my thoughts were organized enough to warrant a blog post.

I don't know about everyone else, but this month for me was so exhausting. I have one more week of classes for my MFA and then my first semester is over, which is absolutely crazy. I've been working so hard between classes and my job that the month just flew by in a stream of coffee and sleep deprivation. I am left today with 51 pages of my full-length, although not all of that was written in November. No win for me, but there is always next year. I feel like I've grown SO MUCH as a writer since last November, and in that sense I feel like much more of a winner (how sappy of me).

I felt inspired to write this blog entry because of a comment I received when we workshopped my newest scene in class this afternoon. I wrote it last night and tweaked it a little this morning. The actors read through it, and when it was over, my professor said that it seems like now, six scenes in, I finally found my first scene--where the play should begin (not that everything before it should be scrapped, but that scene six could be moved to the opening). I find it funny and oddly appropriate that I seem to have found my beginning as NaPlWriMo ends. Because if you're like me and didn't quite make it this year, or even if you've been done for over a week now, November 30 doesn't mean it's over. It could, on the contrary, be just beginning.

I want to say congratulations to everyone who took part in NaPlWriMo this year, whether you end at midnight tonight with a win or not. There's still just about seven hours left in my time zone, so I wish everyone luck in the home stretch. I hope you find your endings, or in some cases like me, your beginnings.

I won, now what?

Rhinos,

We are almost at the finish line. You have until 12:01 December 1st (wherever you are) to upload your play to the site in order to be considered a winner.

75 pages makes you a winner and... if you are a winner, you might be wondering how to upload your play...

When you upload your play, it will not be public, so don't worry. It is only for your eyes and the admin's eyes, so we can list you as an official winner.

For instructions on uploading plays, head over to our FAQ to find the answer you need.

If you don't have 75 pages yet, now is the time to press on and get to it. Just think, you can always sleep in December, so go on, just write until you reach 75 pages and you'll be a winner. If you've been with us this long, I have complete faith in you that you can do this. It will feel amazing once you do, I promise !

As always if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact solarcirclegirl or myself...

Go Rhino Go !!!

Martian Twilight (Excerpt)

Eileen is killing microbes, in order to create life on Mars. She buys the land Gone lives on, something he's not willing to give up. The hell they cause for each other is only matched by their desire for each other. But one of them has to go, and the consequences of their desire will reverberate a hundred years later, on the new Mars.

Going Somewhere?

Going Somewhere is about travelling, escaping, running away, and going home. It's about people intersecting, connecting, and disconnecting.

Cabin Pressure

Four men in a cabin for the weekend. When one reveals something surprising to the others, will the pressure be too much?

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Naplwrimo 2009 Burst # 5: Reflections on Naplwrimo by Elizabeth Spreen.

Our final Rhino Burst for 2009 comes from Naplwrimo regular writer, playwright, dramaturg and Twitterer extraordinaire, Elizabeth Spreen...

In another life I used to be a massage therapist. I specialized in sports massage and deep tissue work. Have you ever heard of those crazy endurance runs or bike rides? 100 miles through the Sierras or the Rockies. 500 Miles through Death Valley (training in August when you open the door of your hotel room at 5am and are burned by the heat). The Race Across America (a week to ride across the country on a bike)? I was often hired by athletes to crew for them on those sorts of events. I loved it.

Which is also why I like NAPLWRIMO. Writing a play in 30 days isn't as physically challenging as riding a bike across America or running through the Rockies, but you experience a lot of the same emotions and yes, you sure could use a massage therapist with all the typing and staying up all night (if that's how you get it done). But there's also the incredible highs and lows and the feeling like you don't have it in you to finish. There's staying up late several nights in a row and getting to the point of talking to yourself the next day or hallucinating or crying hysterically or simply refusing to get back on the computer and type or pick up a pen and touch paper. Oh. Is that just me?

But there is also, perhaps most importantly, two things. Ok. Three things. First there's the commitment to write a play. November is the month that you get to put your work first and write. It's tough. Everyone has very real obligations - job, family, etc - but NAPLWRIMO creates a clearing - a real and a virtual space for you to write. Yeah. It's you who finds the time to put the words down one after another, page after page, and you who must negotiate that time with those with whom you share your life. Having that month is like finding an oasis in the desert. Okay. You're in the desert, but you've got food and supplies and you're writing a play.

Next there's finish line. Those 75 pages. Your first draft. It's real and you can hold it and it's you who have made it manifest over the month. Hopefully you've stretched as an artist and you've been inspired by the work and the event. Crossing the finish line also means there are more plays in the world than there were 30 days ago. And I happen to think having those new plays out in the world contributes to the health of the theater. I also think that whether you finish or not, you've contributed to theater and to its ecology. You've worked on your play and you've learned, and hopefully you'll take that knowledge and you'll finish your play or you'll write a new one. Finding the theater comes not from doing the classics over and over again, but from having the audacity to bring life to new stories and new worlds, and maybe even finding new forms.

Finally, in between making the commitment and following through, there is the community that forms around the doing - the wrighting, if you will. And that also contributes to the health of the theater. Because so often we write alone. During this month, it's been you who've faced the blank screen or page. You've who've written your play. But you've also had a unique opportunity to connect with other playwrights from all over the world and to get help and inspiration when you needed it, and hopefully, you've asked. Because one of the things that's always drawn me to NAPLWRIMO is the generosity of the community and the willingness to help and commiserate and celebrate everyone's achievement. That's often hard to come by in the theater. But so plentiful here that I'm nourished by it for the entire year.

Elizabeth Spreen is a playwright, devisor, director, actor who is currently finishing her Masters thesis at San Jose State University. Works include This World Is Not My Home, Furious Angel, 611 Supreme, Nickel and Dimed. She was the winner of the 2007 Crane Award for Outstanding Dramatic Screenplay and of the 2002 Dean Goodman Choice Award for Original Writing. She was also the founder and former joint artistic director of Paducah Mining Company, an award-winning San Francisco-based ensemble. Elizabeth writes for the following blogs: ghost light http://ghost-light.blogspot.com/ and Piefurcation http://piefurcation.blogspot.com/

Rhino Burst 's blog
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Day 30: November 30th 2009 DAY THE FINAL

So, it's the last 24 hours.

And I have officially not made it.

I finished my play, but it's only 40 pages long--35 pages short of winning.

But, I still feel like I won.

Sure, NaPlWriMo says it's all about crossing the finish line--but I think the important finish line is not necessarily the 75 page finish line--there's something BIGGER at stake, if you can believe it.

What's important is that we created a community for such a solitary practice. We committed ourselves to working on a play and attempting to finish it. We gave ourselves the space for our practice--and that is something.

So I still feel like a winner, even though I don't get the nifty badge this year.

And you guys made me feel like a winner too! I am so glad I got to see everything you've done in the last 30 days. I am amazed at how tough and awesome all of you are. I really hope that you have had as much fun as I have. It's been hard, yes, but so worth it. So thank you for a wonderful year. I hope to see you all next year!

PS= In order to be a winner, you must upload your play to the site. Even if you don't want it to be public, it must be uploaded so we can verify the page count. To upload your play, just click on CREATE CONTENTS

PLAY

Fill out the information and attach a file (pdfs are best but other formats are acceptable). Voilà!

Again, your play will not be public when you upload it. It is for verification only.

If you want your play to be public, email info at naplwrimo dot org after you've uploaded it.

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1 day and some odd hours to the finish line...

Rhinos,

We are almost at the finish line. You have until 12:01 December 1st (wherever you are) to upload your play to the site in order to be considered a winner. 75 pages makes you a winner and... if you are a winner, you might be wondering how to upload your play...

For these of you looking for instructions on uploading plays, head over to our FAQ to find the answer you need.

I'll be back Monday at the strike of Midnight to officially close Naplwrimo 2009. I will not shed tears just yet, I will not...

Go Rhino Go !!!

Rhino Love

Naplwrimo runs on love, sweat and your generous help.

Thank you to our donors!
Machelle Allman, Holly Arsenault, Will Bond, Karen Chandler, Michael Lee, Leslie Liautaud, Jeff Mackey, Maggie McAleese, Marian McNamee, Marla Porter, and all our anonymous donors.

We couldn't do it without you...

♥♥♥♥

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November 2009

Related Strangers

Naplwrimo 2009 Winner and Participant Badges.

"But orderly to end where I begun..."

I won, now what?

Martian Twilight (Excerpt)

Going Somewhere?

Cabin Pressure

Naplwrimo 2009 Burst # 5: Reflections on Naplwrimo by Elizabeth Spreen.

Day 30: November 30th 2009 DAY THE FINAL

1 day and some odd hours to the finish line...

Rhino Love

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November 2009

Rhino Love

User login

Who's online

Navigation

NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Follow us on Twitter!

Every Dollar Helps

News Blogs

Theatre Bloggers

RSS FEED

Archive

Navigation

Naplwrimo’s mission is to nurture and support playwrights of all levels while fostering community and the creation of new theatrical works on a global level.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.::.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.