Writing With Nancy

MEMORIZE THIS!

I have been memorizing lines for 2 weeks with limited success and yesterday I got on my feet and put down the script. With Denise prompting me, within 2 hours I had managed to get to page 18. That’s close to 2/3rds. Note to all sketch writers and playwrights especially:

Do yourself a favor before you die by memorizing the entirety of something you have written so you can immediately discover IT’S TOO DAMN LONG.

Not only is every one of my monologues too long but they’re convoluted. too. I seem to write things upside down and with lots of additional gee-gaws hanging off of it. My writing is saying something I want to say but my feelings about what I’m saying gob thing up with guk. It’s so annoying! Fortunately I can edit the play because I wrote it.

But I think a lot of sketch writers watch their scenes and think: Damn that actor! Why can’t they just pick up the pace? This scene is dragging and they just need to say the lines faster! Wrong and wrong. Andy Miara, one of my colleagues at Second City says dialogue should take up about 1/3 of the theatrical space. The other THIRD is for the gestures and exits and other blocking. The final third is for the audience to react–hopefully from time to time with laughter.

When I direct student shows, first-time writers lean in to me during the performance and whisper,

*Why aren’t they laughing?*

I always end up saying, *Because they’re too busy listening.*

LET'S TRY NOT TO HOG ALL THE THEATRICAL SPACE WITH WORDS FOLKS. I'm trying, I'm really trying. So putting up *Writing With Nancy* has already been an invaluable experience and we’re two weeks away from opening!

BTW: Opening night is already half sold so please buy tickets soon BY CLICKING THE BANNER ABOVE. I appreciate your support.

Everything with French Fries

Not since I wrote about sausage last year, have I felt so compelled to discuss another favorite food: french fries. You can have your chocolate and your cupcakes (although I do long for some pie now and again) my guilty pleasure is salt and fat--where the flavor is. And all summer I was known to be baking up some frozen ones alongside some sockeye salmon with mayo and balsamic vinegar and garlic okay, and some dill. Now that's what I'm talking about. I like french fries in the morning, when I prefer to eat dinner. By six o'clock I couldn't care less about cooking. Carb intake in recent years has been monopolized by pasta and of course bread. But the nutritional benefits of the potato should not be overlooked. So now the gauntlet has been thrown. I invite you all to step up and share where you get your favorite fries. If you can't remember the name of the place, please provide a street or intersection...because if you make me get lost trying to find the joint, that's on you. I'll start:

CrossRhodes: This long-standing greek diner in Evanston at the corner of Main & Chicago Aveenues has the most delicious, thick *Greek* fries you could ever want to eat. They are thick-cut with just the right ammount of oil and vinegar drizzled all over them and seasoned with rosemary. Another option is to order tzaki sauce for dipping too. OMG!

Favorite Frozen Fries: Alexia brand which can be found at most supermarkets, but especially Treasure Island are the best. There are upwards of 6 different varieties including the new Salt & Pepper. OooLaLa.

The Ticket Office Is Up!

Thanks to Justin Jones and Ashley Vinson taking turns passing the Mac back and forth last night while we ate Brushetta and Tomato Veggie soup--I now have an online box office for the *Writing With Nancy* show!  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/22585  Please send your friends the link or direct them to my website www.writingwithnancy.com (which will allow them to click through) and encourage them to buy a few tickets. Anybody who sends 10 people (including themselves) may place an ad in the show's program. Consider becoming a sponsor of the show and reaching 1,000 writers and friends of writers. Why not represent your business or club or charity--or just post a picture of your cat or dog making a statement in support of Writing With Nancy? Get out your calendars and save the date today.

Greenlight

I have succeeded in finishing the script and getting John’s (my director) approval to have a reading of the draft which is coming up this Sunday at my house. The script is 30 pages long but the format is a little goofy so it will play longer than you might think–usually it’s about 2 minutes a page. There are three songs too. So John says the show will run about 80 minutes. Fine. But boy am I glad I cast the Posse to share the stage along side and behind me. I don’t think I’d care to be alone up there. The ending for the show was from an essay that I wrote about the beginning of my writing business. I wrote the piece about 2 years ago. In September, with 5 pages left to go, I kept thinking the end of the show should be different than the essay but when I finally opened up the file of the essay I saw that I was saying what I had wanted to say back then. It just took me 2 years to realize it. Oh well.

Last week I made an inquiry about renting the Live Bait Theatre for the show and as fate would have it, they just had a group cancel and they were looking for a show to replace it and offered the slot to me. Then this week, within 24hours I found a stage manager, lighting designer, set designer, graphic artist and publicist. So, what I’m trying to point out is that when things reach fruition, and sometimes that’s after YEARS, many other things fall into place almost at a ridiculously funny rate.

Not only is there no problem, but the project seems to be riding on a deserted city street that has nothing but green lights all the way. So we’re set to open Nov. 9^th and run Friday, Saturday and Sunday for 4 weeks (minus Thanksgiving) thru Dec. 9^th. So the next few weeks will be extra busy trying to rehearse everybody. Yesterday I called my friends Denise and Ginny to ask them for help memorizing the lines. Will I be able to memorize lines that I wrote? Without changing them? Well in the dialogues with the Posse I had damn well better. Maybe in the monologues I’ll have some wiggle room.

I am very happy and excited to be doing this show. It’s only taken me about 17 years to get it together. Hope you’re enjoying yourself, the weather and whatever part of the writing process you’re in. Stay tuned for more, more often from me.