| From Ottawa to Phoenix: The Journey of a Companion Play |
| Tuesday, 19 January 2010 |
Last week I shared the origin myth of how Sterling Lynch and I came to work together and ultimately create a show from our two one-act plays. I set the stage, as it were, for a discussion about my experience writing the companion play, A Cube With A View, to Sterling’s Tangelico.  First I asked Sterling if I could lift a couple of – well maybe three – okay four would be best – props from Tangelico. I took a breath. Then I asked if I could sort of “borrow” a few lines of dialogue. I wasn’t sure how many but not too many. He didn’t hesitate – absolutely – and then he said something about being a playwright from the hip-hop school of derivative works. That scared me. I decided to avoid any further references of the hip-hop nature, and said my goodbyes. I have no doubt that Sterling would recall this conversation in very much the same way. So now I had three lines of dialogue – which are so obvious when the plays are heard together. There were four props at my disposal as well. Next I basically decided to hijack the through line and to play against his chosen genre. I was on my way. But my way to where? Brandon gave me about 20 minutes to write this play. He was calling and texting and emailing. “How’s it going?” (Smiley face.) With my headphones on and email closed, I sketched out the beginnings of a story in a notebook. Her name is Alex. She works in a corporate office. Her desk is in a cubicle. From there I heard her talking to a co-worker. A man. Dennis. They were outside. Prop. I needed a prop… Here’s the hostile part of this post – I can’t tell you the details – the props or dialogue or what both characters wanted in each play. If I do, I’ll give it all away. I can tell you that working with the props was a blast. Finding creative uses for these four instruments from Sterling’s play created most of the comedy in A Cube With A View. To that end the dialogue served to raise the stakes throughout the piece. Having said that you can download both of our plays here and here. Once I had the beginning hammered out, I poured an iced coffee and found my way to how the story had to end. Of course! My cat flipped his tail and twitched an ear. The tricky part was getting Alex from the question to her solution. More props, more dialogue, and more problems. Then I decided to play against the pace of Tangelico and went back and wove that into the play. At every turn I lifted and usurped devices, structure, and character arcs to shape this story of cubes and desire. And when I was done, I sent my work off to Sterling and Brandon. From there this double feature began to grow legs. Production photo courtesy of Michael Markowski, Phoenix, AZ, 2010 |
