evolution of a one-man show

I wrote this one person (one dog actually) show called Bee Eater while I was at Juilliard. I thought it was 40 minutes long and I kept trying to write short 20 min or so one person shows to go before or after it. I wrote two of these and attempted another before scrapping it. We put up Bee Eater for a couple of nights in Minneapolis and I can tell you it's actually 50 minutes long. (I had two 10 min pieces go on before it) While rehearsing Bee Eater I came up with another idea-- a short one person piece to go after it played by the same actor and I think it's the right one this time. I finished writing it today. It'll still have to be tested but I think it brings out the things that people are glossing over in Bee Eater and hopefully does so in a cool way. I'll have to see. I wrote Pretty Theft in '04 sometime and it's finally being done in nyc this April. Who know how long this play will take to go up. Could be next year, could be five years from now or ten. In any case I can add it to my list of my plays I want to see produced. That list is getting longer. And as I sit here, having just finished a new play all I can think of is that I better start another one soon.

notes about the play

I was asked to write playwright notes for Pretty Theft. Here they are-- In 2004, I took a class with Chuck Mee at the Flea. He was writing what would become Hotel Cassiopeia about the life of artist Joseph Cornell. Cornell is probably most famous for his boxes—dioramas created from collages of found objects. He lived his whole life in the house he grew up in and probably died a virgin. He also had many friendships with ballerinas and sometimes gave his art to them as gifts. In Chuck Mee’s class we were supposed to all write our own play about Joseph Cornell and in the spirit of Mee, we were all supposed to steal from one another. Every scene everyone brought in was on the table to potentially become part of our own pieces. I did not end up writing a play about Joseph Cornell but instead wrote a play about an autistic guy named Joe who is obsessed with ballerinas and likes to collect things in a box. Likewise, I took my character of the Waitress from a café scene someone brought in where a character said “If you live in New York long enough you will eventually fall in love with a waitress” and I took my main character Allegra from an interview someone brought in of the dancer Allegra Kent. Although I didn’t end up stealing scenes or dialogue, I instead wrote a play about stealing. I wanted to figure out why I was so opposed to taking lines from people’s scenes when that was what we were supposed to do. Ingrained in me still was the idea of theft as an unallowable taboo. So I wrote about it. I was interested in showing different versions of theft—the serious and less serious, emotional theft and physical theft and what theft means in America and to us as individuals. Why do some people compulsively steal? When something vital is taken from us, how does it affect us? That was the initial impulse to write this play. I also looked at Chuck Mee’s theatricality and tried to make my version of a Chuck Mee play. In Pretty Theft, ballerinas dance between scenes and wrenches fall from the ceiling. And above all, I wanted to make something beautiful, maybe terrible, hopefully funny but also emotionally resonant.

Half Price Tickets to Pretty Theft

Pretty Theft in New York at the Access Theatre 1/2 price tickets Use the code PICKPOCKET for $9 tickets for the 1st week of performances (opening excluded) - this is a limited time offer - so click here now to save! Preview: Thurs, April 23rd, 8PM Opening: Friday, April 24th, 8PM Pretty Theft runs Thurs-Sat at 8PM And Sun at 7PM From April 23rd - May 17th Patron's Night with Pre-show Reception Sat, May 2nd! Cast Allegra: Marnie Schulenburg Suzy: Maria Portman Kelly* Joe: Brian Pracht Bobby: Zack Robidas Marco: Todd D'Amour* The Ballerinas: Waitress, etc: Candice Holdorf* Supervisor, etc: Cotton Wright* Psychiatrist, etc: Lynn Kenny *Appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association Director: Angela Astle Choreographer: Ashley Martinez Scenic Design: Heather Cohn Costume Design: Becky Kelly Light Design: Andrew Fritsch Sound Design: Kevin Fuller Prop Design: Kelly O'Donnell Stage Manager: Kate August Flux's 2009/10 season begins with Adam Szymkowicz's Pretty Theft, a play about ballerinas, boxes and the dangers of beauty. After losing her father, Allegra falls under the wing of bad girl Suzy, only to find an unexpected friendship with Joe, an autistic savant. When things between them take a violent turn, Allegra and Suzy escape cross country and befriend Marco, a mysterious thief who claims he cannot be caught.

in Minneapolis

This Thursday, come see my show.

Lark has a blog

http://larktheatre.blogspot.com/

playwriting

I started writing plays about twelve years ago. I think I’m pretty good at it now. At the same time, I look at where my career is and I’m disappointed I haven’t yet had an off Broadway or regional show. My plays are being done by various small theaters throughout the country, mostly because I work really hard to get my work out there. I’m happy that people are seeing my plays but I really want them out in the world in a much larger way, a way I have no control over. It’s frustrating but I haven’t found an alternative. Theatre is what I love. And I stick with it because of the way I feel when I see something onstage that clicks and I feel myself change emotionally, intellectually, physically. I want to write things that touch people softly or rip out their guts and this is the way I’ve found to do it. Theatre is the closest I’ve come to a religious experience on this planet. Which is why I keep doing it even though it’s a hard life that no one sane should choose.

this week and next in Minneapolis

http://culturemob.com/events/5747397-the-captivity-plays-snow-all-access-and-bee-eater-mn-minneapolis-lowry-hill-east-55408-bryant-lake-bowl

Dentyne and Theatre

This is my response to the Dentyne people who want me to promote their 10 min play contest: If you want to actually help playwrights and theatre, why not commission new full length works for the stage or give cash awards to playwrights? Why do we need another 10 min contest? It's pretend help, not real help. There are people who are serious about theatre who don't have enough money to make theatre and don't have enough money to live. Why aren't you helping them instead of asking people across the country to write plays for free to promote your gum? Why not promote your gum by actually supporting the arts instead of having actors read 10 minutes of work one night at an event? Put some actual money into the arts to show that Dentyne does care about the power of live theatre to show the complexities of relationships?