Over the weekend, I completed a draft of a new play, or rather I have generated enough of a draft that it is completed enough for me to say it will be complete. Meaning I could hand it to actors, designers, and a director and feel as though we all have something to work on. In theatre, there is never really completion until opening night and even then it's questionable. But the work I've done I think is significant enough for me to pause and perhaps reflect on it.
Riding into work this morning on the subway, I was doing that and one of the big "art questions" hit me... Why this play, now?
The question is designed to show immediacy and to describe the audience it is impacting. It's a really important question in theatre because you are choosing to share something in the moment to only a select number of people, really. It's perhaps the first question every production needs to grapple with. As a playwright, I am often gripped with this question myself. I complete something and I suddenly ask myself, "But why would anyone else care?" This question is one of my vampires.
Today on the subway, I was able to shine some light on that vampire. Now, vampires never really die, but at least I know I can make it retreat. Why this play, now? I don't know. This isn't me being coy or clever, really. I'm one artist and here's what's been broiling in my brain, here's what my life has incubated, here's what I think is interesting for me right now. In sharing my work, I'm actually asking, "This play, now?" to the world at large, but mostly to other artists who wear the hat of producer or director. It's not that I shouldn't grapple with the question, but to do that alone is at best egotistical.
Instead, I choose to collaborate. I choose to fight this vampire with fellow -as my friends at BRAT would say- art-warriors. Let the fight be good and the answer be even better.
-BGD
