Friday, January 30, 2009

30 Plays in 30 Days

Alright folks, it's time for more goal setting with the slim chance of it actually coming to fruition. With the onset of school, I've been looking for more things to occupy the time that I should really be using to study (ha! just kidding parents). However, these wonderful time wasters are not a waste at all, these are wonderfully useful things for me. First off, I'm trying to get better at sketching. I recently picked up a book called "Sketching for the Theatre" or some such nonsense. This involves learning to sketch set designs and costumes and such. The other thing that I've become very interested in is maskwork and mask making. Unfortunately the one mask making book that I want in the library (of the three books they have on the subject) was checked out the exact same day I went to get it! Let's talk about probability...


And finally my major goal for the day/month is to read one play every day for thirty days. That's a whole month. Unfortunately, this goal coincided with February, the runt of the year. So, I started this goal Friday to avoid the awkwardness of having to say "twenty-eight plays in twenty-eight days" ... actually that's still not bad. The reason I'm doing this is because I have come to understand just how little I know. I am entirely unversed in plays. So I picked up about ten plays at the library and now the good times are rolling. I'm sure that I'll take notes on these plays to aid in production later, and maybe I'll even write some reviews.

I began this trek with a little surprise known as Steve Martin. Yes, he's a playwright as well. I read two of his plays (one was really short). The first was called Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the other was called The Zig-Zag Woman. They were only okay. However, there are multiple reports online theat if you inform Mr. Martin of the performance dates there is a good chance that he will show up to a performance or two.

My next venture in the script world was The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel. An award winning play about a dysfunctional family, it was rather interesting, but has a very small cast. So, I may never ever produce it.

And that brings us to today. Today I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. This was one of the longest ventures of the plays. It's a three act play about drunk people. I don't recommend it. But it won some awards or something.

So, I've been reading a lot, since I'm still trying to make a dent in my novels, schoolwork, and the books that I got for Christmas. If anyone has any suggestions for other reading materials, I'm all ears/eyes.

*Sorry, the videos could use some work. Na zdrovie! <--(see last video)*

3 Comments:

  1. Mom and Camera said...
    Good luck with the 30 plays! That is a lot of reading. My two favorite plays are "The Importance of Being Ernest" (quite a short play and just silly enough to make me laugh) and "Pygmalion" (slightly longer but my still a classic in my mind).
    Bradwich said...
    An admirable goal, my friend. You should get on Goodreads--that's where I track the books I've read, I'm reading, and that I'm wanting to read.

    Only play that comes to mind at the moment is in Spanish, so probably not that helpful. But if I think of any others, I'll let you know.
    Christian said...
    Earnest is a good one.

    Bradwich: which spanish play are you thinking of, I might actually know it. Oddly enough I have a fair knowledge of Spanish Golden Age.

    P.s. Today was Julius Caeser.

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