2023 - In the Whale
This past year was really good in lots of ways, and very hard in other ways.
First and foremost, on the writing front, it wound up being a year of Mira and the Whale. An EST/LA Winterfest reading in March lead to the script being the inaugural project for EST/LA’s DevLab program, which turned into a 7 week summer development workshop with 25 actors, and another public reading in November. I have never had so many resources put towards, and so many talented and brilliant people collaborating with me on the development of one of my plays. It’s been a tremendous gift, and I’m so grateful for it. I’ve learned so much more about writing and how I like to do it. And I feel like I’m making a real theatrical home at EST/LA. It was also really hard and destroyed my work/life balance. But more on that later.
I’ve processed a lot of the harder parts of this past year through the ongoing revisiting of Mira and the Whale. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the sail in the play, the sail that Jonah hangs up to hide what he’s really up to (spoiler alert, it’s lots of gruesome murder). In the most recent draft, Jonah asks Mira “Why’d you pull down the sail?”, to which she responds, “Why’d you hang it up?”. I’ve been thinking about the sails that have been hung up for my benefit, and what’s inevitably hidden behind them. There are always bodies behind the sail…there’s no other reason to hang it up in the first place.
In better news, I’ve quit Twitter! I don’t waste my time on there anymore, now I waste it on other things. I also think I’ve been spending more time getting my thoughts down on actual paper…I know that was a goal from last year that I think I’ve stuck with.
Some other highlights: some really fun and semi-independent travel — to Seattle (twice), a Washington road trip, to the East Coast (Philly and New York), and the desert with friends. I saw lots of theater, took lots of photos, and I did some shadow puppets for Dimension 20.
In addition to spending a lot of time on Mira and the Whale, I also wrote some one acts (I Loved a Wicked Fool), did another reading of Christmastown, and wrote Think of the Children, a new dark comedy.
But therein lies one of the biggest challenges of the past year…work/life balance. Between game dev work, playwriting, and other side projects…I’ve continued to burn the candle at every available end. I think this doodle sums it up (shoutout to putting thoughts on paper):
I’ve held the saying “live your life like it’s a work of art” very close to my heart for a long time now. But I’ve been misconstruing it — behaving as if pouring myself into works of art is the same as living my life. I’m fortunate enough now to have some really exciting things in motion…Mira is slowly building momentum towards larger opportunities, and Christmastown isn’t far behind. The upkeep of that momentum will take some work, but it isn’t the same kind of work as holing away for months, forcing myself to lose my mind, in order to create something new. This year I want to focus on building healthier habits. On finding better balance. I want to write less, and hold my time in higher esteem. Turn towards community, and leave the whale behind.
Goals for the year:
Write one play (probably going to revisit My Mother’s in the Audience but we’ll see, don’t hold me to it)
Explore different ways to manage work/life balance
Build my community, and strengthen my community
This life is the art project, the art project isn’t the life.
You’re on the right track…keep going.