Weeks 33 and 34-Triangle: 1911

I doubled up this week and last week's play because I wanted to write a longer one-act than I usually do.  The title of this piece is Triangle: 1911 and it takes place during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that happened in New York City.

The fire, which happened on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest workplace industrial disaster in the history of New York City up until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later.  The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers and spurred massive reforms in labor laws throughout the country.  Most of the workers at the factory were young immigrant women between the ages of 18 and 23, although girls as young as 11 were reported to have worked there.

I've been interested in the fire for a long time.  I played around with different ways to frame the story such as focusing on the manslaughter trial of the two men who owned the factory, the fights between labor workers over whether to unionize, etc.  I finally decided to keep it simple and focus on the stories of the victims (and survivors) of the fire.  Before they were victims, they were real people.  Sometimes it's hard for people to grasp that.  I hope that this play humanizes these brave young workers.  

Week 31: The Date and Week 32: Lovely

Hola!  It's been an exciting couple of weeks in 52 Plays land.  Theatre Wagon of Virginia did a reading of four (count 'em, four!) of my plays this past weekend as part of their annual summer readings.  The actors performed Cat Talk, The Shakespearean Actor's Nightmare, The Night The Lights Went Out, and Scout's Honor.  It was SO helpful to hear these plays read out loud for the first time.  It was kind of amazing to see what worked (and what definitely didn't).  I did a talkback after the readings to discuss my process and answer questions from the audience and actors.  One of the questions I was asked was whether I go back and revise after my plays are written.  I've actually been holding back from doing that because I feel like it would interfere with composing new plays.  I am definitely a perfectionist and the wonderful thing about this project is that it has forced me not to dwell on all my mistakes, but move on to the next week and the next play.  I will go back at some point and revise several of the plays in this project, but for now, it's onward and upward.

Due to visiting friends and participating in play readings, my posting for last week and this week were delayed.  Week 31's play is The Date and Week 32's play is Lovely.  I chose to concentrate these past two weeks on writing short, two-handers.