scenes from a reading

A few minutes past 6pm, our quiet little apartment was suddenly brimming with people, and buzzing with conversation. We squeezed into the living room (after bringing in two extra chairs, two people still had to sit on cushions on the floor) and everyone grabbed a copy of Wondrous Machines, fresh from Kinko's. All these lovely people had gathered to read my play to me.

You would've thought something far more nefarious was afoot, by the ridiculous pace of my heart. But it turned out to be a remarkable event. Hearing actors (and theatre-loving neighbors:) read my words with that kind of care, and thoughtfulness...it was a gift. These people told me my story. It felt like the final step in an act of creation. Now, I could see the play as a thing apart from myself. A thing that can have a life outside of my head, and my notebooks. 

I got to hear my husband read a role that he inspired. Watched my friends *really* play out scenes with each other even though they were simply sitting in an apartment, holding scripts and nursing beers (I loved catching those moments, when someone was waiting for their scene partner to look up from the words and just have a moment with them...). 

There is a character who is seen but not heard for many pages. When the actress spoke that first line, I got goosebumps.

There is a rather funny character who was played by an incredibly funny friend. But the way he delivered a line near the end...so sincerely, so full of heart...moved me.

It's a funny thing, to enjoy something you had a hand in. But I have to think it's o.k. I remember reading an interview with Toni Morrison where she said she writes books that she would want to read.

Someone said my work made her think of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Someone else said The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I think both of these comments elicited an "Awesome!" from me:). Another person thought of a book, which sounds fascinating: The Triggering Town, named for the fictional town a writer made up that he revisits now and again, adding characters and stories to its framework, and pulling from it for his various works over the years. I love the idea of a creator stitching together the whole universe of their work over time--linking things somehow. David Mitchell does this. He is a masterful contemporary novelist whose works can be read independent of each other, but for the perceptive fan, there are tiny connections between them. For instance, a young character from one novel "grows up"and becomes the old lady encountered by the protagonist of a different novel. For someone who has read the other work, this encounter is a little gift. We get a brief continuation of that other story, another quick dip into the pool of that other world. What a joy.

Flipping through the scripts my friends left, I found my own little surprises--continuations of the previous evening. I myself am an active reader. I love marking phrases or passages that strike me, for whatever reason. I leave you with some anonymous scribbles by my active play-reading pals.