Forcibly reminded about stylistic differences for different situations

Writing for the stage turns out to be quite different than the writing I do day in and day out: mostly brief comments on specific phrases or ideas found in student essays. And WAY different from how I write for this blog, among other little projects.

This was made crystal clear to me last night as the cast was doing its first read-through of a readers theater piece that I created for the Wesley Players Theatre Company. We have so many involved that I ended up double-casting and adding a 5 p.m. show, beyond the normal 7 p.m. show. So there is a lot of enthusiasm and amazing participation.

But there were times when members of both casts found themselves struggling with where to breathe and where to pause or where to hurry. It occurred to me that much of the difficulties came in the dialog I wrote for the Hallmark spoof that acts as the "frame" for the show. The epiphany was that I write like an English teacher, with loads of compound, complex sentences that are fine in print but that are challenging to speak aloud.

The Hallmark frame surrounds eight excerpts from famous Christmas movies and TV show (think things like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Elf"), and the contrast between THOSE scenes and the ones I invented was stark.

Professional scripts feature shorter pieces of dialog, with much more back-and-forth, which likely does not surprise you... and if I had time I would revisit the current version of the show and fiddle with it to create more "action." But I don't have the time.

Most of my focus right now is on how we will be staging the show this Saturday (we have two tech rehearsal left), how to light the stage, and how to provide decent sound... but the script ultimately will make or break the show. Right now I wish I had a chance to take what I am learning in "previews" and apply it to a new draft.

We also have at least eight or more additional players in each cast, which I never imagined and which forces me to give some actors just a few lines, while others have longish speeches and roles in specific scenes. But that is a much different problem and perhaps without an early commitment from actors impossible to solve. I mean, how can I be certain I would have 24 cast members long before we even have auditions?

But I have enjoyed the process of creating this script and then bringing it to the stage, despite the stress and the looming exhaustion (TWO rehearsals each night, though there are just two nights left before we go up). 

Maybe I won't start thinking about a "next" readers theater idea for a few months, anyway.