As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve written three plays. They are in order of date written:
Dinners with Augie
Justice and Injustice
The Day My Father Met the Lord
It’s taken about a year to get all three done. “Augie” is about an hour, “Justice” is about 2 hours (perhaps a bit more) and the “Day” is about 10 minutes long. I’ve talked about the process of writing the plays in other posts, so we won’t go into that here. But I do want to talk about the content of the plays.
Now these are three very different plays — at least on the surface. The plots, the characters, the conflicts are all very different from each other. But when I go back through them, it turns out that in each one I’m dealing with a rather consistent theme: ethics and morality. It’s not always clearly stated but it’s there. So that is my insight for the day: as an artist I am preoccupied with morality. I doubt if that makes me unique or interesting, but there you have it.
I said previously that I start out with the assumption that plays (and art generally) are a fundamental part of the social conscience. Art in any form has the potential to reflect back what kind of society we are. Sometimes it lives up to that promise, sometimes it doesn’t.
I also said that for me to really get at the heart of being good at writing plays, I have to be true to the story and the characters, which requires that I be honest about who I am and what I’m about. Not that I need to burden other people with my honesty directly, but I have to be available to the audience through the mechanisms of my characters. Otherwise it’s just self-indulgence. If I want to be self-indulgent, I can do that in the privacy of my own home without bothering anybody else.
Put another way, I think artists should be held accountable for their art. If someone wants to play out their fantasy in front of people, fine. In a society that holds the free exchange of ideas to be an inalienable right, acting like sex workers or gangsters in front of an audience is not a crime. Perhaps those disguises are no different from putting on a tuxedo or expensive suit and singing ballads. Whatever. But the point is, when those artists come around and proclaim, “I paint what I see, child” or “I’m only telling you what is going on”, they are fooling themselves. They are painting what they think they see, they are telling the story through their biases. They are rendering an opinion and their particular interpretation of reality is not sacred. Sometimes art lives up to the promise, sometimes not.
I wrote a play called “The Day My Father Met the Lord”, and some will find it to have a religious theme. Because of that some people may find it suspect, or controversial, or worthy. I don’t think the work is controversial at all; in fact I think it’s a simple allegory. Maybe it’s worthy; maybe not. I had a lot of fun writing it. But I need to stand up to it: I wrote it, it’s my opinion and nobody else’s, and it reflects some bias I have. It’s a story of my own making about what I think I see.
As a matter of honest disclosure, I should point out I haven’t been to a regular church service in decades. I couldn’t tell you the difference between one denomination and another. I don’t have any particular plans on attending church anytime soon. I do happen to have an interest in religion, mostly Christianity, and lately Buddhism. I would call my interest secular; other people might, as Sam Harris insists, think I’m a subversive idiot for indulging any idea about religion at all, except to decry it as fraud. Some other people might consider me an infidel because I don’t interpret some religious idea the way they do. So be it.
I am providing the play to you under the following rules: the work is subject to copyright laws, you may not make copies or distribute without my permission, you must in all cases acknowledge me as the author when citing the work, you may not perform it in front of a paying audience without my permission, the work is subject to royalty at my sole discretion, and that by downloading the work you acknowledge that you understand the rules. Click here to downland “The Day My Father Met the Lord”.
Well there you have it! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
Playwrights Notes Part IV: A few comments about plays as art form, and a play for your enjoyment
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve written three plays. They are in order of date written:
It’s taken about a year to get all three done. “Augie” is about an hour, “Justice” is about 2 hours (perhaps a bit more) and the “Day” is about 10 minutes long. I’ve talked about the process of writing the plays in other posts, so we won’t go into that here. But I do want to talk about the content of the plays.
Now these are three very different plays — at least on the surface. The plots, the characters, the conflicts are all very different from each other. But when I go back through them, it turns out that in each one I’m dealing with a rather consistent theme: ethics and morality. It’s not always clearly stated but it’s there. So that is my insight for the day: as an artist I am preoccupied with morality. I doubt if that makes me unique or interesting, but there you have it.
I said previously that I start out with the assumption that plays (and art generally) are a fundamental part of the social conscience. Art in any form has the potential to reflect back what kind of society we are. Sometimes it lives up to that promise, sometimes it doesn’t.
I also said that for me to really get at the heart of being good at writing plays, I have to be true to the story and the characters, which requires that I be honest about who I am and what I’m about. Not that I need to burden other people with my honesty directly, but I have to be available to the audience through the mechanisms of my characters. Otherwise it’s just self-indulgence. If I want to be self-indulgent, I can do that in the privacy of my own home without bothering anybody else.
Put another way, I think artists should be held accountable for their art. If someone wants to play out their fantasy in front of people, fine. In a society that holds the free exchange of ideas to be an inalienable right, acting like sex workers or gangsters in front of an audience is not a crime. Perhaps those disguises are no different from putting on a tuxedo or expensive suit and singing ballads. Whatever. But the point is, when those artists come around and proclaim, “I paint what I see, child” or “I’m only telling you what is going on”, they are fooling themselves. They are painting what they think they see, they are telling the story through their biases. They are rendering an opinion and their particular interpretation of reality is not sacred. Sometimes art lives up to the promise, sometimes not.
I wrote a play called “The Day My Father Met the Lord”, and some will find it to have a religious theme. Because of that some people may find it suspect, or controversial, or worthy. I don’t think the work is controversial at all; in fact I think it’s a simple allegory. Maybe it’s worthy; maybe not. I had a lot of fun writing it. But I need to stand up to it: I wrote it, it’s my opinion and nobody else’s, and it reflects some bias I have. It’s a story of my own making about what I think I see.
As a matter of honest disclosure, I should point out I haven’t been to a regular church service in decades. I couldn’t tell you the difference between one denomination and another. I don’t have any particular plans on attending church anytime soon. I do happen to have an interest in religion, mostly Christianity, and lately Buddhism. I would call my interest secular; other people might, as Sam Harris insists, think I’m a subversive idiot for indulging any idea about religion at all, except to decry it as fraud. Some other people might consider me an infidel because I don’t interpret some religious idea the way they do. So be it.
I am providing the play to you under the following rules: the work is subject to copyright laws, you may not make copies or distribute without my permission, you must in all cases acknowledge me as the author when citing the work, you may not perform it in front of a paying audience without my permission, the work is subject to royalty at my sole discretion, and that by downloading the work you acknowledge that you understand the rules. Click here to downland “The Day My Father Met the Lord”.
Well there you have it! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.