The Play I Never Set Out to Write, Part Two: The Process
By Janis Kunz, East Sierra Branch
Continued from “Part One: The Origin,” in the June 2022 Showcase.
From that first moment on, after the flash of inspiration from my brother’s not-so-off-handed comment inside the Denny’s, the project of writing my play took on the shape of all my writing projects. Step one: I create in a frenzy …even when I don’t want to. Such as at rehearsals for that season’s play (“That can be the banker’s name and dialogue quirk!” Furiously writes note in phone’s memo app in between dressing the stage). Or while falling asleep, ALWAYS while trying to fall asleep (“What if it caught fire! That can be a Wodehouse reference! And what delicious reactions the cast can have!” Clicks on bedside lamp. Grabs memo app). Step two: Ideas peter out and I question everything I’ve written (“This sucks!!! What was I thinking!! I’ll never finish this!!!!”). Step three: I stash the project away – far, far away – until I have the fortitude to look at it again, telling my brain if it even tries to write another line of this play, I will never speak to it again. Step four: I come back to it after forgetting what I wrote, enjoy it as a reader, laughing at the jokes, wondering how I even came up with something like this, then get excited and can’t wait to finish so I can share it with others. Step five: I knuckle down with coffee, snacks, phone on silent, and a determination to do this project proud because it deserves to see the light of day and have people laugh at it as hard as I did (“Brain, if you don’t help me finish this – as strong as what we wrote in the beginning, I’ll never speak to you again”).
So what began three years prior became “How to Solve a Murder.” And I’m thrilled to say it’s slated to be put on in the 2023 season! From the first few excitedly written notes to the final draft read and reviewed by its future director and producer, my play and my writing of it weathered a global pandemic, enrollment in a bachelor degree program (which drastically reduced my ability to write anything more than the thousands of words required to get A’s on the assignments), the death of my father which threw my entire life into new perspectives, a move to my own apartment, and many other life changes. Even though I never set out to write this play, I’m glad I wrote it. I’m happy I finished it. And I still get a shiver of excitement when I get to say, “I’m an actor. …And I’ve written a play!”