The Life at Sea is the Life For Me...

It's summertime, and the living is far from easy. We've declared this summer a Pirate Summer at work since all of our shows--professional and student--are about pirates and sailors, but theatrical piracy isn't all fun and games, you know. This year, there was really no clear demarcation between the end of Spring semester and the beginning of summer; one of the projects I work on during the school year has been held over through the summer (good for the budget and for the cause of arts education, bad for my sanity), and camp crept up on me.

Good thing I like my job!

Camp started this week, and the kids are amazingly super cute. (Those adjectives should show you the extent of my brain-dead-ness at the moment. Also, the fact that I used the word brain-dead-ness.) Part of the reason I like managing the summer camp is that I get to hang out with some awesome teachers, and some pretty cool students. Sure, I'm also the one who has to deal with the parents, but we have a good relationship for the most part, and it's not too much of a schlepp.

The biggest reason I like working with the camp is that it gives me an opportunity to stretch my creative muscles and write a play. I've previously posted about the play I was writing, The Adventures of Sinbad and the Princesses from Persia, and now it's actually finished and in rehearsal! It's sort of an odd feeling, hearing kids speak and sing the words I wrote. Very interesting and a great experience, but odd nonetheless.

I'm usually on the other end of the process, editing scripts other folks have written, and gauging how natural their words sound coming from actors. This has been different from the other scripts I've written. I'm working with a new composer I've only worked with peripherally as a songwriter (there was a blackout at work last year & we wrote a song for a play my friend wrote, because we had nothing else to do). The director had a hand in dramaturging my script and helping me through a couple of drafts. (I love how involved he's been! I can't dramaturg myself, and he was incredibly helpful in helping me define the characters and find the arc of the play.)

I've also been sitting in on rehearsals the last couple of days, and have been able to have a little bit of input, which I usually don't get to do. I'm trying to do that from the perspective of a dramaturg (as in, "this makes sense in the world of the play; this doesn't") rather than from the perspective of a playwright (as in, "but this doesn't fit my vision!"--not that most playwrights are like that). I've told the director he can feel free to tell me if I'm being annoying, but he hasn't yet. :)

Sinbad in Process

I've been thinking a lot about adaptations lately. Most of the scripts I've written have been adapted from one source or another, and here I am, working on one for this summer.

It stands to reason that most musicals are adaptations, whether from plays (Green Grow the Lilacs became Oklahoma!, Pygmalion became My Fair Lady), books (Wicked, Les Miserables), or movies (The Producers, Hairspray). It's not just that it's easier to write an adaptation; those scripts also have instant name recognition, and in a ticket-sales-driven society like the one we're in, name recognition goes a long way in marketing.

I come up against this every year when choosing titles for our summer camp productions. We write the scripts for camp in-house, and so it's not as simple as picking (for example) Guys and Dolls or Annie. We have to think of stories that are intriguing and enticing, not only for the students, but also for the parents who shell out the bucks. This year, we're doing one adaptation--written by me--and one original story--written by my colleague.

Each year I've written a script, I've been encouraged to not stick incredibly closely to the source material; to take the outline of the story and run, in order to make my own product. The first year, there wasn't a whole lot of substance to the source material, so I tacked on another story from the same culture. The second year, I stayed pretty close to the Persephone myth, but updated the language and themes so a modern audience (both the parents watching the show and the students acting the show) could relate. And I've had a great time doing so!

I chose to work with the Sinbad stories this year, and feel free-er than I ever have to extend the story beyond the myth and make it something new. There are hundreds of stories starring the titular character, and I picked and chose between them. I also took the Scheherazade framing device and made it more child-friendly, while still providing a sense of danger. The storytelling framing device opened up even more options--since the princesses have to please their king, there's an opportunity to continually one-up the story, and add fantastic elements.

I put a "the end" on my rough first draft, and while major revisions are needed, I'm happy with the product so far. Here's to the journey.

(I'm talking to one of the playwrights from our professional stage this week, in order to get her outlook on the adaptation process. She's taken a popular fairy tale--one of my favorites--and made it something completely new. I hope to use some of the material she gives me for new insight.)