The Earth, the Sun, the Apes and Mars

The ScriptWorks Fling happened over the past weekend.  We had a kickoff on Friday evening and I could tell a number of people were trying to battle through the election results to find the creativity to write.

It didn’t help that one of the ingredients this year was election-related.

This year they were:

1. The play must somehow feature the thoughts/statements of an inanimate object.
2. The play must contain a ritual of inauguration.
3. Time continually expands or contracts for at least one of the characters.

One friend at the kickoff said, about the inauguration ingredient, “No, I can’t, it’s too soon.”

BUT there are other inaugurations that don’t have to do with presidencies.  And I find that a creative project can help get my mind off of less pleasant things.

When I went to bed on Friday I had an idea about using the earth as an inanimate object, narrating to the audience about a variety of leaders on the planet over time (I’m really interested in the long span of time these days, probably focusing on how insignificant any four-year period really is in the scope of things).

When I woke up I wondered if anyone would challenge me on the earth’s being inanimate.  I don’t know why.  Because plants and things grow on it?  Because volcanoes can be lifelike?  Anyway, I decided to add the moon (even more inanimate) and Mars too, as kind of an obnoxious wound-tight creature circling around the others from time to time.

Then I had one actor represent a number of leaders over centuries: first an ape, then a caveman, then a king, then JFK, then our current president-elect, and then another leader in the future.

It’s a comedy mostly, but it ends with the earth being sick and worn down after all this human activity, unable to maintain its energy and verve.  A statement piece for sure, downbeat, about the foreboding future of the environment and our planet.  Guess it betrayed the pessimism in my head.

And/but… it was good!  I’m crossing my fingers that it gets a production in the spring.  We’ll find out in a couple of months.