Pandemic Writer's Malaise?

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The other night, we had our second Playwright Mastermind Meeting this Fall, and it was curious, for most of the group, and myself included, were feeling this strange Pandemic Writer’s Malaise. A few had written some pages and gotten some work done, but many were so caught up in the Election and all that is happening with the spiking numbers of this pandemic, that the page count was very low.

So we took some time to talk about it, to express our concerns and our fears, and soon this stange Pandemic Writer’s Malaise lifted, and we got back to looking at the bigger picture and the smaller picture of being a playwright and creator in this Brave New World.

The challenge is to keep your vision clear, in a world where there is very poor visibility of the future. And that’s hard. Real hard.

In the past, we based our decisions and our motivation on what we saw was possible in our vision of the future, but now that the future is clouded in the unknown, many of us, after 8 months of this unexpected and challenging new environment, feel are actions are fruitless.

So what can we do?

Talk about it.

Find anyone who is willing to listen and just vent. Don’t worry about finding solutions or anything at all, just express your bottle-necked feelings. Let them out of your brain, you body, and your focus. Just talk about all you are feeling.

Journal about it.

Julia Cameron, in her wildly best-selling book, THE ARTIST’S WAY, recommends writing at least 3 pages of “stream of consciousness” every morning with a pad and a pen. Just write whatever comes out when you bring your pen to paper. I did this years ago, when I was going through a hard time, and it is remarkable. You empty out your fears, your pain, your sadness, your rage, and all your concerns about the day on to the page, and when done, often you are very very clear, and able to focus like never before on your creative projects. Julia calls them the MORNING PAGES. They are a powerful tool that allows you to get focused and back to work on what is important!

And this is my favorite:

Write about it.

My favorite way of getting “problems” out of my mind is to write about them, as specifically as possible. Most of my early plays are about situations from real life, that made me angry or upset, and I simply took these real life situations and found a new context, changed the names, and brought my life experience to the page, and then to life on the stage. Writing like this is a profound and powerful experience which absolutely helps one heal, and you have a great play when you are done too.

Just recently, I was feeling really frustrated with this pandemic and how people are responding to it. I decided to write a short 10 minute screenplay, about a guy, who is so angry about everything and he just can’t deal, so he starts making little videos on his phone to talk with his deceased father. I just recently filmed it, and I will release it in the next couple of weeks once it is edited, but just this process of telling this story has shifted my personal perspective, and my possibilities as a playwright/creator.

And most importantly, I feel better.

Stories have an incredible power to heal others, and strangely enough, ourselves.

Choose today, right now, not to let Pandemic Writer’s Malaise stop you from fulfilling your mission on this planet.

It’s time to write. It’s time to create.

My 7 Most Profound Writing Tips

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Just this weekend, I decided to check out my own Podcast, The Playwriting Podcast, to see what I could learn. (What? I recorded it? LEARN?) AND what I found was really interesting.

I saw playwriting tips that I currently use and I saw some tips which I currently avoid, which are actually super useful. So just for fun, I thought I would go back and list my 7 most profound writing tips, the tips which truly make a difference for me in my writing process.

Here we go:

1. WRITE WRITE WRITE, WAIT WAIT, MAYBE SLEEP, THEN EDIT.

Writing and editing are two different things. My best practice is to write and then sleep and then edit. I write, then take some time away from writing and go back fresh with a new brain and I edit. This is my most profound writing practice. Been doing it for years and it works.

2. MAKE A PLAN.

Plot out your play with EVENTS that happen in each scene, with things that happen on stage. Yes, take the time to make an outline with action and events from the beginning of your play to the end. Know in advance what you are going to write, and your writing will flow like never before.

When you have a plan, you don't fall down rabbit holes and get lost in undirected creativity, and you complete your first draft infinitely faster. There is nothing wrong with undirected creativity, but it may take you a lot longer to complete your play, if you complete it at all.

But once you get your ideas and plot outlined with clear dramatic action and events happening in every scene, writing your play becomes incredibly easy.

So make a plan, a map of your play with EVENTS and CLEAR DRAMATIC ACTION. This really works.

3. KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS.

Write about people you know, people in your life, just change the names or the occupation, or the context. When you make your characters people you know the dialogue flows like never before for you know your characters!

4. GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND WRITE ON REAL PAPER.

There is something amazing about writing by hand, especially when you feel stuck. There is some sort of physical connection - hand to brain to creative consciousness that often jump starts your creativity. So bag the computer when the creative flow dries up, and try writing by hand with pen and paper.

5. USE TECHNOLOGY TO WRITE EVERYWHERE.

Write on your PHONE. Dictate your play into your PHONE and watch it magically type for you. Write in short intervals on the Subway on your PHONE or IPAD, or when you have 10 minutes in a coffee shop. Know that you can ALWAYS “imput” your play where it will be safe and saved (If you use Icloud or Dropbox) wherever you are. I have written full length plays in 10 minute intervals on my Phone. It is awesome.

6. WHEN YOU FEEL STUCK WITH "WRITER'S BLOCK"... RESEARCH!

When you feel like the words are not flowing on the page, take your writing time and research your play during that time. Research info on the setting, the time period, the genre. Watch movies that relate to what you are writing. See and read other plays of the same genre that are set in the same time period, or location. Become a sponge of information about the world of your play. And when you get back to writing, you will be surprised what manifests.

7. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR INNATE CREATIVITY.

Get out of your own way. Make the choice to believe that you have a unique voice and can write an amazing play. Stop listening to the negative voices in your head, and focus on that still strong voice inside your heart, that KNOWS you are a great writer. 

AND GET TO WORK!!

Need some help?

You Have To Kill Your Darlings!

in
 
 

So we have all been there.  

You are writing, and this amazing, lyrical, poetic, gorgeous writing spews forth from your consciousness, and you are excited out of your mind how you have created such amazing work! You feel like you are the writer you always believed yourself to be! Your time has come!

"Oh my God, I am a genius!"

So as you continue writing your play, you keep referring back to this amazing, lyrical, poetic, gorgeous writing, hoping it will give you inspiration to continue to write amazing, lyrical, poetic, gorgeous dialogue, characters and more! You love these pages so much. They are the essence of who you are as a playwright. You hope that reading these pages over again will give you more divine inspiration to continue to be the writer you always believed yourself to be.

Ay, there's the rub.

When I was writing THE PEOPLE IN MY HIPS, my one man show about how I developed PTSD and more from training in Yoga, I had a number of pages, passages, narrations that I thought were profound. They were amazing, lyrical, poetic, and gorgeous! I loved them them so much!! In my mind, they were the essence of the best that I can write.

But as we got into production of THE PEOPLE IN MY HIPS, I realized that in order for the show to work, it needed to race faster and faster towards it's dramatic conclusion, and it needed to run under 90 minutes.  Much of my amazing, lyrical, poetic, gorgeous writing was in the latter half of my play... 

So, with great pain..... I CUT MOST OF IT.

I cut my best writing right out of my play!

Why? Because it didn't fit into the overall through line, pacing and direction of the PRODUCTION!

You always have to go back to the fact that your play is written to be ALIVE! And in that aliveness, there are some elements like pacing, through line and run time that don't apply or don't show up on paper.

Theatre is alive, and you need to be consciously aware of that as you are writing.

Sometimes in order to produce a great play, you need to KILL YOUR DARLINGS - those pages which you love that don't serve the overall production.  

And it hurts.  

It hurts bad.

But when you get a review like this, it makes it feel a whole lot better!

“THE PEOPLE IN MY HIPS is one of the most extraordinary pieces of theatre I have seen on or Off-Broadway in years. Mr. Wolf’s script is nearly flawless in its eloquence and is one of those rare pieces of work that reminds us of our common humanity. Mr. Wolf’s one-man performance is exquisite, inspiring, courageous and beautifully constructed. I laughed even as I was moved to tears. See THE PEOPLE IN MY HIPS soon. Because you will want to see it again.”

- Lise Avery, Anything Goes!!  Internationally Syndicated Radio - 

But my PRETTY DARLINGS weren't lost to the world. I did something fun to save them.

After the first production of THE PEOPLE IN MY HIPS, I took the play, and put all of the cut passages and pages I loved back into it, and turned it into a self-published book! And people loved it!

In story-telling of any kind, you have to remember that plays are different from short stories which are different from novels.

If you are developing a play, when in production develop the courage, if necessary, to KILL YOUR DARLINGS!

And your play will ROCK!

Writing a 10 Minute Play!

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So 10 minute plays are in!  There are a myriad of theatres that are hosting 10 minute play festivals or 10 minute play competitions, and it is a great way to get your work out there and have some awesome theatrical fun without spending a lot of time and money.

But you have to realized that the 10 minute play is very different from your average One Act or Full-Length play. And because 10 minute plays are different, you can actually do things with a 10 minute play that you can't do with a longer play.

So what is the difference?

This is a no-brainer:  THE 10 MINUTE PLAY IS SHORTER.  

It is 10 minutes.
You have very little time to develop your characters.
You have no time for back story.
And you have very little time to set up and develop your storyline.

And because your 10 minute play is short the classic model of Playwriting (Problem to be solved, leading to climax and resolution) doesn't necessarily apply.  There are other unique play models that work for the 10 minute play.

MODELS OF THE TEN MINUTE PLAY:

Classic Model: A problem to be solved leading to a climax and resolution.

Example: A depressed divorced man down on his luck, longing to be in a relationship, goes on a horrible blind date and realizes he would be happier alone.  

Situational Model: The play is driven by an odd, strange or unique situation - it doesn't necessarily have a character resolution.

Example: Two guys meet at a health clinic to get tested for stds and they discover that they are dating the same woman.

Character Driven Model: The fun and through line of this type of play is the unique and interesting characters depicted and their interaction. 

Example: Two over the top flaming drag queens who live together make Sunday moring pancakes together. What fun, huh?

All of these models are viable for the 10 Minute Play.

But the best model is to use ALL THREE AT THE SAME TIME.

Create a 10 minute play with a problem to be solved, leading to a climax and a resolution, with a really interesting situation, and with interesting and unique characters!

Example: A lonely depressed woman with Tourettes Syndrome who is desperate to find a mate and a lonely depressed one legged deaf man, also desperate, go on a blind date at an ultra high end restaurant where they encounter an angry New York waiter, and through a series of comedic events, they finally connect and fall in love.

Yeah, I know this example is pretty nutty, but do you understand what I mean?


A problem to be solved leading to a climax and resolution, interesting unique situation, and interesting unique characters are the key to a GREAT 10 Minute Play.

Yes, each model alone can work, but why not triple down and use all three?

You will be amazed!

Adapt to the New Landscape!

 
 

Navigating this new theatre landscape is challenging to say the least, for in our wildest dreams, we never could have imagined the stories that are playing out in this world we live in now, AND in our wildest, most outrageous dreams, we never could have imagined a world where it would be unsafe to congregate for theatre.

So here we are, in a dangerous world, where it is dangerous to present theatre inside a theatre.

In the business world, they talk about pivoting: turning towards new markets or services, as a way to bring greater revenue to an organization. But I don’t think that is what we, as playwrights, need to do now.

We need to ADAPT to this new, unexplored reality.

Adapting doesn’t mean turning and moving in another direction or towards a new market.

Adapt according to the Oxford dictionary means a couple of things:

  1. Make something suitable for a new use or purpose; modify:

  2. Become adjusted to new conditions.

We don’t need to move in another direction. We need to modify ourselves and our talents for a new use, and eventually, we will become adjusted to a new normal.

Manhattan Rep is presenting our Second Annual Stories Film Festival streaming online for the month of February and we are only accepting Short Films 15 minutes or less, and short Zoom Theatre videos, 15 minutes or less. I have had the unique opportunity to view a myriad of Zoom Theatre videos that have been submitted and it is fascinating.

Intially, last March, when we went to lockdown in New York City, I was addicted to my belief that Zoom videos were problematic. Actors couldn’t really be in the same room, so plays involving actors in the same room couldn’t really work, and bandwidth and tech problems could literally destroy a live performance online. I nixed the technology and chose not to adapt to this crazy new landscape. I stayed in the pre - pandemic universe theatre model and I pivoted by seeking out more script consultations and playwriting coaching clients, and I started teaching a myriad of Zoom learning seminars about playwriting, directing and more.

As I was watching many of these submissions of Zoom Theatre Videos over the past couple of weeks, I was surprized and delighted. Many of them worked and worked beautifully.

The key to many of ones that worked was that the characters were on a Zoom call, or a telephone call, or in different rooms, or in a context where they weren’t together, or in the same room and being viewed from a different perspective. I talked about this in The Playwriting Podcast #176 - How to Write an Amazing Zoom Play, back in August.

But seeing these Zoom plays in action where many of them really worked was very exciting, and I smacked myself on the head for being stuck in my head writing off this technology as not being optimal.

So the single person in a different place or perspective really works, but how does one solve the Bandwidth problem? And this is what I saw and saw very clearly.

By creatively editing the Zoom theatre video and not keeping it in the live performance paradigm of live theatre it can work. By accepting that to do it right, to insure it is perfect or the best it can be in this context, you kill the LIVE element, which honestly really doesn’t work that well anyway on Zoom because of the bandwidth dilemma.

So is it live theatre?

No.

Can it tell a compelling or funny story?

Yes.

And done correctly, it can tell a compelling or funny story very well.

So do we pivot now and insist that theatre must be live on Zoom or do we adapt what we do in this Brave New World and make the story work?

I think we should adapt, and make the story work.

We need to do what it takes to continue to tell our stories, adapting to any new technology or strategy that comes along.

Is this giving up on live theatre?

No, absolutely not.

There is nothing like live theatre, and we will never give it up, AND we can adapt to what we are experiencing now, and make our stories compelling and important.

We, as storytellers, can help make an incredible difference in this oh-so Brave New World, with the power of our stories!

It is time to get to work!

 
 

Current Tragedy on Broadway

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So today, I decided I would go somewhere new on my daily walk. Usually I get up early and get out by 7 am and go walking down by Hudson River Park along the bike path, but today, it was raining, and rain is not fun for a daily walk, so I decided to bag it, and sleep in.

At about 2 pm, it started to clear up, and while looking out my window at the gray skies and the even grayer Hudson River, I decided that I would take a new route, and walk down 42nd St to the Broadway Theatre District, and see what it looks like at Wednesday matinee time 7 months after Broadway closed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

I threw on my black hoodie for it was cool, and my black mask because... because that is the right thing to do, and I went on my merry way.

As I walked down 42nd St. I felt this sick sadness in my gut. I had heard that much of the Theatre District had closed, but I hadn’t seen it personally, and as you all know, I am the world’s most passionate theatre enthusiast, so I knew this walk was not going to be pretty.

My first casualty of the day was The Theatre Row Diner. My partner Jen and I had spent many a night there after performing, and had many Sunday morning breakfasts there too. But the wild thing about this Diner is it rests on the spot where I produced my first OFF-BROADWAY show My Father, MY Son on Theatre Row in 1990 at The South Street Theatre. Why it was named The South Street Theatre when it was on 42nd St was beyond me, but I loved that theatre, and I was deeply saddened when it was destroyed years later to build a diner.

And now, The Theatre Row Diner is out of business, like Theatre Row. Maybe in some sort of synchronistic world when this THEATRE PAUSE passes, someone will turn the diner back into a theatre, or better yet, into a Diner Theatre. What a concept! Come have breakfast and catch a show!

This is what I do when I am bent out of shape, I make jokes.

I walked by Playwrights Horizons and I was thrilled to see that they had a big colorful LED screen that said something happy:

“Stay safe! We miss you. We’ll be back soon!”

If you look at the picture below, it’s pretty wild.

 
 

Are they saying that we should just hang out and get drunk until we can come back?

Yes, I know it must be a picture from one of their performances, but, it was strangely sad and strangely funny at the same time.

Then I saw this:

7 months of Theatre Row being closed - yeah, I would prefer a LED screen with pictures of people drinking. I felt my tears well up and I stuffed them down. If I started to cry, I would never finish my walk, and I didn’t want to be that guy in a black hoodie and black mask crying like a baby walking down 42nd St. Not today.

Today I wanted to see and ACCEPT what is really happening here, or ACCEPT what is NOT really happening here.

Someone told me that in order to lose weight effectively, you need to get on the scale and see exactly how much you weigh. Without knowing your starting point in relation to where you want to be, how are you going to know how to proceed?

I will never give up on theatre, and I will be a part of the solution when it is safe again for theatre to happen in New York City, and if that’s true, I need to see exactly what is happening here in New York City, and not be a weepy baby about it.

So I took a deep breath, and continued on my pilgrimage.

I walked down “THE DISNEY BLOCK,” which is 42nd St between 8th Ave and Times Square, which was once, back in the 70’s and 80’s, a block of XXX movie theatres. Under Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, the Times Square area, and especially this block, was DISNEY-A-FIED as the XXX theatres were bought up and the sex shops were regulated.

Today, the DISNEY BLOCK was basically shuttered, other than Madame Tussauds, and believe it or not, Ripley’s Believe It Or NOT, the only other tourist attraction on the block.

I thought to myself:

“Hell, give me those XXX theatres back! Anything, please!”

I walked further down 42nd St, made a left, and I saw Times Square, and my heart stopped.

It was about 2:30 pm Matinee time on a Wednesday.

I sighed a deep and scary sigh.

“Where is everybody? Where are the people? Where are the theatre-goers?” and I had to laugh when I thought this:

“Where are the tourists?”

“Hell, give me back the tourists! And the reason they come here - BROADWAY! WHERE IS EVERYBODY?”

And only one Times Square character: the guy on the stilts dressed as The Statue of Liberty!

Where is Iron Man, and Batman, and, (I can’t believe I am saying this!) Where is THE NAKED COWBOY?

I stood there frozen holding in an avalanche of tears.

“I need to stay present.

I need to stay here and take this in…

and…

…I need to cry!”

The dam broke and it flooded on to my black mask, and I became that guy weeping in Times Square, that guy crying in a black hoodie, staining his black mask with tears, as the Statue of Liberty on stilts watched in silence.

“It’s gone.

Broadway is gone for now. Theatre is gone for now.

That is what I need to accept, so I can move forward.”

Suddenly, I remembered something… something that happened in Times Square, a little over a year ago.

When I was moving out of our theatre on 45th St, it was clear that we had accumulated way too much stuff, and because I was pressed for time, I had to find homes for everything pronto for I didn’t want to throw good stuff away.

It was a Sunday afternoon, right around Matinee time, and I loaded up a cart with about 20 folding chairs from our theatre, and I rolled it two blocks to Time Square.

It was hot, a real NYC August hot, yet still there were hundreds of people crammed into Times Square hanging out, taking pictures with The Naked Cowboy, The Statue of Liberty, Batman, Elmo and more. And then, there were others, theatre goers passionately pushing their way through Times Square to make a Sunday matinee performance.

There was a lean homeless man sitting on the pavement by THE GAP with a paper cup full of change in front of him.

I rolled my cart of folding chairs up to him, and said:

"Hey, would you by any chance want a folding chair for free? Then, you won’t have to sit on the ground.”

And what I saw was like nothing I could ever have imagined. His eyes lit up, he smiled a smile which seemed like the first real smile he smiled in a very long time, and then he said, “Sure, I would love a chair.”

I took one off my cart and handed it to him.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” he said.

He unfolded the chair, set it on his spot, and then turned it to face the Coca-Cola sign above the TKTS booth.

He then sat down on it like a KING on a brand new throne.

And instantly, I became that crazy man weeping like a baby in Times Square.

But I was weeping from joy.

That crazy hot August day, when I gave away the chairs, was one of the greatest days of my life. So many of the homeless were so thankful and happy, some even utterly overjoyed.

And all I did was give them something to sit on, and some respect.

And there I was today, again, weeping like a baby in Times Square, but this time, I was NOT weeping from joy.

I was weeping from the loss of a world I FEAR I will never experience again.

This Times Square was not the Times Square I remembered.

And then, I had the flash of The Time Square chairs.

I immediately stopped crying, and started to laugh through my tear-stained mask, and I am sure The Statue of Liberty thought I was crazy.

And Ms. Liberty was probably right.

I was crazy to get caught up in my FEAR.

I can’t change what has happened, but I can show up and LEAN into this brave new world, and choose compassion and choose to be a part of the solution. Times Square was again reminding me that even little things can make a big difference in your life, and in the lives of others.

A gift of a folding chair, and respect.

So do what you can.

And in that moment, I decided to take lots of pictures, share this story, and stop the weeping.

I took a walk by many of the Broadway theatres and I took pictures of the notices on their doors, in regard to closing, ticket refunds and more.

(Click on images to enlarge!)

And then I swung back around to Times Square and the TKTS booth, where, in my lifetime, I have spent many hours happily waiting on line for inexpensive Broadway tickets.

“WHERE

IS

EVERYBODY?”

“Where the heck is everybody?”

My stomach started to tighten again, as my tear ducts swelled.

I looked to my right and there were chairs and small tables that had been brought in by the city to create an eating area in Duffy Square, right in the middle of Times Square.

I grabbed a chair.

I walked around the TKTS booth, and placed the chair in front of the statue of Father Duffy. I sat down and I stared up at the Coca-Cola sign.

“I’m here in New York City.

And I am not going anywhere.

I am a part of the solution.”

And as I sat there, like a King on a brand new throne looking up at the Coca-Cola sign, I smiled the first real smile I have smiled in a very long time.

Here are some more pictures of my Times Square pilgrimage.

(Click on the smaller images to enlarge.)

A Written Script is NOT a play!

I talk about this all the time on The Playwriting Podcast because this is so important for you to remember as a playwright when you are in the process of writing a “play.” Even though I have had some very expressive communication on Twitter when I have posted about this, I will say it again, because it is true, and it will make you a better PLAY CREATOR.

A SCRIPT IS NOT A PLAY.

A written play is just a script, a map for the playwright, director, creative team and cast to bring it to life. A PLAY IS A LIVE EXPERIENCE! Never be married to your script for it is TWO DIMENSIONAL. It needs direction, actor choices, set, costumes, lighting, sound, venue and audience to bring it to the next level.  

The rehearsal process is the most important process in the PLAY CREATION journey. It is where you discover what works, and what doesn't work. It is where you discover that your dialogue sucks at times and at other times, you discover that your dialogue is eloquent and witty. It is where your characters breathe, where you discover real behavior, and real emotion. It is where your characters discover what they are fighting for, and it is where the actors discover BIG FRIGGIN' holes in your play. It is trial and error time while your director and actors look at scenes in different ways, and sometimes they create something which is so much better than what was in your script! SO MUCH BETTER - you just gave them a MAP, and together, with the creative team, you created magic.  

The good news is now you get to take credit for that magic as if you wrote it. That is fun. You built a map of an exciting story, and through creative collaboration, your story is now so much better.

Don't be addicted to your play. Anything about it. Often, in most full length plays I read, there are too many characters, too many subplots and lots of ”stuff.” In rehearsal, you can see what is too much, and what is too little. Focus on the thru line of the main character or characters and throw the rest away. Also, if you have too much LOCAL COLORING in your script, you will see it as soon as the actors start embodying your play. The actors, and the costumes, set and lighting will create the world - you don't have to color it with stories or dialogue that doesn’t serve the throughline of the play. Trust the creative team and remember that your play is a live experience!

Feel free to admit you wrote too much and CUT, CUT, CUT in rehearsal. When embodied, and developed by good actors and a wise director, you will clearly see what does not serve your play.

And you don't have to tell the audience anything!

Trust your creative team.

So stop writing ad infinitum in order to create the PERFECT play.

Get a director and some actors (on Zoom,) and start to bring your play to life, and see what your play will teach you.

So stop.  

Get off your computer in your quest to WRITE the perfect play.

GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD, 
and BRING YOUR PLAY TO LIFE!

"nuff said!"

Writing Tips for Playwrights

1. Always give yourself an EMOTIONAL deadline.

Alway give yourself a deadline to complete your work, but make it an EMOTIONAL deadline - meaning that there will be some sort of negative consequence if you don't make the deadline on time. (Example: $1000 to your spouse or significant other if you don't make the deadline.)$1000 if you don’t make the deadline? Do you think you might be a little more motivated than usual?

As playwrights and creators, left to our own devices, we often renogotiate our deadlines turning the deadline into a feeble wish.

Try committing to a real EMOTIONAL deadline so you have some leverage on yourself to really get the work done.

2. Write. Write. Write. And DON'T EDIT so much!

Get some actors to bring your script to life informally or in a workshop situation. Stop editing so much in the writing phase and edit in and around rehearsal when you can see and hear what is really working. I have done this for years and it works, and it is so much more fun than agonizing over words on paper. When actors speak and live your words, you can easily see and hear what works and what doesn’t.

3.  Take time off from writing and get into nature.

Especially in this Brave New World, if you are in your apartment all day long on your computer, eventually your creative juices are going to get sapped. A good strategy is to take some time to refuel by going outside into nature.

Go to the park, or take a hike into the woods, or a walk on the beach. Shut down for a while. Don’t think about your play, just hang out in nature. You'll be amazed at what will happen when you get back to writing. Shutting down your conscious brain by being in nature will actually help you write better. Go figure!

4. Write from your gut, your personal experience, and don't pull punches.

If your story is based on truth, change the names and write it. Writing about a real dramatic personal experience will power your play and your writing in insanely wonderful ways.

Don't pull punches.

Go for the KNOCK OUT.

Dare to be painfully honest in your storytelling.

Channel the story, and don’t apologize for being truthful.

You are a storyteller.

So tell the story.


Commit to your Playwriting Career!

In 1990, after producing one of my plays Off-Broadway, a tribute play to my late father, I gave up theatre. The process of producing this play took the life out of me, for I was so passionately committed to it, but due to creative team problems and more, I didn’t get the play production that I hoped for.

And I was devastated.

(I was also a very dramatic 31 years of age.)

So I gave up the theatre for 6 years. I focused on my Fitness business up in Westchester, and I also started doing some public speaking and more, but I told myself I would never go back to writing and producing plays.

Then in 1996, something happened that made me question all my negative beliefs and WAKE up again.

I was training with a Fitness client for the 1996 New York City Marathon, and we were committed to running the race together. We started training in June, running and training together 4 times a week, and each week, we slowly added mileage to progressively build up our endurance.

We had a fantastic time training, until a very dark Sunday in Mid-September. We were running one of our longer runs - 18 miles, and BOOM, my knee started to hurt. I needed to stop, but because my client, who I was running with, was doing well, I decided to push through the pain so that I didn’t look like a wimp. Not a good idea.

The next day, I could barely walk due to intense knee pain.

I immediately went to my orthopedist who told me to lay off for a week, and then go to a physical therapist to build up the muscles in my upper leg, for there was an imbalance that caused my kneecap to become subluxated.

“Do you think I will be able to run the Marathon in 6 weeks?” I asked him, knowing his answer.

He smiled, and lovingly said, “No. You won’t be able to run. Right now you need to get this knee back into shape.”

So I was DEVASTATED (for I was a dramatic 31 years of age,) but part of me just didn’t believe my doctor.

Part of me knew, I had to complete this race.

A week later, when I started physical therapy, I asked my therapist Nestor, “Do you think I can run this marathon in 6 weeks?”

He smiled, and then lovingly said, “Anything is possible. You may be able to run this race, but if you do, you have to do it safely so you don’t hurt yourself, and you have to promise me that.”

“Yes!” I said immediately.

“And you have to be willing to do things differently.”

“Yes! No problem.”

“So let’s make an appointment for tomorrow and I will set you up on an alternate training program to keep you safe and hopefully, get you to that finish line!”

Nestor was a smart guy, for he came from the belief that there is always a way. There may not be a way, but he always started there, and that is a good place to start.

When I arrived at our MARATHON training session, he immediately put me on the treadmill. It was off, and I stood there looking at thim strangely. He knew that when I walked my knee hurt like heck.

“So Ken, I want you to turn around.” Nestor said with a fiendish smile.

“What?”

“I want you to turn around, and then I am going to start the treadmill, and we are going to see if it will hurt if you walk BACKWARDS. 60% of the joint pressure is removed when someone walks backwards.”

I turned around. He turned on the treadmill, and I started to walk backwards…

And it DIDN’T HURT! WILD.

He smiled at me and said “Fun, huh? So now you CAN walk but just in the wrong direction. So in addition to our strengthening therapy, I want you to start walking backwards and systematically add more mileage each week.”

“It is 5 weeks to the marathon, I am never going to get to 26 miles.”

“This is not about endurance. This is about walking. In addition, to daily walking backwards, do you have access to a pool?”

“What the heck is going on here?” I thought.

“Yes, I can get access to the SUNY PURCHASE pool.”

Great. I want you to do deep water running and swimming at least 4 days a week, building up to 3 hours by marathon time. That will help build your cardiovascular endurance. Plus you haven’t totally lost your endurance from your earlier training, you have only been off about a week, so this should be fine.”

So there began my “Possibility” marathon training, and I dove in with an insane passion like never before.

I did my physical therapy three times a week, and my deep water running and swimming 4 times a week as prescribed, and I started passionately walking backward. Eventually, I found treadmill walking boring, so since it was a beautiful Indian Summmer that fall, I started walking backwards outside with a mirror so that I wouldn’t run into things.

And I got so good at it, I began to RUN backwards with a mirror and then without a mirror! I would run on the backstreets of Rye, NY, where I was living, and somehow I intuitively missed potholes, dog do and more. It was like my passion and commitment to run this race, was somehow guiding and protecting me.

I got so good at running backwards, I was able to run a 10 minute mile BACKWARDS without tripping or bumping into anything. You should have seen the faces on cars driving by! (I was running backwards so I could see their faces!) What the heck was this man doing, and doing so well?

The day of the race, my training partner and I met at 6 am and took the bus to Staten Island where the The NYC Marathon starts. I had only run forward in water, or swam, or run backwards on land. That day, the day of the race, I would run forward for the first time in 6 weeks and hopefully complete the 26.2 mile adventure ahead.

BANG! The race began and all 33,000 of us started the run across the Verranzano Bridge (Today the race is often twice that number.) With so many people on the bridge the bridge actually bounced, and as the road before us opened up, and as I ran, it almost felt like I was on a trampoline, or I had some sort of super power. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life, almost flying on the Veranzano Bridge!

Needless to say, I finished the race, as did my training partner. At one point, I was “hitting the Wall” and I sent her on to finish without me.

I was at the Willis Avenue bridge, and my left knee was throbbing and I knew I couldn’t push through pain, so I took some patella-femoral tape I brought with me, and I TAPED my subluxating kneecap in place, and I stood up and started to run slowly. The pain was minimal. This was still possible. I turned on Celene Dion’s Meatloaf Cover “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and let the song take me, and I miraculously ran the last 8.2 miles to the finish line.

I chose to believe in possibility, and I did it.

That night, I went home and dunked myself in an ICE TUB repeatedly, so that, hopefully, I could walk the next day, and then I bundled up in warm pajamas and went to bed. As I lay there, I saw that all my excuses for not being a creative artist were bullshit. Total hogwash. I had one negative experience and because of that I gave up theatre? I let the pain of 1 event, shape the course of my life?

So lying in bed that night, weeping like a newborn baby, I committed to being a playwright/actor once again, for in that moment, it was clear, it was my life’s work.

That night, after the 1996 marathon, was the beginning of my Renaissance as a playwright and creative artist.

I started writing furiously and producing my plays furiously, and my life transformed, leading to the creation of Manhattan Rep in 2005, all because I choose to believe in possibility, and find a way no matter what.

You can’t let negative experiences and beliefs waylay your playwriting career. All those things that you believe are true that stop you, are bullshit. (Forgive my French, but it is true!) If you commit, choose to adapt when you are not getting the results you want, and keep going, truly living from your creative passion, YOU WILL GET THERE.

So it is time for you to commit to your playwriting career.

Yes, you may be running a marathon, but it is much better than watching from on the sidelines.

Make the bold, and fearful choice, to believe in POSSIBILITY, take inspired action, and live the life of your dreams!



What To Do as a Playwright and Creator When Everything Doesn't Make Sense Anymore!

So we are in a challenging time for theatre artists. For the most part, globally, theatre has been outlawed, until a time when, with creative solutions, or a vaccine or cure, it can be brought to life again. Never in the history of this planet, have we been unable to bring plays to life, and for playwrights, actors, directors, and all who participate in creating theatre, this can be a devastating time.

How do we shift this REALITY?

How can you make this time meaningful?

This first thing we need to do is change the DEVASTATING meaning we have given this theatrical speedbump. Yes, it has been devastating for all of us. We have lost friends, family, our livelihood, our passion and for many of us, the reason we get up in the morning! This has been an incredibly terrible event in the history of the world, and we need to grieve for loved ones, for things lost, and for a world that we may never see again in the old way that we loved so much.

So take the time to grieve.

If not, it will follow you.

I remember years ago, when my father passed away suddenly, I was a wreck for months. I was not fun to be with. I couldn’t focus on anything except the fact I missed him. Finally 6 months after his death, I got on a plane by myself and flew to the Greek Isles, and I found a secluded rock that looked out over the Mediterranean Sea, and I howled to the Gods for taking my father’s life! I was there for over 12 hours letting loose the worst pain in my life a la GREEK THEATRE. It was like nothing I have ever felt before, and hopefully will never feel again.

I weep now as I think about it.

But when I climbed down from that rock, I was in the present moment again. I let my pain and my judgments about what life did to me go, so that I could move forward in my life.

If you are BELIEVING that you are stuck, I invite you to LET IT GO and GRIEVE, whatever your pain might be, the loss of a friend, a family member, or simply the loss of a world you miss so much. Take the time to go someplace safe, where you won’t be interrupted until you are finished, and let yourself FEEL.

And when you come down from your rock, make the choice to create in a new way, a bigger way, a bolder way, so that when we get through this pause, you will have created your best work that you could only have created because of the events you have experienced through this pandemic.

The events that shook you up and spit you out. The events which lead you to believe you had no more creative power in you and the events that led you to believe you were devastated, when you were really being born anew.

And now, with fresh eyes, and a courageous, open heart, it is time to write.