Adam Szymkowicz's Blog, page 21

Jack and Jill Plays - Part 51 - Another Year

new play. don't reproduce or produce without my permission.

Another Year

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JILL is reading a letter or writing a letter she wrote.)

JILL

All The Things I Never Said

One

Some days I can't stand you.

Two

Your kindness makes me cry sometimes.

Three

I wish you would clean out the fridge without me asking.

Four

I don't want to talk about it.

Five

Can one human ever really know another, like really know?

Six

I don't think I'm enough like what I wish I was.

Seven

I'm not enough.

Eight

I can never be what you want me to be.

Nine

Just give me five minutes.

Ten

I just want to take a shower.

Eleven

Make your own food.

Twelve

Are these bad shoes?

Thirteen

I'm gonna stop drinking.

Fourteen

I'm never going to stop drinking.

Fifteen

I hate that I'm mortal.

Sixteen

Don't wake me up. Just don't.

Seventeen

Another year has passed and I'm no different.

Sigh.

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Published on October 06, 2017 10:19

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 50 - Forbidden Fruit

a new play. Don't do anything with it before you ask me. Thanks.

Forbidden Fruit

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK and JILL and SNAKE in the garden. JACK and JILL are not wearing a lot.)

SNAKE

So you gotta eat the fruit.

JACK

I don't want to eat the fruit. I mean are there cookies.

JILL

Eat the fruit.

SNAKE

Eat it.

JILL

It's good for you. Look. I'm eating it too.

JACK

I know. I just don't want to.

SNAKE

Eat it!

JILL

For once will you just make a better choice? I'm tired of all the bad choices you make.

JACK

Fine. Fine. Look. I'm eating it. See?

JILL

It's good, right?

JACK

It's good.

SNAKE

I'll see you guys later.

(Exit SNAKE.)

JACK

Wait a minute. Were we allowed to eat this fruit?

JILL

Why wouldn't be allowed to eat fruit.

JACK

I feel like someone told me something about the fruit over here.

JILL

Maybe.

JACK

I'm almost sure.

JILL

Do you feel different after eating it?

JACK

A little. Like I know better that I don't know anything.

JILL

Harmless.

JACK

Are you cold?

JILL

A little.

JACK

We should put something on.

JILL

Okay.

JACK

You think we could get in trouble? For eating it?

JILL

I know! We'll write a note. Take this down.

(JAKE gets paper and writes.)

JILL

This is just to say

We have eaten

The fruits

that were on

the tree

and which

we think we were probably

not supposed

to eat

Forgive us

They were pretty good

and we feel

only a little different

JACK

Good. I'll put it under the rock.

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Published on October 05, 2017 10:00

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 49 - Prague

this is my play. all rights reserved. (so like if you want to do something with it, ask me first.)

Prague

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK and JILL sitting on the grass.)

JILL

I feel like this moment right here--

JACK

This moment?

JILL

Yeah. It might be one I remember forever. It all depends on what you say next.

(A long pause.)

JACK

That's too much pressure.

JILL

Or maybe I'll think of us and remember sitting on the grass, listening to the birds, not doing anything.

JACK

Maybe.

JILL

When I'm so busy someday maybe I'll remember this.

JACK

I'll remember Prague.

JILL

Prague. Sure. Prague. (pause) I am sorry.

JACK

Let's not talk about it.

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Published on October 04, 2017 10:51

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 48 - Raccoon

a short play. don't do anything with it unless you ask me first, you know?

Raccoon

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK is playing with a slinky. Enter JILL.)

JILL

Hey Jack.

JACK

Hey Jill.

JILL

Did you know we'll all die someday?

JACK

I didn't know that. Can we come back as raccoons?

JILL

Yes.

JACK

Cool.

JILL

Also--

JACK

What?

JILL

I'm sleeping with Sarah.

JACK

Oh. I always liked Sarah.

JILL

Me too. Me too. That's why we did some nasty together. It's over now of course. Which is why I'm telling you.

JACK

To upset me.

JILL

To feel better.

JACK

Oh.

JILL

But yeah, I guess I upset you, huh?

JACK

Yeah. You did do that. Ow. It feels like pain. A little. Ow. Mmm. Oh. I'm gonna go then.

JILL

What?

JACK

I'm moving out.

JILL

Why so?

JACK

Betrayal.

JILL

Oh.

JACK

I dislike betrayal.

JILL

I see.

JACK

So I'm moving out.

JILL

I shouldn't have told you.

JACK

I don't know. Yeah. Maybe. I've been thinking about The Stranger and I think. I think. He just shouldn't have shot the Arab.

JILL

I see that. I see that. Sure. So you'll move out?

JACK

Yeah. I feel like I should yell things but I don't feel like it.

JILL

Okay.

JACK

I'm taking the TV.

JILL

Yeah. I get that.

(JACK exits dejected.)

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Published on October 03, 2017 10:41

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 47 - What Happened?

another short new play. you must ask my permission if you wish to do anything with it. Thanks!

What Happened?

by Adam Szymkowicz

JILL

It's the end of an era.

JACK

Is it?

JILL

I remember when. Before. Way back.

JACK

Yeah.

JILL

Do you remember?

JACK

I remember some things.

JILL

We were so young.

JACK

Yeah.

JILL

And full of beans.

JACK

Yeah.

JILL

What happened?

JACK

I've been thinking about this and I think . . . now hear me out . . I think we became who we were supposed to be.

JILL

Huh. Maybe. Okay. Maybe. But also, maybe not yet.

JACK

Soon?

JILL

Maybe soon.

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Published on October 02, 2017 09:00

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 46 - Transformation

Play by me. All rights reserved. Contact me if you wish to produce or reproduce.

Transformation

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK and JILL are wrestling. It's sort of like WWE. Ridiculous moves. Posturing. It goes on for a while until one of them wins. You decide who that is based on what makes sense for your actors or whose turn it is or whatever.)

WINNER

Ha!

LOSER

I know.

WINNER

Ha! HA!

LOSER

Yeah yeah. Two out of three?

WINNER

No. I can't do that again.

LOSER

Then maybe I win. You default.

WINNER

I won. We can all agree I won.

LOSER

Whatever.

WINNER

I won.

LOSER

Want to play chess?

WINNER

No.

LOSER

You're afraid to lose?

WINNER

Yeah. I need this to feel good about myself right now.

LOSER

Okay. Fine. I'm going to go eat a cookie.

WINNER

I want a cookie. Maybe I shouldn't.

LOSER

You shouldn't.

WINNER

I think I'm going to wake up tomorrow a completely new person.

LOSER

Really?

WINNER

Yeah.

LOSER

Me too.

(As they exit.)

WINNER

Don't take my thing. You always do that.

LOSER

We can both have a transformation.

WINNER

I guess.

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Published on October 01, 2017 10:00

Jack And Jill Plays - Part 45 - Lasagna

New short play. Ask my permission if you want to do anything with it.

Lasagna

by Adma Szymkowicz

(JACK whittling a stick, barefoot. Enter JILL.)

JILL

Whatcha doin'?

JACK

Whittlin'.

JILL

Huh.

JACK

Yup.

JILL

The world moves past you and you sit there without any shoes on.

JACK

Yup.

JILL

I could do that.

JACK

Sure.

JILL

But I won't.

JACK

Yeah.

JILL

Wanna hear about my studies?

JACK

Sure. How are your studies going?

JILL

Good. I'm moving towards something. Refining my mind. Moving forward.

JACK

That's good. I'm making this stick pointier.

JILL

Are you making dinner?

JACK

I could make dinner but if I'm making dinner, it's lasagna.

JILL

Okay.

JACK

Okay.

(Exit JILL.)

JACK

Hey! You still there? Hey! You ghost! Are you still there? No? No?

(JACK listens really hard. Sounds of wind. Jack looks up.)

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Published on September 30, 2017 11:36

I Interview Playwrights Part 1000: C. Denby Swanson

C. Denby Swanson

Hometown: Austin, TX

Current Town: Austin, TX

Q: What are you working on now?

A: A Sloan/EST science-play commission called NUTSHELL, a one-woman show about Frances Glessner Lee, who is considered the “mother of forensic science.” She built the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, these precise miniatures of crime scenes, which are housed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore and still, as Frances intended, used to train homicide detectives. I’m also writing a memoir and TV pilot about my first year as a foster parent. I fostered for five years and adopted my son in 2014.

Q: Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.

A: When I was a kid, like 6 or something, I was visiting my maternal grandparent’s house in East Texas, and a family friend came over. She was an opera singer. I thought she was quite glamorous. She asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up and I wanted to impress her so I said that I wanted to be an actor. My grandmother got angry and told me I was NOT going to be an actor, I was going to be a journalist. And I thought, Oohhh, if I grow up to be an actor it will make her mad! THAT IS SO COOL. Now I MUST be an actor. I went to HSPVA, the arts magnet high school in Houston. Then I was a theater major in college. My intention was to be an actor. My grandmother died my senior year. That’s when I found out that she had toured East Texas doing productions of Shakespeare. When she married, she gave it up and never spoke about it again. And I am actually a writer.

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: More yes.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: Caryl Churchill, Irene Fornes, Adrienne Kennedy. And then Suzan-Lori Parks 365 Days/365 Plays. What kind of theater excites you? Small, intimate, unexpected, physical, impossible theater. The company I worked for in the 90’s, Frontera@HydePark Theater, did a production of Naomi Iizuka’s POLAROID STORIES, and I felt spiritually renewed every time I saw it.

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: My 7th grade science teacher, Mr. Cole, urged us to observe 10 things a day. Which I still do. Other than that, I heard someone ask Suzan-Lori Parks how to start a play and her answer was just, you know, “Start.” Start. Do it. Say yes.

Q: When not writing on a computer, what's your go-to paper and writing utensil?

A: I like the Miquelrius journals with graph paper and a fine-tipped blue ink pen. I doodle a lot and draw lots of arrows.

Q: When on computer, what's your font?

A: I used to experiment with fonts but then I became a parent and now don’t have the time or energy to mess with anything other than Times New Roman.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: My “killer comedy” THE NORWEGIANS is available through Dramatists Play Service. And I have several plays for young people available through Playscripts. I just finished a workshop of a new play I’ve been working on with Stephen Bittrich and David Marantz, a one-man holiday-themed dark comedy called I AM MY OWN SANTA, which received Seed Support from ScriptWorks, the Austin playwright services organization. We’re working on some production options. My new one-act for young actors, THE SUBSTITUTE TEACHER’S TALE, is being produced this fall in Dallas. I wrote the play for the students of a former student of mine about my high school English teacher, Mrs. Catley, and her love of the Canterbury Tales. I like the legacy of writing about an important teacher for a student who is now a teacher with students of his own.

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Published on September 30, 2017 05:00

Jack and Jill Plays - Part 44 - Dusty

another short play. All right reserved-- don't produce or reproduce without my permission.

Dusty

by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK and JILL facing each other, not quite seeing each other)

JACK

The wind kicks up and I can barely see through the dust. I know she's there, but the dust. The dust!

JILL

There's a buried city in my head. So many stories, memories, worries, wishes, hopes, anger, disappointment, joy, loss, so much drama all enacting but one click and it's all over.

JACK

I'm a cowboy and I pull up my kerchief over my nose and I put on the goggles so I can see. She's there. I know she's there. One day the dust will settle and I'll find her again. I just have to keep going.

JILL

Jack?

JACK

Jill, I hear you. Where are you?

JILL

Somewhere you can't follow.

JACK

Jill!

JILL

Jack! ... Jack!

JACK

Jill!

JILL

nn.

JACK

But she's gone.

JILL

One click and it's over. The electric impulses die. Life was... whatever life was. It continues for others. But for me.

JACK

The dust and the dust and the dust and the dust.

JILL

And then the rain.

JACK

But nothing gets washed away.

JILL

You'll remember me, won't you?

JACK

I still have teeth marks on my arm.

JILL

Remember me.

JACK

I'll try.

JILL

And then the wind blows once more and I'm gone.

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Published on September 29, 2017 09:00

I Interview Playwrights Part 999: Melissa Ross

Melissa Ross

Hometown: All over Massachusetts

Current Town: NYC

Q: What are you working on now?

A: A few plays that are hard to write and so I keep trying to write them and then I don't write them and then I talk a lot about writing them and then I write a little more and then I think about them and read books that are thematically relevant and talk about writer's block and then I try to write a few more pages and around I go again. Lately writing has felt a little three steps forward two steps back. Moving in the right direction - but painstakingly slow.

Q: Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.

A: When I was about six or seven I wrote a short story that I thought was very intense and serious. And I remember all of the adults reading it and laughing and talking about how it was so great because it was so funny. And I was totally confused. And frustrated. And a little bit disappointed. Because in my head very dramatic high stakes things were happening in this short story. I don't think too much about what is funny when I'm writing. Whenever I try to write a joke it usually fails horribly. Because regular people don't often speak in well crafted jokes - and so I think the writing immediately shows itself. I often find that the parts of my plays that people find the funniest - are the moments of heightened anger or frustration or almost unbearable awkwardness.

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: The ability to have more inclusive audiences. I go to see theater and it's often the same mix of subscribers and theater industry people. I was working in a nursing home once and I kept thinking. Wouldn't it be so great to bring pieces of currently running plays to the elderly since a lot of them never get out anymore. I also used to teach teens and I tried to bring them to plays with me as much as I could. Theater is such a wonderful thing. And there should be more ways to make it accessible to more people.

Q: What are some of your favorite theatrical moments or performances?

A: The final scene between John Ortiz and Ron Cephas Jones in Jesus Hopped the A Train. Kristine Nielsen's phone monologue in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Cherry Jones's last moment in Doubt. A Juilliard workshop of a play called The Last Pair of Earlies by Josh Allen. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating. Elizabeth Rodriguez's Saint Monica monologue in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Amy Morton's "I'm running things now!" in August Osage County. Ian Rickson's The Seagull. Katrina Lenk singing Omar Sharif in The Band's Visit. Carrie Coon in Mary Jane. Every single second of The Humans.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: I love plays where the writer is risking something personal to tell the story. That doesn't necessarily mean autobiographical. I think the plays that writers want to hide away from view are the plays that desperately need to be seen. Sometimes the more personal something gets it eventually turns a corner into being universal. People talk a lot about actors leaving their hearts on the stage - but I think writers do it too. When a writer leaves their heart on the stage - the feeling in the theater is palpable. It's the most beautiful thing to be in the audience when that happens.

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: Oh gosh read everything. Read so many plays. Read anything you can find at the library. Ask lots of different people what their ten favorite plays are and then read as many of those as you can. Read plays by writers who don't write the kinds of plays you think you like. Get together with your friends and read plays out loud because it's the best. Try to see plays produced that you've read so you can see what was on the page and what wasn't. Get your friends together and put up a play in whatever space you can. If you've never been an actor before - take an acting class so you understand the process of learning lines and making active choices. If you are going to write for actors I think it's so important to experience first hand what it means to bring text to life. And to have empathy and appreciation for what actors do.

Q: When not writing on a computer, what's your go-to paper and writing utensil? When on computer, what's your font?

A: I actually write all of my plays longhand. I eventually get to a computer but the first draft is all pen and paper. I used to love classic black and white composition books. When I got older I graduated to the faux leather moleskin with the elastic placekeeper. I like all pens. I switch it up. Sometimes I like a ball point. Sometimes I like a roller ball. Sometimes I like a razor felt tip. I also have a weird and random collection of pens from hotels that wasn't intentional but now it's definitely a thing.

My go-to font is Bookman Old Style. I am also possibly the only playwright who writes in Word. People always say "But if you write in Final Draft you don't have to keep writing the character's name and centering it!" But I guess I like typing the character's name. And centering it.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: This winter - Nice Girl will be at The Raven Theatre in Chicago directed by Lauren Shouse. And then in the spring my play An Entomologist's Love Story will be at San Francisco Playhouse directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Oh and go see the ESPA Drills readings next week!
http://primarystages.org/espa/espa-programs/espa-drills

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