Adam Szymkowicz's Blog, page 29
August 22, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 6 - You and Me
About Jack and Jill Plays:
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
You and Me
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JACK and JILL in bed. JACK reads.)
JILL
And then I sang a song, Jack.
JACK
What?
JILL
So then I sang a song. The light fell on me and all the hairs on my body stood up and I opened my mouth and the most amazing song came out.
(JILL is standing now in a spotlight, electrified.)
JACK
Okay.
JILL
It went like this:
(JILL sings.)
JILL
ALL MY HATS ARE NEW HATS
ALL MY THOUGHTS ARE GOLD
WE WILL NEVER EVER WANDER
WE WILL NEVER GET OLD
WE WON'T THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE
DON'T DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD
I AM JILL!
I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR SOCIAL NORMS
DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT
ANTI SOCIAL POEMS
DON'T TELL ME WHERE TO GO
I'LL JUST STAY AT HOME
I AM JILL!
(JACK puts down whatever he's reading and stands and sings.)
JACK
THE COURSE OF OUR COARSE LOVE
WAS NEVER FINE TO ME
I CARVED OUR INITIALS
ON EVERY SINGLE TREE
I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO
TIL YOU TAUGHT ME HOW TO SEE
JACK and JILL
YOU AND ME
LOVING FREE
IN A TREE
S.E.X.T.I.N.G
JACK JILL
I AM JACK! I AM JILL!
(Blackout)
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August 21, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 5 - Dream House
About Jack and Jill Plays:
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
Dream House
by Adam Szymkowicz
(An architect's office. JACK has entered. he speaks with ARCHITECT)
JACK
Great, so, thanks for seeing me. So I want you to design a mansion for me.
ARCHITECT
A mansion?
JACK
Like a small mansion.
ARCHITECT
Okay.
JACK
Like a victorian with flourishes.
ARCHITECT
What kind of flourishes?
JACK
Lots of towers. An indoor pool. Tunnels. Secret passageways. A moat.
ARCHITECT
A moat?
JACK
Maybe not a moat. Bushes shaped like dragons. Large steel sculptures. And in the backyard, Stone Henge.
ARCHITECT
You want me to draw all that up?
JACK
Yeah.
ARCHITECT
And then, you'll build it.
JACK
Someday.
ARCHITECT
I see.
JACK
When the money comes in.
ARCHITECT
I'm not cheap you know. Even drawing this up will take a lot of time.
JACK
Okay.
ARCHITECT
Maybe you should pay me before I do it.
JACK
Haven't you ever had a dream?
ARCHITECT
Of course.
JACK
This is my dream.
ARCHITECT
Sometimes you can just dream your dream without going to the drafting table.
JACK
I don't think so. No. I don't think so.
ARCHITECT
Or you could draw it yourself.
JACK
Maybe. But I can't really so I called you.
ARCHITECT
Will it be beautiful.
JACK
Of course.
ARCHITECT
I want to make something beautiful What about fountains?
JACK
I love fountains.
ARCHITECT
I thought you might. What about a courtyard in the middle of the forest? With café tables and gas lanterns?
JACK
Yes! How about canals like in Venice.
ARCHITECT
Wonderful! do you like gargoyles?
JACK
Who doesn't like gargoyles?
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August 20, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 4 - Run
About Jack and Jill Plays:
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
Run
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JACK is freaking out. JILL enters.)
JACK
AAAahgh!
JILL
What?
JACK
I'm freaking out!
JILL
What is it?
JACK
What if I never amount to anything my whole life and it's all just a waste?
JILL
What do you mean?
JACK
I'm a failure.
JILL
Yeah but we all are.
JACK
What?
JILL
Everyone you know is a failure, right?
JACK
I know some people who aren't.
JILL
You don't know them that well though. It's fine. It's okay to be a failure. Now. Tomorrow. For a while. It won't be forever, probably.
JACK
But it could be.
JILL
Well you won't know for a while so relax. Things could get worse.
JACK
I guess. Yeah. I guess. I just want them to get better.
JILL
Are you doing anything about that?
JACK
No.
JILL
Do one thing. Just one thing. Today.
JACK
Yeah. I could do that I bet. One thing.
JILL
Good.
JACK
Why do you have such a handle on this? You should be freaking out too.
JILL
Yeah, I know. It's just that I ran a mile and I did it pretty fast so I feel pretty good about myself.
JACK
Should I do that?
JILL
No, don't do that. You'll just fall on your face and then you'll feel worse.
JACK
Yeah. You're right.
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August 19, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 3 - Snake
About Jack and Jill Plays:
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
Snake
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JILL stands over a dead snake holding a shovel. The snake is in two pieces.)
JILL
Jack!! Ja-ack!
(JACK enters.)
JILL
I killed this snake.
JACK
I see. Was it--
JILL
I didn't like how it was looking at me. Is there a rattle?
JACK
It's a-- I think it's a garter snake.
JILL
It looks poisonous.
JACK
Maybe. I don't know. We can look it up.
JILL
You could make boots out of it. Don't people make boots out of snakeskin?
JACK
I'm no cobbler.
JILL
Or like a fanny pack or something.
JACK
Sure. Maybe. Or maybe we just chuck it out back.
JILL
It's fresh. We could eat it. Wanna look up how to cook it?
JACK
No, I don't want to do that. My brother was arrested.
JILL
Oh.
JACK
Again. Drugs.
JILL
I'm sorry.
JACK
It's fine. I'm going to go back inside.
JILL
Should I cook this?
JACK
Please don't. I'll make pasta.
JILL
Okay.
JACK
Or something. I'm glad the snake didn't hurt you.
JILL
Me too.
JACK
Come inside?
JILL
In a bit.
(JACK exits. JILL looks at the snake.)
JILL
Not today, snake. Not today.
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August 18, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 2 - See
About Jack and Jill Plays:
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
See
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JACK and JILL are standing knee deep in snow. It is snowing lightly. They look at each other but say nothing.)
JACK
He'll come back.
JILL
What if he doesn't?
JACK
He'll get hungry. He has to eat.
JILL
What if he was hit by a car or what if he just lied down and froze to death.
JACK
I guess. I don't know. Why would he do that?
JILL
Hypothermia?
JACK
Yeah. I told you we should have gotten a goldfish. A goldfish wouldn't do this.
JILL
You don't see me.
JACK
What? Where's that coming from?
JILL
It's like you know I'm here but you don't see who I am.
JACK
I know you. I've known you for a long time.
JILL
You don't see me.
JACK
Okay, but no, you're wrong.
JILL
Do you think I have an addictive personality?
JACK
Only when you're depressed.
JILL
I see you. It's not fair.
JACK
Spot! Spot! He'll come back.
JILL
I'm not losing another one.
JACK
Spot!
(THEY stand there looking at each other.)
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August 17, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 1 - Purpose
About Jack and Jill Plays:
Today is my 40th birthday.
I'm going to do something new. Post a short play every day as long as I can. This does not mean that I wrote this play today but I might have. (My life is not always my own what with work and a 4 year old running around so maybe I wrote it today or maybe it was stockpiled in preparation for the days I can't get in writing.) My goal is to do at least 100 of these or maybe more but probably 45 or 50 is the length of a full length play so even that would be good. 100 would be better. 300? amazing. 500? Does anyone want 500 of these plays? Anyway, the goal is consecutive days.
The normal things about plays apply-- don't produce or reproduce this play without my permission. I wrote it so I own it. Etc.
Purpose
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JACK enters carrying a bucket. He tries to hand it to JILL.)
JACK
Here you go.
JILL
What's that?
JACK
A pail.
JILL
A pail?
JACK
A bucket.
JILL
What's it for?
JACK
We could carry water in it.
JILL
For what?
JACK
I don't know. Things.
JILL
I'm not going to drink water from your bucket. I have water glasses.
JACK
Or we could keep things in it.
JILL
Like what?
JACK
All sorts of things. Nuts and bolts. Snakes. Chains. Water.
JILL
Okay. Just put it somewhere I won't notice it.
JACK
It'll be really useful sometime. I promise.
JILL
Yeah, okay.
JACK
What's wrong?
JILL
Do I have a purpose?
JACK
Sure. Sure you do.
JILL
What is it?
JACK
Oh I bet there are lots of things you do every day.
JILL
Yeah but to what end?
JACK
Like a mission statement?
JILL
Or something.
JACK
We can come up with one. Come with me.
JILL
Where?
JACK
Up the hill. I want to fill up this bucket. Make sure it doesn't leak.
JILL
Okay. We'll find out what my purpose is.
JACK
Yeah, totally. We'll both find our purpose. Purposes. Purposi.
JILL
No.
(They exit with bucket.)
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August 8, 2017
I Interview Playwrights Part 968: Pete McElligott
Pete McElligott
Hometown: Lemont, IL.
Current Town: Brooklyn, NY.
Q: Tell me about In a Little Room:
A: I used to work in the radiology department of an emergency room when I was younger, and the thing I remember most about it was how it was simultaneously way too real and yet incredibly unreal. Way too real in that there is death everywhere with a little bit of birth and at least one Starbucks. Just incredibly unreal in that most people there have had their lives stopped. "I broke my ankle!" "My kid ate a poisonous plant!" "I think I'm having a baby!" All the patients and friends and family are just frozen in this strange purgatory of mortality where their life is not in their hands anymore. It doesn't feel like anywhere else. So I wrote a comedy about it! Which is to say, I wrote a story about what happens when two strangers who have both suffered a great loss bump into each other in a waiting room and try incredibly hard to act like normal human beings. They don't succeed. And it's kind of sad. But it's also really absurdly funny.
Q: What else are you working on now?
A: I'm working on an adaptation of Three Musketeers for The NOLA Project in New Orleans. I've adapted Alice in Wonderland and Don Quixote for them and both were a blast so I'm really looking forward to it. I've also written a ten-minute play that's about to get a production at the Stella Adler Studio. It's about how Santa Claus is actually an 18 year old girl. I had a lot of fun writing it so I'm excited to see the actors have fun with it.
Q: Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.
A: First off, I'm a twin. Which probably explains a bit of me. I remember when my twin brother and I were very little and we were convinced that at some point we were going to be forced to be married. I don't know why we became convinced of this, but we did. Clearly this was the way the world worked. People were born in pairs. One magically transformed into a woman. They got married. The cycle continued. That was fact. So we would argue over which one of us was going to be transformed into the woman. Imagine two five year old twin brothers, convinced of the certainty of this world, arguing vehemently over why the other one was the one that had to be magically transformed. That's pretty much what my brain as a writer looks like. I pick a topic, hand those five year olds the imaginary circumstances, and then just transcribe their passionate discourse.
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: The audience's expectation of it.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: I'd say the biggest one is probably Tom Mula. My parents were pretty fantastic in terms of making sure that I got out of the basement and actually did something with myself as a kid. And every year they would take us to see A Christmas Carol at The Goodman Theater in Chicago. And every year we went it was Tom Mula playing Scrooge. And that guy was just so good. And I remember the year we went and it wasn't him anymore. And I remember walking away thinking, "There is an art to this. Because that wasn't good." It was the first time that I actually started to think beyond just good and bad and start to think about why. What was it that Tom Mula did that this new guy didn't do? Or was it the director? Or was this a different adaptation? The following year we saw "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol," a one man show written and performed by Tom Mula. Seeing that show and seeing James Sie's adaptation of "The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death" pretty much started my career as a very young writer. They were just too creative and fun for me to not want to join in.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: I think of theater the way I think of food. Seeing a movie is like watching Food Network (and I love Food Network). Seeing bad Theatre is like going to a Wendy's. It's a guilty pleasure with no focus on experience (and I say that as someone who loves Wendy's). Great Theatre is like a fancy restaurant. They're thinking about the audience's palate. What's happening now is meant to change how you reflect on what happened before and what's about to happen next. They're trying to communicate something. They make sure that the audience is getting different flavors, different colors, and most importantly they're trying to get the audience to experience things they know, or think they know, in a new way. So to finally answer the question, theater that excites me is theater that plays like a tasting menu. It challenges my assumptions a little, it gives me something I'm unfamiliar with, gives me something that I'm excited for, and it offers me something I may or may not actually like. All building towards a specific experience. And maybe it comes with wine.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: I wrote two plays right out of college. One that was for me and one that I thought would get produced. The one that was for me had an insane plot and impossible stage directions and would have cost a lot to produce has been produced across the country. The one that I wrote because I thought it was producible hasn't.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: Come see "In a Little Room" at the Wild Project starting September 9th! It is my wife's favorite show of mine. And she's a woman of very good taste. Tickets are available at www.tenbones.org. And if you're in the New Orleans area next summer, Three Musketeers is going to be a pretty funny adventure. Keep an eye on The NOLA Project. www.nolaproject.com
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August 3, 2017
Jack And Jill Plays - Part 21
HAROLD
by Adam Szymkowicz
(JACK and JILL enter, exhausted and filthy. JACK collapses.)
JACK
I don't have anything left in me.
JILL
There's always something more.
JACK
Totally, right, except now. I'm done. Finished. Bury me here.
JILL
What shall I write on your tombstone?
JACK
Write: "I just couldn't do it any more."
JILL
Or I could just put, "Wuss."
JACK
Okay. Or that.
JILL
You're really done?
JACK
Yeah.
JILL
That's it?
JACK
That's it. I have failed at everything that could matter. The long day is done. The candle is out. The sun has set. The mayflies are all dead. Corn chips don't taste good any more. Music sounds dumb.
JILL
Maybe let's get to the house and you can lie down.
JACK
I can't make it. Go on without me. Remember my name. Whisper it to the wind.
JILL
I should have married Harold.
(JACK stands.)
JACK
I will continue and persevere. I will go inside. I will make you food. If you never ever say that name again.
JILL
What, Harold?
JACK
NEVER AGAIN!!
JILL
Okay.
(Exit JACK and JILL)
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July 28, 2017
NOW PUBLISHED!!
INCENDIARY
Play Description
Elise is a pyromaniac fire chief who falls in love with Jake, the detective investigating her fires. Carrie, Elise’s therapist, is trying to get her to stop lighting fires and Carrie’s husband, Gary, is leading the life of a somewhat ineffective corporate spy.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (4 female, 3 male, doubling, up to 15 actors)
Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
on Amazon. at BPP site.
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Play Description
Elise is a pyromaniac fire chief who falls in love with Jake, the detective investigating her fires. Carrie, Elise’s therapist, is trying to get her to stop lighting fires and Carrie’s husband, Gary, is leading the life of a somewhat ineffective corporate spy.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (4 female, 3 male, doubling, up to 15 actors)
Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
on Amazon. at BPP site.
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I Interview Playwrights Part 967: Daaimah Mubashshir
Daaimah Mubashshir
Hometown: Houston, Tx
Current town: New York City
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Not in this Room - a progressively heart warming family “dramedy” or maybe a “darmedy”. The family is Muslim and African American and the daughter is, of course queer, and the mom allows her to come home - so right there everybody knows this will be a comedy---all the way. And it’s super relatable too. I’ve had so much fun writing this play because it’s an homage to my mom. She is the absolute best.
Everyday Afroplay (EDAP) - is an ongoing daily playwriting exercise, a living play text, born out of a dire need to capture and express the ever-shifting perspective of living in black skin. (There are 70 plays posted online, now, but that will grow.) Over the past year I have presented EDAP twice, once at The Bushwick Starr and once at JACK. Between the processes of staging from The Bushwick Starr to JACK, I discovered that EDAP has a fluid nature that demands that the larger performance of the evening mold itself according to the space it inhabits. Each time EDAP is presented, it will be re-invented. As time passes there will be new plays added to the collection and each presentation site will call for different collaborators who will naturally have their own specific relationship to blackness and the collection of EDAP.
Tara Ahmadinejad and I are developing a musical, with New Georges, about the most perfect west village nanny that takes the kids to the other 4 boroughs. It's zany, hip , and socially conscious.
Lastly, Emilyn Kowaleski and I, are developing a new play that reimagines our favorite western philosophers – Aristotle and John Locke – as hard-core un-gentrified brooklynites (com-e-dy).
Q: Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.
A: As my mom tells it I was asking treacherous questions at three years old like “What is the Truth?” and “How will you know when I’m lying?” It might be that I am just hard wired for making stuff up. Growing up, I definitely got myself in lots of trouble, experimenting with truth versus lies. Also, my favorite place to pass the time was in the library. It still is… I would skip class just to hang out in the library. I didn’t go to my prom (for so many reasons) instead I was in a library somewhere… or at least that’s what I told my parents.
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: American Theater?
I don’t know. It's daunting to think about changing something that vehemently resists altering itself. It is exhausting. Especially coming from a point of view of an “emerging” playwright.
I love theatre so much. I need to write and make-work just about as much as I need food and water. Yet, when I examine what American Theater is today - what it deems as essential - who it acknowledges and celebrates - who it produces - who it feeds. I feel like I’m in a marriage of convenience or a one sided relationship of sorts. A relationship that any self respecting friend, therapist or even Delilah Rene (radio personality) would tell me to leave immediately ---- that I’m worth more, that I should look for someone who loves me back.
What gives me energy is looking at theatre as one type of bridge between language and human experience. That would make me a bridge-maker of sorts. As a queer, black, female raised in an Islamic Tradition, my background is full of conundrums and opposing ideologies. Which gives me plenty of building material to make some really interesting bridges. For my health and sanity, I focus my attention towards being the best bridge-maker I can be.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: This is the hardest question for me because on one hand I could list all the playwrights, theatre directors, and artists, whose work keeps me in the game. (See below) Or I could tell you about this one time, I was on the A train platform headed uptown- and an old man sat with his karaoke machine or maybe it was a boom box singing along with the Temptations “Just my Imagination” He was singing as if he had been doing it for years and tonight was the last night -That hard, with that much love, in such a mundane environment and an almost forgotten about song. It was the most theatrical experience… He actually cut me to my core … I cried all the way home.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: I am excited by theater that grasps for the truth, or theater that creates a truthful experience. Even a work that is built on lies can be truthful.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Read, read, read – everything
Study what you read to see how it is made
Try to re-make what you just read
If it’s too neat, then mess it up
Or if it’s too messy, make it neat.
Take what you just made and show it to your friends
be absolutely sure you trust these people
here is a Elizabeth Gilbert’s 4 question test:
· Do I trust this person's taste and judgment?
· Does this person understand what I'm trying to create here?
· Does this person genuinely want me to succeed?
· Is this person capable of delivering the truth to me in a sensitive and compassionate manner?
After showing it to your trusted network
then show it to people outside that network
rinse and repeat
Some of your peers might seem to be winning all the awards and opportunities and you are not. That is real. And it will most likely happen. Do not worry. Other peoples successes don’t make you any less successful. Honestly, there is no greater joy that re-reading my work and remembering the experience of making it. The tears, the anger, the laughter etc etc. Writing is the best healer of the human condition. No award can speak to that.
Q: When not writing on a computer, what's your go-to paper and writing utensil?
A: I love a black gel rollerball and a moleskine or one of the many journals I’ve gotten over the years for my birthday.
Q: When on computer, what's your font?
A: I love Helvetica
Q: Plugs, please:
A: Oooh so much fun stuff. I usually post upcoming events on my website –www.daaimahmubashshir.com You can also sign up for updates there as well.
A tiny partial list of playwrights, theatre makers, artists that keep me in the game (in no particular order)
Opera all types (Early Puccini is current fav)
Kerry James Marshall
Kaari Upson
Stacey Rose
Amina Henry
William Burke
Jonathan Payne
James Tyler
Richard Maxwell
Sarah Einspanier
debbie tucker green
Wole Soyinka
Alice Childress
Adrienne Kennedy
Pina Bausch
Raja Feather Kelly
Lynn Nottage
Charles Mee
Mimi Lien
Hoi Polloi
Chris Ofili
Alice Birch
Tim Crouch
Maria Irene Fornes
Jean Genet
***there are so many other names that go here****
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