The theater bug

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the effort to adapt my short story “This is Butte. You Have Ten Minutes” for the stage.

The effort, I should point out, belonged largely to other people: Patrick Wilson, the talented Billings actor, director and writer who prevailed upon me to offer something up for adaptation; and the cast who breathed life into the characters who previously existed only in the pages of Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure. (Of particular note here are Trevor Biondich and Kennedee Burk, who inhabited the mismatched pair at the center of the story.)

This past Friday night, after staying away from rehearsals out of deference to the cast and crew, I finally saw it on the stage, as part of the New Works Festival by the Billings-based Sacrifice Cliff Theatre Company. It was easily one of the coolest moments of my life, and I’m awed and humbled by what this group of artists did to make the story their own. I loved it so much that I’ll be back next weekend to see it one last time.

The whole experience has me thinking about ways I want to stretch myself in the months ahead. I’ve committed myself to starting a new novel this spring, but once I’ve finished with that (one way or another), I think I’d like to try my hand at a full-length play. That I really have no idea what I’m doing is part of the adventure.