Writing is more fun than performing, because I get to color with words.

Okay. It's been a few days since my joyful, triumphant feeling of success faded from my class on Tuesday, but I'm going to try to record all this with the same factual enthusiasm I felt. After all, I honestly should have blogged sooner. But, well, I didn't, so here we go.

My "production team" in my Theatre Appreciation class had our dress rehearsal and performance earlier this week. We performed the short play I wrote, which, as I looked back to find the link to that post, I realize I haven't mentioned since that very first read-through. Okay. Let me backtrack even further.

Our team met at least once a week outside class since that first read-through, slowly working on character development and line memorization. I was constantly impressed by how natural the lines I had written were, especially when I thought back on how effortless it all was. The lines I'd written, spoken by these amateur actors, were actually believable! We were witty, and hurt, and compassionate when it made sense. It was an awesome process.

So on Tuesday, at class time, we were totally prepared. We'd had a dress rehearsal the night before with our minimal props and our casual, practical costumes, and our lines were smooth and our acting natural. Still, we were nervous. Some of the plays we'd seen in class had been truly miserable to watch, and others were surprisingly well made. And, of course, our group was slated to go last, after three other performances.

But we got out there, in front of our class of 100 other bored students (and all my roommates, who'd come for moral support/to see what the fuss was all about/to get me to shut up), and we were AWESOME. Every line was delivered with perfect ease and fluidity, and the one mishap we experienced was covered up by some smooth improv on the part of one of the actors. We were brilliant. :D

Following our performance was a Q&A session with our professor/the other students. We were all giddy with the thought that we were actually finished, and it had actually gone well after all our preparation, and then -- another surprise -- the audience weren't bored! They had loved everything about our play! Every actor was complimented, they loved our director's choices, and my script -- they adored my script! I couldn't believe it! They'd actually appreciated our simple, emotional play about four people stuck in an elevator together. We didn't try too hard, but we didn't play down our strengths, either. Our professor was extremely impressed.

Afterward, when class was dismissed and we'd taken a group picture in costume, one of the senior students came over to shake my hand (lol) and say how much he enjoyed it. He asked me about my writing process and told me I should definitely consider taking THEA 350 -- the playwriting course. I couldn't believe it, honestly. I couldn't.

Later, Lauryn told me she just knows I'm "going to be famous one day." I never imagined I'd enjoy playwriting -- novels always seemed like my forte. But what if there's something to this? What if all those years of writing plays at Thanksgiving about pilgrims and forcing my siblings to memorize lines and put on a show before dinner in front of our grandparents were actually leading somewhere? What if this is an open door?

Playwriting gets into your blood and you can't stop it. At least not until the producers or the public tell you to.

I'll have you know, the play I wrote for my Theatre Appreciation class is going to be performed at the end of the semester.

When the group decided to produce my play, I was overwhelmed with immediate terror -- not pride. I did not want the play I was so far from being proud of to be put on stage for all to laugh at. I'd dealt with some kind of stage fright in sharing my 2008 NaNovel with my friends and family, but this was different. All the other students in the group had written plays for our class, too, and some of them were even involved in the theatre department. But now, they were going to be carefully reading through every line in my script, pointing out flaws in the stage directions and holes in the almost nonexistent plot development. What in the world was I supposed to find in that process to look forward to? (Not to mention the fact that I was going to have to act!)

So, last night we met for a read-through. I'd been dreading this hour the whole day, and I told the other team members upfront that I was terrified; I was so glad our meeting place had low light, to mask my blush.

But then, we just got right down to it. The four of us who would be performing read through our lines, and we fixed the few parts that were awkward or mistyped. Our "director," the fifth member of our group (and a theatre major), gave advice to the one person who was having trouble reading the lines smoothly, and then we were finished.

I couldn't believe how natural everyone sounded -- even me! Granted, the character whose lines I ended up taking was one I had written with myself in mind. She's sharp, catty, and only dares to reveal the least bit of compassion. The others sounded really good, and finally, I felt that bit of pride I should have known all along in hearing them bringing to life the characters I'd imagined. Isn't that something?

Decision, n. Firmness of conviction.

Am I or am I not going to do ScriptFrenzy?!

The thing is, I just rewrote my ten-page play for Theatre Appreciation. I didn't feel comfortable turning in the project I'd already completed two weeks ago because I didn't think it met the requirements for the theatrical form I'd picked. So, I had to come up with a totally different scenario, which ended in a project with a forced feel, not at all natural. Oh, well. I can only hope meeting the requirements will earn points where I lose them for being sloppy.

Anyway, tonight's experience in playwriting has me thinking ScriptFrenzy is a bad idea. And yet, I can't help thinking that, if I don't participate next month, I'll be angry with myself for wasting the opportunity to try something new.

Eureka: An exclamation indicating sudden discovery.

Following is the epic chronicle of how I finally gained inspiration to write my ten-page play for Theatre Appreciation.

Yesterday, I had a math exam in the afternoon that was causing a stress headache. It's math, so that's to be expected. When I got out of class, I went with Monica and Lauryn to get coffee before our next classes. I figured caffeine would either stifle or intensify my headache, and anyway, my headache cleared once my stupid math exam was over.

But it took twenty whole minutes to get my grande white chocolate mocha because the only woman behind the counter completely forgot about me while she filled a dozen more orders placed after mine. By the time I got to my American lit class, coffee in hand, my perfect front-row seat was occupied -- by none other than Creepy Carl. I ended up having to sit right behind him.

By that point, I was fuming, but at least my coffee was delicious. And while I was only paying half my attention to my professor's lecture, something in the short story we were reading magically triggered a story in my head that I just knew would be perfect for my play.

Anyway, I completely stopped listening to the lecture while I wrote down my ideas. Afterward, I ran straight up to the computer lab, typed my brainstorm in a coherent and neat outline, emailed the file to myself, and started writing my script in standard stage play format.

Just as a note: I don't thing stage playwrighting is my thing. I liked it and all, but I think I'll need more practice and fewer restrictions (like I have on my assignment) to improve.

I can't expose a human weakness on the stage unless I know it through having it myself.

I was playing games on i'minlikewithyou today with Monica and I thought, Hey, I should write my play about people spending too much of their lives on the Internet. And now I'm blogging about it. Awesome.

Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt.

Also, the deadline for my ten-page play assignment continues to creep closer and closer. I'm pretty sure it's due March 16th, which seems like far enough into the future except Friday is my last day of classes before such a date. I have spring break next week, when I won't be getting anything done.

I must, must, must get my act together and write most of this play before Friday. I need to change my theatrical form to something like realism, domestic drama, or play of ideas. I emailed my professor to change from tragicomedy because the ONE story I have in my mind that would work as a stage play simply couldn't be forced into a tragicomedic mold.

Help.

Oh, and NaNoWriMo's Script Frenzy '09 will be starting two weeks after my ten-page play is due, and I'd be an idiot if I didn't just use the assignment as the first 10% of the Script Frenzy goal of 100 pages. Because honestly, something like Script Frenzy is just an experiment, right? And I should take advantage of the opportunity, because there's nothing to lose.