I've Failed You All

My lofty ambitions to give you guys a look at all the characters came to a crashing halt a couple of weeks ago. My ambition only goes so far (hint: not very far). So we're at a point now where all the characters are locked in (and have been since the first draft, to be fair), so I'll let you guys know the entire character list. If you click a name, they are one of the lucky ones who actually got a sketch, so if you haven't checked them out yet, go right ahead and do that.

Swinton College
Alison
Angelica
Becca
Beth
Bridgette
Eric
Haley
Hillary
Jen
Jocelyn
Jolene
Katy
Kris
Lauren
Madison
Maya
Meg
Mona
Rachel
Sarah
Vicky
Will

Swinton College Staff
Dean Anderson
Ms. Barron

City College
Clint
Gavin
Nathaniel
Toby

One more pass for grammar and spelling checks, then we'll all meet this Tuesday at 3:30, then you get to be judged. Hurrah! Art!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for being asked to write a play for a high school.

I'm thankful for a talented group of actors to be a part of its original cast.

I'm thankful to have finished the third draft.

I'm thankful I have a ton of food to eat.

num num num

Hope you enjoy that little side (by right click - saving as). Main dish coming shortly....

Switch On Your Electric Light

At 1:20 A.M. on Tuesday, November 25th, I've completed spraying the white pages of Draft Two as a de facto baptisml, turning it into Draft Three. By this time tomorrow, after a full day of transcribing these notes into my Final Draft document, I will be done with the third draft, and will therefore be ready to share it with all of you wonderful Pascack Valley Indi...Native Americans.

And, if you come to the first audition, you'll have sides of this play in your hands on Monday, December 1st (or Wednesday if you're not a go-getter).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish watching every special feature on the Wall-E three-disc DVD set, and probably that Pixar documentary for a second time.

Exciting stuff, people. Exciting stuff indeed.

(sorry about not getting any character stuff done, but it's much more taxing than I realized...might have to just let those die out where they are...)

Goodbye, page 62

There are times like this in the editing process that are both gratifying and painful all at the same time. I need to cut down on superfluous non-plot-oriented stuff, so taking out this entire page is great. But, that's been written once, edited, then re-written once again only to get canned now. The only thing that stays (and that you'll see in your hand and/or on stage) is the top slug line and description. Everything under it is gone forever, as if it never existed in the first place. Sigh.

Enjoy your last, fleeting moments with Page 62. You lived your life like a candle in the wind....

Final Final Approval (I think?)

Principal De Maio has given the final green light on putting up [i]Disorientation[/i]. I think this is the final final approval that we need to seek--as Mr. Puccio had already given the ok--so we move forward with these FINAL (until otherwise changed) DATES:

[b]Script Reading[/b] - Saturday, January 10th at 3 PM

[b]Full Production[/b] - Saturday, April 25th at 7 PM

The little box on the right of the page has been updated (G'bye June! You're crummy and too hot anyway!).

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I've been answering questions with a PV student over facebook wall posts and realize that there might be a few questions left unanswered about who I am, how I know Lup and She-Lup (Mer's name sounds like a horrible sequel to a horror movie, btw) the process, what's going on with the writing, etc. etc. If you have any questions, I'll answer them on this ole' blog, so leave them in the comments or email me at kingmanton [at] gmail.com. If I get a single question, color me surprised.

...And I'll try and get a character post up tomorrow. Sorry about being lazy.

I have permission from the director(s)....

And the fall shows have come to a close. Both PV's [i]Museum[/i] and PR's [i]Twelfth Night[/i] have had their successful, entertaining runs, and the only thing left to do is tear the whole set down, start a bonfire, and what that sucker BUUUUUUURRRRNNNN!!!!! Well, hopefully not PV, at least - we'll probably need all those flats.

But don't fret, boys and girls. With every ending comes a new beginning....

Meet: Bridgette, Maya, Vicky

Here we all come, hurtling towards Fall Plays. Cheap plugs abound: Pascack Valley's Museum is Thursday at 7, Friday at 5, Saturday at 1 and 7, while Park Ridge's Twelfth Night is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm. Talent abounds off of both stages (even if PR's is a matchbox and PV's looks like a runway) so I hope you check out either (preferably both!).

Now, onto the characters. Only 10 Hares left....

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Name: Bridgette

Location: Brookline, MA

Household: I got my parents and two older brothers, both played on Syracuse’s football team. GO ORANGE!!!!!

Fav. Music: Bon Jovi is beyond awesome, some Metallica, a little Queen, and throw in Jay-Z, cause I have to keep it real, right?

Fav. Movies: The Departed, The Lion King, Harold and Kumar is hilarious, The Jerk

Fav. TV Show: Nip/Tuck, Lost, Rescue Me, Rescue Rangers, American Gladiators (the old version, not this crappy new totally fake stupid one)

Fav. Sites: perezhilton.com cause god celebrities are the worst and it’s so fun to laugh at them when they get all fat and bitchy

Fav. Books: None by the author Doesn’t Exist

Personal Note: GO PATS!!!

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Name: Maya

Location: Mystic, CT

Household: I have two parents who love each other very much and a little sister who is growing up way too fast right in front of my eyes.

Fav. Music: Pink Floyd, Broken Social Scene, Regina Spektor, The Doors in no particular order, cause they and all music are equally important in my life

Fav. Movies: The Wall, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Donnie Darko, Lord of the Rings, The Double Life of Veronique are all among my favorites, but countless other films could be there instead

Fav. TV Show: I don’t want watch TV, although a friend of mine showed me Planet Earth in HD and that was a pretty incredible experience to live through.

Fav. Sites: wikipedia.org, otherwise I don’t really use the internet

Fav. Books: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s complete works, The Giver, anything on Eastern relgions and books about things I don’t know about; the more spiritual the better.

Personal Note: I can’t wait to feel everyone’s energy!

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Name: Vicky

Location: Great Neck, NY

Household: I live in a lovely house with both of my parents, and a sister who recently moved into NYC after she graduated from Tufts in the spring. I hope this is the last time I’ll live in my parents house, because it’s time to move on.

Fav. Music: Madonna, Kanye West, Coldplay, Mariah Carey, Wilco

Fav. Movies: PS I Love You, Finding Nemo, Shakespeare In Love, You’ve Got Mail, Shadow of a Doubt

Fav. TV Show: Sex and the City, Gossip Girls, The Hills, Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men

Fav. Sites: perezhilton, gawker, huffingtonpost

Fav. Books: The Nanny Diaries, Bitter is the New Black, The Notebook, The Tipping Point

Personal Note: The education better be worth the extreme lack of men.

Meet: Alison, Will, and Becca

If you're reading this and above the age of 18, you better be voting, dammit! There are 13 Swinton students left on the list and 6 non-Swinton Hares to plug through before you know everybody in the cast. Expect an update every other day since we need to get through these things before Draft Three is knocked out in earnest and, most importantly, before students get this little script in their grubby teenage hands on Monday the 24th. Here's a fun game to play while you lean - who are the main characters? Have fun trying to figure that out....

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Name: Will

Location: Wellesley, MA

Household: Two parents, one male, one female. They birthed me, and that was nice of them. They wouldn’t let me cross the street without one of them there until I was ten. That wasn’t so nice of them.

Fav. Music: The Kinks, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Beatles (only after Rubber Soul), MC5

Fav. Movies: Fight Club, Dog Day Afternoon, Reservoir Dogs, Sin City, Taxi Driver

Fav. TV Show: South Park, The Simpsons (until season 9, then they started to suck hard), Aqua Teen, Arrested Development, Colbert

Fav. Sites: allmusic.com, drudgereport for laughs, I don’t know, youtube?

Fav. Books: anything Chuck Palahniuk, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead – Crystal Zevon, 1984 – Orwell, Carrie – Stephen King, Watchmen – Moore/Gibbons

Personal Note: Not a single girl has probably seen or listened to my favorite anythings. Awesome.

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Name: Alison

Location: Ridgewood, NJ

Household: Live with my mom. My dad doesn’t live with us anymore. I think he’s in Phoenix, with his newer, better wife.

Fav. Music: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Wilco, Radiohead Neutral Milk Hotel, Broken Social Scene, The Band, The Roots, Van Morrison

Fav. Movies: Annie Hall, Knocked Up, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Back To The Future, High Fidelity

Fav. TV Show: The Office, Arrested Development, Freaks And Geeks, Six Feet Under

Fav. Sites: huffingtonpost, pitchforkmedia, some other random stuff

Fav. Books: Harry Potters, On The Road, Chuck Palaniuk’s Lullaby, Le Petit Prince

Personal Note: Just cause you feel it/doesn’t mean it’s there – Thom Yorke

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Name: Becca

Location: Burlington, VT

Household: I live with my Dad and my two younger sisters and I’m so happy I don’t have to hear them bitching anymore.

Fav. Music: Marley is awesome, Pearl Jam, The Roots, Cream, Clapton is God, Jurassic 5, Robert Randolph and the Family Band

Fav. Movies: The Big Lebowski is the best movie ever, Fargo, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is awesome, Evil Dead 2, definitely, DAZED AND CONFUSED!

Fav. TV Show: ummm South Park’s hilarious, Chappelle’s Show is the funniest show ever, Mr. Show, It’s Always Sunny

Fav. Sites: The internet.com rules

Fav. Books: Me Talk Pretty One Day is pretty cool, Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs is great, Klosterman rules, Through The Looking Glass is just bonkers!

Personal Note: I heard there are a lot more papers in college. Sounds alright by me.