I finished writing. . .

. . .ARTHUR REDUX yesterday, and today I started rewriting it.  ARTHUR is the 10th full-length play I have written, and I think, the very hardest one to complete.  And I'm still not happy with the final scene, but there's something nice about completing a long piece of writing. When I finished last night, I went and sat in my chair, had a good dose of Jack Bauer on 24, and felt a little empty, a little drained.  Finishing something big is good, even if you realize you aren't really done.

      Today, I did some rewriting on Act One, and on the first scene of Act Two.  When I finally make it to where I am going, the end of a play, I can then go back and fix up the getting there. Until I finish a play, I'm never really sure how exactly it will end.  I have to go to the end with with my characters to find out.  Then I have to go back and make sure that everything that happened along the way makes sense, and add some things to improve the sense of it all. 

     Characters are for me by far the most important aspect of any play.  They are a lot more important than plot or mood or story arcs or whatever.  It's the people who make it.  My favorite characters in ARTHUR REDUX are Emily and Asa, and all along I thought they would be Arthur and Merlin.  Who would have guessed?