Monday, November 20, 2017

November 2017 Writing Challenge - #20 - Little Red Writing You

Right so I've just started tech for Little Red Cyrano. It's combines courtships in Cyrano de Bergerac with the violent ending of Red Riding Hood. With a cast comprised of trained clowns and d/Deaf actors, Little Red Cyrano uniquely utilizes the visual vernacular of American Sign Language in a clown-based performance.

Little Red Riding Hood and it's less Disney origins are pretty fascinating.


Take that or another fable and... make it yours. Set it in a different time and place and throw it through your filter in the way you may or may not have done with the "female first" or "male first" prisms.

Because the story is known and familiar you're "allowed" to do more unfamiliar things. 

What's primary in YOUR lens as you confront the "known" entity of a fable? 

Annoyed at kids stuff? MAKE IT ADULT AS HEEELLLLL
Look, this is your id. This is your ego. This is your Super Ego. Do what thou wilt.

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Landed in Nashville on the way to Philly, internet access achieved - my luck this morning is finally a little less last minute and manic...

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Another Auggie-Sarah scene

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SARAH is reading a book.

AUGGIE noodles something on the guitar.  Then -

                          AUGGIE
Talk to me about the moon.

                          SARAH
That a song lyric, or are you trying to engage me in conversation?  It's hard to tell sometimes.

                          AUGGIE
Sorry.  Didn't mean to interrupt the book.

                          SARAH
That's OK.  Conversation?

                          AUGGIE
Conversation.

                          SARAH
What about the moon?

                          AUGGIE
The cycles of the moon.

                          SARAH
The esbats.

                          AUGGIE
I know they're important to you.

                          SARAH
Yes.

                          AUGGIE
Did you think I was being romantic?

                          SARAH
I wouldn't object.  I also wouldn't object to a song, by the way.  But I don't mind talking about the esbats.

                          AUGGIE
This might help me with a song, which then might also be romantic.

                          SARAH
Well, the big ones are the new moon, the dark moon and the full moon - and what they mean varies depending on your tradition.

                          AUGGIE
The dark moon, huh?

                          SARAH
Figured you'd gravitate toward that one. 

                          AUGGIE
No pun intended.

                          SARAH
Not a space guy, never heard of the dark moon.

                          AUGGIE
Nope, enlighten me.

                          SARAH
No pun intended?

                          AUGGIE
Oops, sorry.

                          SARAH
It's related to the new moon.  The dark moon is the point in the cycle where the moon isn't visible at all.  The new moon is when it starts to become visible.  I don't really mess much with the distinction between the dark moon and the new moon but some traditions do.

                          AUGGIE
What kind of distinctions?

                          SARAH
Magical ones.  Important ones.  But like I say, that's not my tradition.  I just think it's neat, kinda creepy.  No moon in the sky.  Losing sight of the moon, just for a little bit.

                          AUGGIE
So what's the new moon do?

                          SARAH
Well, some traditions view it as an ending, a time to purge negative forces.  Me, I view it as more of a beginning.

                          AUGGIE
And the full moon?

                          SARAH
The folks who view the new moon as an end, view the full moon as more of a beginning.

                          AUGGIE
But you view the new moon as a beginning, so -

                          SARAH
When I was starting out, I took a cue from my friend Eli.  They were a new moon/beginning kind of person, too.  Eli looked at the new moon as sort of an empty glass of understanding.  So each new moon, you ask yourself a question, maybe set yourself a goal for something to learn.  And during the waxing of the moon -

                          AUGGIE
As the moon fills in -

                          SARAH
Right.  You're slowly filling the cup, you're keeping the question in mind.  You're trying to learn more about yourself, your life, your faith, your purpose over that time.

                          AUGGIE
And then when the moon is full -

                          SARAH
You look at what you've learned.  You examine your understanding.  You feel what you've grown into.  Then, over the course of the next couple of weeks -

                          AUGGIE
The waning of the moon -

                          SARAH
Right.  You're trying to incorporate that new knowledge of yourself and the world into the rest of your life.  You're living a bit more intentionally with each passing moon.

                          AUGGIE
Slowly drinking from the cup.

                          SARAH
And then it's a new moon, a new question, and cup starts to fill again.  26 esbats, 26 cycles in the course of a year.


(to be continued)
 



PREVIOUSLY...

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OK, I'm gonna put a marker here just in case.
Research, plus working on song lyrics, plus preparing to travel to the family out east for the holidays, has me already up way too late for my early morning flight.  So the new plan is to finish a draft of the scene for this on the first leg of the plane flight in the morning.  I should be landing at 7:40am, so I could squeak in under the wire and post as long as internet access is working at the airport.  Fingers crossed.  In the meantime, here's the place holder.

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Lights up

Scene with Auggie and Sarah - talking about songwriting, the moon, and seasonal markers for witches.

Lights down




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