Potential

originally posted March 13, 2006

It progresses.

One generally writes and then considers matters of casting, stage design, lighting and costuming afterward. From the beginning, I have approached the writing of this play differently.

'Merchant of Ko-ro-ba' was an adaptation of a Master's work, originally penned by Pentillicus Tallux. I adapted it to a modern audience, having never considered the writing of plays prior to that. It piqued my curiosity. I saw with what sway one could hold an audience. How might an actor deliver your lines to a multitude and rivet them. There is power in it. Not money. Not empire. The hearts and minds of an audience. Is that not what a Poet does?

'The Fall of Agamedes' came next. A short, one act endeavor with two actors. An original work. Locutius, famed across the whole of Gor played the part of Agamedes. His fiery temper, his arrogance, suited the role. It was difficult to cast such a play. Two actors. One set. One scene. I think it was done well, however. It had three consecutive runs in the playhouses of Venna, a few hundred pasangs north of Glorious Ar. It will next be produced for the En'Kara Fair. Vesutto, Merchant of Venna, assists me in this endeavor.

The new work is without title as yet. It progresses. I began with a concept and wrote the first scene. I have revised that scene several times and continue to revise it. I need the visual to be just so. I wrote, too, the second scene. And the last scene. As they were written, I considered casting, costuming, lighting and stage design as part of the process. It is a non-traditional way to write a play. This will be a highly non-traditional work. There are no established characters as there are in roadside productions. No Brigellas or Courtesans. There will not be, I think, even a moral or a lesson delivered. I may be stoned. I may be revered. I may simply be dismissed. It is a story I want to tell, however. I shall tell it.

"You must be bold," I told my lead actress last night by the dying embers of a campfire some hundred or more pasangs north of Rarn at the side of the Pilgrim Road. "You must act, but give of yourself. It must be authentic."

She has the potential, through the work I produce, the words that I write, to sway them. Rivet them. Hold their heart and their minds. It could be a powerful thing.