Brent Hartinger (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} brentsbrain) wrote,@ 2008-02-23 09:34:00 |
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Opening Night Jitters
So Geography Club (the play) premiered last night. We had a very good house--something like 90 people showed up. I used to say the job of a playwright is easy, because by the time of opening night, your job is done. And I thought that until I took my seat, the lights went down, and I realized that all these people had come to see my play.
Fortunately, the cast was more than up to the challenge of making what I wrote seem entertaining. It's (mostly) a bunch of students from the Tacoma School of the Arts where I taught for a semester last year (loved it!). They took what I hope is a pretty good play and really made it sing. At one point, I thought to myself, "You know, I really like this Russel character. We have a lot in common." Then I was embarrassed, because I remembered that I wrote him and he is based on me. I mean, duh! But Galen Wicks, the leader actor, just did a terrific job in a very demanding role (he's on stage for the whole play!). The others were just as good.
I confess, it's been frustrating finding venues for the play (too "teen" for gay and regional theaters, to "gay" for children's theaters). But the comment everyone seems to make is, "It's a play that everyone can relate to. It's about so much more than being gay." I do think it's ironic that the road to getting this thing on movie screens seems to have been so much smoother than the road to getting it on stage. I would have thought it would be the other way around. (As always, if you're interested in a copy of the script, email me.)
And if you want to see the play, check us out next Saturday, March 1, 8 PM at Tacoma's Broadway Center for the Arts (the old TAG theater). Visit www.northwestplaywrights.org for more information. Single tickets are $9 for students and seniors, $12 for everyone else, available at the door.
It's all cool,
Brent Hartinger
My Books:
* Dreamquest
* Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies
* Grand & Humble
* The Order of the Poison Oak
* The Last Chance Texaco
* Geography Club
So Geography Club (the play) premiered last night. We had a very good house--something like 90 people showed up. I used to say the job of a playwright is easy, because by the time of opening night, your job is done. And I thought that until I took my seat, the lights went down, and I realized that all these people had come to see my play.Fortunately, the cast was more than up to the challenge of making what I wrote seem entertaining. It's (mostly) a bunch of students from the Tacoma School of the Arts where I taught for a semester last year (loved it!). They took what I hope is a pretty good play and really made it sing. At one point, I thought to myself, "You know, I really like this Russel character. We have a lot in common." Then I was embarrassed, because I remembered that I wrote him and he is based on me. I mean, duh! But Galen Wicks, the leader actor, just did a terrific job in a very demanding role (he's on stage for the whole play!). The others were just as good.
I confess, it's been frustrating finding venues for the play (too "teen" for gay and regional theaters, to "gay" for children's theaters). But the comment everyone seems to make is, "It's a play that everyone can relate to. It's about so much more than being gay." I do think it's ironic that the road to getting this thing on movie screens seems to have been so much smoother than the road to getting it on stage. I would have thought it would be the other way around. (As always, if you're interested in a copy of the script, email me.)
And if you want to see the play, check us out next Saturday, March 1, 8 PM at Tacoma's Broadway Center for the Arts (the old TAG theater). Visit www.northwestplaywrights.org for more information. Single tickets are $9 for students and seniors, $12 for everyone else, available at the door.
It's all cool,
Brent Hartinger
My Books:
* Dreamquest
* Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies
* Grand & Humble
* The Order of the Poison Oak
* The Last Chance Texaco
* Geography Club
Explore "Brent's Brain"
See my gay entertaiment video blog, "Two Gay Guys
