I’m not a sculptor, but I imagine writing (and producing) a musical to be a lot like sculpting a figure out of clay. It starts as a jumble of thoughts—an unformed ball of clay—and gradually begins to take form as the artist slowly molds the work. And I mean slowly. It starts out with rough blobs that may later become a torso, arms, a head—sketches of characters, songs, plot—but at the beginning, they’re just blobs. It’s much easier to change the blobs at this stage than it is later on, and the blobs dictate the artwork’s future shape. Who are the characters? What do they want? Why this play, now? I’ve wrestled with these blobs for two years and have had to restart many times, but I have finally found some blobs I can work with in my most recent draft. Then, the details: the muscles, the skin texture, the face. The leitmotifs, the wordplay, the dialogue.
One difference between sculpture and musical theater is that clay scuplture (at least the way I imagine it) takes place on the scale of days, weeks, or months. I have been writing Reason to Be for 2.5 years, with one major rewrite scrapping everything and another “minor” but still significant rewrite where I changed about 70% of the script. Another difference betwen sculpture and musical theater is that sculpture can be done alone but theater is inherently a collaborative process. And now I have reached a point with my work where I am ready to invite others in to shape it.
I would have liked to keep this a weekly blog but I have been very busy… with rehearsal! Although we are extremely short-staffed in terms of both cast and crew, we have made it work and it has been such a delight getting to know everyone and seeing my 2.5 years of work finally getting a full production. Now I really feel like the person in the clay is emerging—all the things I imagined in my head, all the harmonies, all the overlapping dialogues, all the set and lighting changes—they’re actually happening. It’s no longer just me making recordings by myself in my room. Inviting others in has also really given me a lot to think about in terms of the future of this work. Other perspectives highlight strengths and deficiencies that I cannot identify myself. Seeing the actors, who each have their own background and approach to the role, bring my characters to life has shaped how I view the characters and how I will write them in the future.
Another thing that’s true of both the visual arts and the performing arts is that good art takes time. This script took me 2.5 years to write (and probably has at least another two years of writing!) and rehearsal and practice outside of rehearsal take a lot of time too. I have made the decision to sacrifice (to an extent) my academics and my social life so I can make my performance, the music, and the audience turnout really good. Though sometimes I do have to remember, I am a a Computer Science and Mathematics major, and perhaps I should be studying a little more number theory.