Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

The, uh, afore-posted play is an ensemble piece, containing four major characters, three secondary, and four minor ones. Though there are parts for twelve, I’ve set the play up so that only seven actors are required; the four minor characters should be played by the three secondary roles. Yeah, the structure’s a little complicated.

This morning, as I was culling through the draft looking for inconsistencies, I thought it would be helpful to draw up a chart of the main emotional component of each relationship. Yes, another visual to stoke the right side of my brain. Along-side the chart, I kept track of how often each of the characters interacted with each other. I wanted to ensure people were relating as I saw them doing so in my head. I was surprised to discover that the best friend of the play’s couple never directly interacts with one of them. Can I fix that? Sure. Should I? I don’t know yet. I’m still pondering the implications, ramifications, necessitudes of that gap. I was relieved to find the rest of characters relating as I envisioned.

My Character Chart, or C-Chart, uses connectors (as I recall them) from my days charting genograms, in one of my other lives, studying to be a family therapist. BTW. my C-Chart is by no means a genogram, it is a free-flowing, non-linear expression of my play’s initial community profile. I may do a progression chart, showing how the relationships have changed by the end. If I do, I’ll post that chart too.