Accidental Tragedy

Lower image is Scene from A Midsummer Nights’ Dream ‘Titania and Bottom’ by Edwin Landseer. Top is an edited “darker” version.

Timing is everything and the craziness of this week in America has definitely played a key role in the multiple mistakes of the present. While I cannot change the one glaring mistake that has brought a doom atmospheric cloud to many people I care about, I can channel it into the direction of my once 100% comedy. But in the script’s case it is not bad, just unexpectedly different. While I wish current events did not shape the direction, perhaps its new form can still aid audiences in how they are feeling.

Wed. Nov. 9 was like a blur. It was as if I was having hangovers without having consumed alcohol the night before. Many people I spoke to described it that same way and for those who did partake in libations, it was more literal. Except once the physical pain was gone, the pain of reality remained. I strangely also had the beginning of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” playing on repeat in my head.

Many people were expressing their opinions online, but I refrained until now, because  for myself, I wanted to create something out of my feelings beyond some posts. But I 110% think it is important that people access ways to express their feelings as they need and as they see fit without belittling the feelings of others.

Then I read an article by theater advocate Howard Sherman titled, “A Post-Election Plea, To The Theatre And Its Artists.” The article called for artists to keep creating and empowering people through expression and the telling of stories. This is especially important for peoples whose stories are not heard and are or will be oppressed. Maybe it was the fog of the shock, but I could not think of how to write a play about this tragedy. And I love it when activism and theater unite. I had theater-activism writer’s block. Yesterday, inspiration finally came. I picked up a draft of an incomplete comedy and accidentally and cathartically turned it into a darker tragedy. But while sad in nature, it does leave a window for hope because of the power of theater, literally because it is a play as well as from the dialogue commenting on this aspect.

Last year I started writing a parody to Shakespeare’s awesome play A MidSummer Night’s Dream, which alone is an absolutely hilarious show. It was initially for a Shakespeare play festival, but I sadly did not finish it in time. But I liked where it was going and kept adding to it over the past year. I picked up the script again yesterday, looked at random notes and let my frustration fly. It is now complete enough to perform logistics willing. I may lengthen it, but I am content that I was able to get my feelings of injustice out into a script. Small steps and more will be coming.