Auditions tonight, and a few other things today

Tonight, we have the last set of auditions for Song of Extinction from 7:30-10:30pm over at Howard Fine Studios. We have to move into auditions (not to mention making the postcards), so we have to finalize our cast. Not an easy thing -- finding just the right people to bring a play to life for the first time. Not to mention, people who it will be a pleasure to spend an awful lot of time with over the next four months! I know we can do it. We have some amazing people selected, some amazing people in the running, and a few new faces that we'll be seeing for the first time tonight. I'll be bringing all my decisiveness to Hollywood with me when I go.

Throughout the day, e-mails jet back and forth between me and the producers. Today, I've talked with Kim about my fee. I've talked with everybody about dates for the talk-backs, which we'll be doing every Sunday at 5pm, between the 3 o'clock matinee and the 7pm evening performance throughout the run. I made a flyer for the play that emphasizes the Cambodian character, Khim Phan, and the journey he takes in the play, because the Ford Theater e-mailed us about a Philippine musical event on Saturday that usually gets a large Cambodian audience among its sold-out crowd. They told us we could have a table there to tell people about the play (and try to get them to buy tickets), so it looks like Steve and I will be doing that from 6-8pm on Saturday evening. I e-mailed a Cambodian associate in Long Beach, to see if our producers can meet with him about bringing groups from there to see the play, as there is a very large Cambodian community in Long Beach. And I e-mailed a man about a viola -- we're going to need to take a picture of one for the postcard, I hear, and also will need to use one for the whole run of the play. I'm trying to see if we might be able to rent one from USC's Thornton School of Music.

The playwright doesn't usually do all this. But... my home theater company, Moving Arts, is producing the play. So I'm acting not only as a playwright, but also as a member of the company. I'm also very invested in making this production a success.

It becomes clearer and clearer to me as time goes on that I absolutely cannot wait for things to happen, but must MAKE THEM HAPPEN, when it comes to my writing. I need to work as hard as I can, not only to make the play the best it can be, but to make the production the best it can be, to help with marketing, to roust up audience, and whatever else is needed. It takes many, many people working very, very hard to produce a play. I want to hold up my end of the deal, doing everything I can to make this a success. I owe it to the people who are working so hard, I owe it to the company who is investing so much time and effort into producing my play, and I owe it to myself.

Now... Off to auditions!