TAGS: drama, feathers in your teeth, Judy Prince, play, video
| JUDY PRINCE, a retired college teacher and union activist, now lives half the year in Norfolk, Virginia, and the other half in Darlington, UK. She has published articles in the L.A. Times and the Virginian-Pilot, and was a Chicago Dramatists Short Plays Competition finalist.
She is now at work on a play about Shakespeare the woman, and recently launched Frisky Moll Press with the poetry pamphlets of Robin Hamilton (Anacreon translations) and Patrick McManus (On The Dig).
Her own poetry pamphlets have been published by Phantom Rooster Press (2006 and 2009). Prince's work is included in the first James Kirkup Memorial Poetry Competition Anthology (Red Squirrel Press, UK, 2010).
Her Poems2 is reviewed in SPHINX 12, HappenStance Press . |
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Judy! Laughed out loud at the way the actor first speaks the “feathers in your teeth” line. Too funny. When’s the rest??
Wonderful that John’s got you laughing so soon, Joe! He’s exceptional. He best loves doing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew. His performance of this bit of it is the funniest I’ve ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrSeZEFUhfI
I’ll be delighted to let you know when more “Feathers” are ready!
Hey – well done! What a cute couple of actors, too!
Wow—-thanks Erika Rae! You’re right, the actors are cute, as well as pure delights to work with.
I have been up all night, Judy, but we are in a hotel room the size of a shoe box and I would waken dear Victor if I played your, uh, play. This will have to wait till later, but it’s killing me!
Oh dea,r Irene, you’ve gone back to the Mounties so soon??!!!
Or is this trip another location in another location for Victor’s awesome story-yielding $68 bargains? Must be, with a shoebox room.
You and Erika Rae are not getting your Proper Rest. Somehow, despite both of your wild, no-sleeping lifestyles, I think you’re having a HOOT!!!!
The video’s intent is to make you relax and laugh and hug Victor so thoroughly that his wotsits squeak, so you could shed-yool it for when you want his wotsits to squeak.
I’m going to watch this after lunch!
Tip: I just wrote a piece that Brad will soon post about TNB contributor one-act plays being performed in Bakersfield, CA this December. hint hint. I posted something on Facebook already… hint hint hint hint…
Awesome, Nick! I’m eager to see Brad’s post re TNB contrib one-act plays performed in Bakersfield, CA. I don’t do FB; can you copy/paste the relevant post to me? hint hint hint hint
It’s blast-off time in Las Vegas, Norfolk VA, England, NZ and Australia, Russia, China, and S Korea….p’raps even the bi-Polars……
Dude! TNB!
You saw the post by now on one-acts. Hope you submit a piece…
I finally watched this little one-act you wrote. She ate that guy for lunch. Though she really liked him and played him the fool. I love when people do that do each other. Makes for a lively discussion.
Going prawn fishing now.
Nick, your understanding of the dynamics of this little playlet is as unerring as a heat-seeking missile: “She ate that guy for lunch. Though she really liked him and played him the fool.” I didn’t realise that was what was happening until I’d viewed the video itself dozens of times.
If I start up a theatre, I’ll want you as artistic director selecting plays or as a director of the plays themselves. A person who can assess the text and acting immediately—-as well as communicate without bullshit—-possesses rare talents, especially those in tandem.
BTW, I actually saw such a set-up (fishing rods, prawns, bbq grills) in Taiwan.
I *way* appreciate your spot-on comments and compliments.
Hurry up, cause I’m looking for a gig!
Thanks for your kindness.
Prawn fishing reminds me of crawdad fishing as a kid. Just hook up any old rig and go for it.
Nick, I tried forming a theatre, but found out I was the wrong shape. OK, bad joke. One more try: It took enormous amounts of time that I druther’ve spent writing.
Sounds you were raised in Looziana or Mississippi.
California.
Must be super-southern California, Nick. Crawdads? That’s Deep South, innit? Is a crawdad a crayfish? Crayfish etouffe comes to mind here. YUM!
“You saw the post by now on one-acts. Hope you submit a piece…”
DEFINITELY!
I’m pretty sure every creak and stream in America has a crawdad in it. North America: 330 species in nine genera.
Seen them all over California.
creek I mean.
A couple kids fishing for crawdads, Nick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUtEsMN7-Zc
I watched to see how this would play out–after such a strange little line about feathers in one’s teeth. (I would have bolted as fast as possible from a situation like that!)
A family member once wrote a list of all the qualities she wanted in a mate. She covered all of the details, or so she thought. She met a man not long after who had those qualities, they dated….and then she found out he was married. She forgot to put on the list “he must be single.”
Thanks for sharing this, Judy! Happy writing!
Is that really a true story, Ronlyn? It’s tragically hilarious.
Glad you wanted to see how the “feathers” situation played out, and it hadn’t occurred to me that she should’ve bolted! I think I’d have sprayed a mouthful of cake all over my plate and dress.
Yes–it’s true! She had a real sense of humor about it later. This might be a twisted example of be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
I’m an introvert and have a very low tolerance for b.s. My response is, of course, entirely personal. Other women might get a total kick out of seeing what would come next.
“This might be a twisted example of be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”
Ronlyn, I’ve been wrestling with that little story snippet for hours, trying to guess a logic angle in it, some hopeful resolution to the goofiness of it. Finally concluded that it’s just funny as hell!
Yes, you strike me as one who has low tolerance for b.s.
I have high tolerance for *creative* b.s., I suppose.
What most draws my attention to your response, though, is that you dis-identified with the character. That means you were poised to identify and were thwarted. I think.
I’m trying to dig into how you reacted to the character and why. The actor, Stacey Sutton, said it helped her understand her role when I told her more about the character’s back story and reasons for her responses. Never having directed a play before, I had to ponder how to give that character a whole life via bits that she might have lived. I’d kind of psychologise the character.
Equally, and fascinatingly, the actors’ performances made me view my characters in new ways.
Dis-identification. Hmmm. Well, as a reader or TV/movie/play viewer, I don’t really care whether I identify with a character. I like to be curious about a character (as I was with Lucifer in Glen Duncan’s novel I, LUCIFER) or taken in because s/he is so interesting (Peter Lake in Mark Helprin’s novel WINTER’S TALE).
One of the classic fiction workshop tidbits of advice is knowing a character’s backstory–even if it never hits the page. Once, a novelist told a class at a conference to make a sheet listing all of the character’s information–looks, likes, dislikes, secrets, etc. I tend to be more intuitive about such things and know a lot more about my characters than appear in the stories.
I can see how such information would give an actor insight into a role. Unless all involved don’t mind if the actor takes some creative license.
“I tend to be more intuitive about such things and know a lot more about my characters than appear in the stories.”
Me, too, Ronlyn, but I didn’t “get” that an actor needs more than the words on the page to round out her character. The last rehearsal was a couple days before I came to England, so we were against the clock; hence, my backstory explainings had to be pithy and brief. But immediately, I could see that her performances filled out, and she took, as you say, “creative license”—-which worked wonderfully!
Ha ha ha… you’ve got flies in your eyes!
hee hee, and you’ve got gnats and your hats!
I mean bats in your hats, or fleas in your feet!