notes & things | 5/26/26
Somehow, we have found ourself at the end of May, despite the usual summery weather being chillier on the whole. But the beaches are open, everything has come into bloom, the boats are back in the harbors, and Chicago is summering best it can. This past weekend, we found ourselves in first Wisconsin, then the flipside of the lake in Michigan for a couple wedding gigs J was DJ-ing for. I rode along with the intention of using the couple days he'd be working all day as a mini writing retreat focused on the plays--namely getting a start on a new script and polishing off draft two of the Macbeth witches play, which I managed to finish up and get it ready for final proofing (see a snippet above.) There is something about hotel rooms that I love using as a non-home workspace. While my little chromebook is old, all I really need access to is google docs. There is something about the spareness and quiet of a random hotel room. In ways, its being away from normal home obligations with a clearer head. In Michigan, we ended up at a shady hotel J had accidently booked and ended up leaving to find something else (dirtiness, apparent crackheads, bugs according to the reviews). Though the new spot was safe and clean with a view of the back of a Best Buy, that other hotel and its horrors/bad vibes may be future writing fodder.
We have seen a few good flicks in the past couple of weeks, including OBSESSION, which was a wildly well shot and written meditation on horror and consent. Unfortunately the other horror film we saw was CORPORATE RETREAT, which had a promising plot line and lots of potential, but kinda failed in character development and script writing. (I LOVE BOOSTERS, though, which we saw afterwards, was a really fun surrealistic commentary and satire on the fashion industry and union organizing I would recommend wholeheartedly.)
I am starting to look towards summer projects, including the n next Greek myth-inspired project coming around the bed, as well as getting MARRY | KISS | KILL publication ready by July. There are also a couple more play ideas rattling around in my head I'd like to get a start on, as well as actually submitting and sending out some of the scripts I've been working on since last fall. It's a learning curve of new markets and learning the lay of the land which I am moving slowly through, but exciting in its possibilities.
This week on the stage, we are seeing Spam-a-lot downtown and then, the one I am most excited about, Hookman, a horror play at a small local company. though theater offerings are slimmer in the summer, there are still a few here and there we're hoping to be able to throw down money for if we have it.
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