When you are getting criticism from a respected colleague, try not to do what I just did: try not to take one sentence out of context and ruin the entire conversation for yourself. To wit: I got my notes on DRAFT THREE of the play. My esteemed colleague told me things that literally gave me goose bumps: I heard words like “this is a real work of art…your best writing ever… a deeply intriguing story like nothing I have read in my life!” Here’s what stuck in my mind – “you know, when I read the first draft I liked…
Author: Susan Rubin
Susan Rubin
I am primarily a playwright. My work’s been performed in Cuba, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and New York. The World Premiere of my newest play, “eve2” opens at LA’s Bootleg Theatre in July, 2013. It’s a surreal take on Eve and Adam, only this time, Eve gets a second bite at the apple! I write documentaries on subjects from women's reproductive rights, to the rise of the radical right wing, to violence against women. The documentaries tell brutal truths; they are balanced for me by my plays that are comedic, magical, musical and surreal. Telling stories with a different voice. I write for Ms Blog - part of Ms Magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem, and currently the longest existing feminist magazine in the US. Blogs let me talk to a large audience about difficult issues with irony and humor. Six of my Ms blogs are now a web series, “Vagina Dialogues” on Funny or Die.
The play exists. There are real characters running around in scenes that now have shapes, timing, results. The story is alive, even though huge chunks of it will change. A character could become the reverse of itself psychologically. Yes, this is the stage after the first draft of a new story has been created, and given to two or three trusted colleagues, and notes received. Now it feels like the piece is in pieces on the floor in front of me. In fact it feels so vulnerable – this fresh work that will go so many different ways before it…
In my last blog I was in the Valley of Fear, waiting to see if I could write a new play – quivering at the idea of feedback, and truly unsure of my ability as a story-teller. Here we are four short weeks later, and I have written the play. It is not the play that will ultimately get produced, because that’s about 200 re-writes away. But it is a play. And it taught me a lot! 1. No matter how much you think you cannot do your work, whether it’s an audition, a new piece of writing, editing your…
I write something new. I am alone with it. I look at it at 4 PM and consider it my Best Work Ever. I take a break, and come back to the exact same work at 9 PM and decide that I will never write again! In this strange vacuum where only I have looked at the new piece, I am looking into a fun house mirror. It is easy to see things in a distorted way because – at least I think this is the reason – nobody but me has weighed in, and perhaps this time I really…
Of all the pleasures Life has to offer, none of them matches the Pleasure of Creating Something. No food, drink, drug, shopping spree or sexual encounter comes close to the incredible high of making art. Yes, I can hear the sneering out there “well obviously she (meaning me) hasn’t tried the right drink, drug, or sex or she wouldn’t say what she said”. Wrong. I’ve enjoyed the whole list very thoroughly. Made a study of pleasure itself in fact. But for an enduring high, without the misery of a hangover, a broken heart or weight gain from too much chocolate,…
I have written about my own struggles with envy. I do everything I can to be sane, to tell myself things like: “you can’t envy a part of somebody’s life, without taking on all their problems and pain”. But this week for the first time in a while, I was reminded of what happens when I am the envied person. When something I have done does not generate joy among my colleagues, but instead, gets me ambivalent support, watery kudos, not-so-real happiness for what I have accomplished. And oddest of all, the people I got this from were central to…
How does a person learn to breathe while they are waiting? At other times in my life the waiting might have been for Him to Call. For Him to Like Me. I held my breath waiting to get into college, pass my driving test, find out if I was cast in something I had auditioned for. I was almost always fearful and convinced the worst would happen. BTW, it never did! These days, I am waiting to find out if my play will get a production. I said “if” although it might be a more accurate reflection of my situation…
I had planned to write about how excited I am about my upcoming play reading at The Road Theatre, a great place that I am beginning a new relationship with. I wanted to investigate my excitement, and how hard it is to let that feeling morph magically into a sense of accomplishment. It doesn’t work that way for me. Excitement about projects-to-come usually turn into an anxious exploration of Everything That Could Go Wrong. Lately I’ve been very interested in when Enough will be Enough. Meaning, my last play was really successful, this new relationship with The Road is more…
Well that’s a striking and somewhat annoying title, right? Of course holidays count. People need to spend time with family and friends, changing their daily activity from work to leisure time. Or do they? I find myself in a category I can only call Work Freaks. I love my friends and my husband, the cats of course too! But the cats don’t drink – leisure time with them is relegated to tossing around their catnip toys and watching them paw-punch each other in the head happily once they are loaded. But for me, it is an empty day, week or…
My blogs have turned into mirror images of whatever I am going through artistically when I write them. So today I will be talking about doing the work and then getting back to normal. What do you do when that day’s writing is over? Here are some thoughts about getting in and back out again: 1. Going in is hard. I am at the computer, I would love to shop online, read my emails, read AOL news or do anything but my writing. 2. But I need to write. It isn’t just the looming deadline, it’s also a need I…
The problem with finishing a very successful project is “what do you do next?” September 8th we closed my play, “eve2”. I got the best reviews and audience response of my career as a playwright. I only had one play left in my computer that hasn’t been produced, and suddenly a really great LA theatre offered me a reading and then a production of that play. Great! Of course I began to worry (months ahead of time) whether this new play will come anywhere near the popularity of the one I just closed. But I can overcome that with the…
I know something about envy because I have had my own bouts with it: Plenty of them. And I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re going to envy somebody, you have to basically agree to change places and BE that person. You can’t just envy an aspect of a person without being willing to take on their whole story – their lovers, their illnesses, their families, their feelings inside, their Life. Back up a minute. I am a writer, and writing is not a meritocracy. Like if I were a singer, I could either hit high C or I…
For the last six months my life was about putting on a new play. This included fits of terror, visions of glory, long talks with myself during car rides to Malibu Sea Food where I do some of my best thinking. The show opened, ran for 5 weeks, got great reviews, struggled to get audiences during the deadly month of August, made me feel strong and courageous, then closed. So how do I feel now, and how do we all feel when a project as important as “eve2” was to me, comes and then – goes? Here are the steps…
In the continuing saga of opening a new play in the LA theater scene, here is an update on my experience with my piece, “eve2” and 4 Things To Think About, Face Up To, & Overcome When Producing. #1 ) So your play/video/web series/ film is in front of an audience for the first time. For me, there is a certain terror that sets in when the public is about to become part of something I have worked on up to this point only with my collaborators. IS THERE A WAY AROUND THIS TERROR OF BEING EXPOSED TO THE PUBLIC?…