Lessons from seeing your play performed

On May 31, I attended Theatre Reset's Short Play Festival #5, which featured a performance of my play, "Water to Whine," and I had an absolute blast. I loved everything they did, the performances were great, and I was happily surprised, in more ways than one. All the plays were great, and I'm so happy I got to see them.

The experience reminded me of a few important lessons about writing scripts, whether for stage or film, and I feel like sharing them here.

Theatre Reset picks up 'Water to Whine'

Theatre Reset, a Columbus-based and a women and nonbinary owned and operated theatre company, has selected my play, "Water to Whine," to be part of its fifth short play festival.

The company has previously produced two other plays I wrote - "Your Child, The Devil, and You" and "George of the Dead" - and I am excited to see what they do with "Water to Whine."

The festival will be held May 30 and 31 at Shedd Theater, 540 Franklin Ave., Columbus, OH 43215. Auditions are mid-March.

For more information about the festival, visit Theatre Reset's website.

The Ascent

Two Soviet partisans during World War II become cut off from their unit, struggle to survive the winter Belarusian countryside, and end up captured by the Germans.

That is the entire plot of The Ascent (1977), the final film of director Larisa Shepitko, who died two years later in a car accident. Like Wings, it is a stark, black-and-white drama, but instead of nestled twenty years after the Great Patriotic War, The Ascent is buried face first in the grueling conflict and misery of fighting and marching.

The Train

Is The Train the Saving Private Ryan of the 1960s? Consider the premises of both films: during World War II, a small group of battle-weary men are tasked with a near-impossible mission behind enemy lines to retrieve something that holds more propagandist than strategic value. 

In the case of The Train, that something is a nation's art, a symbol cultural heritage and pride. In Saving Private Ryan, the mission is one man, the sole survivor of a group of brothers, whose return will spare his mother more heartbreak and give the American public a positive story in the midst of the costly D-Day landings.

Obviously, there are plenty of differences. Steven Spielberg is, at his heart, a sentimentalist, who sees saving Ryan as a decent act among all the horrors of war, a good deed performed at a great cost that reminds us to be grateful for all the veterans went through. John Frankenheimer, still a relative upstart when he directed The Train, is a pessimist, a cynic who questions the human cost of saving a few paintings.

Seven Days in May

The United States and the Soviet Union have signed a peace treaty that calls for both nations to eliminate their stocks of nuclear weapons. President Jordan Lyman (Frederic March), who pushed for the treaty, sees his approval rating reach an all-time low, the deal unpopular among many Americans. His most prominent opponent is U.S. Air Force General James Mattoon Scott, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Burt Lancaster), who believes Lyman has weakened the country. 

Marine Colonel "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas) is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving directly under Scott, whom he greatly admires. Jiggs stumbles upon evidence that Scott and other generals are planning a coup d'etat, removing Lyman and installing Scott in his place as the head of a military junta. The plan is set to take place in seven days, under the cover of a training exercise.

Saved!

Mary (Jena Malone) describes herself as Born-Again, having been "saved" when she was 3. Entering her senior year at American Eagle Christian High School, she thinks she has everything figured out until her boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust) drops a bombshell: he thinks he's gay.

Obviously, that's a big no-no, but after a vision of Jesus in a swimming pool, Mary decides to take drastic action. She has sex with Dean. Unfortunately, Dean's parents find his stash of gay porn and send him away to a halfway house to be "cured," and Mary learns she's pregnant. Confused, alone, she grows alienated from her familiar life at school, drawing the ire of her best friend Hillary Faye (Mandy Moore), who does not take kindly to anyone straying from the faith.

Saved! (2004) takes satirical aim at fundamental, evangelical Christian high schools and goes after the hypocritical, judgmental, and holier-than-thou people it finds there. 

Yet, beneath its cynical exterior, the movie has a heart and demonstrates affection toward its characters. No one is beyond forgiveness, not even the worst Christianity has to offer.

Army of Shadows

There's a certain degree of romanticism associated with an underground resistance. A secret network of brave fighters banding together to topple and drive out the hated occupiers, operating behind enemy lines in constant danger, and refusing to surrender is the type of tale told to swell patriotic fervor and inspire nations.

Army of Shadows (1969) is directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, himself a member of the French resistance during World War II. I don't know how much of his own experience is reflected in the film, but it is not a glamorized portrayal. Set in late 1942 in Nazi-occupied France, the movie shows us no explosions, midnight raids, firefights, or even a real sense of eventual triumph.

We see the men and women of the Maquis, the name of the French resistance, engage in acts of subterfuge, relying on false identities, disguises, and forged paperwork and knowing they are probably going to be compromised, tortured, and killed. It is a bleak, lonely, and desolate life.