The other day I mentioned that I had two ideas for plays, both of which are experimental in nature.  I asked for your opinions, and you responded with some very good questions for me to think about.

I’ll start with a question from Dennis: Why now?

That’s a complicated question, but I’ll do my best to answer.  Firstly, I think they are interesting concepts that would be entertaining for me to watch.  Not sure about others, but I would certainly enjoy it, I think.  Second, as a rookie director, this would be a good experience in bringing the concepts to life.  The hard part would be making it entertaining and understandable to others, with the right amount of “Hey, watch this” and “Can you figure out the puzzle?” elements to it.

Unfortunately, like the Prof said, that might be something that I wouldn’t want to subject an audience to.  He suggested that I undertake the project on my own, but not subject an audience to the play if it’s just “noodling around” with techniques.

That’s understandable.  In fact, I agree completely.  What I’m not sure about, however, is whether or not these concepts are “noodling around” or actually strong ideas that would work.  Clearly, I’d have to write the scripts first, before I can make such a determination.

So let’s assume Professor Walters is right:  this is just “noodling around” and it’s not worth subjecting an audience to.  Now what?  How do I take this experiment to its logical conclusion?  Get actors together, direct them, put together a show and… what? Don’t show it to people?

I can definitely see the benefits to doing it in private, in terms of learning the techniques, but in terms of.. well.. it’s the principle of the thing.  A show is meant to be.. well, showed!

Am I missing something?