Pin-Up Girls Progress

Pin-Up Girls in process.

[NOTE: I'm cleaning out old drafts again. Here's a brief snippet from 7/16/08, shortly after I held auditions for Pin-Up Girls (and before the final draft was done, 'cause that's how I roll.)  I'm experiencing a similar problem with the new play, Lang.  It's good to remind myself in moments like this that I have been there before.  Pin-Up Girls became a box office and critical hit for Theatre Unleashed.  I had know idea what I was in store for when I wrote these words.]

HELEN
Trumpet players make good kissers. I know from experience.

ETHEL
How many experiences?

HELEN
You know, I don't like you any more.

I've been "working on" Pin-Up Girls for a few years now. It has taken on epic stature in my mind, and there was a point a couple of weeks back where I was seriously considering throwing in the towel on it. Because, you see, I was afraid that nothing I could write would be as good as what I had in mind.

There is a term for that kind of thinking. The term is "crazy." Nothing ever measures up to what you imagine, if only because imagination is not tethered to such real-life concerns as "story structure" and "good dialogue."

The trick is to capture the feeling I get when the imaginary Pin-Up Girls unspools before my "mind's eye," to hit the essential story beats, and to create something that measures up to the impossibly high standard I have set for this thing.