The Play's the Thing

After almost three anxious weeks of waiting, I learned today that my play wasn't picked for the New Plays Festival. I'm definitely disappointed, though not as upset as I expected to be. Can't say I know what to think about most of the plays that were picked, but I'm sure they'll all be good. At least I hope so. No hard feelings.

Much of the reason I'm not feeling very upset is because I know that not getting chosen doesn't mean my play isn't good. In fact, I know it's good, and I'm never that confident in my work.

The idea of getting into NPF meant a lot to me because I'm feeling the need for some self-validation. Something that is going to keep me reassured that I'm not wasting my time writing, trying to be a playwright, or whatever it is writing-wise I want to be. I have to stay focused on not taking this whole not-getting-chosen thing as a sign that I shouldn't be doing this.

My friend Shannon and I have talked a lot about how much we wanted this. (Her play, Antibiosis, which is far superior to mine and utterly brilliant, wasn't picked either.) I'm sad for her, and sad for me. But my first thought after finding out about what did get picked for NPF was not how disappointed I was, but rather "How can I get my play done?" I think she and I are going to discuss renting out a space, getting directors and casting our work to be done sometime. Both of our plays are good enough, I think, and there is no reason on earth why we shouldn't try and bring our stuff to life; our ability to showcase our work shouldn't depend on what Naomi Iizuka deems suitable for Main Stage acclaim.

So that's the plan, at least in my head. We have directors, actors, designers galore, always looking for something to do in order to showcase their work. So I'm actually feeling pretty good. With this idea in mind, as well as knowing how awesome working on Angels in America is going to be, I'm feeling remarkably good.