Michael's Final Blog on Love Comma Candy

Erica and Jenny,

Y'all have made so much progress on this piece this semester. And so much of that has been your willingness to play with the play--to try new things, ideas, scenes, etc.

It was fun to watch it in New Works and see how one director took it and staged a workshop in ways that I hadn't envisioned. Like I said in class, I had just imagined actors double/triple cast in the play, but I hadn't envisioned them chorus like. I didn't really get that from the workshop, but from your conversation the other day and it intrigues me.

Y'all have really unlocked many rich things about Candy. And much of this was due to your work in class and re-writes and outside explorations. Congratulations!

Your in-class exercises were truly creative and fun to participate in. The type that I thought about for awhile afterwards. (This includes this week. Very good job, y'all!)

Questions:

How much do you see the play as unfinished? How did y'all feel about New Works workshop? I enjoyed it. Thought it was fun to watch, but I wondered if it left you with more questions or answers. I don't think either is a bad thing. And I don't have an opinion on it.


Opinions:

I love the way the 15 minutes emerged during the process, but like someone said in one post-New Works discussion (Steven's class?), you might explore not having the stage manager announce every minute. You might announce a few then skip a few. This might play with our perception of time even more.

The opening with the film scene still throws me a bit. On one hand I like it, but I don't know why it's there. I keep wanting to come back to it. Maybe if Andy were filming the whole thing?

In class on Thurs, I loved how Andy's presence turned Candy up more. I don't necessarily want the play about Andy, but I think you ought to play with that and see if it works or deters. And to not be afraid if it becomes more about him. It wasn't your original intent, but if you get into playing with it and that emerges that would be cool too. If not, I think it will teach you even more about Candy.

I especially liked y'all's session this Thursday. That was nice. It was still full-steam work on the play, which I think is great! It felt like y'all were taking what y'all saw during New Works, etc and using class as an opportunity to play with these while you have the luxury of having a captive participants that know the play. I thought this was very smart! AND I thought what y'all devised for that was very smart as well. I hope the exercises provided helpful insight into areas that can be played with and possibly changed up. It was also a fun exercise to do.

My opinion is that I think the best title is "Love, Candy." That was a fun little closure exercise, but i think you have a great title. It's obviously landed with you and I don't think a few people's comments in a talk-back (or whatever) should make you second-guess it. If YOU don't like it, that's another thing. But I for one, like "Love, Candy."

Again, this was a fun play to work on in class. I've liked this play since the first time I experienced it, reading it in lab. I think you've unlocked a lot and you have a solid footing to stand on as you move to the next phases of development.

Congrats!