Building A Play

In the 8th chapter of A Place of My Own, Michael Pollan offers a description of finishing work that really spoke to the way I feel about the end of an artistic process. He writes: “No one big thing, finish work consists of a great variety of discrete tasks, many niggling, some inspiring, but none you would call heroic. And yet, day by day, each task checked off moves you another notch down the punch list, that much closer to move-in day, when the time of building ends and the time of habitation begins” (268).

At the end of every artistic process, there comes a time when the work is no longer foundational. In the case of writing a play  (which I recently had the experience of doing) there comes a point in the process where the story has become clear. Instead of making the plans, you now have to build the play scene by scene. Analogous to the building of a house, there are often moments where it becomes apparent that plans need to change – for example: when a character transforms, seemingly by the force of its own will, in a way you could never have expected. In my experience the writing of a play often begins in an impulsive way – with the writing of the first draft fleshing out the basic story. After that, the true work begins: Who are these characters? What are they doing to each other? What is the story that I’m reallytelling? And when the play seems to be nearing completion – it mirrors Pollan’s experience almost exactly. As actors slowly learn their lines and the play develops under a director’s vision, minor changes begin to appear necessary. It could be an inconsistency in a character, or a confusion as to what is happening in a scene.

As a play, like a building, slowly comes to life and becomes a thing that people inhabit, all the finishing touches get put into place. I find it interesting that in both cases, this “finishing” process in no way signals the end of the work. A play, like a house, upon its completion has now become an entryway into an experience, a place for people to exist for a time.

It is a liberating thought to remember that the end of a creative process merely serves as the beginning for another collaborator. With this understanding, the work never stops. I could certainly stand to acquire a bit more patience in the “finishing” processes in my life.