Frozen

Structure. Deadline. Criticism. Marketability.

These words can make a writer quake in his (or her) boots. I've learned, though, that no word is more frightening to a writer than the word "frozen." We are four days away from presenting the first workshop production of A Gift of Undetermined Value and, without doubt, we are 99.7% frozen, save a word change here and there. Understandably, the actors in this production requested a frozen script about two weeks ago.

It is times like this that I wish I had the luxury afforded writers working on a new piece opening Off-Broadway or (wishfully thinking) on Broadway. Even writers working on a work-in-progress at the O'Neill Theater Center have this luxury: the ability to rewrite up to the night (or afternoon) before a show opens.

As I sit in rehearsal and watch talented actors make my words sound better than I believe them to be, I feel like the man in the photo above. Frozen, bound and yearning for warmer temperatures. I know that I can change a word, a couple of lines or a scene and make it so much better. Yet I am bound by being frozen. What a horrible feeling.

I know I am not alone. Many creative artists of note have obviously struggled with this. My favorite Stephen Sondheim show Merrily We Roll Along has been rewritten and reproduced more times than I care to count. Stephen Schwartz rewrote the end of Pippin, one of my favorite shows. And let's talk about the Costco scene that was written out of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal.

Our show opens on Thursday and what will be presented is the script that has spent most of its time sitting in the freezer for two weeks. But rest assured, I have been taking copious notes and have spent many hours rewriting scenes and characters for the next chapter, which is planned for June 2013.

When the script and my hands thaw from the frostbite, this play will be on fire!