StoryyWriter

I write stuff...but I'm pretty slow at it (1).

Of course, there are times when I can write swiftly (2).

I tried writing my first play while I was in elementary school, but I never finished it (3).

My first completed one-act that was produced was an assignment in my junior year of high school. The assignment was to write a parody of a fairy tale. I wrote "Begad Wolf," a Shakespearean version of "The Three Little Pigs"...in blank verse...with the wolf as the tragic hero. The first production was an illustrated reader's theatre (4) at Bakersfield Community College. Later, it was staged for a Bakersfield Community Theatre evening of One-Acts, for the Kern County Parks & Recreation Department's One-Act Play Festival, and for a church group.

After I wrote "Begad," but before it was produced, I wrote book and lyrics for a musical-comedy version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. I appeared in the Bakersfield Community Theatre Youth Theatre production during my senior year of high school, playing Sir Percival Harrington-Smythe of Scotland Yard. Followed by my men's chorus in deerstalkers and Inverness capes, we sang-- (5)

CHORUS
"Sherlock, O Sherlock!
The greatest detective that ever lived! 
We know all you did 
From when you were a kid.
You...are...our ideal!

VERSE
The guilty person never, ever got away!
Sherlock could tell what was up on the very first day!
Was his life
Full of thrills?
Look what happened
With the Hound of the Baskervilles 

CHORUS

Sherlock, O Sherlock!

The greatest detective that ever lived! 

We know all you did 

From when you were a kid.

You are our I-deal!"

Of course, Hyde had his own song, a waltz--

"I'm so deliciously evil!

Can't you see?

Yes it's me!

I'm Rosemary's Baby and I don't mean maybe!

I'll maim! 

I'll kill!

I love

Boot Hill!

Die-dee-I-die-die-die,

Die-die-die-die!"

There have been many scripts I've written, and many have been performed.

A few--

"All's Red That's Riding Hood, or How Grimm Can You Get?"--a Shakespearean, blank verse tragedy performed at the Fresno Rogue Festival under the Woodward Shakespeare Festival banner.

"The Bounds of Haskerville"--a one-act comic melodrama co-written with my late first wife, Carol. It was performed for my church, and was later the first show of Sanger Community Theatre.

"Kommunity Theatrics--a two-act comedy about a new theatre group performing "How Dead Is She?" a murder mystery about the killing of an abrasive female comedian, SCT's second play.

"Spirits in the Dark"--A second-rate Stephen King-type writer is gaslighted and dies in a crash...and comes back to haunt his home and bring justice. It's actually a comedy. SCT's final two-act play.

"The Elves and the Shoemaker"--a full-length musical, and I wrote book, lyrics, and music. BCTYT. I was heavily influenced by 'Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables," with lots of parts where different characters sing different songs and interweave the melodies.

"Tom, Huck, and Mark"--a two-act adaptation of Tom Sawyer for the Fresno County Public Library's The Big Read. I played Muff Potter. Except for two lines, everything was a quote from Mark Twain or his works.

"Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe"--performed in a deconsecrated synagogue for the FCPL Big Read. "The Case of M. Valdemar" freaked people out when the character melted at the end and slime poured out of the bed.

"Call of the Wild"--adapted for the FCPL Big Read. At the synagogue again. I played the Man in the Red Sweater, who beats fear into the dog. Each performance, I bludgeoned the young man playing Buck. People hated me. It was fun.

Next week--Storywriter, Part Two: Published Stories

(1) I can take weeks writing one short story.
(2) Usually when I'm at the last possible moment before a deadline.
(3) My life is littered with unfinished stories and lost stories.
(4) While the actors read their lines, I manipulated colorful figures on an overhead projector.
(5) This is a portion of the lyric. I think there were two other verses.
Hey! I was sixteen when I wrote this!