Belmont Diary: My airport play premieres

"Believe me, there's nothing up there I can't handle."

After four months of writing, one month of editing, one month of waiting for rehearsals to start, and six months of the rehearsals themselves, my 40-character airport comedy Thirty Minutes Till Boarding finally got its world premiere last night at Belmont Day School in Belmont, MA.

"Just some young fly-boy, I reckon. Probably greener than a cornstalk in July."

Afterwards, director Chris Parsons told me that the show was "fantastic", the humor being a particular strength.

"What do you think I'm doing here? I'm bringing you the shoes you left behind!"

The biggest challenge? Managing such a huge cast! But Chris said the kids loved the experience and that the play was well-received. A big part of that, I think, is that the play has numerous interweaving storylines to keep the audience engaged.

"I don't have a fear of flying. I have a fear of crashing."

The characters come to the airport frazzled stressed out, and they only become more so as the flight gets delayed... and delayed... and then cancelled due to snow. But by the end of the play, all of the characters have made a connection--human as well as airline--and they leave in a much better place.

"Well, I just hope nobody recognizes me here."

Chris and his team went all out with the set, as you can see from the photos here. The entire story takes place at a single departure gate at Boston's Logan Airport so the set requirements are few. The script only calls for a gate counter, a gate sign, and a couple rows of seats. That dramatic backdrop of a jetliner taking off is definitely not needed but very, very cool.

"Sorry, Benjy. I didn't think we'd be waiting at the airport this long."

The costumes are also a joy to behold, especially those pilot and flight attendant uniforms. They really look authentic. As for the rest of the characters, I think it's awesome that I can pretty much tell who's who just from how they're dressed.

"The flight has been cancelled."

I just need to make one final pass through the script based on the feedback the Chris gave me. Then I'll be sending it off to Pioneer Drama Service. If it's anything like my other two huge cast plays, It's a Madhouse! and Bringing Down the House, it should become an equally huge hit.

"Zzzzzzz..."

Route 66 comes to Route 66

Of all my plays, It Happened on Route 66 has the strongest sense of place. One of my goals in writing this 1950's comedy was to capture the ambience of the hundreds of small towns along the Mother Road, and of one very small town in particular--the unforgettable Winona, Arizona, where the play is set.

I wanted theatergoers to feel the dust in the air of that high desert town. I wanted them to hear the roar of the cars rushing just outside the diner. But most of all, I wanted to capture the hope that Route 66 held for so many people as they headed west toward what they believed was the Promised Land.

Which is why, once the play was published, I was excited to see where it would be produced. Would it be embraced by the bustling cities and those quaint small towns along its length? Would it find a home in theaters much further away? Would it get produced internationally at all?

I was pleasantly surprised. The play was a huge hit from day one, garnering 57 productions its first full year of publication. Nine of those productions were in Canada, one was in Australia, and one was in New Zealand. The rest of the productions were scattered all over the United States, from Vermont to California and Florida to Oregon (no Maine or Washington yet). But none of those productions were in a city or town along the Mother Road itself.

Until now. Ghost Light Youth Theatre, a branch of River Cities Community Theatre in Bullhead City, AZ, is performing the show tonight and tomorrow.

I've never been to Bullhead City--it's four hours away from my home in suburban Phoenix--but it always pops up on our statewide weather forecasts and I've always been fascinated by the name.

Turns out its history is just as fascinating.

The town of 43,000 is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the famous gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada. It was first known as Hardyville, being founded in 1864 as a steamboat landing for the gold, silver, and copper mines in the area.

After silver prices declined in the 1890's, it became a bona fide ghost town, only to be resurrected with its current name in 1942 when it became the base for construction of Davis Dam. Ironically, the highway predated the rebirth of the town as the Arizona section of Route 66 was completed in 1926. 

Yes, you can still drive (or get down on your hands and knees and kiss, if that's your thing) the original asphalt of Route 66 through Bullhead City. In fact, the best-preserved section of the entire highway is the 73-mile long section from Kingman to Seligman just east of Bullhead City.

And where did that crazy name come from? From Bullshead Rock, a prominent rock formation that was almost entirely submerged by the lake formed by the dam (take that, rock!).

Unfortunately, I can't find any history on the theater company itself, but judging from its Facebook account, it appears to be a healthy, vibrant group that has already been around for quite a few years. 

My ultimate dream for this play, of course, would be to have it performed in Winona. But seeing as Winona is an unincorporated village without a school let alone a theater company, that seems highly unlikely.

So what do you say, Flagstaff? You're the nearest city to the setting of the play. How would you like to be the next Route 66 town to produce it?

Palmetto State Bookshop makes magic

Every production of The Enchanted Bookshop is magical. But some have an extra touch of magic.

That's the case with Clemson Area Youth Theatre's production, as reported today in this article from Upstate Today. According to first-time director Heather Edwards, part of that magic comes from the story itself.

"I just love how magical it is and how it brings back a lot of childhood memories with reading a lot of the old classics, like Wizard of Oz, Tom Sawyer," she says. "I just thought that would be such an amazing show." 

But a lot of the magic comes from the kids themselves. And with 23 in the cast, as well as several in the crew, there are plenty of them involved in the production. "The show is pretty much run by the kids."

"The most fun part is just seeing the kids light up and becoming their characters," Edwards adds. "Even though we've done it many, many times, it's always something new, and something new brought to the characters, and it's just such a wonderful experience to go through with them."

The show runs March 13-15 and 20-22 at Clemson Little Theatre in Pendleton. If you'd like to add a magic to your life, you won't want to miss it.

On writing and Alysa Liu

They say you should never stop learning. I agree wholeheartedly, especially when it comes to writing. But I never imagined that at the age of 62, I'd get my most important writing lesson from a 21-year-old figure skater.

The skater? None other than the newest Olympic gold medalist in women's figure skating, Alysa Liu. 

If you watched any of the women's figure skating this year, then Alysa's story should already already familiar to you. Originally from Oakland, California, Alysa became the youngest U.S. champion ever in 2919 at the age of 13. She placed 6th at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 and won bronze at the world championship that same year.

But she quickly burned out. Skating just wasn't fun anymore. And so, at the age of 16, she quit.

The break did her good. She went skiing. She traveled. She spent time with friends. She did all the things she hadn't had time for when skating was her entire life.

Two years later, she was ready to return to the ice. Only this time, she did it on her terms. She chose her own music. She chose her own costumes. She developed her own choreography. But more importantly, she was more relaxed about it all, following a training routine that was more collaborative with her coaches and placed her mental health first.

When she took to the ice in Milan, the difference was obvious. Technically, she was as sharp as she could be, making no mistakes during either her short or long program. She skated with ease, gliding across the ice like she was born to it. But most importantly, she skated with joy. For her entire performance, she could not stop smiling.

Even after she was done skating and was waiting to see how her two final competitors fared, she kept smiling. It didn't matter to her if she won gold. It didn't matter to her if she placed at all. She had done what she came to the Olympics to do. And that was to have fun.

She won the gold, of course. Not by training harder than anyone else. Not by wanting it more. She won it because she loved what she was doing.

I often forget that when I write. I get so wrapped up in following the rules of writing--Are the characters consistent? Does every plot point make sense? Am I avoiding cliches?--that the actual process of writing becomes a drag and I lose sight of why I started writing in the first place. To have fun.

So I've vowed that, going forward, I'm going to follow Alysa's example. I'm going to focus on my love of writing and not so much on the hard stuff. I hope it'll make my writing better. I know it'll make it more fun.

And no, there may not be any gold medals in playwriting. But there is something more important.

Joy.

Survival Island! to be published

Just two months into the new year and I've already got two new plays accepted for publication, both with Heuer Publishing.

I already told you about my first ten-minute play, Fear of Clowns, which was accepted last month. Well, today I got the news that the company will also be publishing my reality show satire, Survival Island!

I'm very happy about this. Heuer has been getting a healthy number of productions for The Last Radio Show and I'm confident they'll do equally well with this comedy about a team of reality show contestants who must learn to survive for real when the show's host and crew meet an untimely (but comical) end.

The play has a cast of 10 (1M, 1F, 8 and), uses a single beach set, and runs about 75 minutes.

I've talked before about the inspiration for the play (think Gilligan's Island meets Lord of the Flies). I've also posted several photos from the world premiere at Jacksonville (NC) Performing Arts in November. So at that's left for me to do is to share one of my favorite scenes.

This is the scene in which the contestants learn of the demise of the crew. We meet six of the eight contestants here, each of which is an over-the-top version of the types of contestants you see on shows like Survivor! and The Amazing Race.

KEANU:  (ENTERS LEFT wearing CHASE's safari hat.) Whoa! You dudes are missing it! The view from the top of the volcano is totally tubular!

EDITH:  Sorry, Keanu, but we have bigger problems to worry about.

SHANNON:  Like what are we going to eat?

ANDREA:  And how can we build a shelter?

BUFFY:  (To KEANU.) And where did you get that hat?

KEANU:  What? This hat?

BUFFY:  Yeah. It looks just like Chase's hat.

KEANU:  Gnarly, right? I found it at the top of the volcano.

ANDREA:  Wait a minute. You found Chase's hat at the top of the volcano? 

KEANU:  Yeah. So?

ANDREA:  So did you find Chase?

KEANU:  No. Why would I find Chase?

ANDREA:  Because he should have been under the hat!

KEANU:  Oh, right, right. (Thinks.) No. I didn't see Chase anywhere, but I did see, like, a profusitude of footprints.

EDITH:  Really? Where?

KEANU:  Oh, man. They were all around the edge of the volcano. And here's the weird part. They were all pointed in the same direction.

EDITH:  And which direction would that be?

KEANU:  Toward that ginormous hole. You know. The big orange one.

ANDREA:  (Panicking.) The ginormous hole? Keanu, are you telling us Chase and his entire crew feel into the volcano. 

KEANU:  Huh? Oh, whoa! I guess I am!

SHANNON:  Oh, no! That's awful!

BUFFY:  Did you happen to see Chase's backpack, Keanu?

KEANU:  Backpack?

BUFFY:  Yes. You know. Canvas bag. Shoulder straps. Usually some kind of designer label.

KEANU:  Nah, dudes. I didn't see anything like that.

OTHERS:  Auggghhhh!

BUFFY:  I can't believe they're gone!

EDITH:  I know! Such a tragic loos of human life!

BUFFY:  I was talking about our cell phones!

MICHAEL:  How are going to contact the base camp?

SHANNON:  How are we going to contact our friends and families?

BUFFY:  How are we going to contact our agents and business managers?

SHANNON:  I knew it. We're all going to die. We're going to die a slow, agonizing death from dehydration. And starvation. And that horrible volcan erupting all over us!

I expect the play will be released. In the meantime, if you'd like to read the whole script, email me at todd.wallinger@gmail.com and I'll send you a free perusal copy. Or read the synopsis and cast list on the New Play Exchange.

Belmont diary: My airport play gets a poster

Just wanted to pop in here to show off the really cool poster for my airport comedy, Thirty Minutes Till Boarding. As I've explained before, the play was commissioned by Belmont Day School in Belmont, MA. They started rehearsals in January and director Christopher Parsons told me today that the scenes are really shaping up for the world premiere in March.

To be honest, I haven't thought much about the play since I emailed Chris the script back in August. I've been too busy with the other stuff I've been working on. So it's nice to get this reminder that, yeah, this monster of a play will soon be brought to life.

I won't be able to attend the show, but I'm looking forward to watching the recording they'll send me. I know the students are going to do a bang-up job. Just look at this logo they came up with for the fictional airline in the play:

Two weeks, two new countries

I'm happy to say that my plays have found their way to two new countries this month. Last week, The Grammar Junior School in Nicosia, Cyprus performed The Enchanted Bookshop. And today, Yokohoma International School in Yokohama opened their production of Freaky Tiki. These represent my 26th and 27th countries.

I couldn't find any photos from the show in Cyprus, but Facebook had several from the one in Japan.

I've got to say, the set and costumes look fantastic. Of course, that giant lobster suit is always a hoot!