Streetcar Songs and Script Submissions

And we're back. Another wild week has whizzed by.

Musical theatre writing has been intense this week. We crafted a song for Blanche in Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Named Desire. This gave me an excuse to finally watch the famous film version with Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. It was tricky trying to write a song for Blanche because Williams already layered in very specific music in the piece and Blanche is a complex character. Not to mention the play is a master piece already and one doesn't want to mess with a good thing. It was a fun challenge and my composer partner and I were please with the outcome.

This week's assignment pairs me with a new composer and we are to base the scene and song on the short story the Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. Class will meet 3 days this week instead of the usual 1. A director and actors will come in and workshop what we have written. I'm excited to see how it goes.

8Squared is full steam ahead. The script submission deadline was Friday and the weekend has been spent organizing the entries and assigning them to external evaluators for review. The producing team also needs to read the submissions so we can discuss the plays, the evaluations and create the program for the presentation. So between writing my own work and reviewing others, I've spent lots of time with my dramaturg hat on this weekend.

My thesis is another plate that is spinning. We are laying the ground work for the research we will undertake starting this summer. Questions and theories, positioning statements, definitions of key terms, annotated bibliographies, outlines and personal development plans are all being formulated.

The weather in London has been glorious these past weeks and I even saw some azaleas in bloom near school which reminded me of South Carolina. I am hoping to spend more time outside in the near future. I'm so close to Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill, it seems a shame not to spend more time there. But alas, the library has seen much of me this past week. The life of a grad student I suppose.

For now, I must get back to reading scripts. I'll let you know how the song writing goes. In the meantime, have a look around and see if any new musicals are being presented in your local theatres.
Until next week...

Take care!
-m