Plays and Musicals - A Writer's Introspective

NOTICE:

2004-05-08T23:59:00.000-04:00

Combining all my blogs. Here is the address:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wvthcomp

I like the comments post option and all that.

New Blog

2004-04-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

In order to keep everything in order, I started a journal last night for all th posts like the ones below (personal, that is).

Delusions and Table Salt, John Nugent's Personal Journal

Ah Vacation

2004-04-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, in the western valleys of West Virginia, there was a town called Huntington. This city existed for one purpose: to slowly suck the souls from all who would enter its gaping jaws.

Sadly enough, it still exists.

I spent the day in Huntington cleaning out some of my storage building. Found my score of Aida, which brings me some relief. Now if only I could find my score of Tristan. Maybe next time. I have no desire to spend anothr day there as of yet.

Tomorrow, it's off to Parkersburg. And from there, back home.

Back Again

2004-04-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

In the middle of a MUCH deserved vacation. After a year, Dark Mission is finally complete (except for the orchestrations, which I shall do once I return to Tennessee).

Spent the weekend in Cleveland visiting Shannon, whom I have long decided to adopt as a little sister, but didn't get to go do anything as it rained all weekend and she had to work 9 hour days.

Stayed last night in Charleston with Tiff and Chris. Tiff and I sat down and played through the score of Kehde and Scarpelli's Romeo and Juliet for old time's sake. I miss that show, and every single member of CYAC from those days. If any of you ever read this, EMAIL ME!!!!!!!! PLEASE????????

Going tonight to heckle Jeff at his karaoke show....

Then, this weekend to Parkersburg to see Terry. We haven't hung out in several years.

Well, I'm in a very nostalgic mood right now, which is bad, because it always tends to trigger my Depression. Being melancholic sucks ass. Sooner or later, they'll have to hide the razor blades.

And above all, I miss my sweetie...

Normally, I know, I use this for entries over business, but I'm very introspective at the moment, so please bear with me.

And ANYONE from CYAC during the years i was with that company, PLEASE EMAIL!!!!!

Back in Action

2004-03-10T11:59:00.000-05:00

Back to work on Dark Mission with a vengeance! Been working at the rate of a scene a day for a few days now! A bit slower today, as I am preparing myself to start taking the music toward the end of the piece. Also, doing a little bit of study today.

My score arrived today for the Rautavaara 3rd Piano Concerto. I heard this piece a few weeks ago by pure chance, and loved it. Seeking to find things happening in Art Music today, I went to the record store and this was the latest dated piece (1998). Lots of things happening, so I ordered the score. Already identified some instruments which I had heard before, but often wondered what they were! However, I am studying the first four measures musicologically right now...

Also, Charles doesn't know it yet, but I have composed (but not written down) the first few bars of Varmints...

Sighs

2004-02-18T01:11:00.000-05:00

Not in a creative mood today at all. Happens sometimes when you've completed a 40 hour week and then have to go almost straight into another one.

Got Finale Viewer to work. Also updated my resume for the first time in several years. Got rid of compositions which bore no significance and brought it up to date. http://www.angelfire.com/wv/thcomp/resume.html

And that's all for another day.

And Away We Go...

2004-01-31T19:39:00.000-05:00

Spent the day trying to record to .mp3 file. A few months ago, I had no trouble. However, now I get error messages stating the computer's Sound Card is not one able to perform simultaneous playback and record. It's still the same Sound Card as before, so I wonder, what is the problem?

Also trying to figure how to get Finale Viewer to work. I want to start posting all my work online as it is completed. Any suggestions?

Saw an auditon notice in the paper for Wizard of Oz in Jonesborough. In Jonesbourough????? Is this the same Jonesborough where I have TITC set up? I wish them better luck finding actors than I've had there. Thinking back, this was the last show I performed in back in Huntington, WV (a year and a half now. Doesn't seem so long). Have been part of several casts here (for details, see previous entries), but no production has made it to the stage.

Also: Here's a bit of further reading. From last Sunday's Johnson City Press

Scrap lottery if it doesn’t live up to promise

EDITOR:
First, please allow me to restate that I find the idea of a state lottery harmful and appalling.
More so, however, is the people’s gullibility, shown in its unquestioning acceptance of the Pro-Faction’s propaganda.

None would disagree that Tennessee’s schools need help. For years, tax dollars were earleafed for this purpose. Where are those tax dollars now, and do we have solid assurance lottery dollars will not meet the same fate?

To Tennessee legislators, I put a challenge. You said lottery profits would aid education.

Make it do so. If in five years, Tennessee’s teachers are still among the lowest-paid in the nation, if Tennessee’s schools still cannot afford updated textooks, or — in the case of some — do not yet have textbooks, perhaps we should re-evaluate this odious lottery, scrap it and find a good idea.

JOHN D. NUGENT
Erwin

2004-01-15T01:43:00.000-05:00

Here We Are Again

Thought I'd never get back here. Been working my rear end off on several projects. Here is the update:

DARK MISSION
The (third?) Deemer/Nugent collaboration is going very well, I must say. I have finally gotten a few things in my head that at least sound Native American. Not being able to find field tapes of what little is left of the Cayuse (if any), I had to listen to field tapes of everything from Sioux to (I think) Nez Perce, and others. Some things sound a bit cliched (the opening is intentional), but this is because I've used variations of authentic songs in several accompaniments. I'm not going to knock it, since the music has literally poured out since I've gotten the sound I want. Hoping to have this finished within the next couple months. Already have an idea for the fourth (and perhaps fifth) collaboration. This is interesting. Usually, I'm asking Charles for subjects.

PHYSICIAN IN SPITE OF HIMSELF
To my own libretto. I finished the First Act of trhe Libretto and laid it aside once music FINALLY started pouring out for Dark Mission.

DIAMONDS AND ROSES
I still intend to premiere this with the TITC in May, if I can get a cast. I don't know how the Barter does it. Almost NOBODY in this area has the slightest interest in the Arts. I have sent this play to the Dramatic Exchange, in hopes that somebody might come across it there and want to produce it. Perhaps someday in the next thousand years, they'll get around to posting new plays. After this production, good bet there will be no more TITC. I'll wait until I move to Florida where they appreciate the Arts and do all those great shows I wanted to do before.

EASTER CANTATA
Needing to get some quick work done here, so I've placed it back on the burner. Rehearsals starting very soon. Even possibly within the next couple weeks.

Also entering a few composition contests.

This is all I have on the burners at the moment, but as you see, it's a hefty schedule with my day job to consider. One of these days, I hope I have some money so I can sit and write a straight eight hours or more a day. And perhaps one day the sky will turn brown with a dazzling display of orange, blue, green, red, yellow, and purple polka dots. But then again, I have a plan...

Until next time...

Voices

2003-09-14T02:59:00.000-04:00

Celebrated (if one can say that) the eleventh of September by going to see Voices of September 11 at the Johnson City Community Theatre. It was a nice little set of monologues on how the events of that day changed this Nation. The performances were terrific, so I am glad I went. Actually went for the purpose of opening relations with the JCCT and to talk to my potential Robert Olson for The Half-Life Conspiracy. Show has a matinee later today as well. Wish I could see it again, but I am promised forth.

Looking Up

2003-09-10T20:05:00.000-04:00

So much can happen in such a short time.

I now potentially only lack two females and The Half-Life Conspiracy is cast. I am not going to do this show in November as I originally planned (I am doing absolutely nothing in November), but I am going to do it in late-Winter/early-Spring. This is actually a good thing for me. I can call each Season January to December as I had planned to do, and that means I will also have a full Season.

Starting true orchestrations on Dark Mission. I have most of my themes now, so I can start at page 1 of the libretto and simply go through front to back (hopefully, by the time I get to the back of what I have now, Charles will have the rest to me).

Also starting a series of 20 minute Chamber Operas on religious themes. Can't remember where they are being performed, but I better remember fast so I can mail them. I've chosen five Bible stories so far. Would like to make a cycle.

And Diamonds and Roses is taking shape. Have a potential cast for that now as well, so it will probably follow The Half-Life Conspiracy by a couple months.

For after that, I am looking at a few submissions I've received in the past few days. One, I am definitely doing if I get enough profit from the other two to be able to pay for it. I am preparing to read the other right now.

So, it's off to that part of my desk.

2003-08-31T01:07:00.000-04:00

Starting Without Gas

I know. It has been a long time again. This is for two very distinct reasons. First of all, I have been very busy. And second, I would like to get my archives to work. If anyone knows how to do this, please email me and tell me.

Held two weekends of auditions for Deemer's Half Life Conspiracy and nobody showed. Of all the local newspapers in which I ran the ad, only one printed it. Another even more local newspaper decided to do a front page story, which made me incredibly happy, but they decided to do it AFTER the auditions.

So, Half-Life is on the back burner for now. I WILL bring that show to this area, but I will probably need to do something else first in order to generate interest in the Company. Some area actors were interested in this particular show, but they were all doing other things. So, perhaps if I wait, I can get them involved.

So, what to open with instead?

First of all, for the sake of publicity, I am co-producing and co-writing a murder mystery with Roger Ball, who is President of the Community Theatre of the Tri Cities. That opens at one of the area hotels (never can remember which) on October 19. And I get to write a song, which will appear at the end of the First Act (and I get to sing it myself). There will be an ad in the program for anyone interested in acting. Especially in Half-Life.

I also got a lot of interest from teenagers. Charles, if you read this, have you ever thought of writing for kids? I am also wishing that I knew how to write for kids, or that Dan Kehde would give me permission to do American Paradise.

On another hand, I DO have a potential cast for the premiere of my Diamonds and Roses. Especially since Diamonds is out-and-out fluff. Problem is, I have been out of writing on this piece since '99, and I haven't really gotten even the First Act where I want it, and Act Two isn't even started. This is not the type of show I want to do with TITC. I had hoped, actually, to get CTTC to produce it. However, first I have to finish it.

Received a letter of inquiry over some monologues. If the price is right, I might go ahead and do that and use the publicity from that to try and get a cast for Half Life.

Anyway, even if I don't have a show in November, I know two things:

1) I WILL HAVE A SHOW!
2) I WILL DO HALF-LIFE SOONER OR LATER (preferably much much sooner)

Also, starting orchestrations on Dark Mission while I wait on more of the libretto. And I have started my first Social Action Drama (as much as I hate the form). It is called The Devil's Playground, and it is an autobiographical play with a few changes for the sake of drama.

Well, I am going to go now and see if I can get my archives to work. If I can, then I'll be posting a lot more often.

Until then!!!!!

2003-05-28T02:08:00.000-04:00

Changes, Changes

It's been a while since I could get back here, and so much is happening. First of all, the logo design for the theatre is now finalized. The designer made a mistake and called it the Tennessee Independant Theatre Company, but since I liked what he did with the name on the logo so much, I am changing the theatre name to accomodate. Rog was able to acquire a permanent theatre building for CTTC, and I shall be using the facility as well. As we have no plot yet for the two-acter, I am going to finally finish my romantic comedy Diamonds and Roses, which I started in '99. The plot is a centralist-leaning-toward-the-Right boy's engagement to a retro-sixties-neo-hippie-liberal girl, in a Neil Simon-esque comedic fashion. It contains the Handstands for AIDS sketch I had originally written (but it was not developed) in my days with the Chained God Comedy Troupe. This sketch satirises people who jump on the bandwagon for various causes but feel nothing for those causes except their own good feelings as being part of a cause. We all know the type. The Flavor-of-the-Month crowd. But this is only a small scene in the course of what I hope will be an hilarious romantic comedy. Not a musical, but the theatre is not equipped with a sound system yet. So, my musicals will have to wait a bit.

I'd Sell My Soul For a Role

CTTC had auditions last week for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Incidentally, the only people who showed up were those people who had been invited. The newspapers forgot to run all audition ads, and very few people actually look at those little flyers in the stores. We were barely able to cast it at all, and I got the role I have yearned for some time to play. Good old Mephistopheles (good????). However, the casting was only accomplished with a lot of triple-casting in the lesser roles. And two people had to drop the show before the first rehearsal. So, Faustus is indefinately postponed. We decide Monday on the replacement. I'm going to suggest Miss Julie by Strindberg. Don't know it too well, but it only has three roles, and that's what we need.

Well, I better go for now. Want to get this up. Until next time!!!

2003-04-23T02:49:00.000-04:00

Intro to the Blog

Well, here we are. I read once that there was a Commandment against covetuousness, but when I found Charles Deemer's blog I had to have my own. Thank you, Charles for sending the URL to yours.

About me:

I have been in the business of Musical Composition for 23 years, and Operatic Composition for the major part of this. The Opera led me to two of the most unlikely tangents of my career: Playwriting and Poetry.

Granted, I had written plays before. My first was premiered in 1988 to some small success. It is not listed in my resume, and if you ask, I will not send a copy. In short, it is terrible. I like to think I've improved.

But Poetry?

Friends used to tell me that any Composer should be able to write Poetry, because of metre, etc. This was in the days when I was unofficial Composer-in-Residence to a small community theatre back in Charleston. Mostly for Incidental Music, and sometimes my incidental music would receive better reaction than the plays themselves (some of them, this is pretty self-explanatory). One day, I decided to prove them wrong and write a poem.

It was picked up by the first magazine to which I submitted.

Oh well, shows what little I know.

And as for the third in my little blurb:

I formed the Community Theatre of the Tri-Cities with local playwright Roger Ball last year, upon relocating to this place. There was a bit of disagreement upon the nature of the shows performed. Roger wanted to do work which was safer for younger audiences, as well as the classics. I wanted to do classics, yes, but also cutting-edge work, and as many originals as I could find or write or both. So, for this end, I founded the Johnson City Independent Theatre Company. Rog and I are currently writing a small two-acter to open it. When revenue starts coming in, I also want to start commissioning new work - this means YOU Charles, so be ready to come out of retirement. (just kidding - but only on the tone of voice. I will be trying to commission from you).

I have to re-send a Secular Cantata score to Deemer in the morning and then pull out the Dark Mission libretto. I think I have a few more thematic ideas.

Until next time.