Today, I received a lot of wonderful resources from Ms. Bossen, especially about character creation. Basically, she suggests viewing characters as their own planets with layers that define them, like the earth has. For example, the crust is how you present yourself to the world with fashion choices, geographical location and such. As you get closer to the center, you get closer to the core of the character. There were also other exercises including writing a monologue and a dream journal from the perspective of a character. So, I began brainstorming and started drafting a short play with the working title of Dance With Me in Autumn Leaves, a ghost story of sorts. The plot is a bit confusing, but it’s about two girls who meet in a foggy meadow at midnight. The time period is undetermined, except for that it’s long enough ago that they would both realistically be wearing long white nightgowns. Here’s an excerpt of a scene that I wrote today, which as of now is the beginning of the play.
(Lights come up on a lone girl in a nightgown standing center stage clutching a basket filled with flowers and stones. This is EMMICA, a quiet young woman with sadness in her eyes and secrets on the tip of her tongue and she is surrounded by fog)
EMMICA: (singing to herself) Oh as the red bird sings, promise love, you’ll wait for me
(she kneels and begins setting out flowers)
UNKNOWN VOICE: (from offstage, sings back) Dance with me in autumn leaves, promise love, you’ll wait for me
EMMICA: (looks up) Where are you?
(Another girl in a nightgown enters. This is ADELINE, a young woman with an aura of dreaminess about her. She is free-spirited, surrounded by adventures.)
ADELINE: I’m always here.
EMMICA: Not when I’ve come.
ADELINE: Maybe we’ve just missed each other. I waited for you. (she crosses towards Emmica and kneels beside her) It’s so cold.
EMMICA: It’s cold all the time now.
ADELINE: Why are you out here?
EMMICA: I had to give you flowers.