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FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 13, 2009, 01:44:23 PM

Title: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 13, 2009, 01:44:23 PM: This is on Twitter/FB, but I thought there might be some good ideas here too.

So I'm writing a play for this guy David Levine:

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/blogon/art_news/david_levine_in_conversation_with_alix_rule/4739

The idea is he's going to build an actual, functioning house in an art gallery or warehouse space, rehearse the play with 3 actors, and have them do it over and over again on an endless loop. This is a commentary on (among other things) "realistic" drama. I'm modeling it after these grim, faux-bad-ass, Mike-Show kinds of plays that purport to "tell it like it is" but are pretty much like Larry Clark or knockoff-Tarantino style stories with lots of posturing and exaggerated transgression. I usually hate these, but they're kinda fun to write. In my version, there is a love triangle, lots of cocaine use, a gun, and some pumpkins, one of which gets fucked.

These plays all have titles like:

Stone Cold Dead Serious
Shopping And Fucking
This Is How It Goes
The Shape Of Things
Red Light Winter
Some Explicit Polaroids
The Water's Edge

So I need something like this, preferably with "Serious" in the title. Winner gets a bunch of my published plays or maybe those Truck Nuts Regular Joe sent me last Christmas.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: JonFromMaplewood on November 13, 2009, 03:58:52 PM: Straight Up

You Feel Me?

That's Some Serious Shit Right There

No Vaseline

For Real

No Joke

The Stone Cold Emet (Hebrew for "truth")
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 03:58:52 PM: Weirdoes Seriously Exposed

Weirdoes Exposed, Seriously

Serious Weirdoes Exposed

The Serious Reunion
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:00:42 PM: Improv Everywhere Seriously Climbing Up Its Own Ass
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:09:01 PM: Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:00:42 PM
Improv Everywhere Seriously Climbing Up Its Own Ass

Should I resent that post, Auntie?
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:11:39 PM: Quote from: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:09:01 PM
Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:00:42 PM
Improv Everywhere Seriously Climbing Up Its Own Ass

Should I resent that post, Auntie?

Are you in Improv Everywhere?
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:14:28 PM: Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:11:39 PM
Quote from: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:09:01 PM
Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:00:42 PM
Improv Everywhere Seriously Climbing Up Its Own Ass

Should I resent that post, Auntie?

Are you in Improv Everywhere?

I improvise everywhere!
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Omar on November 13, 2009, 04:14:51 PM: Serious Pumpkins, One of Which Gets Seriously Fucked.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: dave from knoxville on November 13, 2009, 04:24:19 PM: It's Not Serious Until it Blisters

Schmeerious

Rigorous Cleansing

Still Benign For Now

Chard and Hurricanes

The Current Carried Them Away

Quest for Fail

The Dismal Moments After the Seder

Contrary Opposition

Echolalia Squared

Un Soupcon de Vine

Wretched Vessel

Soul of a Clock

Assignation Crash Pad
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:25:04 PM: Quote from: dave from knoxville on November 13, 2009, 04:24:19 PM
It's Not Serious Until it Blisters

Schmeerious

Rigorous Cleansing

Still Benign For Now

Chard and Hurricanes

The Current Carried Them Away

Quest for Fail

The Dismal Moments After the Seder

Contrary Opposition

Echolalia Squared

Un Soupcon de Vine

Wretched Vessel

Soul of a Clock

Assignation Crash Pad

these could also be Morrissey songs.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Chris L on November 13, 2009, 04:43:05 PM: Serious Refuse
Never Not Serious
Interesting Fucking Times
It’s All Connected
Carving Without a Knife
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: nec13 on November 13, 2009, 04:53:58 PM: Pumpkins, Guns, and Blow

That basically says it all, doesn't it?
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:58:45 PM: Quote from: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:14:28 PM
Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:11:39 PM
Quote from: fonpr on November 13, 2009, 04:09:01 PM
Quote from: Auntie Christina on November 13, 2009, 04:00:42 PM
Improv Everywhere Seriously Climbing Up Its Own Ass

Should I resent that post, Auntie?

Are you in Improv Everywhere?

I improvise everywhere!

Okay, then we're square - I was mocking them not you.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: gravy boat on November 13, 2009, 05:07:47 PM: "Once Again, This is Serious."
"Drama. A repeat."
"Tom Scharpling Presents -- Truck Nutz"
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Big Plastic Head on November 13, 2009, 05:34:02 PM: "Series of Us"
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Gilly on November 13, 2009, 05:59:19 PM: Some Serious Jack and Coke
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 13, 2009, 06:46:59 PM: Haha, these are great. Serious Pumpkins is now in the lead. I like "Assignation Crash Pad" but it sounds like a Captain Beefheart record. That gives me an idea, one of the characters should have a coked-up monologue about Captain Beefheart.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Martin on November 13, 2009, 07:47:36 PM: Off the Rails
The Rage in a Postcard
Half-Mirror
Sorrow Sends Its Regards from Palo Alto
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 13, 2009, 09:38:16 PM: Wow, Half-Mirror is actually pretty amazing. SSIRFPA isn't quite right for this but is also fantastic. I might use it for one of my "real" plays.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: JustNicole on November 13, 2009, 10:43:33 PM: The World Reel Serious
Serious Reels
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: dave from knoxville on November 13, 2009, 11:44:52 PM: Chemo Mints

Some Parts Are Edible

Closest Without Going Over

Worried About the Beaver

Don't Go Walking Slow
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Barry Egan on November 13, 2009, 11:58:11 PM: Quote from: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 13, 2009, 06:46:59 PM
That gives me an idea, one of the characters should have a coked-up monologue about Captain Beefheart.

THIS MUST HAPPEN. (Grote writes one hell of a coked-up monologue)
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: B_Buster on November 14, 2009, 12:04:24 AM: Peter Peter Pumpkinfucker

What's a Mike Show type play? It doesn't sound good.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: buffcoat on November 14, 2009, 12:23:13 AM: Boo, Radley
Is It Midnight Already?
Dark Night of the...

Mexican Gringo
Edward Furlong Presents: Hostility
Saw You Through
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Chris L on November 14, 2009, 12:55:13 AM: My Vacation = Your Revolution
Never Been in a Steakhouse
Boondock Jesus
Casa Del Emo
Everybody, Bros, This is Nowhere
Landing On Water: The Play
A Loft Called Serious
Serious: Based on the Novel Snort by Moustache
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: dave from knoxville on November 14, 2009, 08:03:17 AM: False Positive

And Don't Call Me Seriously

Five for Five

Conniption Vent

Pocket Hercules

i will quit now; i never got to pitch to a real honest-to-god playwright before!
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 14, 2009, 09:04:53 AM: Wow, thanks, everybody, this is great.

OK, I'm definitely doing the Captain Beefheart monologue, though it might just be about psych rock in general. Can anyone recommend any good books on psych rock? Is that Jim DeRogatis book any good?

Mike, a "Mike Show Play" basically means a lot of grim stuff happens in it. Rape, various kinds of murder including infanticide, sexually transmitted disease, gross sex (the British playwright Mark Ravenhill evidently loves hearing actors talk in graphic detail about disgusting sexual acts), and so on. I'm actually combining a couple of the childhood humiliation calls for the obligatory Dark Secret In The Characters' Pasts.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: B_Buster on November 14, 2009, 10:02:14 AM: Let me guess. One of the characters never learned how to do a somersault? I'd go see that!
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: thom on November 14, 2009, 10:09:43 AM: "Fist"

"The Serious Fist"

"Serious W. Serious: Convicted Rapist"
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: methanolcereal on November 14, 2009, 03:24:41 PM: Quote from: JonFromMaplewood on November 13, 2009, 03:58:52 PM
No Vaseline

Brilliant.

My suggestions (teetering between serious, not-so-serious, and I think the first one is a Dirtbombs song title)

It's Not Fun Until They See You Cry
Scenes from the Ski Lodge
Bolivian Confidence
Squirt!
Smeared Lipstick, Ash, and Impulse
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: buffcoat on November 14, 2009, 03:42:05 PM: Is it Midnight Already? - has anybody else heard that joke? It's the punchline from a joke about having sex with a pumpkin.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: dave from knoxville on November 14, 2009, 03:55:05 PM: How about

Name My Next Play

Rule of Order

Conditions of the Parties

Allegations of Fair Play

A King of Dissent

See Saw Drama

The Problems Round the Block

The Methods By Which the Problem was Solved
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Martin on November 14, 2009, 06:16:45 PM: That's enough, people. I think we can all agree that my suggestions were the best.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fletcher munson on November 14, 2009, 07:36:39 PM: If Beefheart's involved, may I suggest, Pumpkin Claw Hammer?
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Kim Kelly on November 14, 2009, 08:44:06 PM: Lipstick and Cigarettes

I don't know, I'm feeling nostalgic for that website. Why does Make Out Club still exist, and Lipstick and Cigarettes doesn't?

Also, I'm waiting for Wes to post here and blow everyone away.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fonpr on November 14, 2009, 08:46:03 PM: Quote from: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 14, 2009, 09:04:53 AM

Can anyone recommend any good books on psych rock?

Here you go:Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound (Paperback)
~ Paul Drummond (Author), Julian Cope (Foreword)
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: NJL on November 14, 2009, 10:26:12 PM: So In the Flesh
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 15, 2009, 08:19:55 AM: Thanks for the recs, Fredericks. I wound up going with the DeRogatis book but I'll check those out too.

Laurie, Wes suggested "When The Blood Is On The Pumpkin" on Twitter.

So far my #1 candidate is a variation on one of Martin's: Half-Moon Mirror. It doesn't really mean anything, and sounds melodramatic, which is pretty much exactly like the titles of all those plays I'm imitating/parodying. Also, I should say that the piece itself is going to be called "Habit," and most people probably won't know or care what the play happening inside the big fake house is called.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: fletcher munson on November 15, 2009, 10:13:11 AM: Hey, how about part of what you just posted, Shaggy2Grote, Inside The Big Fake House? I'd actually go to see something with that title.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: masterofsparks on November 15, 2009, 10:45:05 AM: Reflections in the Coke Mirror
Always Crashing Into the Same Mirror
What's Behind the Mirror?
Inglourious Basterds Was a Weak-Ass Piece of Shit and Here's Why
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: gravy boat on November 16, 2009, 11:38:52 AM: Quote from: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 15, 2009, 08:19:55 AM
So far my #1 candidate is a variation on one of Martin's: Half-Moon Mirror.

I just want to point out that if you choose Martin, you're going have to spend more to ship the awards to Sweden.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Chris L on November 16, 2009, 11:52:35 AM: Last, desperate bids:

Half-Moon Junction
I'll Seriously Be Your Mirror
Tough Guys Don't Pumpkinfuck
Captain Pumpkinheart
Chris L, the Cool Person
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 16, 2009, 12:40:47 PM: The winner is Chris L, The Cool Person. But not for this piece. I'm actually just going to weave together a bunch of Chris' posts and tweets as a solo show and try and get it to Steven ("Wings") Weber's agent. The grab bag of plays will also double as Chris' royalty payment, in perpetuity.

Actually the director likes Half-Moon Mirror, even though there were some awesome titles in this thread. But (with all due respect to everyone's favorite guardian of the gems) the point is less about having a good title and more about having something that sounds like one of those "gritty" 70s-style stage dramas. Martin, PM me with your address!

But anyone who wants a bunch of my published plays should just PM me. I'll send them to whoever wants 'em, as long as supplies last.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Martin on November 16, 2009, 12:53:07 PM: Hooray!
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Wes on November 16, 2009, 12:57:28 PM: The important thing that we all learned here is that the traditional Irish Halloween jack-o-lantern turnip (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Traditional_Irish_halloween_Jack-o%27-lantern.jpg) is eight hundred million times more terrifying than any carved pumpkin is, was or ever will be.

Also, "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkins, Die" is going to be a huge Halloween novelty hit next year and make Bobby 'Boris' Pickett come back to life so he can wish he was never born.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 16, 2009, 01:49:53 PM: Are those real human teeth in that thing?
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: JustNicole on December 15, 2009, 03:01:01 PM: Quote from: Shaggy 2 Grote on November 16, 2009, 12:40:47 PM
But anyone who wants a bunch of my published plays should just PM me. I'll send them to whoever wants 'em, as long as supplies last.

Thank you for the plays, Jason! I got them today and I cannot wait to read them. You rock.
Title: Re: Name My Next Play.
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on December 15, 2009, 05:53:40 PM: My pleasure! Glad to hear they all got where they were going. Note that there are a couple of Newbridge/Best Show references hidden in the kids' play.