Stage One Complete!
In 1994, I buckled up for a plane ride home from New York City. It had been a wonderful trip to see shows, friends, and enjoy the city. As the plane taxied down the runway, a thought popped into my head - that image would be the first character in Runaway Home. At that moment, I had no idea that these thoughts would take me on a thirty year odyssey, but here we are…
Those early thoughts and images would evolve into characters - Aleah, The Preacher, Pyper, Steve, Father Liam, Mrs. D’Angelo and so on. Monologues for Pyper and Aleah would come first, which tends to be a part of my process. Write monologues to establish backstory and the voicing of the characters. Loads of research would lead me down the dark abyss into the lives of runaway and homeless teens. Never in my wildest imagination would I have guessed about the staggering statistics of these young people - never. And, over the years, those numbers have grown exponentially.
I collaborated with singer/songwriter, Judy Rodman in 2006. Together, we pulled together the first incarnation of the musical. Several workshop productions told us we were onto something, but for me, I never felt it was the right story for the musical. On paper, I had about five years of their lives mapped out with a complex tapestry of storylines. In 2009, we decided to let the show cool off while we worked on other projects. Not only did Runaway Home cool off - it collected dust - a thick layer of dust and was almost lost completely.
At the dawn of the new year claiming its hold on 2023, I started dreaming about these characters again out of nowhere. I had decided that my New Year’s goal was to focus on my writing. After all, I had spent most of my career helping others to reach their career dreams in the Arts - now, it was my turn. Maybe that woke up Aleah, Pyper, and The Preacher. Nevertheless, they were awake and talking loudly. I reached out to Judy Rodman and told her - this is it. We’re doing this.
Revision.
The time had come to tell Aleah’s origin story, and that was going to be the basis for the musical. Over a week, I started jotting down thoughts on notecards and pretty soon, I had quite a stack. The following Saturday, I started putting the notecards together into the structure of a show. Within an hour, the show was staring back at me. Game on.
Fast forward several months. At one point, I echoed my wife’s comment - “What have you done?” There’s an old saying. If you want something to happen, you have to make it happen. I set a goal for an industry developmental workshop and staged reading for September. Literally, all the pieces started falling into place. The theatre. The cast. The script. The creative team. And finally, the angel investor who would make the plan a reality.
On September 11, 2023, a circle of extremely talented actors from the stage and screen sat in a circle on a stage at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York City. With scripts in hand, we had the first read thru of Runaway Home. Over the next two weeks, we worked on the development of the script. Excited. Elated. I was still in awe of “What have I done? Is this real?”
Many ask, “What does developing the script mean exactly?”
A script is never really finished or locked. Just because I wrote it, it doesn’t mean it’s ready for production. A line could sound amazing in my den with my dog Luna listening to me act out the scene by myself. But, when you give the script to actors and listen to the words coming out of their mouths, you learn what works and what doesn’t work. Some of my favorite moments of those two weeks were Michael Park, who was playing “Father Liam” and Melissa Gilbert, who was playing, “Mrs. D’Angelo,” pushing me to do better - dig deeper - and create dialogue that would have the most impact on an audience.
After seven days of rehearsal, the 199 seat theatre was nearly at capacity both days for Thursday and Friday performances.
Two standing ovations for the work. It would be easy to sit back and say, “Okay, we’re ready to fully mount this show and take it to Broadway.” Uh…not so fast.
I literally sat through two performances revising the show in my head as it was playing in front of me. This is the beauty of a staged reading. You’re not bogged down with the theatrics of scenery, full blocking, choreography, costumes and all the other spectacle of a fully realized production. You get the dialogue and the songs which either stand on their own or they fall flat. And, a few things fell flat to me. I know I can do better. Additionally, we have received feedback from producers, investors, and other theatre folk who offered up their critiques. From that feedback, Judy and I have filtered through what could work for the next draft of the script and music. We made some incredible discoveries, and my advice to playwrights - do not cheat yourself or your work out of this stage of the process. It is an enlightening experience which allows you to grow as a writer and consider the possibilities of what can make your piece stronger.
At this moment, we are gearing up for Stage Two of the development process for Runaway Home. Stay tuned to our page for updates and blogs as we chronicle the journey.