Into The Woods- First Night on the Big Stage! (What This Writer Has Learned)

Hi everyone!

The stage, such a wonderful setting!

Last night was a very memorable one for me. Our oldest son, Kris, performed on stage for the first time with the Alliance Theater at the Woodruff Arts Center, playing the lead bass (the only bass!) for the play, Into The Woods. There are 19 young people, ages fifteen to seventeen, who are split into two orchestras to play the music for this wonderfully written play. The search for these talented young musicians started during the summer and has culminated into the play which officially opens on September 10th.

The play was originally on Broadway back in 1986 and has been adapted to fit the Alliance Theater stage. Into The Woods revisits five popular fairy tales, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Little Red Ridding Hood and The Baker and the Baker's Wife (honestly can't remember what story they are from!). Act One finds these characters at the beginning of their tails, finding their motivation ( a lot like what we writers have to do with our characters!) As the stories unfold, they also intertwine, leaving each of them to need something from another in order to reach their happy ending.

Promo outside the Alliance Theater.

But has their happy ending been everything they dreamed it could be?

Are they still happy? Did they really want what they dreamed about? Was the work, the sacrifice, really worth it in the end?

To find out, you'll have to see it!

As much as I enjoyed watching and listening to my son play, I found myself getting wrapped up into the story. As an author, I've come to evaluate the work of others. Every book read or movie watched is a chance to learn something new about story telling. It's my goal to discover the writing technique used by the author. Every book, play, and television show is an opportunity to learn something new, a way to continue to develop my own writing voice.

Kris, before putting on his costume.

As I went to sleep that night, I started thinking of the tail of The Baker and the Baker's Wife. Their motivation in Act One was to give the Witch what she wanted so the curse would be lifted and they could have a baby. After trial and tribulations, they succeeded. What they didn't calculate was the cost of having a baby and how much it would change their lives. Suddenly, what they wanted turned into stress and hardship. In the end, when faced with a threat that could force them to loose their child, they go in two different directions to find the answer. No longer working together to reach their goal as they had been done before, they lose their way In The Woods, so to speak. And in the end, the consequences of their actions were dire.

Quite a twist on a fairy tail, huh?

For me, it proved to be creative insight. In my series, The Butterfly Memoirs, the stories deal with how to make the best of the cards we were dealt in life. I have a basic outline for all six stories, but when it came to book 6, the final in the series, I had the idea, but wasn't sure how to make the conflict stand apart from other stories. What could be incorporated to make the story strong enough to finish out the series? The concept I watched last night helped me find what I was looking for. I won't share it with you now, sorry!

So, for now, it's back to chapter 15 of, A Heart Not Easily Broken, for more editing. Six more chapters to go before starting the editing process once again. Part of me is dreading it, but from what I've learned over the last week about editing, it not only will go faster, it will make the flow of the story even smoother. Then, it's off to the editor I go in search of MY OWN happy ending!

Be safe everyone! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

My cousin and another excited parent, Laura.

M.J. Kane