"I try to resist composing for as long as I can. I really wanna get at something essential before I start manipulating notes, pushing things around. I try to hold things in my mind's ear as long as I can. It's maybe an inefficient way to work, but it has worked for me. I find that if I'm trying to remember... trying to hear something that I can't quite name, it focuses my attention in a certain way. And then I finally start composing when I can't not compose. When I have to write it down." - John Luther Adams, composer
My Experience at the NAMT Festival of New Musicals
As part of my 2014 career map, I set a goal of attending a musical theatre festival in New York. Thanks to funds provided by Theatre Bay Area's Titan Award and the influence of my mentor, Leslie Martinson, I was able to tag along with TheatreWorks to NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals last week at New World Stages in NYC (Holy Hyperlinks!). My main objectives were to observe, learn and get a pulse on what is happening in the musical theatre industry.
I was so excited to receive my packet and name badge!!!
Here’s how the two-day festival worked. Eight writing teams, who were chosen prior to the festival, prepared 45-minute versions of their current projects for presentation on one of two stages. Festival attendees were assigned one of two show-tracks. On the first day, we waited in line to enter a theatre, watched one team present their 45-minute snippet, exited into the lobby where the writers handed out demos and made themselves available for conversation, then immediately queued up again to re-enter the theatre to watch the next presentation. This repeated until we saw four shows that day. The second day was nearly identical, except we watched the remaining four shows in the second theatre. There was also a special songwriting showcase on the first day, during which four writing teams were able to share two songs from their current projects. Basically, it was a full two days of musical theatre. I should say, NEW musical theatre.
I won't go into too much detail (if you're curious about the line-up of shows, click here). I will say that there was such a refreshing breadth of musical theatre styles represented in the festival. Some were very contemporary and varied, while others stayed true to a particular culture or time-period. There were love stories and tragedies and hilarious comedies. And my God, the talent! From the writing to the musicians to the actors, it was clear to me that these were not mere dabblers in the art of musical theatre. These folks took what they were doing seriously and poured themselves into their projects.
I think that’s what stood out to me most about the Festival of New Musicals. Everyone there loved musicals and wanted to catch a glimpse of where the art form is headed. Theatre companies were interested in finding a work they could invest in and help develop into a fully realized show. I was surrounded by people who loved musical theatre as much as I do. I come away from the festival with great, practical insight into what gets a show to its next steps. But perhaps more importantly, I come away feeling like my passion for musical theatre is not silly or ungrounded - it's a passion shared by others - and I am invigorated to jump right back into my own writing.
Creativity Quotation #5
"People have expectations one way or the other: 'You should do this...,' 'You should do that...,' 'Say this...,' 'Say that...' And I do think there comes a point where, for anyone, if you are in a space, particularly as a writer, you go into this craft because it is about self-expression and not merely about expressing what people want." - John Ridley, screenwriter
Issei Insights
Usually, when we think about Japanese immigrants, we immediately remember the egregious internment camp period during World War II. The knowledge of a "Japanese immigrant experience" prior to the 1940s was murky for me, until I encountered Henry Kiyama's The Four Immigrants Manga. But even after reading Kiyama's book with detailed notes by translator Fred L. Schodt, I knew there was so much more to the history of the Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) to discover.
I just finished reading The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrants by Yuji Ichioka. It is a passionate, historical account that unabashedly, and in my opinion, rightfully, argues that the early Issei pioneers faced much discrimination in their day. Particularly in the early 1920s, the Japanese in America faced wave upon wave of anti-Japanese legislation and sentiment. They were excluded from citizenship. They could not join most labor unions. They were prohibited from owning land. On July 19, 1921, in Turlock, California, Japanese farm workers were herded into the back of pick-up trucks at gunpoint, and after being driven out of the city, were warned never to return again. Kiyama captures this Turlock Incident in one of his comic strips, and somehow manages to find humor in it. But the prospects of making a life for Japanese immigrants in the 1920s were quite dismal. Ichioka's work culminates with the 1924 Immigration Act which prohibited the admission of "aliens ineligible to citizenship," a phrase which specifically singled out the status of Japanese in America at the time. Remarkably, the finale to Kiyama's comic episodes takes place in 1924, using the Immigration Act as a key plot device.
Ichioka's book also helped paint a more complex picture of the first Issei in America. Two things stand out to me as I try to form my lead characters.
1. The Issei were pioneers, full of spirit and with progress on their minds. They were ready to take on Western culture & society, even dressing the part. They weren't war refugees or escapees of an oppressive regime (well, at least not most of them). They were often educated, bright-eyed, and eager to learn the ways of America. Many originally hoped to bring what they learned back to Japan. But the longer they stayed, the more they began to consider the US their home. Planting roots in a foreign country meant a lot of new forays for the Issei: quite a few organized Japanese American Associations, formed newspapers, and engaged heartily in the political sphere. One man even created what is arguably the first graphic novel! I want this pioneer spirit to be embedded in the tone of my show, just as it is in Kiyama's work.
2. The Issei came with their own prejudices. This is evident in both Kiyama's work and Ichioka's account. The Japanese had just proved themselves a formidable world power with their victory in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War (only a year after Kiyama's characters arrive in the States). They saw themselves as superior to other Asian groups, particularly the Chinese who were already on US soil. For the Issei, the Chinese weren't trying hard enough to assimilate into American culture. Imagine their frustration when the distinctions they saw so clearly between themselves and the Chinese no longer seemed to matter to the rest of America. Lest I portray all of the characters in Kiyama's work as virtuous idealogues, I want to keep the less attractive attributes in mind as I write. The characters on stage should be flawed as well as likeable.
All of this to say that I am glad that my foray into "research-mode" has not been for naught. Each tidbit of information I gather about the history and the context of Kiyama's America helps me get a fuller picture of the world I want to portray on-stage.
Creativity Quotation #4
"One of the things you really have to get your head around with the Doctor, when you're writing for a new Doctor, is, in a way, you should strip it back slightly, and let the actor fill the role, and let them start making decisions about how they're going to map onto that part." - Steven Moffat, discussing writing the new season of Doctor Who.