I wasn’t going to send the play.
It doesn’t really fit this year’s theme, I told myself.
The play was Alone in the Goldfish Bowl. It was September, and the deadline for the Six Women Playwriting Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado was approaching.
My brain was just inventing excuses. The truth is, I was losing faith in the play. I had been sending it out for more than two years with no hits. Maybe I should just shelve this one, I thought.
I waited for a sign; it never came. A few days before the deadline, I decided to send the play along anyway, sign or no sign.
Good thing I did. I just returned from a truly enchanting weekend in Colorado.
The program for this year's festival.
This year’s theme for the Six Women Playwriting Festival, “Signs, Omens and Fortune Cookies, Hints of things to come,” got me thinking:
How often do we wait around for a sign that will never come?
Our future selves aren’t going to come knocking at our door to get us off our butts, like in Emily Bolcik’s The Future Me is Mean. Mysterious invisible boxes don’t appear suddenly forcing us to pause and take notice, like in Sherry Narens’s Box. As much as I would like to believe in supernatural occurrences, I have yet to encounter a devil or a ghost, like in Shari Umansky’s The Devil’s Advocate or Cheryl Coons’s The Blacksmith. And we cannot buy a new future for ourselves in a jar, like in Francesca Brugnano’s Future Tense.
Goldfish do die, but rarely do their deaths hold some sort of deeper meaning.
Here is a picture from Alone in the Goldfish Bowl featuring Anna Faye Hunter as Nikki (L) and Crystal Carter as Ari (R). The play was directed by the fabulous Marisa Hebert. Photo by Brian Kwan.
Had I seriously waited for a sign to manifest itself, some other playwright would have witnessed a lovely production of her play this weekend. Some other playwright would have met and enjoyed the company of five other talented playwrights. Some other playwright would have connected and mingled with the wonderful folks who produce the Six Women Playwriting Festival. Some other playwright would have rejoiced in a truly thought-provoking evening of theater.
Here I am with Emily Bolcik, Shari Umansky, Sherry Narens and Francesca Brugnano having a lovely pre-show dinner at The Bristol Pub.
I’d love to say that this experience has taught me to always do that thing I am avoiding and to never fear rejection. But more likely than not, I will continue to wallow in self-doubt. In fact, I am second guessing this whole blog thing as I write this. I’m not even joking.
But maybe, just maybe, I will miss one fewer opportunity. And if that opportunity ends up being half as delightful as this weekend, then that’s a good thing.
The Six Women Playwriting Festival runs through April 26th at the Millibo Art Theatre in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Learn more about the festival here: www.sixwomenplayfestival.com.
