August 7, 2011

Cold Reading Series

Last Thursday, the first 30 pages of my feature script ME AND BRUCE LEE were performed as part of the Cold Reading Series. Big props to this weekly summer event put on by the Evolving Arts Collective and an army of volunteers headed up by Lori Triolo and Colin Speir.

It was great - the actors did an incredible job reading and the narrator kept the stage directions crackling along. It's really a wonderful service for the writer - to hear your words come up off the page and out of the mouths of people as your characters is amazing. I noted some slow spots and a few lines where the actors swapped words around to make the lines sound more natural. The only excruciating part was when I had to get up before the reading and answer a few questions - ack! Painful but thankfully brief. If I ever do it again, I'm going to write a scene where I'm interviewed and just hand the page over to be acted out by the appropriate personnel.

I highly recommend submitting your work-in-progress (play, screenplay, radio play, etc.) to coldreadingseries@gmail.com. After the reading, hang out in the pub at the Billy Bishop Legion and ask the actors for feedback.