MOST TENDER PART
CHANGED TO:
MOVING WITH CHILDREN
2009-10-23
PROBLEMS:
1. New Title
2. A number of smaller conflicts for each character that all avalanche into the big one.
3. A place to start
SOLUTIONS:
1. NEW TITLE
A. UNPACKING
B. MOVING DAY
C. CAREFUL PACKING
D. MOVING WITH CHILDREN ***
2. A number of smaller conflicts for each character that all avalanche into the big one.
A. Valentina holds on to so much about the past. Presents from old boyfriends, doorknobs from places she lived, photographs, address books, keys. Anything like that. She can't let go of the past or any piece of it.
B. Noah isn't a detail-oriented man. He's never known her birthday. Never asked about her parents or where they are. Doesn't wonder what her hopes are. Is just now starting to be concerned with what she wants.
C. She has told painful stories about her childhood, about being left alone and scared, about her mother's depression and he has always done his best to comfort and support her without really connecting enough to collect information and details. A pat on the back when she needs to be held sort of thing.
D. He's not at all embarrassed to have her moving in but she's very embarrassed to be seen doing it. He thinks it proves his potency and makes him a stud. She thinks it makes him look like a fool or a dirty old man.
3. A place to start
A. She is already moved in except for one final item on the truck (something really big so that moving it in means she is definitely HERE.)
B. She has been fighting with the movers and now they are down on the truck, demanding more money before they'll bring up the last, biggest piece. She wants him to go down to deal with them but he's reluctant to, feeling like she made the trouble and it should be up to her to get out of it.
C. The truck is here and the door is open but he needs to talk with her about a few ground rules before she actually moves in. (Trying to clarify details that should have been straightened out a long time before this, like using his bathroom and reading his books or listening to the stereo.)
BIG CHANGE: Noah isn't moving into Valentina's apartment. Valentina is moving into his.
notes:
MOVING WITH CHILDREN: In general, the older the child, the more difficulty he or she will have with the move because of the increasing importance of the peer group. Pre-teens and teenagers may repeatedly protest the move, or ask to stay in their hometown with a friend's or family. Some youngsters may not talk about their distress, so parents should be aware of the warning signs of depression, including changes in appetite, withdrawal, a drop in grades, irritability, sleep disturbances or other dramatic changes in behavior.
The parents' attention before, during and after moving process is crucial and can make a big difference in their children's adjustment to the new location.
Getting ready
Encourage your children to express their feelings, and be honest about your own feelings. Encourage older children to make list of phone numbers and addresses of friends, relatives, and other important people in their lives. It will reassure them to know that they can stay in touch with these important people. Take your children to see the new location before you move and take a walk in the new neighborhood together.
Moving with Children
Involve your children in the packing. Try to stick to your routines. Have family dinners as usual. Let your kids take with them in their own bags things that they don't want to pack, such as blankets or special toys.
After the move
Don't rush and unpack immediately. Spend some time with your kids and help them get acquainted with the new home and the neighborhood. Get involved. Ask your kids how they are doing in school and encourage them to talk about the difficulties.
2009-10-23
2009-10-15
Play
MOST TENDER PART
PREMISE: "'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive."
John Sheffield
SETTING: Interior and ramp of a moving van, packed with furniture and personal belongings.
CHARACTERS:
Noah Bunch -- 55 years old, striking, fit, classy, current and expensive clothes, air of self-confidence with a dis-arming smile and a charming way about him, a salesman and he is what he's selling. When you spend a minute with him you know he's that guy from high school whom all the teachers loved and all the girls let slip off their panties while all their parents asked if they were "still seeing that sweet boy?" The problem is that he wasn't that sweet boy then and he's even less so, now. Everything is a little too slanted to land in his plate and he is starting to show the slightest bit of flab from his overindulgent habits.
Monica Crews -- Early twenties, short with long, dark hair. One of those people everybody says "could be so pretty", meaning she is overweight. She is young, clever and just slightly edgy; her laughter a second away from sullen. Something sexual about here, like she is constantly seeing herself in the middle of lovemaking, no matter what she's doing. People around her respond to that, too.
SETTING: -- June, 1988. Late afternoon to early evening. The back of a moving van upstage center, doors open and locked against the sides, out of sight. There will be a section open with everything beyond wrapped in moving pads and packed tight, leading to complete blackness. A ramp extends to downstage.
STORY: -- Noah Bunch, a middle-aged man with graying temples and a tendency to wear too much cologne, has left his third wife and is in the process of moving with into the apartment of his 22 year old girlfriend, Monica Crews. They met at the bar where she works as a cocktail waitress and their affair began in the front seat of his Explorer. Noah knows that all of his friends are right, he could do better than her. He's had plenty of luck with the ladies, if you know what I mean. This girl just gets to him though. He's crazy about her; can't keep his hands off of her. For her part, she is a little reserved and odd. Nobody ever seems to find things funny quite like she does. She is also a bit fragile and turns from reserved to enraged instantly.
We find them on moving day, working together to bring his life together with hers. A big step for him but she doesn't seem at all concerned. We will learn a few things about him and the things he's moving, and her in the way she shows no concern for some like his football trophies and golf clubs but covets his high school yearbooks. As the day goes on we'll discover something that Monica has known all along. She is the daughter he knew he had because he paid child support but he never met. She called once when she was 14 and he never called back.
Everything stops while he settles into the shock of this news. With time they'll realize they both have to forgive one another if they're ever going to be able to move on. She goes to bed. He locks up the truck and goes to crawl in with her.
PREMISE: "'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive."
John Sheffield
SETTING: Interior and ramp of a moving van, packed with furniture and personal belongings.
CHARACTERS:
Noah Bunch -- 55 years old, striking, fit, classy, current and expensive clothes, air of self-confidence with a dis-arming smile and a charming way about him, a salesman and he is what he's selling. When you spend a minute with him you know he's that guy from high school whom all the teachers loved and all the girls let slip off their panties while all their parents asked if they were "still seeing that sweet boy?" The problem is that he wasn't that sweet boy then and he's even less so, now. Everything is a little too slanted to land in his plate and he is starting to show the slightest bit of flab from his overindulgent habits.
Monica Crews -- Early twenties, short with long, dark hair. One of those people everybody says "could be so pretty", meaning she is overweight. She is young, clever and just slightly edgy; her laughter a second away from sullen. Something sexual about here, like she is constantly seeing herself in the middle of lovemaking, no matter what she's doing. People around her respond to that, too.
SETTING: -- June, 1988. Late afternoon to early evening. The back of a moving van upstage center, doors open and locked against the sides, out of sight. There will be a section open with everything beyond wrapped in moving pads and packed tight, leading to complete blackness. A ramp extends to downstage.
STORY: -- Noah Bunch, a middle-aged man with graying temples and a tendency to wear too much cologne, has left his third wife and is in the process of moving with into the apartment of his 22 year old girlfriend, Monica Crews. They met at the bar where she works as a cocktail waitress and their affair began in the front seat of his Explorer. Noah knows that all of his friends are right, he could do better than her. He's had plenty of luck with the ladies, if you know what I mean. This girl just gets to him though. He's crazy about her; can't keep his hands off of her. For her part, she is a little reserved and odd. Nobody ever seems to find things funny quite like she does. She is also a bit fragile and turns from reserved to enraged instantly.
We find them on moving day, working together to bring his life together with hers. A big step for him but she doesn't seem at all concerned. We will learn a few things about him and the things he's moving, and her in the way she shows no concern for some like his football trophies and golf clubs but covets his high school yearbooks. As the day goes on we'll discover something that Monica has known all along. She is the daughter he knew he had because he paid child support but he never met. She called once when she was 14 and he never called back.
Everything stops while he settles into the shock of this news. With time they'll realize they both have to forgive one another if they're ever going to be able to move on. She goes to bed. He locks up the truck and goes to crawl in with her.
2009-10-13
I DECIDED
The night was encompassing,
holding me gently,
comforting like fingers
through my hair.
And this morning I decided
I wasn't going to be sad, any more.
Not like a god would decree
or a lunatic aspire.
I decided it
with resolute uncertainty;
with full knowledge
I am human,
and we humans can only decide
so much,
for so long.
I am not going to regret
the thousand small failures
I've carried
and cared for
like blown-glass figurines.
Not going to say
I will
when I won't,
unless that is another mistake
required of me
to be alive,
and always a little bit awake.
I'm going to write
this poem without judging
worth or merit
and set it free,
as little to do with me
as this morning,
and my deciding to not
be sad,
anymore.
holding me gently,
comforting like fingers
through my hair.
And this morning I decided
I wasn't going to be sad, any more.
Not like a god would decree
or a lunatic aspire.
I decided it
with resolute uncertainty;
with full knowledge
I am human,
and we humans can only decide
so much,
for so long.
I am not going to regret
the thousand small failures
I've carried
and cared for
like blown-glass figurines.
Not going to say
I will
when I won't,
unless that is another mistake
required of me
to be alive,
and always a little bit awake.
I'm going to write
this poem without judging
worth or merit
and set it free,
as little to do with me
as this morning,
and my deciding to not
be sad,
anymore.
2009-10-10
When You Stayed Too Long
My companions this morning
are hours
from so many years ago,
sitting nearer than you
the last time
we shared a table.
It has taken me longer to say that
than you to say good-bye.
I am ready now.
I have a handful
of things I might have offered,
if you'd come to negotiate.
Tokens picked up
along the trail,
trinkets
polished with my worried concern,
wishes worn shiny in my pockets.
Too personal, I realize.
Too heavy to hold at arm's length
and you couldn't come any closer.
We were aware of being incomplete,
still waiting to be finished;
steadily becoming more ourselves
as we crumbled,
falling apart.
Able to name the color of your eyes
but not see them;
remembering being lost
without being able to lose myself
in quite the same way
ever, again.
Constructing days
of the nights you stayed too long
and didn't go home in the morning.
Missing someone
I almost was,
waiting for the woman
you might be now
are hours
from so many years ago,
sitting nearer than you
the last time
we shared a table.
It has taken me longer to say that
than you to say good-bye.
I am ready now.
I have a handful
of things I might have offered,
if you'd come to negotiate.
Tokens picked up
along the trail,
trinkets
polished with my worried concern,
wishes worn shiny in my pockets.
Too personal, I realize.
Too heavy to hold at arm's length
and you couldn't come any closer.
We were aware of being incomplete,
still waiting to be finished;
steadily becoming more ourselves
as we crumbled,
falling apart.
Able to name the color of your eyes
but not see them;
remembering being lost
without being able to lose myself
in quite the same way
ever, again.
Constructing days
of the nights you stayed too long
and didn't go home in the morning.
Missing someone
I almost was,
waiting for the woman
you might be now
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