Friday, October 2, 2009

Taking Stock


So...it was 19 years ago, in September 1990, when my first play--Controlled Burn--opened. And, with year 20 coming up, I thought I'd sort of look at what's gone down with the playwriting. Frankly, the stats kind of knocked me over: I've written around 53 plays, 25 of which have been full-lengths and 33 of which have been produced (several have been produced multiple times, so my total production rate is slightly higher than that). That means around a 62% of the plays I've written have been produced--not too bad for a goofy kid from Selma, Oregon. In other words, I write about 2.7 plays per year, even though I work full-time, and I'm a semi-professional photographer, serious gardener, and, of late, guitar player.

Now, I'm not saying all those plays were good. But still....

Makes tired just thinking about it, much the less doing it. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this writing thing.

2 comments:

C A Wohlmut said...

gee, that means I have been watching/following your work from the beginning. While I may have missed the first one, I'm pretty sure I've experienced most of the others, either as a participant or as an audience member.

And while there have been a couple plays that have left me scratching my head, or just weren't my cup o' tea, I can say that "Waiting for Sean Flynn" and "Liberation" are two of my all time best theater experiences.

I look forward to the next twenty years of following your works.

peace - CA

Steve Patterson said...

Thank you, CA. Not surprisingly, those are two of my favorites as well.

Best,

S