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Rejection
Dr. Richard Grossman:
Hi everybody,
The Boston Theater Marathon readers (general public who stop by the theater office to pick up a packet of plays) have commented on my 10-minute play, “The Last Resort.” The reviews were so bad that the director of the Marathon warned me before delivering them:
“Thanks for asking about the readers’ comments on your play The Last Resort. Just remember…you asked. ;-)”
Here’s her capsule of the comments:
“All three first readers noted that the play was a sketch rather than a “play”—i.e., the characters were caricatures rather than fully-drawn people—that is, only there to deliver “jokes". The exposition was too obvious for their tastes although one noted that the premise was “cute”. One called it “predictable” and “not funny enough to be a farce”. “
Luckily, I have a web site where one can take pride in publishing negative “stuff” about oneself.
Of course, my poor brother Jeff published the play verbatim on his blog just a few days before I received the Marathon verdict because he loved it so much.
http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-last-resort-by-richard-grossman.html
Apparently Dr. Zeus (the narcissist/cult leader from the play) is correct:
DR. ZEUS
"The world has two kinds of people. There are people who, in order to survive the hardships of life, comfort themselves with fantasy and dreams. And there are people who can only see what’s real and quickly become bored and miserable."
Alas, Jeff and I (like Ken, the poor protagonist in the play) are the latter! We are one sick family! I just hope, after we die, we end up in “rooms with maintenance” next door to one another.
Thanks again (and my apologies) for the read!
Richard
ann3:
Hi Dr. G,
I truly liked your play. It is witty and insightful. Love the reality/fantasy interplay, there's a deep truth in that. Also liked the classical mythology references.
Please don't let the critics get you down. Think of all the great writers and artists who received tons of rejection letters and were panned. It really means nothing. If you enjoy writing, keep at it.
Also, sometimes, if an artist or a writer is not part of the "in crowd", the powers that be (publishers, critics, producers, etc) pan the outsider. It's BS, but it happens all the time. The "in crowd" promotes and blesses insider's work, no matter how bad it is, ie: Andy Warhol's Piss Paintings.
http://www.warholstars.org/aw76p.html
"The Piss Paintings were "surprisingly well received when they were displayed in Europe the following year. One critic hailed them as 'Warhol at his purest', drawing historical references to Jackson Pollock's legendary emission into Peggy Guggenheim's fireplace."
So, you could kiss (or piss) your way into the "in crowd" or just ignore them and keep on keeping on. Thankfully, today there's a lot of ways for artists and writers to present their own work via self publishing or internet shows.
All the best to you and many Thanks for all you have done and continue to do.
Hopalong:
Aww, Doc G--
I did a gradaute degree in creative writing. One of our writing teachers gave us a mini-symposium on the MEANINGLESSNESS (in terms of our value as writers and as people) of rejection.
It takes so many writers so many years and sometimes literally hundreds of rejections, before something clicks. Others are luckier, but it's all normal. The internet does NOT help.
Meanwhile, one of my best memories about it, from a poet friend who submitted regularly and systematically, was his wonderful collection of rejection letters from various magazines and literary journals. The banal re-phrasings of "it's not for us..." in multiple. So what he did was, he neatly, meticulously, wallpapered his downstairs bathroom with them.
So when he had parties, you'd go in there, and he'd have all his friends' support, since we all at one time or another sat on the pot and contemplated the ubiquity of rejections...
:) Hope that comforts, and don't quit as long as you're loving it!
Hops
PS--that poet wound up getting nicely published eventually, of course....because he didn't take it to heart.
Dr. Richard Grossman:
ann3 and Hops,
Thank you so much for your kind words and comfort. I very much appreciated them and showed them to my wife. Also, ann3, I was so relieved that you “got” the play! I’ll press on!
Richard
ann3:
Hi Dr. G,
Yes, I get "it" & it really resonates with me:
The world has two kinds of people. There are people who, in order to survive the hardships of life, comfort themselves with fantasy and dreams. And there are people who can only see what’s real and quickly become bored and miserable. It is clear that you are one of the latter.
The only cure for someone stuck in reality is more reality—infinitely more reality, so much reality that the only thing left for the mind to cling to is fantasy and dreams. This is what Odysseus discovered on his long voyage home to Penelope.
when reality is so stark, dreams and fantasies are essential. Their presence allows us to live!
I really liked Ken & Marla's dialogues. Their banter sounded quite realistic and was funny, something I could envision seeing on Broadway. The subject matter is perfect: Last Resort Couple's Therapy. I'm sure lots of people could relate to this.
It seems you have a treasure trove of material, so keep on writing. Was Chekhov not a Doctor too?! You're in good company, so right on with your writing!
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