by Carl Capotorto
(Page 2)
by Carl Capotorto
(Page 2)
Saturday, October 7
I'm deliriously comfortable when I wake. It's a hardship to leave the bed. I'm downstairs in time for coffee and the 10:00 meeting, the official start of our working weekend.
Michael does a recap and review: Our objective, the work plan, rules of the house, rules of work and play, tips and pointers, scheduling, entertainment highlights, all that. Willie is a frequent contributor and between him and Michael and occasional outbursts from Carol Ochs and Jenny Gersten (Director of Marketing & Development), all the points are made with finesse and humor. Notebooks and pencils are distributed and off we go, six child/adult teams, into all corners of the house to settle down to work.
Jennifer and I choose a writing desk in front of a window on a wide landing of the center staircase. She's sort of fuzzy on what she wants to write about. Something about someone who moves to California. Or no, something about something else. I drill her: Who do you want the play to be about? What happens to them? What happens then? And so on. Eventually a story begins to emerge but it's kind of long and winding and I suggest she write an outline before writing the play.
The outlining process is laborious and painstaking. Jennifer is a solid worker but it takes time. We have to remain focused and productive or we won't get it done.
At 1:00 we break for lunch and leisure time. After homemade hot soup, a sandwich board, muffins, cookies and clean-up, we load up the vans and ride into town for an afternoon showing of "Unstrung Heroes." (Mini golf was the preferred activity but we've been rained out.). The movie is benign and kind of enjoyable and is a surprise hit with most of the kids, Jennifer not among them. She finds it boring. "When were you bored?" I ask. "The whole time." Tough room.
Back at the house we have a snack and then work from 5:00-7:30. Jennifer is diligent and manages to finish the outline moments before dinnertime. It's the story of a guy named Anthony, who as a child is an inspired class clown but grows into a lousy, unsuccessful adult comedian. He decides to give it up and become a lawyer. A little cartoon figure he doodled one day comes to life and starts following him around, telling him not to give up his dream and that he would be funny if he just stopped trying so hard. Anthony eventually relents and goes on an audition which is so successful that he is offered his own TV show. The end. We'll have to finesse it a bit but there it is. Let's eat.
At the dinner table 14-year old Jed Clarke, who is writing a play called "Super Omar" about a super hero who uncovers a plot to turn the brains of schoolchildren to mush by feeding them sour milk wants to know how sin could exist if God created the world. A discussion ensues about what constitutes sin, followed by dessert of peach cobbler and whipped cream and the big kitchen clean-up (done by rotating shifts). Everyone dashes off to ping pong, pool, Uno. I hang around the kitchen table with a few of the adults just dishing and being silly.
At the end of the night I wander outside and down the stone steps to the beach. The moon is nearly full, making the beach impossibly bright, making the sea look like undulating waves of black taffy. I breathe it all in and then head back to the mothership for a long hot shower.
