You might not have believed the NaPlWriMo post from yesterday, but here’s proof December 2, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Playwriting, >> Radio Drama.Tags: frank curts, Industrial Football League, NaPlWriMo, off the pipes, William E. Spear
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In case you missed yesterday’s post, “Done! Off the Pipes, an audio drama, is finished at 114 pages” (http://twoplusplus.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/done-off-the-pipes-an-audio-drama-is-finished-at-114-pages/), the proof is enclosed!
The Official Rhino Badge was earned by Frank Curts letting me tell 114 pages of his story in Off the Pipes (On NaPlWriMo at http://www.naplwrimo.org/OffThePipes).
The NaPlWriMo community was full of intensely focused writers. From the contacts I had, the group collectively and individually pursued playwriting with passion.
What to write in 2010?
Best to all,
William E. Spear
National Playwriting Month:
http://www.naplwrimo.org/OffThePipes
Other writing on Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/Two%20Plus%20Plus%20Productions%20LLC
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Done! Off the Pipes, an audio drama, is finished at 114 pages December 1, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Playwriting, >> Radio Drama.Tags: frank curts, Industrial Football League, NaPlWriMo, off the pipes, William E. Spear
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Monday evening, 30 November, Off the Pipes was uploaded to the NaPlWriMo site (http://www.naplwrimo.org/OffThePipes). The main character is Franks Curts, a quarterback for the American football team, the Rivermen, in the Industrial Football League. Curts had been bothering me to write his story for four years.
The NaPlWriMo seemed a fine opportunity to get the broad parameters of Curts’ story in place. On 1 November 2009, I began writing his story. At that time, I only knew two things about him: 1) He felt he was the only member of the Rivermen capable of winning a championship for the team; and 2) Years earlier, the only previous opportunity to win a championship was lost when the team’s kicker, stoned out of his mind on crack, missed an easy field goal as time ran out.
Thirty days and 114 pages later, the first draft of Off the Pipes was finished and uploaded. The play is written for audio and intended to be performed live. Irrespective of the quality of the draft, and the amount of writing still to be done on the script, a couple of valuable lessons were learned or reinforced:
- A lot of writing can be done in a modest period of time;
- Self-editing can be wholly, or, at least, largely, turned off; and
- Writing for audio is a phenomenally flexible means for telling stories and developing characters.
Hoping everyone’s holidays are joyous,
William
Cross-posted from British Theatre
http://www.britishtheatre.com/profiles/blogs/done-off-the-pipes-an-audio
Off the Pipes and other work may be found at Scribd at:
http://www.scribd.com/Two%20Plus%20Plus%20Productions%20LLC
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NaPlWriMo: Off the Pipes October 31, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Playwriting, >> Radio Drama, audio theatre, radio play, spoken word.Tags: >> Two Plus Plus Productions LLC, Industrial Football League, NaPlWriMo, national playwriting month, William E. Spear
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Our entry in the 2009 National Playwriting Month (NaPlWriMo) is Off the Pipes. Summary follows:
Off the Pipes (tentative) is about Frank Curts, a quarterback in the Industrial Football League (IFL). Curts is an accomplished quarterback but has never won the league championship. The closest he got was early in his career but a last second field goal bounced off the goal posts – the pipes, as they are called – and was missed because the kicker was high on crack. Curts will remember this forever.
Many years later, Curts’ career is ending when he’s injured during a pre-season game. The team assumes he will retire and it immediately signs a young player to replace him. Curts announces he intends to rehabilitate his injury and rejoin the team during the season.
The new quarterback rallies the team with a style of football that taps into the strengths and skills of every player. It is no longer Frank Curts and 25 other teammates. Unexpectedly, the new quarterback leads the team into the championship game. Curts watches the season from the sidelines. Privately, he tells friends he could still win any game at any time.
During the championship, with the team losing, the new quarterback is hurt. Curts has one last chance to win the championship which has eluded him. He puts the team in a position to win and in comes the same field goal kicker who, in a crack induced stupor, missed years earlier. Despite Curts’ protests and claims of contiuned drug use, the kicker swears he gave up drugs long ago.
But this is Curts’ last chance to win a championship and he does not want lose again. Does he think the kicker is clean enough to win the game? Will Frank Curts actually believe his teammate is Off the Pipes?
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The Sounds of Competition: The Past is Present for the Industrial Football League January 30, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Radio Drama.Tags: IFL, Industrial Football League, Johnny Parks, mayonnaise in my cake, Mayonnaise in My Cake and Other Delights, professional football, The Past is Present
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In 2007, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Industrial Football League (IFL), executives of the team’s six teams commissioned a tribute titled “The Past is Present”. They turned to Johnny Parks, longtime IFL announcer, to write and voice it.
The IFL is a six-team, two conference organization consisting of independently owned clubs around Roberts County. It was started in 1932 during the Great Depression by local businesses as a means to boost morale among employees and customers.
Players also earned extra money at a time when extra money was hard to come by. This “second job” status from the league’s early days was never abandoned. Even in current times, the league’s players hold down jobs elsewhere and play for their respective teams in the evening and on weekends.
Only choice for tribute was Johnny Parks
Parks’ reputation as a sportscaster was legendary. His broadcasts of events in and around the county had thrilled listeners for decades. He was the first announcer voted into the Roberts County Hall of Fame and the only sports figure inducted before retiring. His choice as the voice for the tribute was never questioned.
In the summer of 2007, Parks began writing the tribute. His health had been failing and he would give himself as much time as possible. He spent the entire month of August at Spring Lake, New Jersey crafting the piece. His words and voice would be accompanied by original music and archival footage of the IFL’s first 75 years.
In September, about one month before the start of the 75th IFL season, Parks recorded “The Past is Present”. Everyone in the recording session raved about the piece. Parks captured both the historic roots of the league and its parttime players. However, he also presented the pain and grueling season players endure in terms and extremes similar to other professional footballers.
Tragedies
Later in the evening, a fire broke out in the recording studio. Everything was destroyed, including that day’s work on “The Past is Present”. No backups or duplicates had been saved nor had second versions been stored elsewhere.
Parks and the league hastily scheduled another recording session for two weeks later. But before he could go back into another studio, he died.
Words survive
Parks’ words linking the current office workers/footballers with the previous generations of farm and factory hands trace an arc of the league’s history and continuity. Although no recordings of “The Past is Present” survived the fire, his words are printed in their entirety:
“The Past is Present”
Offices they flee
Their echoed strength to see
If age or softness rule.
Suits during the day
Football nightly they play
Hitting and blocking duel.
Teams are of seven
And pain south of heaven
Wearied beyond fatigue.
Their muscles are sore
In the I-F-L, or
Industrial Football League.
Speed is the power
Which carries the hour
And brains help win each game
Courage, together
With helmets once leather,
Will bring the victors fame.
The season is long
For the men who are strong
As they fight to excel.
Their journey each week,
Not for mild or meek,
Is called the I-F-L.
Started in bleak times,
With few nickels and dimes,
In nineteen thirty-two.
Winning footballers
Promised cheers and dollars.
Losers left black and blue.
From fact’ries they came,
And their farms just the same
All had stories to tell.
Drenched in the cold rain,
And stabbed by frozen pain,
To play the I-F-L.
October they’d start
With a rise in their hearts
And smiles as wide as fields.
December they’d slow
Running through ice and snow.
That’s when desire yields.
At length, two teams stood,
Above all others good,
To answer one last bell.
Then fiercely they’d fight.
With all means in their sight.
Such was the I-F-L.
Many decades hence
On fields frostily dense
They rage and roar and yell.
Victors still echo
Through past and present snow
To win the I-F-L.
The Present
The IFL commissioned other announcers to perform Parks’ work at the start of the 2007 season as a memorial to him. His work with aurally branding the league’s six teams was also featured each week of the season.
The loss of Johnny Parks was a severe blow to the IFL and the league continues to search for its next voice.
Credits
“The Past is Present” is scheduled to be included in the forthcoming anthology titled “Mayonnaise in My Cake” expected to be released on October 1, 2009. Ongoing details will be published at Lit Between the Ears.
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