Controversy continues to simmer over the selection of white, French actor, Gérard Depardieu, to portray the French literary lion Alexandre Dumas, who was three-quarters black. The film, entitled “L’Autre Dumas” (The Other Dumas), is accused of playing fast and loose with opportunity, to further distance truth from fact.
…though the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, life seems not to always offer that option. In fact, straight lines tend to only work on paper.
Teaching had never been in the plot of the course I’d laid out for myself. But here I am, a Guest Artist teacher, working with elementary school kids, and teaching them how to create their own librettos, as they create their own operas.
some FAQS
…hard to believe as it may be, writers have quirks. Here are some I will fess up to:
The title comes first. If I have the title, I can write the play..
Characters emerge after the title, and usually cross the back of my eyes already named..
I’ve written over 30 plays and have never used a title, subject, or character name twice –though I have gone back to revisit a character once..
..I’ve always loved mythology, fables, and the tales of the Brother’s Grimm.
When I first started writing, my effort came out as pieces of fiction, and I wound up writing something for my cousin’s kids, who were 8, 10 and 11 at the time. It is a modern Grimm fairy tale called A candle in the quarry. It is about a little boy who finds out that he has the power to do magic, and then is taken on an incredible journey by his grandmother, a woman he always disliked –until he found out that she was a real witch, and had much to teach him.