Wow! Elena Nesti tackles a huge theme in her script, "Bite the Apple" and a full house of TMPW workshoppers got to participate.
Nesti's theme of carbo-phobia and food-related concerns with characters that she uses Snow White to portray is mixed with a techno-centered view of self (brought to life through another use of the "apple" theme). The script is a mix of a monologue that is interjected with a duplicative/reflective of Snow White.
It is a complicated script, and one which tackles large issues. Through a reading (and signing!) of the script, we came to understand the themes, and ask for them to be developed more poignantly in the text. Nesti's script was a great platform to look at workshopping a piece that she is actively developing, and morphing into a text that will be powerful.
During this session, I learned that the internet connection is a key component, and even asked the readers to start the script over, to preserve the continuity, after we lost some of the readers. No worries, though, we all had a great time workshopping this piece of intricate themes.
I didn't deviate from the bank of questions, but did ask Elena to participate throughout the workshop, as her piece is an evolving one, and we had some direct questions. I know this "breaks" the traditional rule of having the author remain silent throughout the workshop, but I say to heck with the rules when there is real meaning to be had by breaking them!
My thanks to everyone for making this a great session, and to Elena Nesti for sharing her script with us.
You can listen to the audio recording of this session.