It can be a sentence, a part of a sentence, or a word. When it happens, you see a whole play on stage. All that’s left is writing it down on paper…and rewriting it…and rewriting it. How can a play develop from something so simple? I don’t know.
In emailing Charley Nevaril, an accomplished actor in Florida, about a play for which he had been casted for, he ended the email with “When am I going to be John the Baptist playing opposite Salome?” And then it started for me. I hadn’t any ideas about writing for weeks, but then it happened with Charley’s comment. I started to visualize how I would present John and Salome in conflict in a 10 minute play. I reviewed Bible passages about John and how and why he found himself in King Herod’s prison. Having seen the Broadway production of SALOME by Oscar Wilde with Al Pacino in 1992, I read again Wilde’s play to see how he tackled the conflict and the outcome that became dependent upon Salome. The whole play unfolded before me on stage. Rushing to the computer, I put it on paper: THE PROPHET AND THE KING. And sent to Charley!
It’s a mystery, a beautiful mystery. It doesn’t take much, but inspiration works! How? I’m thankful for it, however it works.
