The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Was our reading…

And it was really fantastic!  We had a great group together for an intimate reading of the script, with our fantastic team of actors… and you could just feel that the script has taken on a new life.  It was totally exhilarating.  The only hard part about doing these readings is that I get to live in the world of the play for one night, and it’s so satisfying, and then I don’t know when it will happen next…  I wish we were doing it every night.  Can’t wait for that.

The actors were all fantastic… and the story was able to really stand on its own.  One of the funniest moments of the night came when Lillian, who was doing a fantastic job reading stage directions, mis-read a direction “Minnie enters.  Monroe enters, chasing her”, and instead she said “Minnie enters.  Monroe enters her”.  Everyone lost their shit… including Tim and I.  It was quite a moment.

Afterwards, we sat around drinking wine and cold beer (the room was so hot)… and everyone was so eager to discuss what they had just seen.  It was great.  Four of us ended up staying for hours, cleaning up and then just finishing off the wine… discussing the play in depth (along with many other topics).

Huge thanks need to go out to all of the people who helped make the night happen: DT, Liza, Julie, David, and all of the fantastic actors (Tim, Christina, Deb, Jon and Lilly).

Whew!  On to the next….

Because I haven’t blogged in a while.  Also, my brain has been melted by the blistering heat that has encompassed New York for the last few days.  It could have been that too.

So… what’s new?  Well there are little drawings I did at the headings of some of the pages on the website!  Isn’t that thrilling?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.  I attempted to draw in Phoebe’s style a bit… it was fun.  Is that really all I have to report?

We’re preparing for our next reading… which is wonderful.  Tim is coming out from LA, and the rest of the New York team will be gathering on the day of.  It will just feel good to get this play out there again.  It becomes more and more real each time new ears hear it, or new eyes read it.

People have been reading the script too, at some theaters around… which always makes me feel simultaneously weird and so good.  And really, some of the most thrilling moments for me have been when people have said “I was just looking at your website today… I’m just so excited for this play”, or “we were all talking about your script today”… it kinda blows my mind.

Well… that’s all the heat will allow, I’m afraid.  It’s a miracle I wrote this much.

night night.

-M

Hi out there,

So. We’re doing another invited reading of the play on June 12th. The reading is in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which is very exciting. We have the same cast, almost entirely. We are very happy to have Christina Rouner joining out cast, as Charlotte. We have been itching to get back on our feet since the last reading. So… it’s going to be a lot of fun. And it’s another step toward our eventual production. Step by step, huh? (Not the tv show. I didn’t watch that show. Really I didn’t.)

Doesn’t David Townsend do a great job on our invites and website? Yeah, he does.

In Association with a special reading of The Diary of a Teenage Girl a story of female sexuality and unabashed optimism based on the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner written by Marielle Heller Meet Minnie. She’s fifteen. She lives in San Francisco. It’s 1976. She’s having an affair with her mother’s boyfriend. And really, she’s having a good time with it. Oh, and she loves eggs. featuring Marielle Heller*, Tim Cummings*, Christina Rouner*, Deborah Knox* & Jon Krupp* directed by Rachel Eckerling & Sarah Cameron Sunde *AEA Member Details Thursday, June 12th @ 7:00 pm RSVP: thediaryofateenagegirl@gmail.com | Invites Only Location : TBA

“I would like to die by drownation in the Ganges River” Illustration by Phoebe Gloeckner

©2008 Email Design: DT | Design This…

Stay tuned…

Hi guys,

So… blogging… yeah. Just blogging away.  Bloggerating.  About the play. That’s what I do.

Things have really been moving. 3 weeks ago we did a week long workshop and a reading of the script. We had the amazing talents of Tim Cummings (or Timmy as I like to call him), Francesca Faridany (or Frankie), Deborah Knox (yep I call her Deb) and Jon Krupp…. who we all just call Jon. It was a fantastic cast… everybody commented on the caliber of actors we had.

For me it was an amazing experience… it made the project so real for me, to be in the rehearsal room (my favorite place to be) digging into the material, exploring the relationships and characters. And realizing that this is all going to happen. Amazing. We rehearsed for 7 or 8 hours most days, then Rachel and Sarah and I would meet and discuss for hours, then I’d go home a re-write for a few hours, then I would attempt to sleep. It was such a tiring and exhilarating week. And the result was staggering. The play came to life when we did the reading. Might not seem like that big of a deal to you… but trust me, it was.

So, where are we now? Well, we are deciding where we are going to do our next reading… there is talk of the bay area, and also of another new york reading. Hopefully both will be happening in the next few months. It appears to be headed that way. This is such a San Francisco story, I would love to find a way to do this play in the bay area and in New York… did you hear me God? Good.

Well… I’ll keep you posted.

(I gotta come up with a good way to sign off… something better than “Diary Out!”)

love, Marielle

So, this is the first blog post for The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the play.

This project has been in the works in some way or another for over a year. I was given Phoebe Gloeckner’s book by my sister for Christmas, and it felt like Minnie’s story was jumping off the pages for me. From that point on, I was not going to take no for an answer. I was going to find a way to get the rights to make this book into a play. I felt as thought I could see the project so clearly- see it living on stage. Everything about it felt right. But that didn’t mean the process was going to be easy.

Getting the rights was just the beginning. Adapting a 350 page novel into a play has been one of the most intense and fulfilling jobs I’ve ever taken on. I would never have been able to do it without the collaboration of Rachel and Sarah, who have worked through every step with me. We’re partners in the project. And it has been an incredible amount of work.

I’ve also gotten a huge amount of guidance from Tony, who has helped me to take my passion and vision for this project and turn it into reality. His expertise about the process of creating new theater has been invaluable.

This post is a little sappy I realize, but it’s only because the project has been one of the most amazing processes of my life. I’ve felt creative support rallying around the project from all angles, and it reinforces the idea for me that this project is meant to happen. And we’re just at the beginning of a long journey.

So keep checking back here for updates. We are on our way. We are going to find a way to produce an amazing production of this play that supports the depth and scope of the story. Our goals are lofty, but we are dedicated.

I pretty much feel like I’m going to throw up all the time, thanks to this project. It’s great.

(How do you sign off from a blog?) love, Marielle