New Play: Not a Wolf, A Fox

Did you know a group of foxes is called a "skulk?"

Did you know foxes not only symbolize slyness, intelligence, and cunning, but also wealth, agility,  charm, desire, and passion?

Did you know the word "shenanigan" comes from the old Irish expression meaning: "I play the fox?"

Well, you do now.

That's one of the many, many bits of trivia that I've picked up in the last little while.

So why am I writing random trivia about foxes?

Because recently, I saw the world premiere of my play "Wolves of Sherwood" (originally titled "Locksley of Sherwood" ) and it was BRILLIANT!!! I laughed, I cried, I grinned like a perfect loon. I had an amazing cast and artistic team and got to spout all kinds of behind the scenes trivia and stuff(which, if you know me, is one of my favorite things to do: spout trivia about everything.) Currently, I'm prepping for the Utah Premiere of this show and I can't even begin to describe how ridiculously excited I am!

So ridiculously excited, that I started to think. 

Loyal followers of my little blog know that one of my artistic quirks is that I have a tendency to write spin-offs of all my scripts.  It happens when I have questions about characters or plot points and then I have to write little blurbs to answer said questions that may or may not get into the finished script(and nine times out of ten this is a good thing).

Sometimes they go beyond fun little blog postings and sometimes they don't. This time, the former happened. 

All of that trivia I spouted that wouldn't go away. It rattled around in my head more than when I was pounding out rough drafts of  "Wolves" and I guess seeing the show onstage woke the idea back up again. 

Two or three of the actors in particular had a question about an expositional plot point: "what happened in Normandy?" The question came about because of several references two of the characters--Jean-Luc and Cassian--make to this place, and the effects that whatever it was had on them.

King John I lost Normandy in 1203-04--which was kind of a big deal!

And I knew the answer--sort of.

I mean, I knew that there were a series of traumatic events that turned Jean-Luc and Cassian into the people they were; and I had a rough outline that I'd typed up back in early revision days(like late 2017ish?) so I as the author knew what I was talking about, but the curiosity of the cast sparked my curiosity too; so I did what I always do when this happens.

I started to write.

You guys, I say this about everything I write, but I love love love this sequel!

This story centers not on Cassian, but on Jean-Luc; not on the Wolf, but on the Fox(confession: there were times I found Jean-Luc far more interesting anyway, so this is cool).

And Tarquin is in it; and Tirzah and Ravenna  are in it; and so are Malbete and Declaire--and there's a new character that I'm kind of head over heels in love with at the moment, cause I'm a sucker for dark horses and this guy is the Darkest Dark Horse I've ever written(for you D&D geeks, the New Guy is Chaotic Neutral. If you don't know what that means, Google it. Then, if you know me, you'll understand).

I suppose it's about time I shared more script tidbits anyway, so for the next little while, I get to share with y'all tidbits from my newest creative endeavor currently tentatively titled: 

The Lure of the Fox