Cake, the short opera adapted by John Chittum from my short story by the same name is being performed in New York City! The April 3 performance will feature a college cast and the April 4 performance, a professional cast. John is very excited as well. He tells me that the guy who is working on the scenery for the performance is also a comic book artist (which is really appropriate if you read the story).
I've also placed a reading copy of "Cake" up on my website. I think that I will be taking that short story to workshop this week. It's a good idea (or at least good enough for an opera) but I need help making it a tighter, better written story.
The copy on the website doesn't employ quotation marks. This is because the original story had this discombobulated feeling. Sarah, the main character was walking through the world in a daze more or less. Since then I've grounded the story in both time and place and I don't think the dialog without quotation marks works. No longer is the dialog almost missed by her, no longer is it inconsequential to her thoughts and feelings as she floats through the world. Maybe I should push back toward that airy feeling of detachment or maybe I should push it to be further grounded. I'm caught between the options. Maybe it needs more help than I thought.
