Watching Yeast Rise

 Posted By Andrew Rosendorf, Playwright-in-Residence

I’m stating the obvious here, but every playwright (and
writer) has their own process of how they have figured out to allow ideas and
stories to ruminate and slowly turn into the mystical entity known as a play.
For me, usually I have fragments of ideas and images that crash around like
electrons and protons. Sometimes things stick and become something larger while
other times they simply decide that they aren’t right for each other and leave.
More often than not it’s when they crash around that I find my play. My entire
natural creative process is about as exciting and as quick as watching yeast
rise.

Of course, I have anticipated that at some point in my life I’ll
have to write something where I’ll be writing from someone else’s idea. This
water play is an example of this. I was given free rein to find what I respond
to and what I want to explore about the issue, but its initial conception is
not from my natural process. And since I was being asked to write this while in
residence, I simply couldn’t sit around for a year or two watching yeast rise. I
had no choice but to jump in. Head first. So, I put my natural process on hold,
left it listening to Peter, Paul, & Mary, and started to research.

Typically, when I sit down to research I know exactly the
information I’m looking for. What I need to learn. I’ll want to read about the
historical context of the time period while also looking narrowly for specifics
that I need. Through this work, my characters slowly become fleshed out. The
story, to a degree, becomes fleshed out. It is a wonderful symbiotic
relationship.

This time, however, my research had no starting point. I decided
to start from the beginning of the history of Everglades and track it through to
the present. This would, at the very least, give me an understanding of the
historical significance and issues that have occurred in South Florida. I read
about the Calusa Indians. About 
Buckingham Smith. About Napoleon Bonaparte Broward vowing that “Water
will run downhill!” About Henry Flagler & his railroad to the Florida Keys.
About the Army Corps of Engineers. About Al Gore & the Homestead Airport.

As I read, it became clearer and clearer to me that I had no
trail. Nothing to guide me. I felt myself getting lost. Getting lost in the
information. Getting lost in the mandate of being historically accurate.
Getting lost because I had no time period or character for me to latch onto.

There was, is, so much information about the Everglades.
What is most important? How do I tell the human stories? How do I fit this all
into one play?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: Writers are very
neurotic. Okay, I’m very neurotic. I over-analyze until I realize I’m doing it.
I worry – always. I never think I can do it. This all comes from fear. Fear of
failure. Fear of screwing up the potential for the play. Fear of just not being
smart enough.

But back to the research. Back to finding my way from being
lost to a trail to clarity.

Eventually, I felt I had a firm understanding of the overall
history of the Everglades. It was at this time I returned my focus back to the initial
kernel for this play: the water shortage in South Florida. And suddenly, and I
would say magically, as if I had been watching yeast rise, I landed across the
hypothesis that what has caused our water shortage in South Florida is permanence.

What caused this permanence? That’s next time. But here’s my
tease: it surrounds Lake Okeechobee.

And let me say that I know there are a number of factors
that contribute to the water shortage. As I write these blog entries, it’s my
goal to not oversimplify the issues, but be as concise and clear as I possibly
can. About how I’m translating it into a play.

Please feel free to e-mail me (andrew@floridastage.org) with your
thoughts and feedback. Maybe you’ll show up in the blog. Until next time. Namaste!