Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in John Hendel's LiveJournal:

Monday, October 8th, 2007
11:50 pm	Splash! Guess who hasn't written in months? Me. Guess who finally wrote tonight? Me. Can we say giddy? ( Splash! ) (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 4th, 2007
12:22 pm	Long time, no 10-minute plays I don't think I've written in this since June or July, but I haven't exactly written much since June or July. I had a full-length going, but that has since been shelved due to lack of substance or structure. Maybe when I figure out how to go about it, I'll bring it back, but that probably won't be for a while. I've currently got an idea for another full-length, but don't expect anything on that for a long time. In addition, I am currently in a workshop class, so both of these plays right here have been workshopped. I've yet to edit based on the notes given, but I'm sure I will. I am set to submit to Ohio University's Undergraduate Playwright Festival, so if one of these were to be in it, I would definitely fix it up for that. So here you are, 2 brand-new 10-minute plays. Enjoy. ( Rabbit Stock ) ( Fixing the Sun ) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
11:45 pm	Please Please Me, Whoa Yeah Alright, so I am writing over the summer. Primarily, it'll just be one piece. And here's what I have to ask: My goal for the summer is to write at least one draft of my first full-length play, currently titled "The Nipple." It is a story of love and money and where the line is drawn for both. The trick is I'm no longer at school, so I don't have a playwrighting base to run to and ask for notes. This is where my request comes in. I get that I don't get comments on this journal. Normally, I just polish my ego and assume you read everything and just didn't feel like commenting. Well I need people to comment on this one. I want to know who would be willing to read my full-length when I'm done and give me notes, critique, anything. Thanks for whatever help may come. P.S., I know it's a goofy title, but read the play before you comment on the title. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 21st, 2006
11:44 am	Too long? It's definitely been a month since I've updated this. Mostly because I haven't been entirely too proud of what I've written since the last one. I've written five 10-minute plays. I'm not going to post them here, just the two I submitted for the BFA playwrighting program (which I submitted with the last two 3-minute scenes). Here's a rundown on the other three plays: "Mind's Eye": A girl is 98.6% delusional. She lives in a world of her own that only occasionally mirrors our world, but only with shapes. We see her living with some of the drama of her life, unaware of what we are watching. Finally, a doctor comes on stage and begins his presentation on the girl. We are at a presentation, he is the speaker, she is the subject. There are other scientists in the audience asking questions. As the play progresses, the girl's life gets more and more dramatic. "Fair Enough": Can we say "self-indulgent"? Nothing I have written has been so poorly accepted. I am the main character. The story behind this play is I had no idea what to write for a 10-minute play. Yup. What happens is three ideas I had been toying with for a week actually come onstage and talk to me. I reject them all. Conceptually, it's kinda cool, but other than that, it's just bad. "Mumbleface": I have a strong feeling about great characters, from an actor's perspective, at least. I feel like most modern plays fall short of great characters. So I thought, "Who is a real character?" Nicole. The unfortunate girl I wrote about in my real Livejournal. So I wrote a play about her. Only her name is Lulu. And she fights a dragon. And now, the submissions. The first is brand new, the second is an extension of an earlier scene. And they both have TMBG songs for titles. Great job there, John: ( For Science! ) ( Dead ) Current Music: Don't Let Go - Weezer (Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
7:43 pm	British Invasion! Here's a new scene. I wrote this one with British accents in mind. Not sure why. I think I had Ginny's only real line from "Chamber of Secrets" stuck in my subconscious ("Mummy, have you seen my jumper??"). Or maybe I just feel like keeping the European style going. Though last time was mostly just set in France, the accents were purely optional (in fact, preferably absent). Here, you gotta have the accents. Pretty much same assignment from last time, 3 pages, 2 characters, one has a goal. Only this time, we need a prop in there. Too bad my last one did just that, but whatever. Also, this is a working title (a classic one at that, bonus points if you get it). Any title suggestions are appreciated. ( Scrambled Eggs ) Current Music: "When You Go - Jonathan Coulton (Comment on this)
Monday, April 10th, 2006
11:44 pm	'Bout dang time, too Hoorah, hoorah. Presenting the first (and probably one of very few) writing assignments for this quarter's playwrighting class. The task: 3 pages, 2 characters, one of those characters has a goal. I sort of fudged the 3 pages by 2 lines, but whatever. ( The Lutin ) A special thanks to any and all who helped me with the French research. Current Music: Family Guy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
3:21 pm	Puppetry Last quarter, there was this patronizing class on "experiencing the arts." Patronizing is the shortest way to describe it. Our final project was to make a puppet show. I wrote it, I performed most of it, I chose the music for it, I made most of the set. My partner also had the utmost contempt for theater people. When I told her that I made most of the set, she put her hands to her mouth and asked, "Is it bad??" Anyway, we (and by we, I of course mean I) got a lot of compliments on the script. So here it is. ( Epic Dentistry ) Current Music: Green Acres Theme Song (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 6th, 2006
11:05 pm	Theatricality? So today was an angering day for playwrighting. Our instructor has finally been acknowledged as the arrogant turd he is. Out of respect for brevity, let's just say that he used what we handed in for the last assignment ("Dead" for me) as what is wrong and what he had written as right. Also, he honestly believes he deserves more than one table. Even though no one but him (including us in the class) cares at all. Anyways, he told us to rewrite the genre scenes, only this time cut it from 3-4 pages to 2 pages and make it more theatrical and give it an "opinion" (which is the stupidest of his requests). Essentially, he wanted a different scene, but he said he wanted the same scene rewritten. Essentially, I wrote a different scene, but I'm giving him the same scene rewritten. ( Dead (Rewrite) ) EDIT: I should clarify that we were also instructed to get away from the realism, hence the intelligence of hte 8-year-old. I sort of, a little bit, kind of was thinking of the "South Park" kids in this respect. P.S., Gordon represents The Church, in case that matters. And I just found out that if you shift your right hand over one letter on the keyboard, "Gordon" becomes "Gprdpm." Amazing. Simply amazing. Current Music: JerryC - Canon Rock (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 1st, 2006
5:14 pm	Let's slow it down a little bit Hooray. We got an assignment. These are the scenes I posted in my regular LJ, but here they are again. The assignment this time was to pick a genre and try and set up that genre in a scene. I'll be honest, I kind of ignored the assignment and just wrote, but hey, whatever. Presented in the order written, the second one is the one turned in. ( Mental ) ( Dead ) Let me just say of the latter that when it was presented, it almost induced crying. Current Music: Queen - Killer Queen (Comment on this)
5:05 pm	Going nutty just waiting Ok, so there's some slight backstory to this scene. We hadn't had an assignment in our playwrighting class for a few weeks, and Mitch and I were getting quite bored of not writing. So when Mitch took it upon himself to write a scene, that seemed like a good idea. Thing is, he wrote it really early in the morning, so his scene is so damn odd. When I read it, though, he gave me a challenge. He said that I could not out-weird him. Since this is a LJ about my scenes, Mitch's scene will not be posted here. Suffice to say, it is a scene about a guy that killed his pet goldfish and gave him a funeral, and then broke the legs of a mouse, which comes to visit him on a crutch. Sort like an animal rights version of "A Christmas Carol." So anyways, read mine and see if I accomplished my goal. P.S., I've actually titled this one. Go me. ( The Sun King ) Current Music: The Rolling Stones - Anybody Seen My Baby (Comment on this)
4:56 pm	Sike, kid! The assignment here was the magic of perception shift, where, as the name suggest, you lead the audience one want, and then have it mean something else. Delicious for anyone who likes innuendo. I have two scenes written, because the first one was so sketchy, that, taken with the first scene we did, people will start to think there might be something psychotically wrong with me (also, the basic idea was given to me by good ol' Mitch Marku, and that just felt a wee bit too much like cheating), so I tried writing one slightly less sketchy. Of course, it wasn't received as well, and I ended up turning in the naughtier one. Again, no titles. Just to spite you. ( Perception Shift 1 ) ( Perception ) Current Music: Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost (Comment on this)
4:47 pm	First try, give it a go! Whoa, you hit the bottles! Here's the first assignment we had. The assignment was to have a two-person scene and raise the stakes. This one doesn't have a title, because...well, I don't need to justify myself. ( Elevated Stakes ) Current Music: R.E.M. - Find the River (Comment on this)