mnartists.org

or go to the advanced search page

Gregg S. Reed

1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 58 >>

War Diary

Low-Fi Video Logo
Low-Fi Video Logo

GIF (.gif) A blurred enlargement of a logo from the web site of Dogma-group film maker Aleksander Gubas (A.G.), Low-Fi Video, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, March, 2002.

War Diary | Media List

  • icon Low-Fi Video Logo

    GIF (.gif) A blurred enlargement of a logo from the web site of Dogma-group film maker Aleksander Gubas (A.G.), Low-Fi Video, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, March, 2002.


  • icon War Diary
    War Diary

    PDF (.pdf) My script for the "War Diary" reading at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March, 2002. In spring 2005, I am recording the script in an audio format for my web site, and I am adding music by the Beatles.



Statement

From a Belgrade, Yugoslavia, internet cafe, independent film maker A.G. delivers his monologue about living and surviving in the war in Yugoslvia--recalling psychodramatic scenes, the omnipresence of Microsoft, and his love for the Beatles.

As the war begins, A.G. and his friends look for a new apartment. Exploding bombs and burning buildings cause them to try to leave Yugoslavia--but the border guards block them. As the war ends, A.G. regains the strengths of an avant-garde filmmaker.

I collected A.G.'s daily e-mail messages to my film club, Web Cinema Digest, during the war in Yugoslavia. I also discussed A.G.'s situation with him by e-mail, as the film club considered creating an off-Broadway play to read in Manhattan. When the war finished, Web Cinema Digest founder, producer Johnathan Sarno, presented a reading at an off-Broadway theater in Manhattan.

At the same time I had told A.G. that I would try to present the "War Diary" monologue in Minnesota. On Christmas Day, I read that the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis was offering a winter series of readings of new plays. I applied, and in March, 2002, we performed the version of the script that I created and edited.

A mature young male actor read the entire scipt with a Russian accent in a two and one-half hour session before an audience of about 25 Playwright Center members. The members discussed the script, and said they enjoyed the long reading. They said the scenes A.G. described were dramatic.

I've finished copy editing of about two-thirds of the script. At the reading, we did not use graphics or sets. In the script I've suggested that A.G. would speak from his internet cafe. Wars sounds would play, and images of the war would flash on the walls of the cafe.

At the end of the play, when the end of the war resurrect's A.G.'s spirit, I will suggest that he steps onto a lift to fix a light bulb in the cafe, and as he regains his esteem, he rises, and speaks to the audience more excitedly, becoming a powerful individual.

I hope to record the monologue at a recording studio soon to play on the world-wide-web, and eventually I would like to present the play on a stage with a set.

Reviews

"Interesting and dramatic."--Playwrights Center, Minneapolis.