Author’s note on her current project:
Sandra has recently completed her first stage play, The Lucky Spot Dance. Please watch the website for news about future productions of this play. Sandra is now working on the early drafts of her second play, a full length production entitled: Been There All the Time: The Story of Grace. Grace is a 50 year old bi-racial woman living in the south at the turn of the 20th century. She is an ex -prostitute and singer, searching for her daughter, Cat, who has disappeared, and is presumed dead.
The play explores multiple themes of what is it means to be a family, secrets, shame and, personal redemption, seen through the complex lens of social justice. Throughout the play, the railroad serves as a central metaphor. We meet the Gandy Dancers, a group of African American men who repair and re-align the railroad tracks so that passenger trains can travel over them safely. Using a pole called a gandy, the men execute their difficult work in a series of steps and movements that mimic a kind of dance, hence their name, Gandy Dancers. Their powerful and rhythmic movements illustrate Grace’s own struggles to shift her path, and find her true and authentic life. At the heart of this play are a series of questions: What does it cost to redeem your past, and live a fully, transcendent life? What happens if that life is not the one you imagined? In the end, is it still worth the price?
Watch the website for further notes about Been There All the Time: The Story of Grace…
Sandra has recently completed her first stage play, The Lucky Spot Dance. Please watch the website for news about future productions of this play. Sandra is now working on the early drafts of her second play, a full length production entitled: Been There All the Time: The Story of Grace. Grace is a 50 year old bi-racial woman living in the south at the turn of the 20th century. She is an ex -prostitute and singer, searching for her daughter, Cat, who has disappeared, and is presumed dead.
The play explores multiple themes of what is it means to be a family, secrets, shame and, personal redemption, seen through the complex lens of social justice. Throughout the play, the railroad serves as a central metaphor. We meet the Gandy Dancers, a group of African American men who repair and re-align the railroad tracks so that passenger trains can travel over them safely. Using a pole called a gandy, the men execute their difficult work in a series of steps and movements that mimic a kind of dance, hence their name, Gandy Dancers. Their powerful and rhythmic movements illustrate Grace’s own struggles to shift her path, and find her true and authentic life. At the heart of this play are a series of questions: What does it cost to redeem your past, and live a fully, transcendent life? What happens if that life is not the one you imagined? In the end, is it still worth the price?
Watch the website for further notes about Been There All the Time: The Story of Grace…
Notes on Sandra’s first play, The Lucky Spot Dance
|
|
In 1993, when Sandra was living in Baltimore, she began writing a series of narrative poems about her relationship with her brother, Steven. In April of 1996, Steven passed away at his home in Philadelphia. Bonni Goldberg, Sandra’s mentor at the time, asked her: How can we remember our loved ones except in our memories and in our dreams?
|
Gradually, Sandra’s poems changed into a stage play titled, The Lucky Spot Dance. At the heart of the dance, where memory lives on, and and the lucky spot shines, is a central question: What do you do when you love someone you can’t save?
Discussions with a Play Writing Mentor
Sandra has finished her first stage play, The Lucky Spot Dance, adapted from a full length collection of poems of the same title. Sandra studies in an intensive individual tutorial with playwright Rich Espey. Two poems from The Lucky Spot Dance are available on this website, under The Poetry section.Sandra began work on her play with her mentor, playwright and teacher, Rich Espey, in 2010. The following excerpts are drawn from their discussions about the play beginning with the synopsis:
|
"l love how we get to know so much about Sandra and Steven in only a few lines! Wonderful! (Rich to Sandra, on the adaptation of her scene, The Dazzle of Beads into the play script, 2011)
I think I know what Steven wants from Sandra in this scene (In the Library) - is it to go away, or stay no matter how awful he is? Is he saying: you’ll always be here to help? And is Sandra saying: You have to be part of it? (Rich to Sandra discussing a scene from the play, 2012)
"What if he’s talking to the ballet slipper? He knows he doesn’t have the dedication, or the drive that some people have. It’s just not in his DNA.., by this scene, he knew he was not save-able." ( Rich to Sandra, revisions to the Nutcracker scene, May, 2013.)
|
(From a postcard from Sandra to Steven ,Easter, 1979)
|
GraceDear Loof,
There’s something of Pursuit of Love here, and Quince Street too, and “elegant” moments—ordered moments I guess to stem the other chaos-- I thought of you & mother in church today as Jeff and I heard the St. Mary’s people do their thing. Father Wilbur talks about “grace” a lot; I think this family is deserving of some—along with mercy. I want a lot for us all—perhaps because I care so much. Adrian –our bright Jordan Baker—met us for brunch in Georgetown, and we three will do well together. — Be buoyant kiddo, Love you |
A Short History of The Lucky Spot Dance (the play)
The Lucky Spot Dance began in 1993 as a collection of poems. Initially, Sandra considered several different titles for the collection, among them: Crossing the Reef, The Dream Dancers, Another Room of the House, Playing the Game, and Latimer Reef.
The poetry collection is in the style of a narrative elegy.
Originally, the collection was divided into 4 sections: The Voyage, Too Far from Shore, the Crossing, and Sightings. As of this writing, the play is in revisions, and has 4 characters and 22 scenes.
Life Events: During the writing of The Lucky Spot Dance, Sandra moved 3 times, and held 13 different jobs, including part time and independent contract positions. The Lucky Spot Dance was written in 4 different apartments where Sandra lived including: East Madison Street and Cathedral Street (Westend), in Baltimore, Md., and also Clinton Street and S. 16th Street when Sandra lived briefly in Philadelphia.
The first full reading of the poetry collection was given in June 2010 by Sandra's artistic friend of 30 years, Keith Parker, in the home of Thomas Cowan in Washington, D.C.
The poetry collection is in the style of a narrative elegy.
Originally, the collection was divided into 4 sections: The Voyage, Too Far from Shore, the Crossing, and Sightings. As of this writing, the play is in revisions, and has 4 characters and 22 scenes.
Life Events: During the writing of The Lucky Spot Dance, Sandra moved 3 times, and held 13 different jobs, including part time and independent contract positions. The Lucky Spot Dance was written in 4 different apartments where Sandra lived including: East Madison Street and Cathedral Street (Westend), in Baltimore, Md., and also Clinton Street and S. 16th Street when Sandra lived briefly in Philadelphia.
The first full reading of the poetry collection was given in June 2010 by Sandra's artistic friend of 30 years, Keith Parker, in the home of Thomas Cowan in Washington, D.C.
Write a story for me one day—and people like me—searching for havens . . . (Steven, in a letter to Sandra, 1983)
|
|
|
