Q is for QUARRIES

Welcome to Yes, This Will Be On the Test.

Waving to visitors, new followers, and fellow A to Z participants. I’m sending virtual hugs to you all for taking a moment to stop by.

I’ll be sharing my “take-aways.” All those snigglets, golden nuggets, and lessons learned from other creative sources.

Scroll down this link to find other wonderful A to Z participants.

I'm a big fat cheater today. This is a repeat post from a former A to Z. When I was trying to come up with a fresh Q, my mind locked on quinoa or Queen Victoria and wouldn't budge. 

In the musical Floyd Collins, which I recently enjoyed (My F post), The Riddle Song uses quarry as one of its challenges. It reminded me of my fascination for quarries. So enjoy an oldie, but a goodie post.

photo credit

I need visuals when I world build. It doesn't matter if it's a real place or one in a galaxy far far away.

My number one "go to" is the annual National Geographic week by week calendar. I have used their amazing photos as springboards not just for settings, but also details. There are some strange and wonderful flowers, plants, and animals in this world.

photo credit

My second "go to" is the playground, Google Images. That's where I caught quarry fever while randomly searching odd locations. Quarries are the places where anything from salt to marble is dug from the earth. The magic comes when the digging is finished and an altered landscape is born.

photo credit

As a kid I swam in quarries that had been converted to public pools. They always had an "other worldly" quality to them, and were quite beautiful.

TAKE AWAY:

Sometimes a whole new world is right under your nose.

Where is your "go to" when you are looking for visual inspiration in your writing?

F is for FLOYD COLLINS

Welcome to Yes, This Will Be On the Test.

Waving to visitors, new followers, and fellow A to Z participants. I’m sending virtual hugs to you all for taking a moment to stop by.

I’ll be sharing my “take-aways.” All those snigglets, golden nuggets, and lessons learned from various creative sources. Scroll down this link link to find other wonderful A to Z participants.

Floyd who?

Last Saturday night, at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center, just a touch south of Los Angeles, I had a wholly unique experience with the musical, Floyd Collins. 

Most musicals follow a somewhat predictable format - but in Floyd Collins EVERYTHING was unexpected. It was an original, engaging, absorbing, and heart-wrenching gem of storytelling. Real vs. surreal. Comedy vs. tragedy. A soul-stirring score with bluegrass flavor.

The musical is presented in an intimate setting "Onstage" of the La Mirada Theatre's playhouse. The nooks, passageways, and mysteries of Rich Rose's set make the show a visceral experience for the audience. The design traps you in the cave with Floyd as well as barricading you from him on the outside along with the other characters. 

The musical is based on a true event.

Here's the synopsis from the La Mirada Theatre's website:

In 1925, while chasing a dream of fame and fortune by turning a Kentucky cave into a tourist attraction, Floyd Collins himself became the attraction when he got trapped 200 feet underground. Alone but for sporadic contact with the outside world, Floyd fought for his sanity and ultimately his life as the rescue effort above exploded into the first genuine media circus. Reporters and gawkers from across the country descended on the property, fueling the hysteria and manipulating the nations into holding its collective breath.

 

A young reporter from the Louisville Courier-Journal William "Skeets" Burke Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Floyd's plight.

This production of Floyd Collins is an LA Times critics choice for its excellence. Here is the LA Times review. It is only one rave among many for this brilliant piece of theatre.

If you are anywhere within traveling distance to the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (near Disneyland), you owe it to yourself to experience this show. It truly is a master class on storytelling. Click the theatre link for tickets. It's playing through April 13th - dark on Monday.

TAKE AWAY - 

Juxtaposition of real vs. surreal elements, with a layering of the right music turns an historical event into captivating art. 

Is there a moment in history that is nudging you to tell its story?