Lowell Williams – Silent Night: The Christmas Truce

January 2, 2021

Happy New Year

Poetry is an ancient art and was a common form of expression on the battlefield during the First World War. Authors such as Wilford Owens “Anthem for a Doomed Youth” lamented the loss of young on the battlefield.

In recognition of the birth of 2021, the year we plan to introduce our play, I offer these thoughts.

When I was a
child
I took apart a
wristwatch
thinking time lived
inside.
I wanted to know
my future.
What would become of
me?
There was only the intricate
world of a clock in there
meekly measuring my
age.
Unknown
and untouched
I only
See
what it leaves
behind rusted
or pitted
flaked or worn.
Sometimes lost
it’s just time
doing
what it does.
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he would ride a
beam of light
to capture time
blinking at the fire
Just
out of reach.
Eddies erode
and heal
all wounds.
Today
I count the orbits
of our planet
and celebrate
with mathematics and
magic
the unseen signpost
trying to know
what it must know.
If you might find a way
to catch it and
outwit Einstein
turn time back
enough
to undo the wear and pits and
regret
it has left behind
will you tell me
what you know?
We call it time
but I hope
it is only
love.
Happy New Year.

December 25, 2020December 25, 2020

CHRISTMAS IN THE TIME OF COVID

Imagine for a minute you are on the line somewhere in Europe on Christmas Eve, 1914. You’re a teenager, away from home for the first time. It’s cold and wet. Your meal today was some hardtack. There’s a little bit of it left in your pocket and you press your thumb against it to make sure it is still there.

It gets dark early. You are watching the line for anything. But, your mind is not on your work. You’re thinking about Christmas. Mom will be up early tomorrow making breakfast and fussing over every detail. Hardtack won’t be on her menu. Instead, there will be bacon and sausages bound up together in that casserole Mom always makes. Except, you won’t be there to enjoy it.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Although I hope that you’re not outside in a trench watching for enemy action, many of us are living out this holiday alone in a pandemic. It gives us some idea of what the those young men went through that night.

What do we have to look forward to?

The soldiers woke up that Christmas to something quite unexpected. The letters home about what happened are fascinating to read.

“Some of our people actually went in to their trenches and stayed for some time being entertained by the enemy! The Colonel and the Adjutant of the 107th Saxon Regiment came out and talked to our people in a very friendly manner. All joined together in a sing-song each side taking it in turns to sing a song and finally they ended up with God Save the King in which the Saxons sang most heartily.”
The National WWI Museum Extraordinary Scenes on Christmas Day

The men shared cigars and food, played games, and visited each other’s camps. One describes seeing a machine gun cart carrying barrels of beer.

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And we are still taking about it today. Why?

Christmas was not much of a holiday up until the Victorian era in Great Britain. Some Christian leaders thought there were too many remnants of Pagan holidays in Christmas and it was much less celebrated. The story of Ebeneezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” changed all that. Christmas became a story of redemption.

Redemption, noun. The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.

There is nothing we love more than a story of redemption. Redemption reminds us that there is a way forward. Redemption reminds us there is hope. Redemption is the light at the end of the tunnel. Redemption is a promise of a Christmas Yet To Come. Our redemption is coming in the form of a vaccine.

That’s the story of the Christmas Truce. It’s not just about a holiday. In fact, maybe it’s not about a holiday at all. Maybe it is something much bigger.

When that young soldier emerged from the trench after that cold night and witnessed the redemption of humanity, even for just that short time… just imagine how that felt. It was redeeming.

Merry Christmas.

November 30, 2020December 12, 2020

The Butter to Popcorn Ratio

Conflict. Sometimes when someone reads a script of mine, they say “it needs more conflict.” It’s a lazy note. The popcorn needs more butter, too. It always needs more butter. The perfect butter to popcorn ratio is complicated. At least it is for me.

So is conflict. Because you cannot write a script that is entirely conflict, of course. Neither can you write a script without conflict– unless it’s an episode of Star Trek, but that’s for another day.

Fortunately, our musical is about war and you cannot have more conflict than that.

Another buzzword you hear from readers is “stakes,” also known as “risk.” And, frankly, that’s what you really want. You want your characters up against something or someone and the consequences for failing are high. Death is a good idea for risk. That’s another Star Trek fundamental for another day.

Actually, maybe we should discuss this now. Because Star Trek is such a great example and you can easily find an episode and see this for yourself. If you’re a fan, maybe you already know this.

The idea on that show was that the main characters cannot have conflict with each other. In the future where everyone are life long friends, the most conflict they have is deciding what’s for dinner. Those are pretty low stakes.

The way that they got around this was to generate conflict from outside. The Romulans or some other bad guys. Sometimes, the bad guys took over a crew member and then they could be in conflict because they weren’t themselves.

Then the other thing is risk. On Star Trek, the risk on every single show (for the “Next Generation” anyway) is DEATH. Every single show. Watch it and you’ll see. Death of a guy, death of the ship, death of the universe. Every show.

So, for the aspiring writer, there you go. Make the conflict death and you will never get a “needs more conflict” note from anyone. If only it were that simple.

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Because conflict has to come from somewhere. You cannot just toss it in like butter for your popcorn and expect it to be perfect. Conflict must come from theme.

A theme is the purpose for telling this story in the first place. You want the future world to have no conflict for your characters, but conflict comes anyway. There’s a theme: Doing what’s right! The reason these characters face death is because they are doing what’s right!

You start out your story, introduce the conflict, escalate it the right amounts, and the good guys win and that’s your script, right? Eh, not so fast.

Because it turns out if you want a really successful story, what you need to show is the characters sharing their success. In her eighteen minute TED Talk, “Saving the World Vs Kissing the Girl,” movie executive Lindsay Doran explains that relationships are the most important things. Relationships are more important even than the good guys winning. (See Lindsay’s talk on YouTube). She points out that in the original “Rocky,” widely considered, she says, to be one of the best movies of all time, Rocky doesn’t win the fight! Huh? It’s a split decision. It’s over when he kisses the girl (or in this case, when she kisses him).

Conflict, risk, theme and relationships. The keys to a great story,

We have been working on those relationships between our characters. Diving deeply into their story through our themes and helping them explore what it means to be human and in the midst of war. And what a truce means. And what’s for dinner.

We can’t wait to share it with you.

Back to front page

November 13, 2020December 12, 2020

Doctor Cara

The Forgotten Women Physicians of World War I

In a story that most people think belongs only to the men, we introduce Doctor Cara Walsh. While Cara is completely fictitious, she does represent many women who were doctors serving in the war, such as Rosalie Slaughter Morton, left, pictured here with Anne Morgan, an American philanthropist, in 1918. Our story takes place in 1914, so we have accelerated things somewhat.

The story of women on the battlefield is, unfortunately, easy to guess. While it was decided that medicine was something that women could do, no one made it easy for them. For example, Madame Curie used some of her money from winning one of the first Nobel Prizes ever given to set up X-Ray equipment, and she trained others in radiology to help treat soldiers’ wounds.

We think we have found the kind of person in Cara who would go on such a journey. She’s older, she’s seen her share of hardship, but she has learned something about life in the process, and she knows what’s important: Mercy.

There’s a word to think about. Mercy. The Google-machine gives it this definition: “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.“

“Compassion “

“Forgiveness”

“Punish”

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“Harm”

Think about these words for a moment. Think about what it takes to take yourself into a battlefield when these words ring out in your mind. You decide you will focus on those first two. When it is within one’s power to punish or harm. Within one’s power.

A choice where you’re going to choose Compassion and Forgiveness, every time.

Cara is our conscience. She guides our story towards an end that is sometimes hard to accept in a world that is constantly preparing for war. She knows that her ideas are foreign, awkward, and hard to comprehend when she tells Jack:

“Jack. What you’re looking for isn’t here. Do you understand?”

Of course, he doesn’t understand. But, he will.

October 18, 2020December 12, 2020

Best Song in the Show

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Pack up your troubles

So far, we have identified thirty-seven positions in our musical story where there shall be music. We have identified them by color: entries colored black are definite songs. Entries colored blue are “scene change music” or “incidental moments.” The ones that are red in our list are “potential songs.” The ones that are in BOLD are consequential to the plot, and the purple ones are absolutely essential.

Of those in the absolutely essential category, each one we often think is the Best Song In The Show. That’s the song that we imagine you remembering the best at the end of the night. That’s the one that sticks in your head and two weeks later in pops back into your head and won’t go away for a long time. That’s the one we imagine high-school kids wanting to use for an audition someday because they love it so much. The Best Song In The Show.

I will let you in on a secret. Music is damned hard to write. The music and the lyrics.

There’s a rumor that Lin Manuel Miranda took a whole year to come up with “My Shot.”

“I am not throwin’ away my shot
I am not throwin’ away my shot
Hey yo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwin’ away my shot…”

You look at that and you think, “how hard can it be?”

It’s hard, yo.

Tinkering, wondering, and riffing, endlessly riffing.

When it comes together, when you feel it, when you hear it, when you know it works, it’s like heaven. I’m not the composer but I celebrate when it works. And I say, “That! That is the best song in the show!”

Even then, I know it will probably change and grow, as this whole thing is changing and growing all the time.

We can’t wait to share it with you.

September 29, 2020December 12, 2020

Changing the World

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Many people know about the Christmas Truce of World War 1. Much of the reason for that is this song, ” Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon.

There is much that is easy to find out about this event, too. There’s this surprising web site, the National World War 1 Museum and Memorial. This is the place where John is singing in the video. Play the video to hear John tell about some of the stories from those days. The site documents dozens of newspaper accounts of the Christmas Truce. It’s something so curious we find it fascinating. When you look just a little bit, though, you’ll see it’s easy to discover there were other examples of Christmas time truces in war. But, the Christmas of 1914 truce, which occurred up and down the lines, seems to be the one that has captured our imaginations.

There are movies, too. “Joyeux Noel,” tells about the truce itself, and 1917, long after the truce ended.

Rutger Bregman writes about the truce in his book, “Humankind.” Bregman argues that people are, generally, good. “If we can actually trust each other, if we do have the courage to move to a more realistic, hopeful view of human nature, then we can move to a very different kind of society as well — and build very different kinds of schools and democracies and workplaces,” he told NPR.

War movies have the simplest of themes: can the hero survive? We’re trying to find a journey through the war to ask a different question: Can the hero learn to trust his enemy?

We’re going to use song and story as the best way for you to learn the answer to this important question. Maybe we will convince you that he can.

September 1, 2020December 12, 2020

A New Musical!

We’re writing a new musical!

It’s harder than you think.

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Maybe not so difficult as time consuming.

We expect to be ready with our first staged reading in April, 2021. We hope to see you there.