Maybe my summer project will be to shoot my 20-year-old Wayne Morse teleplay myself. Initially this was commissioned by Oregon Public Broadcasting after the success of the public TV version of Christmas at the Juniper Tavern. (An aside: I watched this yesterday for the first time in years. I never much liked the TV version compared to the stage version, thinking it poorly edited and shot, but surprise! surprise!, I really loved the damn thing. It has some glitches but the performances are mostly first rate, the "topical" humor works after all these years, and -- most importantly to me -- it embraces its spiritual theme without being heavy-handed about it. Yes, I love the damn thing, after all.) A comedy of errors followed, a director being assigned to the project who actually didn't like it -- plus the producer changed jobs within the station -- and to make a long story short, it never happened.
Years later I resurrected it as a stage play, which had a small, successful tour a few years ago.
But now that I am a self-taught filmmaker, it occurred to me I actually can shoot the original teleplay, or a version of it, myself. I seriously am looking into this. I may expand the characters, too, to take advantage of some great talent I discovered last summer. Add Morse's wife, for example. Add his top aide.
We'll see how it goes. I've contacted the director of the stage revival to see if she's interested in participating and to ask her opinion about using the stage actor. Once before when I tried to find an actor, I couldn't find a one. But maybe this time would be easier, casting for video instead of stage.
Lots of things to consider. But it's an exciting idea.
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