Out of retirement?

I celebrated the end of the 20th century by "retiring" as a playwright, by which I meant I was no longer going to write for the stage. This gesture primarily was an escape from collaboration, even the kind favorable to the artist. I didn't want to have to depend on actors, directors, producers to make something happen. Even if I wrote, directed and produced my own plays, I needed actors. I wanted to end my life in a more self-reliant mode of writing.

But there are certain story ideas that demand the stage. I've had two for decades now and they won't go away. I have three choices: write them as plays, as libretti for chamber operas, or both. Of these, the former is the easiest. I may come out of retirement to do them, not worrying about whether or not anyone does them, just write them and stick them in my archive. Both are history plays, both have small casts (2 and 4). I can't get either story out of my mind. This is a sign to write the damn things. I'm tired of waiting for someone else to discover these wonderful historical moments and bring them to life.

I've already done research over the years but I'll look at some appropriate biographies to refresh my memory of the details. I doubted my ability to do one of them for a long time but I must be cockier now than I was decades ago when the story revealed itself to me in a footnote in a biography. Later I kept waiting for Tom Stoppard to write the damn thing. Hell with it, I'll tackle it myself.

All my students turned in their work on time! Now this is a rare moment. Tomorrow the reading begins. Onward.