Took almost a week off from Miller. Busy with family trip to Mackinac Island where the pace is slow and the water was warm. Almost finished with the biography. Miller got off track marrying MM and trying to write while involved with her. The Misfits was somewhat of a disaster and she died shortly thereafter. I think my next step is getting “Write that Play” from the UM library. Then, I’ll study Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People.” Miller often did extensive research. He visited Salem, Massachusettes for several weeks before he wrote “The Crucilbe.” So, I think I’ll study the garage band phenomenon as background–more specifically Iggy Pop, The Rationals, etc. A recent fundraiser for the lead singer–whose name escapes me now–would be a good scene. I have already written Ronnie Ashton’s funeral scene. I imagined a screen with slide show and video running above the casket.

Not much Miller work today–100 degrees out and I worked on an essay with Sue. We brainstormed about our article for the Journal of Catholic Education. We are going to begin by shaping our own narratives, sharing them, then we’ll synthesize.

Interesting to be reading about the HUAC and McCarthy on the same day that Michele Bachman declares we have “card-carrying” Muslim extremists in the government. What an idiot. I taught The Crucible for years and it’s hard to imagine that anyone would go down this road again.

Went through a dusty box of books from our move 5 years ago and found a copy of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. When I finish Miller’s biography, I’ll work on that. Not that a play about a garage band’s lead guitar player could possibly be as lofty as Ibsen’s–it’s just taking your inspiration from good places. Why not be inspired by the best?

Kazan, the director, of Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” used lighting and the two valises to show how Willie Lowman was weighed down by life. Got me thinking about posters. It seems if I can visualize the poster, I can write the play. Maybe a guy carrying a guitar and a backpack?

Miller’s first play took only 6 days; it was 120 pages in length, so that’s just 20 pages a day. Not so hard. Apparently his main gift was his ability to use a single line to establish relationships and situations. I also learned that Rowe taught him how to write a scenario. I guess I need to do that first before going any further. I probably need to study Ibsen, too.

I dropped off my dry cleaning on Main Street today and drove past what would have been 122 N. State Street, one of the first addresses listed for Art when he attended U of M. I just began reading Gottfried’s book Arthur Miller: His Life and Work and decided that I needed to begin the process of trying to write my play, tentatively titled Black Sheep after one of SRC’s most haunting melodies. Since writing is such an impossible and lonely task, I decided to invoke Arthur Miller to help me–much the same way Julie and Julie was conceived. By focusing on Miller’s life and work, I can keep in my peripheral vision my own work. At least, that’s the theory.

UofM library has a special collection of Miller’s letters, drafts, etc. But I’m not ready for any of that yet. I’ll work first on the biography and work up to the primary sources. I looked up his professor’s book Write That Play on Amazon, but it’s almost $65. This should be my cookbook. I think it would be much cooler to take it out of the library than buy it. So I’ll try that first. I went online and got a “friends” account, but I have no idea how to use it yet.

So this is Friday the 13th– as good a day as any to begin.