3 new books for the week
Even though I have been busy as hell, I am still continuing to do research in bipolar disorder. I am leaning toward some kind of networked performance right now and I have some more theatrical scenarios worked out but in the meantime, I am now reading the following:
- Detour : My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D
- The Midnight Disease : The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain
- An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness
(correction: - Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament is on my to read list but I don't have it yet)
Between those and my scheduled trip to Greece in late May with my bipolar mother, I will have a better idea of how to proceed on this project. It may be time to start interviewing some people or making contact with a specialist at USC. The things that I am interested are: mental illness, identity, distance, women and family ties. It would be amazing to act out an interactive play between here and Japan that encapsulates the conflict. I am torn between a 24-hour real-time performance with a loose narrative structure and something that is more interactive and requires audience participation. We shall see...
There is never enough time for me and that is very frustrating. I wish I were on a 9 month contract...