Writing a Synopsis

I hate writing a synopsis.  You’re asking me to boil an 80+ page work of art down to a few sentences.  I hate it.  But you have to have one.  People expect it, and they won’t give you a second look if you don’t.  And to an extent they have a point.  Why should people take a chance on $25 and two hours of their time if they don’t like the premise?

I must have re-written the synopsis at least 20 times.  I wanted it to be eloquent, sophisticated, and I wanted to capture all the drama that’s contained in the script.  Every synopsis I wrote with this philosophy was an utter failure.  They were all too complicated.  I’d read them over and think “this is just going to confuse people.  They won’t understand the story.”

Then it dawned on me.  Make it simple.  Just tell the story.  And in the case of my play the story’s pretty obvious:  It’s a reunion between two lovers that haven’t seen each other in ten years.  That’s it.  Nothing confusing about that.  Now, the story has a very deep artistic message about the world we live in and how we define happiness, but they don’t need to hear all that.  They just need to know it’s a good story.

And I think the same approach should apply to the promotional photography.  Don’t try to get a picture that encompasses every dramatic element of the play.  Just get some photos that highlight one particular aspect of the drama they’ll be seeing.  And in the case of A Hole In His Heart, we wanted to highlight the relationship.   It’s a play about passion.  It’s a play about love.  And I think our pictures do a good job of showing that.