DAY 1

I sit in the middle of the woods on a beautiful July day. I am surrounded by total green and feel very pink and human. Rays of the sun stream between the trees, and the same bugs dive-bombing my left ear fly in one of the streams of light, swimming in the air in a synchronized pattern that looks like it has been choreographed. They artfully bob and weave, barely missing each other, almost colliding, making it all look graceful and effortless.

I realize it is all an accident, luck, pure luck, that they don't smash into each other and go crashing to the forest floor blinded by death and the light that attracted them in the first place.

The women of The Wind: Co-producer/actor/star Carolyn Camburn (left) with actor Joanna Bonaro. (Photo by David Zajac.)

I think of the beginning of this production and wonder how our luck will hold out. Will we fly in the sun or crash and burn?

I look up and get the feeling I'm seeing something I shouldn't. I feel like I am invading someone's private sanctuary, someone's living room in a house where I am a stranger. One of the actors, Zeke Rippy who plays Mic, is immersed in his craft and oblivious to me, practicing a violent outburst. He does it over and over again. I am almost embarrassed to watch, but am, at the same time, caught in the moment unable to move.

What kind of creatures (the actors) are capable of wearing their emotions on their sleeves, pulling them up from some dark personal well, for all to see. What kind of creatures (the director and the producers) work their butts off for over a year to get the money, people and equipment together for what could conceivably be a big crap at the end of a big crap shoot. What kind of creatures (the crew) go from place to place like nomads always working with different people on projects that include everything from murderers to the broken hearted. And what kind of creatures (the writers, myself included obviously) put their thoughts and words down on paper for all the world to hear?

I hope to find out the answers to all of these questions, and probably a few I can't imagine just yet.

FIRST SCENE: Mic (played by Zeke Rippy) and John (played by Scott Parrish) are having a confrontation in the woods. John is backing up and taunting Mic about his mother. He moves his hips seductively and asks the burning question, "Who's your Daddy!?"

The men of The Wind: Scott Parrish as John (left), Zeke Rippy as Mic (center) and Philipp Karner as Billy. (Photo by David Zajac.)

The camera is set. The actors ready. I stand far behind the camera and watch everyone involved. The director yells action. Holy shit, I'm on a movie set helping to make a movie! It's the real deal. The three-dimensional version of what becomes two-dimensional. I am seeing everything that the screen can never reveal.

The actors begin. The words, my words, come out of their mouths. I am stunned. I get hit with a body rush the size of a tidal wave. Something typed into a computer in a one-bedroom apartment in Hartford, Connecticut is being spoken by a professional actor and there is actually a camera rolling to record it all. The purpose of the written word in script form is reaching fruition. The first day: I am stunned.

Continue to DAY 2