PREGNANT OR NOT, HERE WE COME staged reading

It happened! It really happened!

Tuesday night at 6:30pm I walked into the ACME comedy theater in Hollywood and they flipped the stage lights on. The actors gathered, the music stands were set up, the front of the house was opened and BAM! We put on a show!

It was an incredible night and I know I've gushed about it on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and here in my blog and to some of you poor souls in person but it was really, truly incredible.

For the first time ever I hear and saw actors perform a script I'd written. With a live audience. Like people who laughed and chuckled and applauded. I really still am in awe of the whole experience.

I've been writing scripts for over five years (and that's just the time I've been writing professionally, in Los Angeles - I was writing them for fun back home too!). Those 10,000 hours people talk about? Oh, I'm all over that. Literally. And to have these producers and these actors put their faith in my story, my words, in me? Wow. Just wow.

I started writing this script in the winter. Well, thinking about it. The real work came in the spring. A draft was done in June. Since then it's become a little different, a lot different, better, and something that is real. It's become characters and people and smiles and laughs and quiet moments of suspense (yes, it's a sitcom but still, there gotta be stakes!).

And all of this staged reading excitement came together in the last six weeks or so. And Sonora, Dasha, Angela and Devon have been amazing. They are the reason why instead of a nice tidy little 37-page script on my computer, this story got to be told, got to be shouted from a stage!

Everyone keeps asking me how I feel, how it felt to sit in the audience Tuesday night and I gotta say, I still can't quite describe it. I wasn't nervous until the lights went down and Josh the announcer came on in a booming voice and read the title of our script. Then I started shaking. It became real in that second. So real.

But as I sat back and tried not to turn around and watch for laughs or reactions from my friends, I watched Ashlie and Keith and Sonora and Jessica become my main characters. Leah was no longer the protagonist in my mind, she was this awesome girl who was really trying to get dressed, who was really laughing, who was really standing right there in front of me. It was incredible.

Sonora, Keith, Ashlie, Jessica, Claire, Devon and ME!

The end is a bit of a blur. People applauded, the cast took a bow and I ran back stage to thank them all. Then I ran back out to thank our audience. I didn't catch everyone because there were flowers to collect, photos to be taken, and lots of hugs but I am blown over by the people who took the time to come out on a Tuesday night and watch our little adventure.

The reaction was positive and I hope that everyone in the audience that night and everyone who gets to see it later on video enjoys the experience. That's all I ever want people to do when they read something I've written, enjoy themselves. Whether they laugh or cry or wonder or ponder or get mad or sad or happy, I want them to feel something, to experience a story. And I believe that's what happened Tuesday night.

We don't know what's next. There was debriefing yesterday, phone calls and emails, and there will be so much more of that. There will hopefully be some meetings and connections made and who knows, maybe a sale or a pilot or something even more exciting. I know that I've had positive feedback from some industry folks and I hope that continues. That's what we're all looking for, to expand our networks and our reach, to continue to tell our stories, play our parts and work with awesome people.

Speaking of awesome people, as the Ashlie left Tuesday night she told me we were not done working together and that she hoped she got to play Leah again soon. I love that. That, to me, is awesome praise.

So if you were there Tuesday night, or supported me from a far, thank you. If you know about this project, know the work that I put into it, thank you for taking this amazing journey with me. I can't wait to see where we go next!