The Dam is Finally Broken.

How "Deep Work" radically transformed the creative process.

This week marked a significant breakthrough in the process of creating the play.¹

After nearly two years of “sophisticated procrastination,” a script is finally emerging through periods of concentrated deep work.

The dam has broken—actual scenes are being created, rather than just conceptualized:

KEY POINTS COVERED

The play’s concept has crystallized around creating an intimate character portrait of Thomas Sowell during a period of profound personal transformation.

Key decisions include:

• Shifting from envisioning large venues (like the 900-seat Tuscaloosa theater) to smaller, more intimate spaces—ideally a 200-seat black box theater or well-constructed 500-seat venue

• Preference for thrust stage or arena staging where the audience surrounds the performer on three or four sides, creating immersive three-dimensional performance

CORE DRAMATIC QUESTION AND THEMES

The central dramatic question driving the piece: “What if everything I thought about the world is wrong?”.

This question encompasses:

• Identity death and transformation—the forging of a new identity as Sowell’s Marxist worldview evolves

• The fundamental question “Who am I?” underlying all of drama (according to William Storr)

• Personal connection: the writer is experiencing their own identity transformation, moving from pre-2020 life as an up-and-coming New York actor to current circumstances

• Question creates dramatic action on multiple fronts

OTHER TOPICS COVERED:

• Intriguing insights from Sowell’s work Marxism: Philosophy and Economics

• The challenge of conceiving of the play in three dimensions (including set design, soundscape, and a vocabulary of movement)

• How concentrated Deep Work (as articulated by Cal Newport) has yielded massive results in a short timeframe

• Ultimate creative goals for the work

Watch/listen to the full update below: