True Love: Drama Futuristik yang Mengandung Berbagai Macam Kebaperan

“Love can win or lose; depending on whom you truly choose.”—Mattie, a dedicated fangirl of Professor Milton

((Baiklah, the above quote might be too narcissistic. :P))

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It’s strange how you were not familiar with this one particular subject, but then you naturally invested all of your time, effort, and energy to follow the whole activity. You supposed that you would be astray, but then you found comfort and decided to stay.

And that’s exactly what I feel toward the whole process.

It was almost the end of January when each and every one of the students in the drama class stared at me. I was hesitant, even afraid, to hold such responsibility in writing the script. These past years had been tough for me, and I didn’t know whether my writing skill is good enough to be relied on. In short, I was not confident.

But then I was convinced that it was okay. The others would help me.

So we voted. And Isaac Asimov’s True Love was chosen. And the deadline was determined.

This is the poster our class had made. >w<

Writing a script is a whole new experience for me. Of course I had written some when there were assignments in junior and senior high school, but this time was different. The level, the preparation, were way more serious (or it was just me who overcomplicate everything again and again :P). But yea, I managed adapting True Love into a script—the one with names, followed by collon [this sign à :], and quotation marks for the dialog.

As you can expect, I procrastinated because I read how to write a play script in WikiHow, and the minute I finished reading, I was so consumed with this whole rising-action part. The concept is the same with writing a short story or a novel; and the problem is: I usually don’t care where I will put the rising action.

But the deadline was on Tuesday. So I wrote as quickly as I could, paraphrasing everything I read on the original work, and hoping that it was good enough.

I was still reluctant and criticizing myself so much, but what surprised me the most was that the revision wasn’t as scary as I thought. All of my classmates helped me figuring out what should be added, what should be removed, what should be preserved. (Just so you know, I literally wrote Can I meet you yesterday? in one of the scenes and I didn’t even realize it! =w=)

This revision came week by week, and I did my best to fix it because I had promised. No matter what happened, I’d invest my focus on the main character, Milton Davidson. I listened to what my friends told me, even when I felt there was nothing wrong. At that time, I kept thinking that their comments were more genuine than my biased assumption. I might as well be wrong if I was stuck to my own belief, so I was open to whatever they asked me to change (because, I guess, that’s how revision works).

It wasn’t until then that we noticed the duration was not enough. So we changed the concept again, and we added two narrators in it. From the very first time, I had this strange feeling—and it materialized: I became one of the narrators! Of course I was Mattie instead of Lydia because I already root for Professor Milton (until now). And to avoid such—again—bias, I made Lydia as a character who completed Mattie’s argument. It wouldn’t be just pros toward Milton, but also the cons. :3

The most interesting part was when one of us came up with the idea for the ending. I’m so sorry because I don’t really remember who gave this idea in the first place (and if you do, please tell me, hehe). But this is the best turning point of the whole writing process.

In the revision, we changed most of the process so that it would not look too sudden (apparently, the short story didn’t elaborate on how things become that way, especially if it’s put into a play). And if you don’t mind with some spoilers, we wanted the last girl to be the cop. However, again, the process was too sudden; even after we added a real police as a new character.

For the next week, I contemplated a lot in my room. The ending was there, we just needed a good plot. I asked myself repeatedly, why the girl decided to do so, why it should be Professor Milton, and—most importantly—why now?

The ending revolves around Joe, who in the original work was not explained further. If our play decided to make him be together with Samantha, then there must be something. I finally came up with a past between them, and how they ended up being where they are right now.

Samantha and Joe were lovers. They were both humans. But then he died, and his brain was transferred into a computer program. Long short story, this program was owned by Professor Milton; and Samantha—who couldn’t cope up with Joe’s death—decided to take him back by framing Professor Milton in the data-hacking and the regular dating activities.

I like this concept so much, I didn’t even think that this could be this huge. When I told the others, they all agreed and soon suggested to put some backstory between Joe and Samantha in the form of a video. This video would be played before the first scene, so it’s kinda like a prolog. I was so excited, especially because the treachery was planned way longer than I could expect.

Getting done with the script, we began the rehearsal. I knew that I would be a girly character, which requires some femininity, which I usually am not familiar with. But in the last minutes before we performed, Lydia—a.k.a Fitri—assured me that I could just act naturally. The more I confuse myself about what I should do, what I should look like, and what I should pose, the more I would seem too rigid. So I guess, I quite managed it—somehow.

The other actors and actresses also faced several challenges; be it laughing during the scene, memorizing the dialog, and having difficulty acting out the expression. We were all learning, so those things might just make us grow and progress better day by day.

I can say that the regular rehearsal was not a pressure to me, because well, with all due respect, this class is the only thing I enjoy throughout the semester. I was so willing to go out at night, waking up in the morning every Saturday, seeing the story grows from time to time. Maybe this is what people call as sincerity, where I can just give all my heart without any hesitation or even a hope for payback in the end of the process. And maybe, it’s just the same  with what McQueen said in Cars 3, the reward is when he could do the race, not the price that he got later.

For the drama itself, the story was supposed to be romance and crime. But it gradually became romance, comedy, and crime. When I wrote the script, I only planned the joke between Milton and Joe only (especially the one when he said “I thought you were smarter than this, Joe!” and Joe replied, “I am, Milton.” He’s such a cute computer at that rate :P). He was a machine, so he didn’t understand any sarcasm human can imply.

Moreover, when we had the rehearsal, there are scenes where we anticipated not to laugh. And yes, it was Miss Stacy Bank’s scene with her remarkable dialog about fashion. All of us remember these lines so much that we were sure we did not have to worry if we should have replacements (which, of course, we didn’t). And when we performed, the audience also laughed at scenes we didn’t anticipate. I had to hold my teeth so hard so that I wouldn’t follow their enthusiasm. And luckily, their enthusiasm stayed till the ending. :p

Professor Milton and Stacy Banks

Professor Milton and Charlotte

Until the minute I write this paragraph, I still find it so hard to move on from this whole “craziness”. I just can’t. It’s been... a great experience. And I’m also very grateful for having been in this class because it saves me a lot. I feel appreciated (yes, I realize I might be the only writer avaliable and that I need more practice; but the appreciation was so real. I feel blessed until now, I don’t know what else I could give instead of just saying thank you :’)). I become close with the others. The recorded video even gives me gazillion dose of happiness. In short, I feel mentally healthy because of this. :’)

I think, I already grow. And I can just adapt to the whole process so that I can write normally again, with a plot that understands me and is willing to be with me for the rest of the writing process—without getting arrested, of course. Wkwkwk.

This whole activity has been great, especially in comforting me throughout this semester. No adjective can describe it magnificently enough. I’ll miss you all so much. ^3^

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P. S.: if you want to know more, kindly check @miltonpenyegarnapas on Instagram. :3