Just Write! Lakeland

by James Coulter

It was a dark evening. Two lovers kiss inside a car parked along Lovers Lane. The car radio blares an important bulletin. A hooked-handed inmate escaped from the mental institution. Suddenly, a scratch is heard outside the car. Scared, the boyfriend slams the accelerator. He makes it to his girlfriend’s house, but when he steps out of the car, he discovers a hook hand on the car door.

This popular urban legend was retold as part of a screenplay read aloud during a table read at Just Write! Lakeland. This local group for screenwriters, playwrights, and actors meets weekly to read submissions. During this lively session, they were able to perform every detail, from the haunting screech of the hook against the car door to the inmate maniacally laughing.

Just Write! Lakeland is a writers’ workshop that allows playwrights and screenwriters to have their screenplays read aloud and critiqued. According to their website, their mission is: “to find new, local voices in film and theater, embrace and strengthen the unique perspectives in the work, and highlight the talent in the Central Florida community by producing unique, local works.”

Every Monday, the group reads submissions through a table read. After the reading, the other members offer their feedback. The meetings also offers actors an opportunity to better hone their acting skills and abilities, and to seek out material to produce into live stage performances.

Just Write! Lakeland was started in October 2017. Since then, they produced eight live shows. Recently, last month, they hosted the full production “Steampunk Shenanigans”, a series of comedy skits with a sci-fi twist. Other live productions include “Clown Car” by Mark Kenneally and “Land of the Greedy Mouse”, which was also performed in Mulberry.

That last play was written by Vincent Scarsella, a retired attorney from New York State who moved to Davenport in 2011. When he discovered a Ledger article about Just Write!, he decided to join the group. His first submission was a play called “Practical Time Travel.”

“[Jon’s] group gave some great insight involving changes that they felt would enhance the play, and I took those to heart and made changes, resubmitted to them twice, and Jon really liked it and decided to stage it in the Stage Room in 2019,” Vincent said.

Even being an hour and a half away in Venice, he still attends regularly via Zoom: “For guys like me, it is very nice, I am able to join in on Monday evenings, not only for my plays, but to see other plays written by other members.”

Even though the current COVID-19 crisis has stymied their attendance, they still meet regularly every week, with most members attending virtually. A recent meeting drew in at least 13 members, two meeting in person, and the others appearing via videoconferencing.

“We are still plugging along,” said Jon Fedkiw, the group’s leader. “The Coronavirus did a number on us but we are still here. We are still going forward with it.”

Tom Mook is a local voice actor and radio announcer who proudly lends his voice to the table readings. “If I am not doing a show on stage, it gives me a chance to keep my juices going,” he said.

Having their work read and acted allows

writers to hear for themselves how their words sound when spoken aloud. Many writers have had their screenplays produced across the country, and many have written multiples works, rather than merely being “one hit wonders,” Mook said.

“We have some that submit that have done production and we are able to give them a different view of it, a new rendition of it, with different actors giving different interpretations,” Mook said. “Playwrights keep submitting. They find out we can read their works, they can listen to it, they can get comments before it ever goes into production.”

Rory Penland, a member from Altamont Springs, has been a member for a year and a half. He was invited by another prominent member, Jim Moss, a fellow writer he had known for more than 30 years. Penland had written multiple screenplays, one of which had been produced in 2002. Since then, he was written several scripts for animated movies and TV pilots.

Penland appreciates the overall camraderie of the group. Being able to hear his screenplays read allows him to see and hear for himself what works and doesn’t work so that he can make the proper revisions. He has written three plays since starting the group, something that he had never done before, and the feedback he has received for each of them has proven valuable.

Just Write! Lakeland offers a little bit of something for everyone interested in theater or film. For writers, it allows them to have their work performed and critiqued, allowing them to better perfect their screenwriting. For actors, it offers them the opportunity to exercise their acting skills and performances.

“We always have a good time when we read, we always get constructive criticism, and you get support and encouragement which is helpful,” he said. “It is nice to hear your writing come to life, to hear your characters read by proffesional actors, and it is a nice feeling, and that is why I have stuck with it for a long time.”

“For writers, screenwriters, and playwrights, they get their work read out loud,” Fedkiw said. “We try to get them with actors. So writers can get it out of their heads, into the public forum, and they hear what works and hear what doesn’t work, and they can do that second draft.”

Just Write! Lakeland meets every Monday at 7 p.m. at their writer’s workshop, located in the downstairs stage room at 310 E. Lemon Street, Lakeland, FL. For more information, contact them at: info@justwritelakeland.com, or visit their website at: https://www.justwritelakeland.com/