Even if your plan for "Easter with the Podiatrists" seems like you're on your way to claiming a Tony Award, you'll still manage to surprise yourself in the writing. You may have the greatest idea in the world, but you still have to actually write the thing and allow for surprise to enter into the equation.  In the exploratory draft, don't worry about formatting the play or writing it "correctly," just let everything get out that needs to get out. Write until you've got a beginning, middle, and end to your play.  Maybe a new character will wander into the story that changes everything. Let it happen. A play is literally a slice of a life, it's not a biography. While it can be tempting to want to jump ten years into the future or have the main character quit her job in the podiatrist's office and become a successful actor in New York, a stage play isn't the best medium for these kinds of seismic shifts in character. Your play might end with a simple decision being made, or it might end with a character confronting something they've never confronted before. If your play ends with a character killing themselves or someone else, rethink the ending. In the early drafts, you'll probably write a lot of scenes that wander without really going anywhere. That's okay. Sometimes you need to have the character spend a long awkward dinner conversation with their brother-in-law to find out something that gives you a whole new perspective on the drama. Great! That means you're writing successfully, but it doesn't necessarily mean the whole dinner date is important to the play.  Avoid any scenes in which a character is alone. Nothing can happen on stage with a character in the bathroom looking into the mirror. Avoid too much preamble. If the podiatrist's parents are going to arrive, don't delay for twenty pages. Make it happen as soon as possible to give yourself more to work with. Make it easy on yourself. Your characters will reveal themselves with their language. The way they choose to say things is maybe even more important than what they're actually saying.  When the podiatrist's daughter asks "What's wrong?" the way the podiatrist answers will tell the audience how to interpret the conflict? Maybe she faux-dramatically rolls her eyes and sobs "Everything!" and throws a stack of papers in the air to make her daughter laugh. But we really know there's something wrong she's making light of. We'll look at her character differently than we would if she said, "Nothing. Get back to work."  Don't let your characters shout their inner turmoil. A character should never shout, "I'm a shell of a man since my wife left me!" or anything that explicitly reveals their internal conflicts. Make them hold onto their secrets. You want their actions to speak for themselves, and not to force them into explaining themselves to the audience. The refrain of the writer? "Kill your darlings." You have to be a harsh critic of your early drafts to get the usually-messy early writing crafted into the hard-hitting and realistic drama you want to write. Cut scenes that meander, cut characters that are useless, and make the play as tight and as quick as you possibly can. Go back through your drafts with a pencil and mark any moments with a circle that pause the drama, and underline moments that move the drama forward. Cut out everything that's circled. If you end up cutting out 90% of what you've written, so be it. Fill it back in with things that move the story forward. There's no right number of drafts. Keep going until the play feels finished, until its satisfying for you to read and fulfills your expectations of the story. Save each version of the draft so you can feel free to take risks and always go back to the old version if you want to. Word processor files are small. It's worth it.

Summary: Write an exploratory draft. Try to keep the play as small as possible. Always be moving forward. Find the characters' voices. Revise. Write as many drafts as it takes.


Lemon juice is acidic and contains vitamin C. This kind of juice has been used traditionally to lighten areas of skin.  Squeeze the juice from a fresh-cut lemon into a bowl. Wet a cotton ball with the juice and apply it directly to your tanned skin. Leave the juice on your skin for 10 to 20 minutes. Rinse off the lemon juice with warm water when done. Repeat daily to keep fading the tan.  You can also rub fresh slices of lemon along your skin to get the juice on it if you prefer. Even though the bleaching effect becomes stronger in the sun, it is advisable to stay out of the sun while the lemon juice is on your skin. There is no way to predict how much of a bleaching effect the sun might have. Plus, you don't want to exposure your skin to more sun than necessary, especially without sunscreen. Similar to lemons, tomato juice is also slightly acidic and it contains high levels of antioxidants. These antioxidants may react with skin pigments and lighten the suntan. Take a tomato and cut it, releasing all the juices on the inside into a bowl. Take a cotton ball and apply it directly to your suntanned skin. Leave the juice on your skin for 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse it off with warm water. You can repeat this daily. You can apply slices of tomato directly to your skin if you wish. You can also look for 100% tomato juice in a can from the grocery store and try it. Vitamin E may be useful for fading a suntan because of its antioxidant activity.  You can get Vitamin E naturally through foods, take it as a supplement, and use it as an oil. To get it through food, eat more foods with vitamin E, such as oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter, avocados, and leafy green vegetables. Vitamin E oil can be applied directly to the skin to increase hydration in your skin and help heal the UV damage to your skin that causes suntan. Daily doses of vitamin E supplements should be taken according to manufacturer's instructions. Apricots and papayas contain natural enzymes that may lighten a suntan in some individuals.  Cut slices from fresh apricots and papayas. Apply these slices of the fruit directly onto the suntan for 10 to 20  minutes. Rinse off any residual juice with warm water. Repeat daily. If you want to use it along larger portions of your skin at one time, you can puree the fruit and apply the paste to your skin. If you have a juicer, you can also make papaya or apricot juice and apply that to your skin. Kojic acid is derived from fungi and can lighten suntans. It has also been used to successfully treat melasma, a temporary skin darkening that occurs in pregnancy. There are a number of products available that contain kojic acid, such as oils, gels, lotions, soaps, and washes. They each have different concentrations of kojic acid, so you may need to try multiple kinds to find which will help you with your particular suntan. Try these products on a small area of skin first and follow all manufacturer’s instructions. Turmeric is a famous yellow spice from Asia often used in curries and dishes. Turmeric masks are used to remove facial hair, lighten and add glow to your skin, and get rid of acne on your skin. Gather 1 tbsp of turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp of lemon juice, 3/4 tbsp of honey, 3/4 tsp of milk, and 1/2 tbsp of wheat flour. Mix the ingredients in a bowl until you get a paste and use a brush or cotton ball to apply it to your skin. Leave it on for 20 minutes, or until it hardens. Wash off with warm water. The turmeric may leave a yellow residue on your skin. Use make up remover, toner, or a cleanser to get the color off. Aloe vera is a plant that has moisturizing properties. Applying aloe vera may help with inflammation and pain caused by too much sun exposure. Aloe can also help to keep your skin moist and healthy, so it might help your tan to fade a little faster. You can buy aloe vera gel in the grocery store or pharmacy. Apply the gel two to three times per day and after you have been out in the sun.
Summary: Use lemon juice. Try tomato juice. Apply vitamin E. Use apricots and papayas. Try kojic acid. Make a turmeric mask. Apply aloe to your tan.