* Name and age?

Nathan Ellis. 35 years old. 

*Nickname? Who gave it?

Louie calls him Nate, and he hates it. Maurice calls him that when he wants to bait him.

*What is most noticeable about your character’s appearance/physical presence? How does he or she feel about it?

Nathan is mid to late 30s, medium build, short brown hair, good looking. It isn't so much his physical appearance that is striking, but his energy. He seems to be always moving, both physically and mentally. He can be an intimidating person to be around. 

How does he feel about it? It's him, it's how he is. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he sees himself as a force of nature. He's used to having what he envisions coming true. 

*Describe his or her voice, verbal ticks, pet phrases etc.

Writer has a midrange voice. Prone to exaggeration, wild outbursts of emotion. Tends to talk with his hands. 

*Describe a gesture your character makes.

Prone to throwing his arms out widely, hands splayed. 

*Where does he or she now live? Describe the city, town or village, the house itself. Any feelings about this place?

Not sure if I'm going to work it in there somehow, but the city is New York. He wouldn't be anyplace else.

*Has s/he lived elsewhere? What does s/he remember of these places?

He grew up in Milwaukee, but always looked towards the big city as where he would end up. He felt a bit claustrophobic in his hometown, like he needed a city as big as he was. 

Music was always his joy, but usually in a very unstructured way. His house had an old upright piano in it that no one played. He took to it at an early age, and was picking out melodies by ear when he was five. His parents decided to feed that interest, and gave him piano lessons...which he hated. Too much structure, not enough experimentation. So, he dropped those after a year, and went back to finding and learning instruments his own way.  

His first exposure to musicals was a high school production of Oklahoma that his sister was involved in. He wasn't sure what it was, but the spectacle of it was undeniable.  It wasn't like he went out the next day and started writing, but it planted a seed that would spring forth later on.

Nathan wasn't a fantastic performer...make no mistake, he was good, but he knew that his future wasn't in performing music. He wasn't writing music at this point, just taking in all the music around him.  He didn't think that he was able to write an original song, and was convinced that anything he tried to write would sound like something else he had heard.

That all changed when he found an old 4-track tape recorder at a rummage sale. He started experimenting, and was surprised to find that writing music was as natural as breathing. Things always came quickly to Nathan, but threw himself into this with a vengeance. *this* was what he was meant to do, and he soon had very little patience for anything that distracted him from it. Like any teenager, he had an electric guitar, and soon filled countless tapes with riffs and ideas. He wasn't what you would think of as a metalhead, though...he enjoyed the experimental, and tended towards groups like the Velvet Undergound, Queen, and Sonic Youth. These influences were tempered by the other music he was exposed to growing up, mainly a lot of Big Band like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. 

He went to High School of the Arts, but still was feeling unsatisfied...he wasn't able to write there as much as he want, it was mainly focused on performance, and was more structured than he wanted. Not to mention he had little patience for classroom learning anyway. He was the one who always had notebooks crammed full of ideas, and would go home and try them out. However, there was one positive thing that came out of his high school days: he was exposed to the "grand musical", shows like Showboat, The King and I, Chess. The seed that was planted years before started to grow. This was a form that grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let go.

Nathan got involved in theater, and learned the form from the inside out.  This was where Nathan truly started to come into his own, and started to bloom. The discovery of what truly spoke to him caused his confidence to explode, and that translated very well to the stage. He didn't have a classically beautiful voice, but it had power and presence, and he threw himself into it. Much like the music he enjoyed, he had power, and it was practically a tangible thing.

His teachers told him hat he should go to college for theater. Nathan went, but that felt far too restrictive to Nathan, who was accustomed to learning by doing, rather going to classrooms. So, after two years in college, he moved to New York, just like a million other aspiring artists.

By this time, Nathan had a small portfolio of small shows that he had written. His work gave him confidence, so he went to dozens of small theaters, trying to get his foot in the door with performance, and to get his work looked at. Most everywhere he went was astounded by his music, but thought that his words were far too raw for good theater. Undaunted,  he kept at it, kept writing, and kept his foot in the door at small summer stock shows and community theaters.

It was during this time that Nathan first met Maurice. Nathan was in the theater, sitting at the piano, working on one of his songs, singing. Maurice was involved in the crew, and was listening. Nathan was stopped, pondering over a phrase, when Maurice suggested a lyric to him. Nathan tried it, and thought it was pretty good...he used it. (Although his response was something along the lines of, "huh, that's pretty good. Thanks."...and then went back to playing.) Maurice went back to his work as well. 

That pattern continued for a while, Nathan playing, Maurice suggesting lyrics in passing. After a while, Nathan was playing one of those songs when the director of the show he was working on arrived. The director was immediately taken with how the words and music worked together, and asked if he had anything else. He played a few other songs for the director, but none of them had the same spark as the one he had been working on "with" Maurice. 

It rankled him a little that his music didn't get noticed until someone else's lyrics were on it, but Nathan knew he was onto something with he collaborative work he had started with Maurice. After rehearsal that evening, he sought out Maurice, and asked if he wanted to get together and really work on something. Maurice agreed.

As it turned out, their words and music were a natural together. After a few months, they had developed a short piece that they presented to the director. The director thought it was brilliant, and immediately started work to put it into production. 

This started a collaboration that had a solid upward trajectory. Each show was better received than the last. Nathan finally lost his overt resentment of needing someone else's help with music, but it still manifests itself in certain ways...

When the curtain rises on Unfinished, we're seeing the end of their first major breakthrough piece, the one that truly cemented their names as starts of musical theater.



*What part of her home is her favourite? Least favourite? Why. Describe, using specific details.

*What does your character’s bedroom/sleeping place look like?

Minimalist, a futon and not much else. Not out of a sense of style, but because he doesn't seem to sleep much, or doesn't like to. He was the sort of kid who hated naps, because he always felt like he would be missing something.

*What does he or she wear to sleep in?

Underwear or nothing :). Mostly because it's not something that he thinks about. 

*What does your character dream of at night?

Vivid imagery.  His creativity extends to dreams. 

*Who are/were her parents? Rest of family? What does she feel for them?

His family is a bit white bread, which led to his desire to get the hell out of his hometown. He wasn't held back, per se, but never felt like he was in his element. 

*Class, ethnic group, religious background?

Upper middle class, white, WASPy. Doesn't have much use for religion. He grew up with a church, but wasn't active, and fell away when he moved to The City. 

*Who does s/he love, or has s/he loved? Or what. Detail.

He has always loved his work: music and songwriting.  He never really had relationships, because of his involvement with his work.  It came across as self-involvement, so nothing ever really lasted. It's something that he noticed on the edges, but never ally bothered him....he had his work.

*Who loves him or her?

We aren't given knowledge of anyone.

*Married/ in relationship/single?

Single. 

*How does your character feel about sex/intimacy? What sexual relationship(s) is he or she involved in?

No relationships. He views sexual needs as sort of like food...it's a need, but he doesn't necessarily connect it to mental intimacy. Also, there's a roadblock there because of his own self-involvement...any previous relationships never really progressed. 

*Exactly what does your character do to make a living (or in the case of a child, what do his/ her parents do; or in the case of independent wealth, how does he or she pass the time?)? How much does s/he earn? Feelings about work? What is the best part of the job, the worst?

He's been a songwriter since forever. It's in the recent past that he started to make breakthroughs in his career. The beginning of the musical showshisfirst major breakthrough in his career, with Maurice. Before that, he had jobs working on other productions, but nothing major. 

Previous work included things like community theater, college productions, things like that. Enough to earn a living, but definitely not getting rich. However, his career has always been on an upward trajectory.

He met Maurice on a production of The Pirates of Penzance, and they somehow had an immediate click, even though they seemed polar opposites. Nathan saw that Maurice was a very good fit to the way he worked, and that Maurice wrote lyrics that clicked with his music. 

*Who or what does/he fear?

Fear is for other people. If pressed, I think that he would be afraid of not being able to work. He's only ever seen himself as a songwriter, and losing that would cut off his self-identity. 

*What about his or her life would he or she change if s/he could?

More success! We see this happening at the start of the musical. 

*Does the character have a hobby? Secret passion? (Can be something ordinary like soccer playing or yoga classes or mountain biking or sewing or fixing up old trucks - or an unusual interest like some Greek poet from the third century, or collecting spiders, or walking the tightrope…

He's the sort of person who only ever seems to work. Similar to Mark in Rent, who always has his camera. 

*What would be his or her favourite smell ( why)?

Coffee...smells like all night working!

*What kind of shoes does he or she wear, (e.g. furry slippers or gumboot or trainers… new or old, style, what colour, fitting properly or too tight or too loose, nice and clean or old and smelly)? Describe exactly.

Casual style...I can see him wearing Chucks, or boots. 

*Favorite meal? Attitude to food?

Food is something that keeps you alive. 

*Favorite clothes?

Jeans, a black T-shirt, Chucks, and THE LUCKY SHIRT. The shirt is a battered flannel shirt that he's always work while writing...and has followed him on every success he's had. 

*What is the worst thing that could happen to him or her right now?

Not being able to finish his project...which is what happens in Unfinished!

*What vehicles does your character use/own? (for example: bike, skateboard, truck, yacht, stroller, canoe, spaceship, battered pickup, etc.. please be as exact as possible). What are his/her feelings towards it/them. What kind of journeys does he or she make?

Walking, public transportation, or his bike, a ten speed. The feel of where he is is sorta like Greenwich Village, so a car isn't really needed. 

*What is his or her most treasured possession?

His piano. It's what he's always used for writing, and feels second to THE LUCKY SHIRT as far as being important to his writing process. 

*What illnesses has he or she suffered, if any?

No major illnesses. 

*What’s his/her philosophy of life?

Creativity is life. 

*What does he or she feel guilty about?

Nothing, initially. However, over the course of the musical, he begins to realize that it's not just him, that his co-writer is very important to him.

*Biggest mistake ever made?

Not appreciating his co-writer while he was alive.

*Best thing he/she ever did?

The opening of his Musial with Maurice, his first major professional breakthrough. 

*What, right now, does your character want most of all? His or her deepest desire – a glass of water, to get out of their marriage, a new pair of shoes, peace and quiet…

At first, it's to finish his musical...but that changes to expressing how he feels towards Maurice.