Nine worries this new playwright has

is_shawty_there

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Hi, my name is Zev. It's Hebrew for 'wolf' and pronounced kind of like the middle of 'forever.' I am given to long blog posts when I am nervous. As I am terrified but trying to simplify things, I have sorted everything into numbers. They are in no order of importance.

1. I am in the second rewrite of my first draft of my first play. The original quite did not work out. Now, with this new approach, I am cruising along and quite grateful. Also, I have a fragile ego and little self-confidence despite believing so strongly in my content. This is not for validation, merely an observation. I worry that no one will critique my script or produce it, but I am of the firm belief that it will be performed.

2. I have nine years' experience as an actor, mostly youth theater musicals but one year of college plays that were straight shows. I told my professors and some of the youth theater staff when I began writing the play, and they were very supportive. The second rewrite is not as over-the-top drama. It is more realistic and as a result, waaaay darker.

3. The youth theater offered to critique the original when I finished (which I did not). They offered to produce it and have it performed there until I quietly explained that the only youth in the play is a sixteen-year-old pregnant with twins, and she has prior experience with pregnancies. There's swearing, sex, suicide and all the principal characters are in a twelve-step group. One is an alcoholic cop (lieutenant) who is burning out. Another hates her brother's wife so much that she wishes for her death and says terrible things. This is not kid-friendly at all, and I feel sad that the theater was originally so excited. I politely discouraged them. They tried not to be sad. I have always liked them a lot.

4. I'm eighteen pages in. There is no conflict yet! I haven't written about the character who hates her brother's wife. I plan to have her monologues overlap with the teenager's ones though. The teen lives with and hates her grandmother. The wife and grandmother are racist and don't understand why it upsets people. They are based on real people, but changed enough so they're not identifiable, if that makes sense.

5. As far as characters who might fulfill the same purpose, one seems like an older, rude version of the teenager. She's kind of important for different reasons, and her arc culminates in her leaving after a huge tirade in a huff. Two characters both have problems with their families, are the same age, and are Jewish (different kinds). They have different arcs though. One is plot-changing.

6. This is twelve-step. They're all really far in their recovery except the cop. How unrealistic! I'm in a twelve-step group too, and such handling of their lives would be uncommon.

7. I know this is going to get performed, and it will likely be at small theaters. I live in Seattle proper, and we have plenty. Who would help me get it there? The content is controversial and I will not back down because it's important. I worry.

8. I plan to go back to my professors or the youth theater and ask for critique. I don't really have any other avenues right now. I expect to be turned down for different reasons, but I desperately want critique when I finish. I've written things I want to discuss, characters I can cut or tone down, and things that are non-negotiable. I think this is a good start.

9. One of my friends wants me to turn this into a dark comedy. I was so insulted that I didn't speak to him for two days, and haven't spoken with him about the play since. This play is a drama and I want it to be in two acts. Right now, it is likely going to be thirty pages, tops. I have a lot of work to do if I want it to be longer (but my favorite play's script is really short!).

...feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading this all the way through!
 

Doug B

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Just a reminder on your item #4:

This is quote from Marsha Norman: It is an absolute in my selecting plays to produce. (Italics mine.)

“I’m convinced that there are absolutely unbreakable rules in the theatre, and that it doesn’t matter how good you are, you can’t break them . . . You must state the issue at the beginning of the play. The audience must know what is at stake; they must know when they will be able to go home: “This is a story about a little boy who lost his marbles.” They must know, when the little boy either gets his marbles back or finds something better than his marbles, or kills himself because he can’t live without his marbles, that the play will end and they can applaud and go home. He can’t NOT care about the marbles. He has to want them with such a passion that you are interested, that you connect to that passion. The theatre is all about wanting things that you can or can’t have or you do or do not get. Now the boy himself has to be likeable. It has to matter to you whether he gets his marbles or not.”

Doug B
 

Doug B

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Another thought: Your item #9.

In standard format, one page is one minute of stage time. A 30 page play is too short for two acts. You can probably have two scenes but that is about it. Remember you lose the audience (they drop out of the moment of the play) for three to five minutes every time you have a scene change.

Doug B
 

RiverCameron

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Hi, I wanted to address a few of your issues.

First, what Doug B said. 30 pages is not a full length play. 30 pages would run approximately 30 minutes, which is a good length for a one-act, but not a full length play. Now a one-act can have two scenes, just don't expect time to change the set or the costumes in between.

For issue number 4, my guess is you started your play on the wrong day or at the wrong time of day. There is always a reason the play is today, not last week or next month. What happened last week or is expected next month can heighten today's stakes, but the audience is there to see the important day, the day when everything changes. If it's taking you 18 pages out of 30 and you aren't there yet, it's the wrong day.

Finally, you mention a lot of heavy issues, but no points of brevity. I wonder if your friend's suggestion wasn't a way to try to get you to add some lighter moments? If everything is negative, sad and heavy, the audience will get used to it and it won't have the impact that those same moments can have if there is some lightness and moments of release. Also, if you don't provide them sometimes the audience will do it for you, begin laughing at inappropriate times, and that can be devastating for your cast. Give them those moments, even if they are really just short moments, to let that out, and they are more likely to stick with you through the deeper things.

And finally, to echo another of Doug's points, you have to make sure you have a protagonist people can root for. They can be flawed as all get out but you have to care enough about them to want to take this journey with them.

I hope that helps. :)
 
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KTC

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I keep wavering as I read your points. I'm kind of boggled by seven eight nine. Sounds extremely confrontational and excessively defensive. You can't be certain your play will be performed.
 

JulianneQJohnson

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I have 30 years experience working in professional LORT theatres, and I apologize for the wall of text, but I have a lot to say.

Agree with above posters that 30 pages is a 30 minute one act. Your description also causes me worry.

Yes, drama and tragedy can be gritty and dramatic, but it's a rare play that has no levity at all. They aren't rare because no one writes them, they are rare because they are one-sided and unrealistic. Audiences won't buy them.

On a related note, you mention that the issues illustrated in your play are important. All the more reason for some levity of some sort. If you want an audience to think about the issues, then you have to break up the drama so that they are not bogged so far down into empathizing with your characters that they don’t think about it. A play that does this well ends with an audience talking about the issues. A play that does it badly ends with the audience saying, “Wow, that was depressing.”

A play that gives an excellent, well-crafted example of this is We won’t pay! We won’t pay! By Dario Fo. It is a political piece set in Italy in the 70’s. It deals with some heavy issues the author wanted his audience to think about, not just feel. During the play, every time the audience’s hearts become too engaged, something hilarious happens in order to shake them out of it and make them think.

I’m not saying you should change this into a laugh riot, but even Shakespeare tragedies have humor in them. It helps show the characters as human, which is more powerful than super duper tragedy parade.

Speaking of which, are any of your characters remotely likable? If they are all so broken that the audience can’t relate to them, then they won’t care what happens to any of them. Make sure you show their humanity, not only the ways they are broken.

It’s easy to write something that is 100% angst-ridden seriousness. It’s much harder to balance that seriousness with humor and humanity. Keep that in mind as you do your re-write. Also, it’s not likely that a first attempt at playwriting will be produced. Like novel writing, it takes education and practice. Don’t stop trying if this one doesn’t work out, keep writing. You have that wonderful resource of a theatre wanting to produce something you write. That’s amazing! Use it. Make your next project appropriate for them to use. You will learn so much from the experience of taking a work from paper, to staged reading, to production. And keep in mind that for a play of even 2 hours, you need approximately 120 pages.

Lastly, Actor’s Theatre in Louisville (home of a ton of world premieres every year) has a national 10 minute play competition every year for its Humana Festival of New American Plays. It’s a big deal. Many playwrights enter, few get produced. Once you get some experience under your belt, try entering. It’s a great stepping stone if you can manage it.
 
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KTC

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Lastly, Actor’s Theatre in Louisville (home of a ton of world premieres every year) has a national 10 minute play competition every year for its Humana Festival of New American Plays. It’s a big deal. Many playwrights enter, few get produced. Once you get some experience under your belt, try entering. It’s a great stepping stone if you can manage it.

God, I love the 10-minute play! I've had 9 produced. I love how difficult it is to fit an entire play into the format. It's a challenge. I find that the 10-minute play is to the full length play what the short story is to the novel...often harder to pull off. (-:
 

JulianneQJohnson

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Agreed. It's very difficult to get an entire story into ten minutes. Takes a very skilled writer! Must have been fun for you to get 9 produced!
 

Taylor Harbin

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These discussions are very helpful for me, a guy who's ready to branch out from novels and short stories to try something new.

Julianne Q...when I read your post I thought you wrote LOTR theatre, as in Lord of the Rings. I thought "Gee, what a narrow focus."
 

dinky_dau

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#4 occurs to me, too. I inadvertently write big speeches for some of my characters when they first appear in a story.
Then I always have to go back later...and break them up into more manageable chunks.
Step 2 is to find another character for the speechy-character to conflict with in that same scene...and convert parts of those earlier speeches into a back'n'forth dialog between these two figures.
 

Twick

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I think the biggest problem is 4. versus 9. You say you've reached 18 pages with no conflict, but you expect to be done in 30 pages. That would mean the majority of your play takes place before anything of importance happens. This isn't going to work, in my opinion.
 

noirdood

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Numbers One through Nine -- How the devil am I going to sell this !$#@ thing? (Covers all your #s 1 through 9.)
Lots of good advice here. Attitude won't buy you a cup of coffee in this arena but you might get eaten by the lions -- and be the first one chewed on.
Writing a play is easy -- you just sit at a keyboard (or whatever) and bleed from the eyes.