Staging student-written work during Theatre in Our Schools month

We're very busy with young playwrights' work this week! Spent yesterday rehearsing for two school assemblies that will be presented today as part of the Madison Young Playwrights Program. There is another assembly on Thursday and a final presentation late next week.

In the middle of all of the work on Madison, there will also be a meeting of the Selection Panel for the NJ Young Playwrights Festival this Friday. The four of us will meet to select up to 10 scripts from the 33 that advanced to this final round of judging.

To reiterate, we will spend the rest of March contacting and confirming details with the selected playwrights. Results will be posted here in early April.

In the meantime, we hope that you are enjoying Theatre in Our Schools Month and will consider attending a play tomorrow, March 20 for the World Day of Theatre for Children.

Reading scripts today!

The view from my desk as I read script submissions for the 2014 NJYPF.

Call for Readers and Actors

We're looking for READERS and ACTORS for the upcoming young playwrights festivals at Playwrights Theatre of NJ. Please contact us if you are interested via the following online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2014FestivalParticipation

Any questions? Send an email to njypf@ptnj.org.

Thanks!

An excerpt from About to Pop! by Ben Muzi (2009)

Some inspiration from About to Pop! by Ben Muzi (NJYPF 2009).

About to Pop! follows Andy, a high school senior, whose excitement about the future as expressed through a class project are gravely misinterpreted by the adults in his life. Below is the poem that sparks the controversy that almost derails Andy's plans. He speaks this poem at the end of the play.

Exploring

Searching for a life.

Discovering & imagining.

Building my concerto.

Keeping on the map.

Free to touch

briefly upon the mosaic.

Ready to go-

Because I am about to pop!

Andy (Jeff Ronan) sharing his poem with the audience at the end of About to Pop! (2009)

Throwback to 1992

Our Throwback Thursday picture... a few days later. This one is from the NJ Young Playwrights Festival in 1992.

From L to R: John Pietrowski, Artistic Director for PTNJ; Bethany (Schultz) Larsen; Joel R. Johnson; Dailyn Rodriguez; Jasmine (Suwa) Slowik; Jim Peskin, 1992 Festival Producer.

Get going!

Originally posted on the blog: July 17, 2012.

You may not be a wrestling fan, but the phrase is probably familiar to you: “Let’s get ready to rumbllllllllllllllllle!” Today we’re just a little under six months until the submission deadline for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival and its time to get writing. Specific dates and details about the 31st anniversary installment of the Festival will be posted in the coming months, but for now the best thing to do if you’re thinking about submitting a play is to get started!

There may be some of you who have an idea and are ready to dive right in, but there are others of you who may be struggling to get started. Maybe you have a lot of ideas and don’t know which to choose. Or maybe the opposite is true and you just can’t think of a thing. These are common blocks that affect every writer at some point in time. The important thing when you are struggling is to pick something and start writing. You don’t necessarily need to start with the play itself – just put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and let the ideas flow.

No matter where you are with an idea it may help to jot down a few ideas in a list, or an outline, or a synopsis. What are you interested in? What ideas come to mind when you think about a story? What kinds of plays do you like to see – OR – what kinds of stories do you like to read? Do you have an idea for a plot, or a character? (or both?) What do you want to say about the world, or to the world? What is important to you? Whatever you have in mind, wherever your brain takes you, get those ideas down on paper and see what happens. Before long you may find that you are developing an idea for a play that you feel passionate about – something that moves you deeply.

Over the next few months, I will share some ideas for writing your play from beginning to end. I hope that some of these suggestions will be helpful to you as you write, but please know that not everything that is mentioned here may work for you. There is more than one way to write a play and it is important that you figure out what works for you and what works for the story that you want to tell. I encourage you to share your ideas and your progress by commenting on the posts as we go. I can also be reached at njypf@ptnj.org if you have any comments that you don’t want to share publicly, or to answer any questions that you might have.

I look forward to getting started with you and to seeing the finished pieces in January.

Happy writing!

NJ Emerging Women Playwrights Project

Recently, Playwrights Theatre of NJ launched the NJ Emerging Women Playwrights Project "to provide meaningful support" to playwrights through a long-term commitment that emphasizes the needs of the individual writers in the development of their work. The pilot season was staged in 2011-2012 with Lia Romeo, Carrie Louise Nutt, Dominique Cieri, and Dania Ramos as the playwrights-in-residence. For the current season, PTNJ will develop new works by EM Lewis, Claire Porter, and Yasmine Rana.

For general information about the NJ Emerging Women Playwrights Project visit the website at this link.

For regular updates about the program, visit the new blog at this link.

Revolutionary Plays

We've just recently updated the guidelines for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with information about a new division for this year: Revolutionary Plays!

For the 2014 season of the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival (NJYPF), Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey (PTNJ) will commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the state of New Jersey with a special submission category called “Revolutionary Plays”. 

The Revolutionary Plays category will be open to NJ students grades 4-12. Script submission and formatting guidelines are the same as the general categories of the NJYPF, with the exception that the subject matter relates to specific people, places, and events from New Jersey’s role in the American Revolution. For the purpose of this project, we will consider the Revolutionary period to be from 1765 to 1787. 

Submissions to the Revolutionary Plays must be inspired by New Jersey’s Revolutionary War history. While we are interested in unique takes on historical plays, historical drama is certainly encouraged, but not required, for submission. 

Playwrights should research their subject and, if possible, conduct on-site research at an historic Revolutionary area site in New Jersey and/or to speak with an interpreter or historian. The website of The Crossroads of the American Revolution (http://www.RevolutionaryNJ.org) will be a helpful tool in discovering historic sites in the various regions of the state. You also may find information through the National, State, and County Parks websites. 

We recommend visiting sites that host interpretive and encourage you to check with area libraries for artifacts with local significance that they might have in their collections.   

Submission and Selection Process Scripts should be submitted online via the NJYPF website (http://www.njypf.org) by the January deadline. Script readers from PTNJ will adjudicate the Revolutionary Plays for artistic merit in accordance with the general procedure for the contest. Select scripts will get a second look by additional readers from the theatre and historical communities who may determine the winners.   

Performances Winning plays will be given staged-readings during the annual NJ Young Playwrights Festival in spring 2014. Additional plans to stage readings of plays at historical sites are also possible, given the subject matter or setting of the winning plays.   

The winning playwrights in the Revolutionary Plays division will each receive a $100 Savings Bond, and the students’ schools will receive a $50 Gift Card towards the purchase of books for their school library.

2013 Festival is underway!

Aaron Kaplan in a scene from Blues-Berries by Philip Peker

Today began rehearsals for the 30th annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival! The day started with a reading of plays from the Junior HS and Elementary divisions followed by readings and blocking rehearsal for the high school plays. We were thrilled to have 7 of our 10 playwrights present today and look forward to working with them throughout the week.

Here are just a few glimpses into today's action:

Director Dania Ramos (left) works with Chaelee Chaput, Cara Ganski, and Tarshai Peterson (l-r) on a scene from You Definitely Got All That From Your Mother by Emma Iacometta.

Things got a little painful for Seth Jambor during rehearsal for Good News! by Philip Anastassiou

A moment from Mirror by Kelsey Garrett (l-r Cara Ganski and Chaelee Chaput)

See more pictures in the NJYPFestival 2013 album on our Facebook page (no need to be a Facebook member to see!).

Results of the 2013 NJ Young Playwrights Festival

We are proud to present to you the winning plays/playwrights of the 2013 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival! The following plays will be presented during the Festival in May.

High School Division

• You Definitely Got All That from Your Mother by Emma Iacometta, 11^th grade, Bergen County Academies
• Mirror by Kelsey Garrett, 11^th grade, Middletown High School South
• Blues-Berries by Philip Peker, 11^th grade, Livingston Senior High School
• Good News! By Philip Anastassiou, 11^th grade, Bergen County Academies

Junior High School Division

• We’re Sisters by Christine Vapsva, 9^th grade, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains
• Untitled by Emma Ohlig, 9^th grade, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains
• An Obstacle Worth Facing by Lindsay Gerrato, 8^th grade, Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights

Elementary Division

• A Tale of Two Kitties by Matthew Sidorovich, 5^th grade, Lafayette Elementary School, Chatham
• Bully Days by Zachary Vincent, 4^th grade, St. Vincent Martyr School, Madison
• It All Happened in 24 Hours by Anna Gregory, 4^th grade, Lafayette Elementary School, Chatham

Congratulations to all of the playwrights who submitted their work to the Festival this year. We received a large number of good plays and had a great time reading them, but a difficult time selecting those to be performed.

We encourage everyone to attend the Festival readings on May 20 (Junior HS and Elementary plays) and May 21 (High School plays) in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University in Union, NJ. Performances will begin promptly at 7:00 pm. While the events are free, reservations are highly suggested, due to limited space available. Please contact the Education Office at Playwrights Theatre to make your reservation today - 973-514-1787, ext. 21 or njypf@ptnj.org.

Stay tuned for updates about the Festival throughout the next four weeks!

Advice for young playwrights, Part 6

The final installment of our advice series comes from playwright/teacher/NJYPFestival script reader, Kelby Siddons. Enjoy!
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What makes a strong play?

At least two of the following, usually all three: compelling characters, strong structure, poetic language and/or action.

What types of characters do you like to write?

I like to write characters in a state of becoming, which leads me to teen characters who are smart, funny, caring, and driven but have doubts, (in)experiences, and relationships that challenge them.

What do you look for when choosing a play to work on?

As a director, I look for a play that fascinates and rewards me, and by extension, the audience. Sometimes the reward is big laughs, sometimes it's important, unresolved questions. I'll always gravitate more towards the play that gives me both those things.

Please describe the best experience that you had working on a play.

I directed an ensemble in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and it was wonderful because of how clearly complicated things become and the fact that each actor had an integral role to play in all those comic complications. In terms of structure, Shakespeare is the ultimate to borrow from.

Please describe the worst experience that you had working on a play.

As a Kangaroo in  Peter Pan, I was completely expendable. To paraphrase Jose Rivera, write parts that actors want to play.

What advice would you give to a young playwright currently working on a new play?

Ask yourself where the Fear and Love are in your play and your characters' lives. If you have one without the other, there's no conflict. Drama is created when these two dance.

Advice to young playwrights, Part 5

Continuing our advice series with comments from playwright and NJYPFestival script reader, Kirk Woodward. Enjoy!
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What makes a strong play?

For me the most important element of a strong play is a good idea. A solid idea makes everything else possible. A weak idea means the writer is constantly playing catch-up.

What types of characters do you like to write?

The answer to this question varies with the play, of course, but I like characters with spunk. Also, as a male playwright I set myself years ago the challenge of writing at least as many female as male characters, and I like that.

What do you look for when choosing a play to work on?

I know this comment is terribly subjective, but it has to excite me. There are many excellent plays that will do better if someone else writes them or directs them, because they don’t stir my imagination.

Please describe the best experience that you had working on a play.

I once wrote the entire score for a musical for children during one working day, while sitting at my desk. (Didn’t get much other work done, however.) That was fun!

Please describe the worst experience that you had working on a play.

Fairly typical: I worked a long time on a draft of a play, and when I finished it I re-read it and realized it was a total bomb from beginning to end. NOTE: if that happens, you have to either rewrite it entirely, or discard it. Don’t try to breathe life into a dead play. You’ll write others. If you don’t like it, no one else will, that’s for sure.

What advice would you give to a young playwright currently working on a new play?

Don’t listen to advice too much. When it comes down to it, your job is to write. Let other people do the evaluating. Write what you feel you’re called to write.

Sharing for revision

(portions of this post were originally published on January 8, 2009)

I hope you’ve had a great holiday filled with inspiration for your play. Some scripts have already started to come in to the office and I look forward to being inundated with them over the next two weeks. There is just a little over a week until your plays need to be submitted for entry into the 2013 NJ Young Playwrights Contest. This means that you still have some time for last minute revisions and tweaking before January 14 and 15th. Be sure to follow the guidelines for submission on the NJYPF webpage at http://www.njypf.org.

Perhaps this weekend you can get together with a group of friends or family who’s opinion you trust and have an informal reading of the play. This doesn’t need to be a formal presentation, or a fully acted reading (though it can if you want it to be). Often a reading like this works best when everyone is hanging around the living room on couches or chairs. An informal reading will provide you with the opportunity to hear the play outside of your head and see how actors or your intended audience might respond to the piece.

I know that receiving critique on something that you’ve written can be uncomfortable to bear. This is why it is important to keep the event informal and only include people whose opinions you trust. It is also helpful to inform your group that the goal of the reading is for you to hear it out loud and potentially strengthen some areas. You may want to provide your readers with a list of questions you have, or certain sections of the play that you are unsure about. Ask the group to tell you what they liked FIRST, and then get into suggestions, questions, or ideas.

IMPORTANT! - Always remember that YOU are the playwright! Everyone who reads or sees your play will respond to it differently; will have his or her own opinion about how your story should be told. It is important that you listen to what people have to say, but in the end, this is your play and you have the final say in how it is written. Just remember that the goal of writing a play is to communicate an idea to the largest audience possible. The reactions of your reading group may give you an idea of what a larger audience does and does not get from your play. If they are missing something that you want the audience to get, you may want to see where you might be able to make revisions to get that point across.

Rewriting is tough, especially after you've put so much into completing that first draft. But it is well worth the trouble. Have fun!

Happy writing!

Building... suspense!

“There is nothing more frightening than a closed door.”

Imagine that you are watching a play or a movie in which a character approaches a closed door, but has no idea what he or she is going to find behind it. Maybe this is Alice in Wonderland and Alice is facing the small door through which the White Rabbit just disappeared. She is curious to follow the rabbit, but uncertain what is going to happen on the other side. What should she do? What is going to happen on the other side? Alice doesn’t know and, if we as an audience are invested in the story, we share in that moment with her because it is familiar to us. We have all been in a position where we are faced with something that is unknown. In that moment we might think: What do I do? What will happen when I do that? We may feel any number of emotions at that point – anxiety, adventure, fear, excitement, or maybe all of those at once! Creating that tension for a character can create a sense of suspense within the audience. That draws them in and leaves them wanting to know more. This is called “suspense”.

At the heart of suspense is the idea put forth in the quote above: when a character is faced with something that is unknown, the audience’s imagination will create a scenario that makes the situation personally suspenseful to them. That is probably why the quote above is often attributed to Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker who created some of the iconic horror and suspense movies of the 1950s and 60s. (However, it is not clear that Hitchcock is actually the speaker of this phrase giving the phrase its own unknown quality!) Radio plays have also used this idea to trigger an audience’s imagination. This was important because the audience could only hear the story and had to “see” it in their minds. The audience for your play will be able to both hear and see the action, but using suspense and the idea of the unknown can be useful to keeping them (and in some ways, your characters) invested in the story.

This is related to the idea of “raising the stakes”, which was talked about in a previous post (linked here). When you raise the stakes for a character, you are challenging him or her in the quest to get what they need/want. As I discussed before that might including doing things that a character doesn’t think is possible, but it might also mean having to face something, or someone, whom they are not sure about. That leads me to another thought about silence…

… which I will share in the next post!

And now I have you thinking: What is he going to say about silence? You don’t know, or maybe you might now. Either way, your imagination is running and the thoughts are flying. The suspense is building, but you’ll just need to tune in again next time to find out…

Until then, happy writing!

Advice to young playwrights, Part 4

Our advice to young playwrights continues with some thoughts from a few of the actors and readers who have worked on the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival.

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What makes a strong play?
A strong play has great characters and a moving/interesting plot.

A strong play is not necessarily a traditional story, but like any good story, it has a reason for being told here and now. A play's sole purpose can be entertainment, but that does not diminish the importance of the question: Why this play now?


What types of characters do you like to portray/write?
I love to play the comic relief most of the time. The character that can do no wrong and everybody loves him. Though playing a villain is also fun… playing a character that is not who I am.

I like to portray characters that are complicated. In real life, people are not stock characters. Real people have different layers to their character and sides of themselves that they don't always show the public, but are still inside. Stock characters are great in some genres of theatre (such as Commedia dell'arte), but realistic characters are complicated.

I find the most success writing characters whose actions are firmly based in the circumstances of the play. I always try to make sure that a character's actions spring from his/her surroundings or from other characters. Every action should be justifiable, even if it isn't logical (or sane).


What do you look for when choosing a play to work on?
I look for a play that has strong character relationships and a great conflict that those characters encounter.

I look for a play with language that makes the room buzz when it's read aloud. This can be dialogue in the form of a fierce, biting argument, or monologue in the form of a soulful soliloquy. This language seems to come from sincere and causal circumstances.


What advice would you give to a young playwright currently working on a new play?

To keep a positive and open mind. Believe in your work and give it your all.

Writing a play can be difficult, but it does not have to be sequential. Writing the last scene first, a middle scene last or a random scene with no definite place can ease the difficulty of writing scenes in order. Write the part you're dying to write!

Be open-minded. It is perfectly fine to have a clear vision for what you wish to accomplish with your piece, but be open to new ideas from people who haven't been working tirelessly on the script for months. Sometimes outsiders can offer ideas that you never would have thought of before! Try some ideas out and if they don't work, there's nothing wrong with scrapping them.

NJYPF 30-year history project

This week, Playwrights Theatre of NJ begins a project to catalogue the plays from the 30 year history of the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. We will be reaching out to winning playwrights from throughout that history. If you are a past NJYPF winner, or know of someone who was, please have them get in touch with us at njypf@ptnj.org. We look forward to reconnecting!

Recognize anyone in the pictures below?

NJ Young Playwrights Festival 1994



NJ Young Playwrights Festival 1998



Madison Young Playwrights Program begins today!

At 3:00 today, our 27th annual Madison Young Playwrights Program began with the group of students at the Madison Junior School. The elementary schools followed beginning their programs at 3:15. The start of a new young playwrights' season is is an exciting time of year for all of us at Playwrights Theatre. We look forward to all of the creative work that will be generated over the next three months!

http://www.ptnj.org/pages/madison-young-playwrights-festival

Making characters into people

(portions of this post were originally published on November 11, 2008)

Characters should function in the world of your play as a real person, or being, inside that world. They have certain ways of moving, thinking, and interaction with other people or beings, just as we all do in “reality.” Giving a character a name is a simple way to begin fleshing them out.

A few years ago, I led a playwriting workshop for teachers at the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City. Each of the participants completed a Self-Questionnaire similar to the one in the previous blog post. After that, I asked everyone to take their own name and recreate themselves as a new character by changing at least their last name… some changed both. (I learned this activity during a workshop run by Young Playwrights, Inc., an organization that runs an excellent national contest for young playwrights. I would encourage you to submit your play there, too - http://www.youngplaywrights.org/.) If you are stuck for a character idea, or a character name at least, this is a simple way to get started. Some of the names the Atlantic City group came up with were:

Jean Mercedes
Nicole Moodie
Fran Active
Fresca Visions
Calliope Sky

These names give a sense of something specific about the character. It could be a characteristic, a favorite color, an environment, and on and on... Do you have an idea of what some of these characters might be like? How old are each of these characters? What do they do for fun? Do they work? What kind of work might they do? What does each character want in life?

Another way to get deeper into a character is to use a Character Biography Sheet. In his book The Playwrights Process, Buzz McLaughlin provides samples of mini-form and long-form biographies. At Playwrights Theatre, we use an adaptation of his Mini-form biography that asks a playwright to consider the character's dreams, secrets, fears, and conflicts. These are all great places that might spark an interesting story idea.

I’ve often found that when I can envision my character I have an easier time writing for him or her. Then I write a description, or even a short (very short) story, to place that person in a location and to get a sense of how they move, think, and interact with others. This doesn’t need to be something that becomes part of the play, but just something that I can use to get a clearer sense of who the story is about and how they function. Once that is set, its time to give them something to want and a problem to face. More about that in a few days.

Happy writing!

2013 Script submission deadlines announced

The script submission deadlines for the 2013 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festivals have been announced!

January 14 - plays for the High School division (grades 10-12)
January 15 - plays for the Junior HS (grades 7-9) and Elementary (grades 4-6) divisions

The preferred method of submission is by email. Please see the website for information about how to submit your script - http://www.ptnj.org/pages/nj-young-playwrights

We look forward to receiving your play in January!

Let's get ready to rumble... er... write!

You may not be a wrestling fan, but the phrase is probably familiar to you: “Let’s get ready to rumbllllllllllllllllle!” Today we’re just a little under six months until the submission deadline for the 2013 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival and its time to get writing. Specific dates and details about the 30th anniversary installment of the Festival will be posted in the coming months, but for now the best thing to do if you’re thinking about submitting a play is to get started!

There may be some of you who have an idea and are ready to dive right in, but there are others of you who may be struggling to get started. Maybe you have a lot of ideas and don’t know which to choose. Or maybe the opposite is true and you just can’t think of a thing. These are common blocks that affect every writer at some point in time. The important thing when you are struggling is to pick something and start writing. You don’t necessarily need to start with the play itself – just put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and let the ideas flow.

No matter where you are with an idea it may help to jot down a few ideas in a list, or an outline, or a synopsis. What are you interested in? What ideas come to mind when you think about a story? What kinds of plays do you like to see – OR – what kinds of stories do you like to read? Do you have an idea for a plot, or a character? (or both?) What do you want to say about the world, or to the world? What is important to you? Whatever you have in mind, wherever your brain takes you, get those ideas down on paper and see what happens. Before long you may find that you are developing an idea for a play that you feel passionate about – something that moves you deeply.

Over the next few months, I will share some ideas for writing your play from beginning to end. I hope that some of these suggestions will be helpful to you as you write, but please know that not everything that is mentioned here may work for you. There is more than one way to write a play and it is important that you figure out what works for you and what works for the story that you want to tell. With this in mind, I’ve asked a number of the playwrights, directors, actors, and other theatre folks who work with Playwrights Theatre of NJ and the NJ Young Playwrights Festival to share some of their thoughts about plays with you. I’m collecting their ideas now and will post them to the blog along with writing tips and ideas. I encourage you to share your ideas and your progress by commenting on the posts as we go. I can also be reached at njypf@ptnj.org if you have any comments that you don’t want to share publicly, or to answer any questions that you might have.

I look forward to getting started with you and to seeing the finished pieces in January.

Happy writing!