The Woman Who Knows Everything

This morning we began our final session of the Creative Arts Academy Summer Theatre Camp, which includes a very eager and energetic group of seven young playwrights. My last playwriting session brought a number of new activities, approaches, and ideas that I look forward to trying with this new group of students. I also was pleased by the serendipity that graced our usual first day writing routine as I gave the playwrights the following prompt:

"In 20 seconds, someone is going to walk through the door and truthfully answer any question you may have. What is that question?"

Without prompt or prior planning, just a few moments later into our classroom walked Brittany Goodwin who is assisting with the acting class across the hall. Brittany had a procedural camp question for me, but her timing was perfect to actually answer some of the questions from the group.

Brittany Goodwin is the Woman Who Knows Everything

What followed was a great example of how improvising with actors can help inspire story ideas and help get playwrights past a period of writer's block. The group loved Brittany's ideas so much the first time that they requested her again a little later in the day. It was a happy circumstance that brought about some interesting initial ideas for writing. Now, I need to find a way to incorporate it into future writing classes!

Settings and Senses

Performance by Activate Youth Theatre (Summer 2000)
Old Church Cemetery
Cobh, County Cork, Ireland

Since experiencing site-specific performances by the Activate Youth Theatre in Cork, Ireland, I've been interested in developing a similar work here at home. While I haven't yet engaged in this work, I have tried to excite the Summer Theatre Camp students at Playwrights Theatre about the idea of using environment of the school building where we've conducted our camp, but to no avail. However, last year, the old junior school did help to inspire a group a struggling group to eventually come up with a story idea that everyone liked.

This particular group was interested in the idea of a haunted, or otherwise creepy, house, but couldn't find a compelling set of characters or actions to propel the story. It also seemed that with such a specific, sensory experience as a haunted house, that the clear establishment of a setting would be useful. So, after a few days of failed starts, I set them up with a process drama in which they explored the old school as if it were an abandoned building. We went outside into the park-like front yard and as we approached the school, I told the students that if they were caught inside, the punishment would be severe... so severe it was beyond their understanding. Their tour began as light-hearted novelty, but quickly grew into a much more tense journey as the group created stories about the sights (gates in the hallways), noises (made by the custodial staff cleaning lockers around the corner), and smells (your typical 100-year-old building) that they experienced. Toward the end of the tour, a few students asked if they could head down the hall to our classroom to begin writing while the rest of the group explored one last hallway. Their sudden disappearance surprised the remaining students and sparked a new idea about the dangers of the haunted house. They quickly ran back to classroom to join the others and within minutes had an outline for the story that would eventually become their final presentation. While not a "true"site-specific performance (performed on stage as opposed to in the environment of the site), it demonstrated to me how a location can have an impact in the writing/development process.

This past weekend I was reminded of this story while reading an interview transcript from my dissertation research. In it a former NJ Young Playwright described revising a play that took place in an art studio filled with paintings, sculptures, and the like. After a conversation with the director about the practicality of such a lavish setting during a staged reading prompted the playwright to conduct a series of script tweaks that incorporated the removed visuals into the dialogue. Upon reading this I realized that I don't typically talk about setting in a playwriting workshop like this and that it would likely be an important lesson to my students. So on Monday, we talked about the settings within each of their plays and then I brought the group outside to take a walk around our office building. I asked the students to make note of the things that they sensed all around them and choose one location that made the biggest impact on them. When we returned to the classroom, I had the playwrights take one scene of their play and rewrite it as if it took place in the location they remembered from outside. They immediately noticed how the location changed what each character did and said and then returned to their original writing to make revisions based on the settings of the play. The result has been more realistic character interactions and each day since Monday, at least one playwright has mentioned using something from outside in the writing. I'm looking forward to making that a regular component of my playwriting curriculum.

An update from our current Playwriting Workshop for grades 6-12

The following was originally published on the personal blog of Jim DeVivo, PTNJ's Director of Education. It is reprinted here with his permission. You can follow Jim's blog here.
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After teaching young playwrights for twelve years, I knew it was high time to evaluate my curriculum and consider some fresh ways to get my playwriting students started this summer. I have changed things consistently throughout those years, but the time felt ripe for something completely new. I browsed through my old plans and revisited my young playwrights bibliography and decided to try a few new things during Full Day Theatre Camp. In the process of that program last week, I discovered a tendency to model different steps in the process using examples that were independent of the others.

Today we began the class with a neutral scene of four lines between unspecified characters that I borrowed from CenterStage’s Teaching Playwriting in Schools: Teacher’s Handbook and set up the students with a scene between characters A and B. Students copied the dialogue and then continued the scene for three minutes. The difference between their stories was vast and best exemplified by two: one that involved an evil Lord commanding one of his servants and the other a more informal argument between friends about breakfast foods. This sparked a discussion of how dialogue can change depending upon the characters who speak them, the conflict between characters, and the location in which the conversation occurs. Students wrote a bit about their own characters using this information and then we moved on to an activity for outlining a story using the main character’s wants, the actions that character would be comfortable (and uncomfortable) taking to get what they want, and the obstacles that might stand in their way. Typically I start this exercise by referring to a common story with which everyone in the class (myself included) is at least casually familiar. However, finding such a story has become more difficult in recent years. My original reference (Star Wars) had become complicated by time and prequels. After a brief attempt at Harry Potter – of which I haven’t read enough of the series to keep up with the students – I moved to Cinderella. This has worked well given the variety of versions found in different cultures and the resulting discussions we’ve had about point of view and theme. The problem is that Cinderella works well with elementary students and adults (I love discussing Disney princesses with adults), but teens tend to tune out when I mention her name. So, without a strong common story to use with this group I planned to launch into the old Cinderellaroutine when I realized that we had just discussed a handful of perfectly good story ideas that developed from the neutral scene. Why not choose one of them?

I choose the story of the evil Lord and his servant and the class was immediately energized by the prospect of creating a new story. Actually, I was surprised by how quickly they jumped into the process – none of the usual prodding questions and encouragements needed here! In fact, I think using an example from the students’ writing may have deepened their understanding of the Want-Action-Obstacle model as they were applying it to a new story much as they would when they set off to outline their individual plays. They’ve been so involved that I’ve been able to write this post as they continue to work well beyond when I told them I would first interrupt! Can’t wait to see where their stories take them next.

Announcing the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights

Congratulations to the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights! (Plays are listed alphabetically by the playwrights' last names)

HIGH SCHOOL (grades 10-12)

- Hurricane Season by Alexa Derman

- Mechanical Advancement by Emily Donegan

- Ink Never Dulls by Talia Green

- Enter Banquo's Ghost by Miranda Hoyt-Disick

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (grades 7-9)

- My Life, My Family, Not My Wallet by Christopher Frick

- Accounting for Change by Elizabeth Hendy

- An Underdog Story by Morgan McCauley

ELEMENTARY (grades 4-6)

- So Let's Get Cooking by Lily Bauer

- Zoe Verrazano's Big Adventure by Katie Dore

- A Good Story, A Beautiful Life by Ashley Jiang

- I Beat the Bully by Amanda Kefalas

An announcement regarding the REVOLUTIONARY PLAYS division will be coming soon.

Plays from the Elementary and Junior HS divisions will be presenting as readings on Monday, June 2.

Plays from the High School division will be presented as staged readings on Tuesday, June 3.

High school playwrights will also receive a 2014 New Jersey Governors Award in Arts Education at a special event in Trenton on Thursday, May 1.

For more information about the Festival, or the playwrights, please visit our website at http://www.njypf.org

Congratulations to the playwrights whose work was selected for the Festival and to all of those who submitted a script!

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.

Guest Post from NJYPF reader Guleraana Mir

Today's guest blog post is from Guleraana Mir, a theatre practitioner and writer, who read plays for the NJ Young Playwrights Festival in both the first and second rounds. Based in London, Guleraana works with young people from around the world to create new works for the theatre. We thought it would be interesting to hear her perspective on the characters and themes that she sees in this work and how plays by New Jersey young playwrights compare. Enjoy!

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Working as a teaching artist with young people in New York, London and South America, I have come to realise that teenagers are essentially the same all over the world. Sure, cultures vary, political landscapes are vastly different and young people experience a number of socio-economic climates, but it seems they are moved to write, to create art not by what surrounds them, but by what they feel. I don’t say this to perpetuate stereotypes of shallow, angst-ridden beings steeped in the Hollywood notion of high-school cliques, but because it inspires me that sometimes, what is outside of the teenage bubble is just not interesting enough.

In Brazil, working with students from the favelas, I expected tales of drug lords, in the East End of London I presumed my first-generation immigrant families would regale me with stories of how they came to be in this bustling metropolis, in deepest Brooklyn I waited for recollections of gunfights on doorsteps. What I actually received could easily have been transplanted from one area to another.

Young people write about struggles in love and friendship, they write about relationships with their families, they write about school, about being human. There are linguistic differences, the towns and cities they describe are worlds apart but the themes remain the same. I’m always struck by the honesty that teenagers portray in their dialogue, not yet realising that we don’t always speak the way that we think we do. They pay particular attention to colloquialisms and often demonstrate a blissful naiveté that adult writers are too jaded to find.

This year I read the plays for NJYP alongside a number of full-length plays for a producer friend of mine searching for a new project in London. I can honestly say that I would rather have pitched her a number of the short plays written by junior-high school students than the over-ambitious, poorly executed plays I was forced to reject.

Schemes like the NJYP nurture creativity when it is as it’s brightest. The imagination and enthusiasm is apparent in the writers’ words and I’ve been wholly inspired this year. I look forward to seeing the shortlist of winners and reading the strongest plays in the competition. To all the young people who submitted, well done, and please, continue writing. The future of engaging and exciting theatre experiences is in your hands!

Guleraana Mir is co-founder of London Playwriting Lab, a brand new script development initiative created for writers, by writers. She was previously Artistic Director of First Foot Theatre Productions in New York City. Guleraana currently delivers a mixture of curriculum enrichment through drama, applied-theatre, and nutrition workshops whilst desperately trying to finish her first full-length play. Her writing credits include:

Merry ******* Christmas- Drayton Arms, London, December 2013

Dossier- Camden Peoples’ Theatre, London, November 2013

If I had a Hammer- Camden Peoples’ Theatre, London, February 2013

Betty- Pless Hall Black Box Theatre, New York, NY, March 2010

Mannequin Mount Carmel Theatre Company, Brooklyn, NY, March 2010

Voodoo Child Pless Hall Black Box Theatre, New York, NY, September 2008

More advice for young playwrights

Today on Twitter I connected with Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights, Bring It On: the Musical) while he was online and asked if he had any advice for young playwrights:

Playwright bio - Philip Anastassiou

Our final playwright from 2013 is Philip Anastassiou.

Philip Anastassiou
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1) What inspired you to write Good News!?

Good News!, like a lot of my plays, is an absurdist farce, exploring materialism, wealth, and etiquette. I was definitely influenced by the aesthetic of playwrights I admired at the time (and still continue to love,) such as Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco. I was also fascinated by the idea of gallows humor and making an audience laugh at otherwise terribly depressing subjects. It was actually initially written for an annual student-run 24 Hour Play Festival at my high school that I helped produce several years ago, so it's also the product of a whole lot of fatigue and a whole lot of coffee.

2) You have won awards for your acting as well as your writing. Which do you prefer more: acting or writing?

I fell in love with theatre through performance first. It still is an extremely important part of me and I can't imagine ever letting go of it. However, since high school, I've become more intent on pursuing dramatic writing as a career. I'm currently an intern at the Off Broadway theatre company Playwrights Horizons, where I've been exposed to a huge amount of excellent (and not so excellent) plays by the young writers who are out and about living my dream as we speak. I've also had an invaluable glimpse at how new play development works at a professional level. This experience has greatly inspired me to follow writing to the next level and see where it takes me. Acting is enormously fun, but there is something exhilarating that can't accurately be put into words that comes with creating story. Writing gives me the opportunity to share my ideas and opinions with the world in a way that acting simply does not. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do both professionally and simultaneously. So basically, in a perfect world, I want to be Tracy Letts when I grow up.

3) You went to the Atlantic Acting School's Summer Teenage Ensemble program this past summer. What did you gain from this experience?

Through the sequential acting curriculum at the Bergen County Academies, I've been introduced to a few different schools of thought on performing. As a young actor, I'm still interested in experimenting with as many different techniques as possible and was attracted to this program because of Atlantic's own technique known as "practical aesthetics." It postulates that method acting is utter bull (for example, one needn't pretend to be Abraham Lincoln for the entirety of a filming, even when off-camera, to give a sincere performance) and what the actor must really expend their energy on is playing an action to achieve an objective despite obstacles. It's a modern spin off on Stanislavsky. I used to be very romantic with the idea of being method (whatever that means) and trying to put myself through similar conditions to somehow replicate the exact emotions that my characters were feeling in a play. This program really helped me realize what style of acting I prefer for myself and has simplified the process for me. 

4) Tell us a little about your responsibilities as co-artistic director of Studio 216, the student-run theatre company at Bergen County Academies.

I've been involved with my high school's student-run theatre company Studio 216 since freshman year. I became one of the two co-artistic directors the following year and have found the experience to be very worthwhile. Our mission is to provide the students of BCA with an environment where as artists they can explore, experiment, and showcase their work to the rest of our community. As everything we do is entirely student-produced, I help brainstorm and coordinate events for the future, manage our social media, design advertisements, and correspond with school administration while planning a show. The most recent example would be our 2013 Winter Playweek, where a student-written play was given a staged reading each day of the week during school hours. Anyone who was free during the same hour was welcome to see our daily performances for free. Ultimately, these responsibilities are shared between many of my friends who are also a part of Studio 216 and it has been a lot of fun over these past three years.

5) If you could have any super-human power, what would it be and why?

Flying would be pretty neat! Think of all the things you'd see! Then again, I guess that's what Google Maps is for. 

You can find Philip's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival at http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/2013-new-jersey-young-playwrights-high-school-bios

5 Questions with Philip Peker

Our next playwright from 2013 is Philip Peker.

Philip Peker
11th grade, Livingston Senior HS

1. What inspired you to write Blues-Berries?

Blues-Berries is heavily based on my relationship with my grandparents. In fact, Blues-Berries is quasi-auto-biographical play. Being that I spend the majority of every day with both my grandparents, their ever-presence in my life has really influenced me. My grandma and grandpa are the central inspiration for writing Blues-Berries. 

2. What did you enjoy most about writing this play?

This was the first play I have ever written, so everything felt new and different to me. I really enjoyed seeing the words that I punched out at home by my computer literally come to life on stage. The transition between "written word" and "performed word" is terribly fascinating, especially when the work is your own. However, the thing I most enjoyed about writing this play, is that I continue to "write" this play everyday. The scenes in the play are almost exact replicas of what goes on in real life at the dinner table with my grandparents. Seeing my life acted out by actors on a stage, and then coming back home and seeing almost the exact same things being said by the people that the characters are framed after is a very surreal experience. I guess that's the beauty about writing; you can create parallel universes and different copies of yourself through writing. 

3. In your bio you mention that you are a classically trained guitarist who has delved into other musical genres. What are some of your favorites?

Oh man, well, I listen to practically anything that makes sound. However, for the past few years, I have been heavily vested in the Jazz genre. Every single thing about Jazz is terribly exciting. The spontaneity, the brilliance of the instrumentation, and the rawness of it really make it incredibly appealing to listen to and play. At the moment, my musical interests branch from the Jazz genre. I have started listening to tons of soul, funk, and old-school hip hop, and then also I continue to listen to a lot of classical, world, and gypsy music. I grew up listening to Russian folk music, and so that gave me a huge base for appreciating all types of musical genres. Oh, and dance music can be pretty sweet, if the occasion is right. I can go on for hours talking about music; darn you for asking this question! 

4. You also have a band, Castles, and compose your own music. What kind of music do you play? What musicians or musical movements influence your work?

Ah yes. Well, we tend to play most of our songs as "jams," and keep them as raw and natural as possible. As genres go, however, we tend be categorized as progressive or math rock. We incorporate tons of different styles, from hard rock/blues, to jazz and funk. For us, music is whatever sounds good, so we tend to throw definitions and genres out the window when we play. As a band we were originally influenced by groups like  King Crimson, Pink Floyd, ELP, and Yes, but we also really dig a lot of modern stuff like Portico Quartet, Minus the Bear, BBNG, Pat Metheny, E.S.T,  and the Mars Volta. 

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Mocha Chip!

You can find Philip's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival at http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/2013-new-jersey-young-playwrights-high-school-bios

5 Questions with Kelsey Garrett

The second playwright from the 2013 Festival is Kelsey Garrett.

Kelsey Garrett
11th grade, Middletown HS South

1. What inspired you to write Mirror?

The primary inspiration for writing Mirror came from daily life; the books, tv shows, the conversations with friends, and the mirror in front of me. I think it's so easy to fall into this trap of comparing yourself with every body else and no matter what finding reasons why you simply don't measure up. Look at any campaign marketed to a teen demographic, you'll read taglines like "how to lose 10 pounds in three weeks" or "how to get the guy" or "how should you dress for your body shape?" It's so destructive. We're inherently telling our girls that they are not good enough in their natural state, and that they have to spend money and time and effort to make themselves attractive. Intelligence and virtues aren't talked about it, it's all about the looks. Confidence is only talked about in terms of how it relates to sex appeal.  So one night, I couldn't bring myself to pick out an outfit for school because nothing looked right, and I could not stop putting myself down. I grabbed my laptop and just started writing down every typical battle friends have told me about, or that I've had while picking out clothes, and I put in it the form of two different characters. That's what it feels like, when you have this low moment and you're staring at your reflection, trying to justify why it's okay to eat junk food or wear something tight against the angry tirade of this inner voice explaining that your legs aren't long enough for that skirt, your stomach looks huge in that or that maybe you should just stay home because you'll be the ugliest girl at the party. Writing it all down helped me realize how absurd, how hateful I can be to myself, and sharing it with others made me realize I'm not alone with this, nearly every girl and woman who's talked to me about it can relate to at least one line. It's both relieving and terrifying. 

2. Which do you prefer most: acting or writing?

The fantastic thing about acting is that you can explore a whole new realm of emotions and experiences that you may never actually explore any other way. As tough as a decision as that is, writing not only lets you explore this new realm, it lets you create it. Writing is an expression of acting in itself, so I'd definitely pick writing.

3. In your bio you talk about taking your first dance classes when you were nine years old. Do you still dance? What styles of dance do you enjoy?

I stopped taking dance classes in my freshman year, but I still continue to dance in school productions. My experience with dance classes definitely contributed to every one of my performances. I couldn't really narrow down a favorite. Musical theater allows you to experience so many different types of dance and merges them together to create something incredible, that the type of dance doesn't matter nearly as much as the effect the performance has. 

4. You have an impressive record of volunteer and community service. Please tell us a little about the programs with whom you work.

I primarily volunteer with my youth group, Saints by the Sea. We strive to help our communities in different ways, but we mainly work with donating food to our church's food kitchen and sending school supplies to needy children. The experience is absolutely incredible, it's so gratifying to watch a group of people come together with bags of bread and cold cuts or boxes of pencils and notebooks and then a couple hours later be able to pack 50-100 sandwiches in lunch bags and deliver them or receive a letter from a teacher explaining that the school children were thrilled by their new coloring books. 

5. If you could tour with any band or celebrity, who would it be?

Scarlet Johansson. She's just an incredible role model and actress. At ComicCon one year, an interviewer was bombarding the males of the Avengers cast with questions concerning redemption arcs and character development, and the reporter turns to Scarlet and asks her about her workout regime and how much weight she had to lose, and she simply refused to answer, saying to her fellow castmate "How come you get the really interesting existential question and I get the like, 'rabbit food' question?" I love that she refuses to release her weight or her diet plan because she wants to encourage confidence rather than a two-week plan. To see a woman like that, who is respected in Hollywood and across the country and still able to shut down anything suggesting sexism or promoting weight loss for the sake of weight loss, isn't exactly common. I'm a huge fan of her, and I'd love to see more men and woman follow in her example.


You can find Kelsey's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival at http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/2013-new-jersey-young-playwrights-high-school-bios

5 Questions with Emma Iacometta

After the Festival in 2013 we asked the four playwrights from the High School division to answer 5 questions about their plays and about themselves. It turns out that those responses were never published, so we are happy to share them with you in the days leading up to the submission deadlines for the 2014 Festival.

We begin with our first playwright, Emma Iacometta.

Emma Iacometta
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write You Definitely Got All That from Your Mother?

I decided to take a playwriting elective at school and, what came with that, was the assignment to write a play. For years, my mother and I have discussed how interesting my life background was, thus I decided to write a play based of my personal family situation. Of course, not every detail is the same, but I wanted the basic outline of the play to be like that of mine to get the word out that "modern" and "progress" families are cool!  

2. What else have you written?

Following the assignment to write a play came the assignment to write a screenplay. I just finished writing a draft of a short film. Other than school assignments, however, I do not write often.

3. In your bio you mention that you are planning a career in stage management. What do you like about being a stage manager?

First of all, I love being organized. To me, there is something so beautiful about a Stage Manager's binder; script, rehearsal reports, lists, cues, all perfectly placed. There is also an important balance that needs to be maintained with friendly authority and professional authority. For a good chunk of the time, you get to be the person who people come to for information and to chat about the show, but there are some moments where you have to lay down the line. The constant shift is exciting. I prefer it to being on stage because, at that point, you have control of the ship. You get the exhilarating feeling of performing in front of people through the cues you call and the set pieces you direct.

4. What other aspects of theatre do you enjoy?

All of them! Everything from set crew to assistant director. I love the little specific, yet incredibly important jobs, such as a dresser and light board operator. In future studies, I hope to learn more about the actual technical parts, such as programming a moving light or understanding a microphone pack. Though I have studied the on-stage things (dance, acting, singing) for years, I want to move on to a pursue everything about the backstage.

5. If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?
          1. A Boston University acceptance letter.

          2. More cats.

          3. My boyfriend to go to college closer than Chicago.

You can find Emma's bio, as well as bios for the other high school playwrights from 2013, on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival website (linked here).

Lessons from Sondheim

If you haven't yet seen Six by Sondheim, the HBO original documentary about the life and work of Stephen Sondheim, I highly suggest that you take a look. Or simply do a web search for video of "Sondheim talking" and you are bound to come up with something very interesting and insightful.

In addition to Sondheim's legacy of artistic work is his legacy of educating young artists. In the late 1970s, while in London, Sondheim saw a notice for a young playwrights festival at the Royal Court Theatre under the direction of Gerald Chapman. As president of the Foundation of the Dramatists Guild, Sondheim laid the work for a national young playwrights competition and recruited Chapman to help him launch the first contest in 1981. This program became Young Playwrights, Inc and sparked the rise of similar youth playwriting contests, festivals, and residency programs across the United States. One of these programs was the New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest & Festival, which began in consultation with Chapman and was something of a regional partner with Young Playwrights, Inc in its first few years. Similar opportunities for young playwrights continue to sprout up throughout the country today.

Since watching the documentary a few weeks ago, I've been searching for a clip, or statement that I could share with you. In my research, I found an interview with Sondheim by Rob Weinert-Kendt originally published in American Theatre in April 2011 which I have linked below. In this article, Sondheim talks about his plays, his process, and his influences in a way that also serves as something of a lesson in musical theatre history. I found the section about writing from an "actor's point-of-view" to be particularly interesting as I've often approached my own writing, and the teaching of writers, in the same way. His thoughts on the current state of theatre were interesting, too!

Enjoy!

Photo by Richard Termine & from TCG website; linked to article.

(If you have any trouble accessing the link via the photo, you can find the interview on the TCG website here: http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/apr11/sondheim.cfm)

Advice to Young Playwrights Revisted!

Reposting one of our all-time most popular entries today. This debuted on the blog December 1, 2012 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.

Submission Reminder!

Our Title Page Information database shows that we may have 105 entries to the 2014 NJ Young Playwrights Festival so far; however, we have not received anywhere near as many scripts. If you are submitting work to the Festival, please remember that you must register online AND send us your script via email. Contact us for help, if needed. Thanks!

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!

Rethinking "Write What You Know"

Whenever I log in to the blog for a new post, I like to see which older posts have been viewed and what our "all-time" top entries are. One of our most popular entries is one entitled "Write What You Know", which originally premiered on October 20, 2008 and was re-posted last August 27, 2012. You can link to those entries by clicking the dates, but before you do, I wanted to share something else about the idea of "what you know" that has been brewing in my mind for the past few days.

Students often are told "write what you know", which seems simple enough, but a number of young playwrights in our workshops feel pressured by this advice. Sometimes they want to write about a topic, an event, place, or person that they know very little about. This knowledge can be gained by a little reading and research, of course. However, one thing that I always ask young writers to keep in mind is that, even if it is based in reality, or history, what they are writing is also a piece of fiction. That fiction stems from their imagination (something that we don't often connect with knowledge) and I believe that if you can imagine it, then you know it. An example of this may be with a science-fiction, or fantasy play. That world exists in a writer's mind and the writer needs to know a lot about it and how it works in order to accurately share it with an audience. Again, the advice is "write what you know", but a little less pressure involved.

Not everyone wants to write a sci-fi/fantasy play, of course. No matter what the genre, it is helpful for playwrights to know about themselves - their background, sure, but also things that spark their imaginations and emotions. The older posts that I have linked above include a self-reflection tool that our young playwrights have found useful when first thinking about their plays, or looking for some inspiration during revision. Give it a look and see what ideas might be sparked in you as you begin, or continue, your writing.

We can't wait to see the results...

Happy writing!

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)

2 Months to Go!

There are two months left before the submission deadlines for the 2014 NJ Young Playwrights Festival! How's your script going?

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!