Here's the Pitch!

When writers have an idea, or a completed script, and are looking for financial support, they sometimes need to give a presentation of that play to a producer (think Shark Tank for writers). Similarly, other writers (usually in television) meet together frequently to share plot ideas with one another. Talking about a story idea in this situation is called giving a "pitch". A pitch is a summary of the story that is usually pretty short and defined by a certain amount of time, amount of words, etc. This is typically something done when you start writing, but I've found it to be helpful to young playwrights at any time throughout the process.

Playwriting Workshop students discussing their story ideas.

If at any point in the process you find that you are stuck, or have writer's block, give this pitch exercise a try. First, summarize the general information about the play by beginning with the phrase: "This is a story about ________ " and then continue by giving some information about the character. This can simply be a noun like "girl" or "boy" or "wallaby", or you can give the name. Next, tell a little something about that person's everyday life, what they want/need to do in the play, and why the want/need to do it." For example, if we were to give a pitch about The Wizard of Oz, it might look something like this:

This is the story of a girl from Kansas who gets trapped in her house during a tornado. The tornado picks up the house and lands in the middle of a magical world called Oz. The girl wants to get back home, but is in danger because when her house fell, it fell on the Wicked Witch of the East and killed her. Now, the witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, wants revenge on Dorothy for what she's done. With the help of a good witch named Glinda, Dorothy begins her journey to the Emerald City to see the Wizard who she is told will be able to send her home. Along the way, she meets three other inhabitants of Oz who also need the Wizard's help.

In that one paragraph, we get a pretty good sense of who the story is about, what she needs to do, who some of the other characters are, and what difficulties they all might face. This isn't a complete story, but it might just give you enough of an idea of what you are writing about to help you move through any writer's block, or moments where you are unsure about what you are writing. You can also use this exercise to brainstorm before writing your play, or as a check-in to see how well your story is progressing at any time during the writing process.

Happy writing!

As Long As It Needs to Be

The most frequent questions and concerns I receive from young playwrights preparing their scripts have to do with the limits that we place on script format and page count. In fact, this was the most troubling thing to the writers in a playwriting class I just finished teaching. They were constantly checking the number of pages and double-checking to see if I thought they might have enough, or too much. I tried to ease their worries by answering the question “How long does it need to be?” with the open answer “As long as it needs to be to tell the story.”

I completely understand the anxiety about these things. The majority of the submissions we receive each year come from students who are writing a play for the first time and what we request for a manuscript is different from the way a script looks when published in the books that they read and use to rehearse the school play. Luckily, script formatting comes pretty easily with a little practice. (You can find more information about the format requirements on our blog here.) While format can be managed, it is page count that causes young writers the most anxiety.

This makes sense to me, too. Young playwrights spend most of their time writing working on papers and projects for class, which often have limits and requirements. I get it: When there is a page limit, or a page minimum, you want to make sure you are saying enough, but not too much, while still writing something good. I worried about this when I was a student and, truth be told, it is something I still think about now that I’m writing my dissertation.

Screenshot from our Guidelines Page

The NJ Young Playwrights Festival asks that script submissions be “longer than 20 minutes in performance time (roughly 20 typed pages)” because that’s what we are able to manage in the production of the Festival. We choose about 9-10 plays and only have a total of three hours between the two performances to present that work. And I want all of you writers to know that while we ask for scripts that are no more than 20 minutes in length (roughly 20 pages of typed dialogue), that isn’t an exact measure of what accounts for 20 minutes on stage. Please keep in mind that if your play reaches the final round, and even if it is selected for the Festival performance, you will do a lot of rewrites and revisions to it. So, there is room to go a little over the limit, if you need to. (Please note the emphasis on little!) But please don’t go overboard. Reaching beyond 25 pages is probably too much.

But really, rather than worrying about how long or how short your play might be, try to focus on telling a good story. Make this a play that you feel confident and passionate about – a play that you are proud to share with the world and a play that you yourself would really like to see. Because in the end, that is what is most important. Tell the story first. Then edit to fit the guidelines later.

Happy writing!

Reflection on the Madison Young Playwrights Program from Dania Ramos

About a month ago, Playwrights Theatre concluded the 28th annual Madison Young Playwrights Program with in-school assemblies of student-written work at the participating schools. The plays at one school contained the right character combinations where we could put a cast of all female actors into place with director Dania Ramos. We asked Ms. Ramos to reflect upon this unique presentation and are happy to include her thoughts below. Enjoy!
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Cast and playwrights onstage at Torey J. Sabatini School.

Today (March 20) I had the pleasure of directing four delightful scripts written by student playwrights who attend Torey J. Sabatini Elementary School in Madison. The staged readings were presented as part of the 2014 Madison Young Playwrights Program.

For those of you unfamiliar with how a Playwrights Theatre assembly works, here’s a quick run down. A director and a company of four to six actors are given the students’ scripts a few days before the performance. We meet the morning of the readings for about four hours of rehearsal. Then we show up at the school in the afternoon and the actors perform script-in-hand readings for the student playwrights, their classmates, teachers, and parents. No props. No costumes. No set.

The scripts featured in today’s assembly had a nice balance of humor and poignancy. In Rising From the Pitts by Charlotte Sullivan, a girl unexpectedly bonds with her grandmother after learning she was once a contestant on Star Search. In Benji van der Hulst’s untitled script, three brothers anxiously await the arrival of a special package in the mail. Sassyfrass Sisters by Keira Munter shows high drama between three girls at summer camp. Finally, in The Stapler’s Revenge by Artha Abeysignhe, a pair of staple removers, an exotic pen, and a ruler work together to defeat an evil stapler.

Today was the first Madison Young Playwrights Program cast to be comprised of only women. Natalie Bailey, Rosemary Glennon, Brittany Goodwin, and Summer Hortillosa are all versatile, generous actresses with a sincere enthusiasm for performing material by and for children.

People familiar with the New Jersey Young PlaywrightsContest might recognize Summer Hortillosa as a winner of the 2007 New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest in the High School Division. I remember watching (and loving) the reading of her script seven years ago. It was moving to watch Summer take the stage today and offer a new generation of young writers the opportunity to see their work come to life.  (Editor note: You can find guest posts from Summer Hortillosa on the blog: advice to young playwrights here and reflection on her experience as a NJ Young Playwright here.)

Recognizing the playwrights after the performance.

Perhaps my favorite moment of directing a Playwrights Theatre assembly is meeting the playwrights after the readings. It’s always fun to match a student’s face to script and to see each of their reactions when an entire auditorium applauds their hard work and creativity.

My Favorite Lines

Rising From the Pitts by Charlotte Sullivan

EMILY:  Star Search, what the heck is that?

SOPHIE:  It was sort of like American Idol back in the olden days.

Untitled by Benji van der Hulst

DOODLE: No…maybe…possibly…ok! Fine! It was me!

Sassyfrass Sisters by Keira Munter

LUCY:  Let’s get you cleaned up. Not everyone gets a dress from Paris.

CAROLINE: You mean, a specially-designed dress from Paris.

The Stapler’s Revenge by Artha Abeysignhe

JERSLISS: Rulers, because of their name, are rulers. It’s kind of unfair, but that’s just how it is.

Dania Ramos is a writer and a theatre professional. She has directed student work for the NJPAC’s Young Writers Workshop and PTNJ’s Young Playwrights Festivals and Language-in-Motion Assemblies. She's also a program coordinator for Montclair State University’s College of the Arts, Office of Education and Community Outreach. Dania's play Hielo (developed through PTNJ's New Jersey Emerging Women's Project) was recently named runner-up in Repertorio Espa ñol's 2013 MetLife Nuestras Voces Competition. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University and a BFA in Theatre Performance from Montclair State University.

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:

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.

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!

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!

Opportunities to submit plays to national festivals

While waiting for the results of the 2013 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival, it would be a great idea to submit your work to a few national competitions and festivals! See the links below for more information.

Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's Young Playwrights Festival
Deadline: February 25, 2013
http://ct.broadwayworld.com/article/Eugene-ONeill-Theater-Center-Opens-Submissions-for-8th-Annual-Young-Playwrights-Festival-Deadline-225-20130130

The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival
Deadline: March 15, 2013 
http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Blank-Theatres-Young-Playwrights-Festival-Seeks-Submissions-20130130#

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.

Happy 2013

Happy New Year, everyone!

Don't forget, the submission deadline for the 2013 NJ Young Playwrights Festival is in two weeks!

January 14 for High School submissions (grades 10-12) and January 15 for Junior HS (grades 7-9) and Elementary submissions (grades 4-6). Visit the website at http://www.njypf.org for information or to submit your script.

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!

So, what are you saying?

(Originally published on December 23, 2008)

Everything that is created is made for a particular purpose. When an author writes, he or she does so for a certain audience. When you write a paper for class, the audience is your teacher. When you write an email to a friend, the friend is your audience. When you are writing your play, you are writing for a particular group. Do you know who that audience is? Do you know what your play is saying to them and what they might take away from the story?

THEME
The theme of a play is the message that the audience is left with after the story. Remember our friend, Penny from a few weeks ago? Well, let's suppose that she decides to steal the money to get her mother a present and she gets caught. The theme, or message to the audience, of that story might simply be "Don't steal." What would the message be if Penny doesn't get caught?

What is the theme if Penny decides for herself that stealing is wrong and as a result, isn't able to get a present for her mother? The theme might then come from how Mom reacts to Penny's decision. Let's say that Penny's mother doesn't mind that Penny didn't get a present, but is happy that her daughter made the right decision. There might be two themes there. First, the audience learns that stealing is wrong; a second message might be "it's the thought that counts." What are some others themes that you can get from this story?

Take a look at your play. Do you know what the theme is? When the play is over, how will the audience understand that this is the theme? Is there a moment where the theme is revealed, like when Penny learns a lesson?

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Knowing who the audience of a play is will help a playwright select a theme and determine how it is presented to that audience. Obviously, this does not mean that a playwright will personally know everyone in the audience for their play. What it does mean is that when writing a play, a playwright has an intended audience. Who that intended audience might be can change how a play is presented.

Again, taking Penny as our example, the way that the theme is presented to an audience of 8-year-olds will be much different than how the theme is presented to adults.

A playwright should also consider how well informed an audience might be about a particular setting in the play, or references that the characters make to certain regions, pop culture, and other things. For example, there are things that are specific to life in New Jersey that people from other parts of the country may not understand. I recently spoke with one young playwright who was writing a play that takes place at the beach. There were some terms in the play that people who don't live near a beach may not know, which could lead to confusion about what is going on. To help avoid this kind of confusion, find some friends or family members who may not be familiar with your play, or these specifics, and ask them to read the play. You can use their feedback to find creative ways to include more details in your story without making it too unnatural to the dialogue. It is difficult to do, but definitely worth the try. But the results are very exciting!

Happy writing!

"Silence is golden."

You’ve probably heard the phrase above before. The saying has ancient roots and can mean different things depending on the context in which it is spoken. Often I hear it used with the meaning that being silent is better than speaking. That may or may not be true under certain circumstances and is an interesting idea to consider when writing your play.

Each character in your play should speak with a unique voice. That means individual speech patterns, favorite phrases, and things like that. They way in which a character talks can say a lot about that character’s emotions, thoughts, ideas, and relationships with others. What might it mean when a character speaks in longer sentences? What about shorter – perhaps one word – phrases? What about one who takes a lot of pauses as opposed to a character who speaks quickly and without much stopping… or thinking? These qualities of speech help to form individual personalities for each of your characters, but also provide actors and directors with a number of cues about how to portray the people of your play, as well as the tone of the scene, etc.

I am drawn to characters who don’t say much. By this I mean those who don’t speak a lot in the play (don’t have many lines), or who answer in short sentences. To me, when a character doesn’t speak it means that he or she is thinking and that those thoughts may or may not always come out for the audience to hear. Much like the unopened door, the unspoken line can be quite powerful and bring the audience into the play.

As you go through a draft of your play and you find sections where there may be a lot of talking, or that are in need of some intrigue and excitement, see how silence might influence it.

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.

Conflict and Raising the Stakes

Originally published on December 12, 2008

Conflict is what drives the story of your play forward. This is the tension created between the main character and the obstacles that stand in the way of the character achieving his or her goal(s). Conflict starts with what the character wants. This can be something as simple as a character wanting to earn enough money to get a present for his or her mother. But remember, a playwright wants to get the audience to care about the main character and really root for him or her and that can be done by “raising the stakes,” or to put it another way, challenging the character’s desire to get what he or she wants.

Let’s use the example of the character who wants to earn money for a present. We’ll call her Penny. Keeping in mind the outline from a few posts ago, we need to identify Penny’s WANT and EMERGENCY. We know that she wants to earn money to get a present for her mother; I will leave it to you to decide why she needs to begin that journey (the Emergency). The next step is to figure out what she will do to earn the money. To do that, consider what are some things that people do to get what they want. These are the ACTIONS. Some examples might be:

ASK
WORK
STEAL

You might be able to add more ideas to this list, or to change some of these suggestions to be more specific. “Ask” could become “borrow.”

Do you see how each action gets more serious? Not everyone will be comfortable to try each of these things, so the idea is not to choose one of these actions for the character, but to have them try each kind until they reach something that the character is not comfortable doing and needs to make a choice. For example, Penny might try asking a friend, or relative for the money, but is unable to earn enough to the present that she wants. So, she gets a job, but finds that she won’t earn the money quick enough. Then perhaps a friend mentions to Penny that she could steal the money, but Penny knows that stealing is wrong and is not comfortable doing that. Now she needs to make a decision. Does she steal the money so her mother has a present? Does she try something else? Does she get a different present? Not get a present at all?

Presenting your character with these different challenges raises their stakes in the story and creates greater tension. The result may be a play that draws the audience deeper into the story and gets them more invested in the outcome. And it is the outcome, or what the character decides to do and how they experience the consequence, which delivers your theme or message to the audience. But that’s for next week. For now, raise the stakes for your character – push them to the limit and see how they respond!

Happy writing!

Advice to Young Playwrights, part 3 - Summer Hortillosa

Our next installment of Advice toYoung Playwrights comes from Summer Hortillosa, a 2007 NJ Young Playwrights Festival winner for her play, The Not-So Lovely Tale of Strawberry Fructose. Summer is a journalist, playwright, and director whose recent work can be found on her website http://www.summerization.com.

Enjoy!
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What makes a strong play?

I think strong plays have a clear direction in multiple areas -- character development, plot and audience experience. Strong plays feature relatable, consistent characters with believable dialogue that make their needs clear and drive the story. A strong play is one that has many movable parts that are pieced together in a way that the beginning can't help but eventually result in the ending and the ending seems to have only been possible because of the beginning.

What types of characters do you like to portray/write?

I like to both portray and write fantastic characters with fantastic needs. I like unique characters who are almost entirely figments of imagination but who have strong emotional cores that make them completely relatable. I like strong characters, strange characters and characters capable of witty, fun dialogue. Argumentative and honest are some of the best things a character can be.

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

Generally logistics play a large role when selecting a play for production, but otherwise I try to select plays I feel I have written well or, when doing someone else's play, that they have written well. I like to choose plays that explore a fair range of emotions, that would be fun to produce and watch and that I feel are strong and have interesting characters.

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

My most recent production, a one-woman show in the SO LOW Theater Festival in Jersey City called Kookspeak, was one of my favorite experiences so far because production was easy. I wrote, directed and performed the piece and used very few props or effects, so I did not have to worry too much about budgeting, aligning schedules or a lot of other stuff that happens when I have to produce/stage manage/do everything for my shows. In this case, I mainly focused on promoting my show and on rehearsals.

Directing one's self can be a challenge and requires a lot of self-awareness (or, if possible, a video or mirror as an outside eye), but was a lot of fun for me. I was able to make myself work whenever I wanted to, and while I had a general rehearsal schedule that I set up for myself and tried to stick to, I had a lot of freedom to rehearse more or less than planned depending on my needs. I was free to push myself as hard as possible and make all the executive decisions, which is always great.

Also, it made the final product very pure -- I will perhaps never have a work as fully representative of who I am as an artist. The words, thoughts and emotions were all mine, as were the staging, direction, acting choices -- it was liberating and fully satisfying, especially when I received a great response from my audience and peers.

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

The worst -- or rather, most difficult -- experience I had working on a play was a full production of Shakespeare's As You Like It involving about 32 high school students. Having to direct over 30 teenagers with various levels of commitment and talent as well as oversee the entire production -- with very little control over the groups in charge of lighting, sound, costumes and props -- was mindbogglingly tough.

I had to double-cast our leads, Rosalind and Orlando, which lightened the load for four generally equally talented actors who weren't very accustomed to memorizing lots of Shakespearean speech, but made it difficult to make the characters consistent throughout the play. Also, as a requirement for the class, we had to have every student -- even those who were terrible at acting -- play a role. Lastly, as any director can imagine, coordinating the schedules of over 30 people and having to deal with egos, lateness, forgetfulness, mistakes, irresponsibility, and all the other possible vices any group of 30 could have was a monumental task in itself.

Overall, however, we were able to pull it all together and put on several great performances. As any director will quickly discover, learning to roll with the punches and press on to put on a good show is possibly the most important skill they can have.

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

Make sure every effect has a cause and every cause has an effect when you revise. Tying up loose ends, making sure that important facts are established (in a natural way and at the right time) and keeping characters consistent will strengthen your play. Read dialogue out loud and make sure everything sounds natural; cut what you can. Don't fall in love too much with your favorite characters or with your ability to write, because you might end up dragging out scenes and tiring your audience or worse, finding yourself disappointed when your work is produced and the performance doesn't live up to your expectations.

Creating an Emergency Situation

Originally posted on December 4, 2008.

Consider this statement – Some of the strongest stories have a main character that the audience cares about and roots for to achieve his or her goal.

Identifying the emergency in your story is one way to measure how well an audience is able to root for the main character. Think about some of your favorite stories. Why do you like them? Why do you want to see them succeed?

Let’s look at Cinderella again as an example. I indicated that the emergency is when something happens to the character that prompts them to go after their goal/want. For Cinderella, the emergency is the arrival of the invitation to the ball. Now, imagine her story without all of the scenes that occur before emergency (when the invitation to the ball arrives). If the audience is introduced to the character of Cinderella right at that moment, what do they know about her? In that scene, she is just someone trying to get to the ball, but why should the audience care whether or not Cinderella gets to go?

The exposition scenes before the invitation arrives are the key to the audience’s investment in Cinderella’s journey. Without the introduction to the evil stepfamily, the scenes of the horrible way that Cinderella is treated, and the display of Cinderella’s personality as she deals with these events, is what can lead an audience to care about the character and really root for her to find something better.

So, take a look at your play. What is the emergency? When does it occur? What happens beforehand? Make sure to give your audience plenty of time to get to know the main character and what everyday life is like for him or her. When the emergency arrives, the audience will want to see your character succeed almost as much as the character does!

Have fun and happy writing!