Getting Started

The school year is well underway, which means many young playwrights have begun, or will soon begin, writing a play that will be submitted to the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. One of the biggest challenges in this work is getting started, or more specifically, deciding what to write about.

I originally began writing this post on August 26 while observing a playwriting workshop taught by playwright and master teaching artist, Dominique Cieri, for a group of teachers from the Madison Public Schools. Dominique has been a teaching artist with Playwrights Theatre for many years and it was in a workshop that she taught there that I've pulled a number of ideas and techniques that I use in my own writing and teaching. In fact, you will find other exercises from Dominique in previous posts on this blog (particularly this one)!

There was one activity from the teacher workshop that I felt could be helpful to those of you beginning to write that centers around what Dominique refers to as "the Passover Question": What makes today different from any other day in the character's life? The idea here is that we write a play because of an important event that happens in a character's life. As a result, the action of the play begins with the average, everyday life of the character, which is then interrupted by an emergency that needs to be address, or an opportunity that must be taken. To get to this idea, it is helpful to look at similar "life-changing" and challenging moments from your own life. So that this doesn't become a biographical play, I suggest imagining that you are watching this event happen to another person and write about it in the present tense. Record everything that you sense (see, hear, etc.) in that moment.

Some of Dominique's other suggestions included the following:

1. Write about a fantasy, or dream, that you have.
2. Write five facts about yourself that you know to be true.
3. Write five facts about the universe (these don't necessarily need to be true).

Something from this list is likely to prompt an idea for a story. We also collect a variety of writing prompts on our Pinterest page, which may be of use to you. The main thing is to find an idea that interests you and to start writing. Don't get frustrated if you can't seem to hit on something right away. The important thing is to keep thinking and to keep writing. And don't throw any ideas away - you never know when something you decided not to write about may be helpful to get you through a place where you're stuck later on in the process.

Good luck and happy writing!

Digital Master Class for Young Playwrights

A few days ago, as the summer playwriting class was working through their story idea discussed in the previous post, I thought it might be interesting to hear from some playwrights about how they get started on a new work. So, took to Twitter and sent the following question:

I also wrote to a few writers directly and received some excellent responses, which I shared with the playwrights the very next day. The class found many of the playwrights' suggestions very helpful as they wrote that day, so I am posting them below for all our young playwrights to use. You may find these suggestions useful not only as you start writing, but throughout the revision process, too.

Tweets are shared largely as they were received. Some tweaks were made to make any Twitter-speak a bit more readable here. (Websites and Twitter handles included, when possible.) You can find the original suggestions on Twitter under #youngplaywrights.


Pia Wilson (@pwilson720)
 “I usually wind up with an idea for a play & let it roll around in my head for a while B4 I decide it’s worth doing”

 “Then, if the characters keep talking 2 me, I’ll write character descriptions. I usually hear/see a scene repeatedly”

Ramon Esquivel (@Bub1974)

“Start with the strongest element of idea: the character, setting, situation, or question. Fill in the rest later.”

Dania Ramos (@DaniaDania)

 “Depends on project. Usually do basic outline w post-its on foam board. Easy to switch, add, cut scenes as I go.”

“Here’s an example from a novel. For plays there are less post-its. Good luck to the playwrights!”

Storyboard from Dania Ramos

Lauren Gunderson (@LalaTellsAStory

“I envision an ending (maybe not THE ending). Once I know where the story is headed I can really start writing.”

Gabriel Jason Dean (@GabrielJasonDea)
"I ruminate for a long time before I write, figure out basics of my story, driving conflict. Need those first."

D.W. Gregory (@dwgregorywrites)

“often start with questions to myself about the characters”

“many pages of questions; then an exploratory scene to get the characters talking”

"Questions: start with basics -- who is this person, what does she want, why does she want it?”

“What’s the story in two sentences? Why am I drawn to it? What do I want to explore?”

“who else is in the story? Why must they be in the story? How do their needs conflict with the central character’s?”

“I write down as many questions as come to mind. No answers, just questions.”

“Then I visualize an event that I am sure will be in the play somewhere and I write a scene. Pure exploration.”

“I write the scene to let the characters talk to me. This stimulates more questions.”

“after I fill a lot of pages with questions I sometimes think about the events of the play. In broad strokes."

“What do I know must be in the play – things that must happen, things that may. Write these down as they occur to me.”

“Then I look at the events and start to think about the order of events. How does the sequence serve my aims?"

“when I have seven major events in a sequence I think makes sense I start to work on a detailed outline."

“Once I have a rudimentary outline I start writing scenes – and start answering questions.”

5 Questions with Miranda Hoyt-Disick

Today we conclude our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with a New Jersey resident who attends school in the Bronx!...

Miranda Hoyt-Disick
11th grade, Riverdale Country School

1. What inspired you to write Enter Banquo's Ghost?

On the night of the Tonys sophomore year, I was faced with a challenge. I had to write an updated version of the banquet scene from Macbeth that happened to be due the next day. Coincidentally, I had recently started watching the HBO series Girls, and I thought it might be fun to inject Shakespeare with some good old Hannah Horvath neuroses. I decided that the protagonist, "Beth", would be haunted by the ghost of her old boyfriend, "Robert Banquo". The whole thing was just supposed to be one scene, but I started playing around with the characters and decided upgrade Beth's nervous behavior to a mental break-down, complete with banter and the destruction of a perfectly good chicken.

2. You directed your play for a theatre festival at your school last year. Please tell us more about that experience.

I loved directing my play at school. My producer and assistant director, Madeline Meyer, was amazing about scheduling everything and helping me with the blocking and with giving notes to my actors. We rehearsed during lunch in the drama and film rooms. It was my first experience directing, and I found everyone eager to cooperate and make the play as good as it could be. During the performance, I was pretty much frozen in a state of joint joy/terror, a condition that will probably rear its head again at the next production.

3. In your bio you mention that you play both the guitar and ukulele. When did you begin to play these instruments? What is the biggest difference between playing the guitar and the ukulele?

I began playing guitar in 5th grade and ukulele around this time last year. They're both great instruments, but the ukulele is portable and easier to play in the hallways to the annoyance of everyone, so naturally I prefer it.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

At the beginning of the year, I got to see The Glass Menagerie with Zach Quinto and was crying by the end of the first act. It was a beautiful production that did nothing but enhance my undying love for Tennessee Williams and pretty blatant desire to resurrect him.

5. If you were going on an adventure, who would you take as your travel partner and why?

I didn't even have to think about this one. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 100%.  If you've seen the show, you understand. If not, first of all, why haven't you seen it, go now, watch all 7 seasons they're on Netflix. Done? Welcome back. Spike is resourceful, good in a fight, and has an amazing habit of commenting on the story going on around him. We only have one of these qualities in common, but still. Definitely Spike. He's a little undead, but it's totally fine. I'd just have to remember a blanket to shield him from the sun (he burns up pretty quickly). 

See Miranda's play Enter Banquo's Ghost at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

5 Questions with Talia Green

Continuing our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with...

Talia Green
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write Ink Never Dulls?

I've always been particularly sensitive towards the subject of domestic abuse, as such violence in one's childhood has the ability to affect his/her perspective of the world for the rest of their lives. I also read often about stories that romanticize abusive relationships, such as Captive in the Dark by CJ Roberts, or Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Though thrilling, stories like these manifest a pretensive light on abuse, as though reshaping it to make it more entertaining. For that reason, I decided to write a play that portrays abuse as all that it is: highly disturbing, and difficult to watch. I am hoping that my play can help absolve the misconceptions that the media helps produce regarding abuse, and can also help teach what to do if placed in a similar situation.  

2. You have won awards for your poetry and social activism. Please tell us more about those experiences.

Writing has been a significant part of my life since before I can remember. I cannot recall a period in my childhood during which I did not carry around my journal to jot down whatever surfaced in my thoughts; I have always been more articulate in my writing than I've been in speech, and this realization led me to writing poetry more seriously and frequently. Only recently, however, have I been able to fulfill what I've yearned to through my poetry and music: write messages that mean more than just my experiences. I have such strong opinions of, and hopes for, us as a progressive society, and I have finally written work that can express those concepts. I believe that if an idea is planted in your head - through a poem, song, or any other medium - it has the incentive to grow into a thought that you construct yourself. Through that, you can reevaluate the way you see things, and allow that idea to widen your field of perception. This is what I hope to accomplish through my writing, and am honored to have been awarded for some of my works that succeed in such a task.

3. In addition to your writing, you are a vocalist. What kinds of music do you typically perform?

Though I tend to perform a wide range of genres, I mostly perform soul/blues. I also write indie ballads. (I may have just invented a genre of music.)

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

This past winter, I performed as Reverend Hightower in the Bergen County Academies' production of Bat Boy. It was the most rewarding theatrical experience I could ask for. I was able to develop a character so unlike the serious characters I tend to write; the Reverend was silly, exciting, and extremely individual. I was also able to intertwine my love for soul music to this crazy character.

5. If you had the opportunity to sit down and have dinner with anyone (living or dead), who would it be and what would be your most burning question?

I would love to sit down with Mathew Arnold, and ask him what inspired him to write the poem "The Voice". That is the first poem I've ever really connected to, and up to now, It's still my favorite poem. My second burning question would be to see the original copy of "The Voice", including all of his pen blotches and scratched lines and illegible handwriting. You can tell so much about a poem and it's writer by the way it's written.


See Talia's play Ink Never Dulls at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

5 Questions with Emily Donegan

Continuing our 5 Questions with a Playwright series for the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with...

Emily Donegan
11th grade, Bergen County Academies

1. What inspired you to write Mechanical Advancement?

I was inspired to write Mechanical Advancement by listening to Weird Al's song 'Virus Alert' about a wacky computer virus that has inconvenient yet hilarious effects on the victim in real life. It got me thinking about the human-technology relationship.

2. In your bio you mention that “the backstage realm is particularly dear” to you. What do you like about working backstage?

I love everything about working backstage. I love that there is a whole other side to a show that the audience doesn't see, a secret hectic flurry of costumes and lights and having to think fast on your feet.

3. You also mention that you enjoy cooking. What is your favorite thing to make?

My favorite thing to cook is jell-o.

4. What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

My most memorable theatre experience was when I accidentally broke a plate on stage, then sliced my hand open as I tried to pick up the pieces. There was blood and glass everywhere, and we all just had to work around it. It was great.

5.  If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?

The problem with wishes granted is that they almost always have some kind of ironic twist. I'd keep it simple (so nothing could go wrong) and wish for a steak, a Dr. Pepper, and world peace.

See Emily's play Mechanical Advancement at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

5 Questions with Alexa Derman

With the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival just a few days away, it is time for our annual 5 Questions with a Playwright series: NJYPF edition! We go alphabetically by last name and present a playwright from the High School Division each day. So, today we begin with...

Alexa Derman
12th grade, Westfield High School

 1.      What inspired you to write Hurricane Season?

Hurricane Season was initially part of a series of short plays by a number of playwrights called SOS: Stories of Sandy performed by Contagious Drama Workshop. When I was offered the chance to write for the production, I knew immediately I was going to write something about mortality. Sandy was a crazy experience for me because of the same reason as Kim, in the play -- it burst the illusion of invincibility provide by growing up in the suburbs. I was actually assigned my actors in advance, before I wrote it, and when I met with the pair, a (relatively shy) boy and a (relatively outgoing) girl, they both said they wanted to play roles that challenged them. Thus, for the boy I created the boisterous Joey and for the girl, the more reserved Kim.

2.      You have won multiple awards for your writing in a variety of genres. How does your writing process differ between forms?

I think my writing process doesn't differ so much between forms as between types. What I mean is, I have stories that are very dialogue-based the way Hurricane Season is, and the process for those works are similar: usually some argument just explodes out of me around 2 am and then I refine it. But I also have plays and prose pieces that are more "involved," more focused around a single character, and more collage-based -- right now I'm writing a play that collapses into a Shakespeare one at its climax. For those pieces, I usually end up doing a lot of research and planning. 

3.      You have also won awards for your work as a hair and make-up artist. Please tell us more about that work!

I'm the hair and makeup artist in my school theatre department, and it was definitely a happy accident -- my director asked me out of the blue to take over my sophomore year, and I jumped in despite having zero experience. Many hours of YouTube videos and practice later, it's become something I really love to do. We did Bat Boy last year, in 2013, and creating a half-bat half-boy mutant was one of my favorite projects. Every day it took about an hour to get him ready, but it was worth it!

4.      What has been your most memorable theatre experience to date?

It's a tie. This past fall, my high school did a production of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, based on the Ovid of the same name. It's a beautiful show about myth and transformation -- and it also took place in a massive pool we built in our pit! The cast and crew was very small, and the show was gorgeous and emotional. It was a great final fall play. (And then we were lucky enough to win Outstanding Overall Production at the MSU Theatre Night Awards!) On the flip side, four or five years ago I was Dorothy an all-girls cast of The Wiz at my hippie drama sleepaway camp, and even though it wasn't of the highest "quality" I had such a fun time jammin' to "Ease on Down" and bopping with the eight-year-old munchkins. Just a really, really fun time. 

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

Definitely super-human memory. Not only would it save me time on Calculus homework, but also because it would be really cool to just be able to launch into page-long speeches and poems whenever they feel relevant.

See Alexa's play Hurricane Season at the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival on Tuesday, June 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Performances will be held in the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University. Please reserve your space by contacting us at njypf@ptnj.org. See you there!

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.

Throwback Thursday - NJYPF 2006

For Throwback Thursday, the High School playwrights from the 2006 NJ Young Playwrights Festival:

l to r: Katie Hathaway, Bonnie Torre, Megan O'Brien, Brittany Wallace

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

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).

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.