Read out, Louise!

Just spoke with the mother of one of our Elementary division finalists. The playwright has been working on her script this week and tonight the family will read aloud the current version at the dinner table. The playwright's mom said that hearing it read aloud during the writing residency was so helpful, they have been doing it to help her work on the rewrites!

I was so happy to hear this and wanted to share it with all of you. If you haven't done so yet, get a group together and read the play out loud.

And don't forget, finalists - revised scripts are due soon:

• High School revisions due Friday, March 6
• Elementary revisions due Wednesday, March 11

Don't worry, Junior HS playwrights. We're still working on your plays. There were SO many of them this year that your division is a little behind. We should be in contact with the Junior HS finalists by the end of March. Hang in there!

Day 1 - Rehearsals

 Today began the 2014 New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival with a series of first read-thrus for each of the plays in the Elementary, Junior HS, and High School Divisions. For the Fesitval there will be two separate performances: one on Monday night for the Junior HS & Elementary plays; another on Tuesday night for the High School plays. Separate casts are assembled for each evening and today we began with the Junior HS & Elementary group.

We met with the cast at the University Center Little Theatre on the campus of Kean University beginning at 11:00 this morning and were joined by Amanda Kefalas, the author of the play I Beat the Bully. After reading Amanda's play, we proceeded through a few more scripts before breaking for lunch.

Director Artem Yatsunov in action.

After lunch, the cast regrouped and added additional actors and directors to read the plays from the High School division. These plays are further divided into two pairings, which are based in part on theme, but largely on the way in which the character breakdowns match up. Two separate casts of actors are assigned to each pairing, which also have their own director. After reading through the plays all together, the two casts split up to continue discussion of the play and, if time permitted, began blocking the script.

Miranda Hoyt-Disick enjoying a moment in rehearsal.

Miranda Hoyt-Disick, the author of Enter Banquo's Ghost, was with us this afternoon and provide insight into the play for Artem Yatsunov, the director and his cast of Megan Greener, Rosemary Glennon, Gavin Earl Johnson, and Seth Jambor. I sat in on some of the rehearsal for Enter Banquo's Ghost and caught a few moments of the action. The play is inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth and follows engaged couple Beth (Megan Greener) and Joey (Seth Jambor) as they prepare for and host a dinner party for Beth's college friend, Allie (Rosemary Glennon). Beth is haunted by the memory of her former boyfriend Robert Banquo (Gavin Earl Johnson), who makes an appearance at the dinner party as a figment of Beth's imagination. The story is full of anxiety and action for Megan Greener in the role of Beth, which brought some great pictures like the one below:

Megan Greener

Megan Greener & Seth Jambor

You can find additional photos from tonight's sessions on the NJYPF Facebook page here. Additional pictures will be added to the album over the next two days. Enjoy!

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.

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!

First day of rehearsal for the 2012 NJ Young Playwrights Festival

Yesterday was an exciting and very busy day of first rehearsals for the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. We began with a read through of the plays from the Junior HS and Elementary divisions and spent the afternoon with the high school plays. It is always fun to meet the playwrights and connect faces and personalities with plays. We also enjoy having the chance to talk with the playwrights about their plays - the inspirations behind them, the subtexts, etc.

We're back at it again this afternoon. First, we will continue blocking the high school plays and then transition into a very loose tech for the Junior HS and Elementary plays ahead of the readings at 7:00 pm tonight!

We have received a number of requests for reservations for tonight. Still a good amount of seats, so please do join us! 7:00 pm at the University Center Little Theatre at Kean University.

Here are just a few pictures from the high school rehearsal. Additional pictures can be found on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/njypf. We have a few from the earlier read through as well, but don't have them downloaded yet. Should do so soon. In the meantime, enjoy!