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!

The Focus on Process

Tomorrow morning we will host the culminating presentation for the Acting Workshop class as part of the Summer Theatre Camp at Playwrights Theatre of NJ. This event will mark the end of a two-week process in which six elementary school students created and developed two original short plays under my guidance. We've been meeting in the rehearsal/conference room at the PTNJ offices, which yesterday I transformed into a performance space. We don't often hold class and perform in the same space, but a last minute scheduling issue made it necessary. While skeptical at first, the students have enjoyed the quirkiness of the room, which I think has been an interesting challenge to which they needed to adapt. I also think this arrangement is appealing because it helps to downplay the traditional emphasis on performance and focus the students (and our audience of family and friends) on the work that has been done the previous nine sessions.

Our classroom spaced transformed for performance.

The spotlight on the development process (of scripts, of students, of imaginations...) is what is at the core of the educational work that we do at PTNJ. This is not to say that our programs don't value a product like a final presentation, but rather we see it as a part of the creative process that began on the first day of class. This idea is supported by the concept of a play as a tranche de vie ("slice of life") of the larger story of the character's lives. Part of our play development includes explorations of characters' lives before the script begins and after. Similarly, the performance itself is a slice of the actors' and audience members' lives: they come to the presentation with a certain understanding and expectation and leave with new thoughts and feelings based on what they have just experienced. It is fascinating to watch 7-10 year olds struggle with and understand this concept. I've also challenged them from the start to think of a play being a story that is communicated from one group of people to another; that all we need to do this is a story, some actors, and an audience. The rest is just extra fun. That's not something that is easy for a 7 year old to take, especially when their primary point of reference when developing a character is what props they need or the costume they will wear. We've struggled with that to the very end, but overall, I think they get it and that their work demonstrates this.

To further emphasize the development of the work, I've lined the walls of the room with the notes, ideas, lists, pictures, and other brainstorms that helped propel the students' original concepts into the works-in-progress that will be performed tomorrow. This modified lobby display is something that the other teaching artists and I have talked about for years, but only began to put into practice about two summers ago. The impact has been great as students and parents alike have noticed and commented on just how much work has been done and as a result, how much has truly been learned. And in the end, that revelation and reflection is what the whole thing is all about.

 

These papers outline the first ideas and drafts for each of the group's stories.

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!

Revisiting the debate about format

With 10 days until the script submission deadline, I thought I would publish the link to one of our most visited posts: "The Debate About Format". Every year there are many questions about how to format a script submission. Please use the information in this post as a guide. You will find the link below.

http://njyoungplaywrights.blogspot.com/2009/12/debate-about-format.html

Happy writing!