Publishing articles about young playwrights programs

This past month I had published two articles about the growth of young playwrights programs in the United States:

The first is an encyclopedia-style entry about the burgeoning regional programs in the late 1980s, which is published as part of a crowd-sourced timeline celebrating the 30th anniversary of Youth Theatre Journal. You can link to the article here.

The second is an article about the current field of young playwrights program that draws from data I have gathered in creating and updating The Young Playwrights Map. This is published in the NYU Program in Educational Theatre online journal, ArtsPraxis, and can be found here.

I am excited to share this work and to document the tremendous field of playwriting programs for youth that are present in this country. Looking forward to wrapping up my dissertation exploring the impact of these programs and to continue to advocate for the unique opportunities and experiences provided within this field.

And They're Off!

This week begins the final session of summer classes at the theatre. This last session is a return to the two-week format from the beginning of the summer and after six one-week sessions, it feels a bit like switching from a sprint to a marathon. Right now the class is busily writing away. I've thrown a lot at them - perhaps too much - and they need some time to get to know their characters and the characters' everyday lives. We have talked about what makes for "good" and "bad" stories and how to map out the Hero's Journey and ways to alter it. They loved writing up a pitch for The Worst Story Ever. The very first class enjoyed that when I introduced the idea toward the end of our session, but this was a great way to get the class started. They are a smart group; very willing to talk and debate. I can't wait to see what they've been working on.

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'

For a while now I have been thinking about how much theatre - musical theatre in particular - has been a source of comfort and joy throughout my life. This morning, my commute was infinitely improved with the discovery of a long-lost Ragtime soundtrack. So, I thought it a good time to begin what I hope can be a regular series about show tunes. One song recently on my mind is “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” from Oklahoma!

I realize there are some people who see Oklahoma! as naive, or even “cheesey”, and I will admit that I felt that way about it for quite some time. But after discovering the 1998 Royal National Theatre production on PBS a few years ago, I’ve been converted. That production, directed by Susan Stroman, had a realistic quality to it in which the characters felt as close to real people as a musical with dancing cowboys and farmers could possibly be. Plus, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” is an easy song to sing and holds an interesting place in American theatre history with a connection to today’s “history maker”, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.

Both Oklahoma! and Hamilton are considered “ground breaking” in their time. We understand how that moniker can be given to Hamilton, but perhaps it is less obvious for Oklahoma! The Rodgers and Hammerstein staple was an experiment in musical theatre when it premiered in 1943. Musical theatre at the time followed a typical structure with song-and-dance numbers and action reminiscent of Vaudeville and other variety entertainments. However, when the curtain rises on Oklahoma!, Aunt Eller sits alone on stage as Curley enters the scene singing the opening number all on his own. In the HBO documentary Six by Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim, who was a protege of Oscar Hammerstein II, describes this as an example of how Hammerstein’s greatest influence in American theatre is his work as “an experimental playwright”. Sondheim himself would further alter the musical theatre structure with his self-described “conversational songs” and word play. Things brings us to Hamilton, which alters musical theatre structure again with the inclusion of rap and hip-hop into conventional theatre. More directly, there is a line of mentorship between these three artists. As Sondheim was mentored by Hammerstein, Miranda learned from Sondheim (who Miranda affectionately calls “Sondheezy”). (This lineage has a role in the history of American young playwrights programs, too.)

This clip from the 1998 production at the Royal National Theatre in London is the version I enjoy the most. If you haven't seen it in full, check it out on the PBS website. I also use this video when lecturing about musical theatre, or in some playwriting workshops with young people. Hugh Jackman is a big appeal, especially to those students who know him primarily as Wolverine. (And wow, can he sing!)

Who's teaching Whom?

Revisiting Gerald Chapman's excellent book, Teaching Young Playwrights (1991), to gather some inspiration as the summer playwrights complete their first drafts. In addition to finding some great revision exercises, I am also revisiting some of Chapman's salient stories about the power of writing for young people.

One such anecdote is excerpted from the book Writing: Teachers and Children at Work (1983) by Donald Graves in which Leon Tolstoy was asked by some children to write a story for them:

"He began composing while his students gathered around his desk. But instead of being awed by this great writer, the children quickly pointed out a mistake in Tolstoy's portrayal of the young thief. In his journal, Tolstoy later wrote that they were right to correct him, and he crystallized his views about this in an essay entitled 'Are We To Teach the Peasant Children to Write, or Are They To Teach Us?'" (quoted in Chapman, p. 101).

Summer Camp Playwriting - Day 3

(also published on the Writers Theatre of NJ blog)

Picking up where we left off in Tuesday's class, I shared with the students the advice from Twitter about crafting scenes. In addition to what was mentioned in yesterday’s post, I also included these ideas from Ramon Esquivel (@Bub1974)

• Good Q. 1st draft, I write scene until it naturally ends/shifts. Later, I CUT to shape story tone + pacing.
• 1st drafts are about finding character for me. I let 1d scenes run/meander as long as needed. Find voices!

The suggestions received on Twitter immediately sparked ideas within the class and they quickly made some edits to the scenes already written. I coupled this with a quick discussion of The Hero’s Journey framework to show how smaller scenes, and their individual tasks/conflicts, can fit into the larger arc of the play. This really sparked the playwrights’ imaginations, particularly when seeing the journey as a 3D spiral rather than the 2D drawing I had done on the board. We had already discussed how the Emergency can launch a character into the world of the play whether or not she wants to go. Thinking of this as the point when the character’s world changes was especially useful; understanding that the typical “conclusion” was actually the start of the hero’s return home after completing, and being changed by, the journey set them off scribbling and typing new ideas.

Our version of Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey

The class also liked the idea of introducing additional characters into the play as “mentors and demons,” who either help or hurt the heroine in her journey. One student suggested the term “demon” be changed to “dementor,” which I thought was a great idea. (You’ll see that term on the chart above.) I also added the phrase “line of change” to emphasize the points at which the main character experiences change in the journey paradigm.

We explored conflict through a letter writing exercise in which the main character writes to a potential mentor for help on the journey. That letter was shared with another playwright who wrote a response letter as if they were the person to whom the page was addressed. The respondent did not know anything about the character other than that person’s name; they also had to refuse to help. The first playwright wrote another letter in response and this time the respondent could either agree or again refuse. This activity takes a lot of time, but can be helpful not only in demonstrating conflict, but for beginning to develop the additional character(s) who may be found along the hero’s journey.

The students made great strides in their writing today, but still need some more time to write tomorrow. A couple have suggested that they may be done, but I anticipate that there will be more of the story to tell. I’m considering bringing in a few of our summer interns to read the plays so the playwrights get a chance to hear the words outside of their own heads. This is much earlier than I would typically do something like this, but I think they are ready. Can’t wait!

Summer Camp Playwriting - Day 2

(simultaneously published on the Writers Theatre of NJ blog)

Picking up where we left off yesterday in the Playwriting Workshop, the students revisited the formatting for a script through a pairs writing exercise. Partners took turns setting up their script by alternating the writing of information on a title page. This included items like character descriptions, setting, and an “at rise” to describe what the audience sees as the play begins. Once this was set, the writers took turns crafting a line of dialogue and then passed the notebook to their partner. They wrote like this for ten minutes and then we shared the drafts. I like to use this activity early in the process to reinforce the way the script is structured - which is often foreign to young playwrights - but also because it helps students practice writing dialogue as a reaction to what another character has previously said or done. I find this prevents them from overthinking how the play is structured and is a good stand-in for an acting exercise (which I find is something my student writers tend to not want to do).

From here we visited the character descriptions the students created yesterday and talked about what event or opportunity sent the character on her journey. This led to the brainstorming of a list of actions someone might take to get what they want. Ideas ranged from asking to murder! I encouraged the playwrights to decide one action where the character would begin and another that signified how far the character was willing to go to succeed. Having a line to cross is a great way for a character (and a playwright) to heighten the tension and, in my opinion, make the story more interesting and real to an audience.

Speaking of audience, I was happy to revisit the idea of writing for two audiences (spectators and performers), which we discussed on the first day. This seemed to inspire them to make detailed choices about how to present information within the dialogue for the audience and within the stage directions for the production staff. After some time writing, other questions arose about when to change scenes. My response is always along the lines of: you start a new scene whenever time or place changes. This works for most young playwrights’ stories, but this particular playwright had location shifts that were more subtle and this answer didn’t quite suffice. So, I took to Twitter and polled a few playwrights. I’m thankful to Pia Wilson, Dania Ramos, and Lauren Gunderson who provided some suggestions in response.

Pia Wilson (@pwilson720) began with the following suggestions:

• Depends on the story. U have 2 think abt the objective of the scene & what the chars need to accomplish.
• Sometimes a scene isn’t finished when you think it is. U can only know that in the context of the play.

Lauren Gunderson (@LalaTellsAStory) supported these ideas with the following:

• Each scene is a small play, with a goal achieved, something discovered or status changed. Then a new scene.
• A scene should propel the characters into the next scene. The audience should be hungry for more story
• Plot = Change. What changes for the characters in the scene. If nothing? Then you’re writing the wrong stuff

Dania Ramos (@DaniaDania) echoed my suggestion about time and place.

I look forward to sharing these ideas with the students in the morning and to the impact they are likely to have on the process.

When I teach a summer playwriting class, I don’t prescribe a strict writing process for the students. Instead I make a few suggestions, support them with exercises, and largely leave things open for the writers to proceed as they wish. For some that involves mapping out the steps a character takes along the journey (which typically translates into scenes); others need to know who the play is about, what s/he is going to do, and where it is taking place and then they write and figure it out while writing. I like to leave it open to take away the pressure of having to write something excellent and instead place the emphasis on just writing. But the playwright suggestions above may alter our course toward a more formal outline. I think there are some students who will benefit greatly from that idea and I’m curious to see how it works out.

Summer Camp Playwrights - Day 1

(simultaneously published on the Writers Theatre of NJ blog)

Today begins another summer of theatre camp classes at Writers Theatre of New Jersey. For the second year in a row, we start off with a class of young writers in the Playwriting Workshop. These students will enter sixth through ninth grade in the fall and most have an interest in creative writing, if not playwriting specifically. In fact, this may be the first time I’ve had a summer playwriting class where all of the students have written a dramatic script before. Regardless of students’ background, the first day always poses the challenge to figure out how comfortable everyone is sharing their work as well as how willing they are to spend the time writing.

Over the years I’ve come to structure the first class as an overview of the entire process: we brainstorm, develop characters, instigate conflict, and explore how things like setting, time, and even physicality (what if what you just wrote was spoken by an object in the room?) can impact those elements. I ask a lot of questions - a LOT of them - and make sure to emphasize that as a playwright there are two audiences: the people who gather to hear the story, but also the creative artists who will embody the story and bring it to life. This is a lot to digest, but I find it is often a new realization for the writers that helps craft more theatrical stories.

Creating characters

This first day is also a chance for me to try out some new activities and approaches, or to alter how I introduce them within the two week course. Last year, my groups had a great time working with a Norman Rockwell April Fool’s Day painting from 1947 and an exercise in which they rewrote a scene using a location from outside the building. The latter experience of setting made quite an impact on the students last year that I anticipate using it earlier in the process, but still not until they’ve begun to establish the parameters of the play they will develop for a public sharing on the final day.

For today, I tried an adaptation of something I’ve done for a while. I asked the students to make a list of five things they knew to be true. These could be known facts, personal experiences, or even ideas that they could support like factual evidence. They then wrote about this truth in their own voice. To keep this from feeling like a persuasive essay, I asked that they think of it like telling the story, or sharing the information with someone else. Once this was done, I asked them to reread - and likely rewrite - what the had just done from the perspective of an object in the room. Once that was done, they had to imagine the truth from an opposite perspective. Who might believe the opposite was true? Why? What led them to have that belief or understanding? They then read the two opposing speeches and we talked about how having multiple perspectives made the “good guy” and “bad guy” more realistic and believable to an audience. I will look to keep this theme going throughout the session.

How Lucky We Are

We can learn a lot from the theatre. We learn from our experiences as audience members by absorbing and reflecting upon the adventures, connections, and struggles of the characters who inhabit the story on stage. We also learn through the process of creating art; I’m fortunate to work in a field where I get to see students transformed by their experiences creating, rehearsing, and performing original theatre works. And this past Sunday the entire world had the chance to learn from the passion and compassion of theatre-makers on the Tony Awards.

I “grew up” in the theatre. My first experiences were performing in elementary school plays, but it was in middle school when I really connected to it. I’ve written about this before, but I feel that the opportunities I had in the theatre as a kid saved my life. James Corden’s effusive opening number, “That Could Be Me” (at right), was so poignant: that young, dreaming child in the song WAS me. It was many of us who have made a life in the theatre.

There’s a joy and wonderment in the work that we do and many of us “theatre people” are just so thankful to be able to do what we do. I saw that sense of thankfulness and a level of compassion and encouragement in the speeches given by just about all of the Tony winners. My friend, Braden Bell, wrote a beautiful blog post about that this morning. (So, while I initially wanted to post this on Monday, I’m glad it was delay so as to include Braden’s words.) Also, the Broadway world used these moments to lift us up in the wake of that morning’s horrors in Orlando. (See the LA Times for a collection of these.) I particularly appreciated the statement by Hamilton producer Jerry Seller speaking about a vision of America that “embodies the best values, the best impulses that make our nation a beacon to the world: inclusiveness, generosity, ingenuity, and the will to work hard and make our dreams come true.” He finished with a repeated phrase from the show: “Look around. Look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now.”

The Tony Awards had a difficult job to do. How can we possible celebrate in the face of danger and uncertainty? This is a time when it is easy to feel defeated. Horrible things happen around us, and to us, but we have a choice of how to respond and how to move forward. It is fascinating to hear the characters of Hamilton sing about how lucky they are to be alive in a world that is turned upside down, but that’s the perspective we need to keep moving ahead. If I’ve ever questioned how something so lighthearted as musical theatre can be relevant in difficult and important times, the answer is now quite clear. Theatre is not an escape from the world (as some might argue), but an answer to it. (Or at least a suggestion.) What was said and done at the Tony Awards on Sunday put that idea on display for us all to see, and feel, and reflect upon, just as any work of theatre is supposed to do.

How lucky am I to be alive and working in the field right now?

The Young Playwrights Map 2.0

Introducing The Young Playwrights Map!

Ok... so, actually you may have already met the Map. It has been online for almost a year now with the most recent updates posted last week. There are currently 69 different opportunities listed there with at least one program for students in 33 different states. And ten of those listed accept scripts from young writers across the nation. I'm always looking to expand the resource, so the plan is to reconnect with those organizations already on the list again in August.

This afternoon I will share the Map during a session at the NYU Forum on Educational Theatre. My paper presentation will discuss the history of young playwrights programs in the United States (briefly), how I came to build the map, and some results of a recent inquiry I made into the way in which the programs included on the Map conduct their work with young playwrights. I'm looking forward to sharing the news and receiving feedback on the project.

I am also thrilled to announce that the Map will move foward with a new name: The Young Playwrights Map. While it is still focused on programs available to writers in the US, the title will allow for planned inclusion of programs around the world. (I will likely begin that work in 2017.) Also, the Map now has a home on Facebook and Twitter (@TheYPMap), so look to connect with the project there!

A new look

Switching my blog over from the website-based format to Blogger. I'll be transferring old posts for the next few days and looking to start fresh in May. See you then!

Reading plays

This week I’ve been reading plays for the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. This current batch of scripts were written by students in high school (grades 10-12); next week I will tackle plays from junior high school students (grades 7-9). It can take a long time to read a group of plays and write critiques for each, but it is a process that I enjoy and that I have been doing for a long time (almost 14 years now!).

When I talk about my work with young playwrights, I am often asked what kinds of things children write about in a play. Also, I’m asked what commonalities exist among the scripts. Generally, young playwrights are writing about the same things that adult playwrights write about: stories that are personal and themes and events that impact our daily lives. The most common of themes is friendship, which I see must often in plays written by elementary and junior high school students. However, high school students tackle that subject, too.

I also think that when people ask this question, they may be looking for something that will help a play get selected for performance. In essence: what are the common elements among winning plays. The answer to that is more complex as it lies beyond topics and themes and even technical aspects of writing. In my opinion, for a play to really stand out, it needs to evoke some kind of emotion or passion.

That answer may vary among people who read and evaluate scripts, but at the heart of any choice to nominate a play for further consideration in a contest, or performance at a festival, the play has to mean something to the person who is reading it. A good play will have a plot and characters that are well developed, meaningful and consistent dialogue, and a conflict that fuels the story. What really sets a play apart from there is its ability to move an audience. I want to be left thinking about the play and with strong feelings about what the characters have said and done. I want to feel passionate about putting it on stage and sharing the story with others. Of course that kind of reaction will also differ among readers. That makes the process a bit more subjective than we might like it to be. But in the end isn’t that the reason why we tell stories: to move our audience to think and feel and do?

There are a good number of scripts in the NJ Young Playwrights Contest that have moved our readers this year. Those plays will be read again by another set of readers until eventually about 3-4 are chosen in each division to be performed at the Festival. I’ve read a lot of good plays so far and can’t wait to read and be moved by more.

Write write write

This morning, Facebook reminded me that it was two years ago today that Lin-Manuel Miranda replied to my question on Twitter about his advice to young playwrights:

"Write write write. What I'd give for your energy. WRITE!"

Some of the best advice there could be for young writers... or writers of any age. (What I'd give for Miranda's energy!)