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!)