Student Voice and Musical Choice

Last weekend (April 22-24), we wrapped up our winter musical production of Disney's The Little Mermaid with an online streaming performance. My students worked tirelessly to make it happen and while we all preferred sharing with a live audience, the experience of watching the show with their families and friends made it even more special. I'm proud of the work they did and deeply appreciated the support, excitement, encouragement, and congratulations sent by teachers and peers to the cast and crew. It is the sum of the experience that will have the greatest impact; it is why I love doing this work so much.

Unfortunately, I can't publicly share the whole show, but here is a sneak peek video that I put together ahead of the performance last week. You can also see the "tribute" video for last year's production of Into the Woods, which we weren't able to produce because of Covid.

Those who know me will find it no surprise that I am already working on the musical for next year (I can't rest, but I also love doing this so much). I'm also reflecting on the drama club as a whole and exploring ways to expand its work and elevate its visibility within the school community. To my joy and surprise, the students are thinking about these things, too.

Last week, I sent out a student survey to get some insight from the entire drama club membership. Of the 72 students listed, only 20 have replied so far, but I also noticed these responses were from students who were not actively involved. I followed up with the cast and crew of the most recent show and openly asked for their ideas about what show to do. I gave them some factors that I consider when making a selection and encouraged them to do the same. Those factors were:

• who is/may/may not be involved?
• what are the strengths of that group?
• what provides a new experience, or challenge for the group?
• do we have the technical capability/time/interest?
• variety (for example, following comedy one year with tragedy the next)
• what will an audience come to see?*
• what is appropriate for both audience and actors?

This lead to some interesting email exchanges and I was encouraged by how deeply students were thinking about their choices. Then one of our graduating seniors wrote to me as the representative from a group that had been discussing this in a group chat. And the play titles were very interesting. So, I asked the student to meet with me and the dance teacher to talk further. I'm so glad that I did!

What the conversation revealed is that the theatre students have an profound desire to do more serious work. Their choice of a classic, golden era musical was particularly intriguing. The dance teacher and I are using this insight to explore other titles we originally felt might be uninteresting. We also have a conversation with a larger group of students planned for Tuesday. I think this is an incredible opportunity for us to build and grow together by holding each other accountable.

We do a lot of talk about student-driven work, student voice, student inclusion. If this has taught me anything it is how important those things can be when they are put into action.

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Young Playwrights Guide - Conversation Series

This weekend wraps up the summer edition of the Conversations Series on the Young Playwrights Guide YouTube channel. I had such a great time connecting with the artists & teachers with whom I worked on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival. Their stories and insights are excellent resources for not only youth creators, but many of us looking to reconnect with and rekindle our passion for the art form. Please head on over to the YP Guide YouTube channel to check out the videos; please reach out to the artists interviewed, too. They are excellent people to work with!

And please remember to SUBSCRIBE!

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Grit and the Achievement Theory

This summer I read the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Dr. Angela Duckworth. This was an enjoyable read with easy to follow concepts and relatable examples. Within the first two chapters were ideas that I see as easily adapted to the theatre classroom or after-school program. The most exciting part of the book was a later chapter that included an entire section devoted to how after-school & extra-curricular activities are the best environment for students to learn and develop perseverance. This perseverance is what Duckworth defines as "grit".

Expanding further, Duckworth defines grit as "passion and perseverance for long-term goals" ("What is Grit?"). Grit is purposeful determination aimed toward achieving higher-order goals. Grit is what Duckworth's research shows may be the greatest indicator of future student success.

What incredible supporting evidence for my experience that I learn more about how well a student will do in a theatre class, or a school production, based on their demeanor and conversation in an audition or rehearsal room. Often that tells me more than "talent". In fact, while Duckworth identifies talent as the first step toward developing grit, effort "counts twice" in that pursuit.

This is explained in Duckworth's achievement theory, which works like this:

talent x effort = skill

skill x effort = achievement

Based on this theory map, talent is the first step toward skill development, which is necessary for goal achievement. It isn't enough to have talent - one must apply their talent through effort. Further effort, bolstered by subsequently developed skills, brings achievement.

This makes a lot of sense. How many times have we theatre teachers and directors - and I would assume coaches in school and youth sports - seen a child with talent who did not realize their full potential due to a lack of effort? However, there is one slight adjustment I might make to the achievement theory above. I don't know that talent is an essential first step toward goal achievement. Perhaps "interest" is all that is needed?

Let's consider "talent" as a natural skill that gives a person a head start toward achievement. As explained by the theory, a talented person still needs to put in the effort to accomplish the end goal. However, those who lack the same "talent", but posses a strong interest in goal achievement, can still get there through effort. It may not be as easy, but it is certainly possible.

That is an important idea to keep in mind when conducting our classes and leading our productions. In fact, I envision that first level of the Achievement Theory as the classroom and the second level as the production. Skill can certainly be developed through effort in the rehearsal process, but the classroom provides time for individual instruction and for focus on specific skill development that cannot always be achieved in the rehearsal room. It is an interesting model that I am eager to bring to my high school classes. I'd be curious to hear how you view this approach and whether or not it may, or has, worked for you.

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Engaging Live Lecture

This weekend, Seth Godin posted an interesting idea on his blog called "Break the Lecture". In short, Godin is suggesting that we live in a digital age where interactive technology is nearly ubiquitous and people experience things less in person than they did years ago. One area he suggests hasn't changed is the classroom lecture, which has remained one-sided whether in person or online. He offers the idea of a "back channel" app that asks students questions throughout the lecture. This provides a means for engagement while offering a speaker feedback in real time. I like the concept and agree that lectures need to be rethought in order to engage with the audience. However, I don't know if using our digital technology is the best way.

PeopleImages/Getty
(Is that the lecturer from HigherEdJobs.com?)

Immediately, I think of my middle school and high school classrooms where technology is a constant distraction. This is particularly true in middle school. While Godin's theoretical app would block all other apps and programs, I wonder if it only exacerbates the distance that device use has created. Listening and discussing during a lecture is an important skill that will be of benefit to students in the future. Interacting with a live person - while becoming an incredibly less prevalent experience in our society - is a skill that needs nurturing; one might argue it to be one of the most important for children in the middle school years.

So instead of an engagement app, I propose making those lectures more engaging. A good first step would be getting some of that text off the screen (or at the very least, please stop reading what text is up there). Using tech to elevate engagement in the lecture will go a long way. In the end, it always comes down to the age-old "know your audience" and gear the presentation toward their needs and interests. Admittedly, with students, they also need to be willing to take that journey, but as a teacher it is my job - our job - to meet them at that point and provide an interesting path forward. Jordan Tannahill explores this idea within the context of creating theatre in his book Theatre of the Unimpressed. Plenty of strong ideas in there that can be applied to the classroom. I am trying to do this myself, but the jury is still out on it... but so far, so good.

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Looking Back at My Earliest Projects

Receiving wisdom from Lowell Swortzell
Rehearsals for Lucky Peter's Journey
February 2000

A few months ago, I was cleaning out an old filing cabinet in the education office at Writers Theatre. In one drawer was a series of teaching artist files and resumes from actors/directors with whom we've worked in the last 20 years. One of the last folders in there was mine, which contained my original letter of application and resume. It was remarkable to look back at some of my earliest work in the graduate program at NYU, particularly two TYA directing projects: a staged reading of Lucky Peter's Journey adapted by my mentor, Lowell Swortzell, and a devised, collaborative piece called The Greenwich Village Project.

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Needle in a Haystack

My first memorable theatre experience was in 3rd grade when a visiting opera company performed a scene called "I Hate Men" in which the main character, a female teacher, shot dead her male colleagues. However questionable the subject matter, I was hooked and began writing my own scripts. Fast forward 15 years and I was working on the nearly defunct NJ Young Playwrights Festival, providing feedback to young writers in grades 4-12.

In conducting research, the history of the field's development has fascinated me. I have written about that history in an article published in ArtsPraxis and occasionally on the blog for the Young Playwrights Map. Yet this writing is limited to a history of programming influenced by the work done within the national young playwrights competition that eventually became Young Playwrights, Inc. (YPI) founded by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and developed by the late director, Gerald Chapman. While the influence of Sondheim and Chapman's work in the field cannot be denied, there have been instances of youth creation of plays prior to the national program at YPI in 1981.

Child performers, Federal Theatre Project
Gary, Indiana

Most noted of these earlier programs is the Marilyn Bianchi Kid's Playwriting Festival at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland begun in 1979. In fact, Cleveland seems to have been an incubator of early work in theatre for young audiences through the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) and Playhouse Square. I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy of Showtime in Cleveland by John Vacha to learn more about that. I am also in search of a piece of information that I swear was in my original dissertation research, but can no longer find: evidence that one of the FTP units (Gary, Indiana perhaps) directly engaged students in writing their own scripts. The unit in Gary had children performing work, so it makes the most sense, but correspondence with a scholar who has studied the FTP in Indiana has me questioning that possibility. Learning about Cleveland's history brings my attention to that unit. I also believe there were playwriting programs for youth in Boston and/or Vermont in the 1960s that may have been precursors to the current competitions and festivals in those areas.

I will keep eyes and ears open for that needle in a haystack. Any leads or ideas are most certainly welcome.

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I know what I'm doing

Directing Meeka Rising by Carol Korty
NYU New Plays for Young Audiences, 2013

My life in theatre began at age 11 when I spent my first summer working backstage with the summer stock company led by two of my uncles. This introduction came at an integral time in my life and gave me direction toward the place where I am today.

That means I have spent 30 years in the theatre - 20 of them working professionally as an actor, director, dramaturg, and teacher (not necessarily in that order or in those capacities all of the time). Sometimes it is important to reflect on the past to understand how far you've come.

This also gives me the confidence to say that I know what I'm doing and know that I do it well.

Young, Emerging, Submurging

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How do we define a particular group of playwrights? Are they "emerging" or "young" writers? Or perhaps they are something different altogether. This is one of the question I have considered throughout the dissertation research. Generally, I have found that the preference for one term over another, as well as the definition of each, depends in large part upon geographic region and the age of the playwright. However, even those aren't definitive rationale for using one term over another.

And then there are the occasions where a term is used, but the context leaves little clue as to what exactly it means. (I'm looking at you, Audible. The $5 million in commissions is great, but who do you mean when you say "emerging playwrights"?)

In the end, I think that each term refers to a group of writers who are "new" to the work both as writers who have never crafted a script before and those who are just becoming known to the larger audience. Here is an interesting blog post from the Emerging Writers Festival in Victoria, Australia that offers a new suggestion, the "submerged playwright":

http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/rmit-gazette-emerging-established-submerged/

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.

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!

Here's the Pitch

Playwrights pitching their ideas (PTNJ Summer)

This post was originally published on the NJ Young Playwrights blog on Nov 9, 2015.

When writers have an idea, or a completed script, and are looking for financial support, they sometimes need to give a presentation of that play to a producer (think Shark Tank for writers). Similarly, other writers (usually in television) meet together frequently to share plot ideas with one another. Talking about a story idea in this situation is called giving a "pitch". A pitch is a summary of the story that is usually pretty short and defined by a certain amount of time, amount of words, etc. This is typically something done when you start writing, but I've found it to be helpful to young playwrights at any time throughout the process.

If at any point in the process you find that you are stuck, or have writer's block, give this pitch exercise a try. First, summarize the general information about the play by beginning with the phrase: "This is a story about ________ " and then continue by giving some information about the character. This can simply be a noun like "girl" or "boy" or "wallaby", or you can give the name. Next, tell a little something about that person's everyday life, what they want/need to do in the play, and why the want/need to do it." For example, if we were to give a pitch about The Wizard of Oz, it might look something like this:

This is the story of a girl from Kansas who gets trapped in her house during a tornado. The tornado picks up the house and lands in the middle of a magical world called Oz. The girl wants to get back home, but is in danger because when her house fell, it fell on the Wicked Witch of the East and killed her. Now, the witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, wants revenge on Dorothy for what she's done. With the help of a good witch named Glinda, Dorothy begins her journey to the Emerald City to see the Wizard who she is told will be able to send her home. Along the way, she meets three other inhabitants of Oz who also need the Wizard's help.

In that one paragraph, we get a pretty good sense of who the story is about, what she needs to do, who some of the other characters are, and what difficulties they all might face. This isn't a complete story, but it might just give you enough of an idea of what you are writing about to help you move through any writer's block, or moments where you are unsure about what you are writing. You can also use this exercise to brainstorm before writing your play, or as a check-in to see how well your story is progressing at any time during the writing process.

Happy writing!

As Long As It Needs to Be

This post previously appeared this morning on the NJ Young Playwrights Blog, which I manage for Playwrights Theatre of NJ. Since 2008, I have used the blog as a way to document the annual Festival performances and to encourage playwrights with ideas, tips, stories, and suggestions. For that reason, the tone of the post is geared toward an audience in 4th - 12th grade, but I'd love for you to take a look here.

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 the Guidelines page for the NJ Young Playwrights Festival

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!

Back on the Boards

My desk during final preparations for NJYPF 2015

Preparations are just about done and this Sunday we begin rehearsals for the 32nd annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. This is a program I have run for Playwrights Theatre since I started working there in 2002. For the past two months, I've communicated with the high school playwrights via email and phone, and finally had a chance to meet them in person at the NJ Governor's Awards for Arts Education on Wednesday. These four students have done a remarkable job not just crafting engaging stories, but also a pair of significant revisions using feedback from our contest readers and the festival dramaturgs. The first rewrite was a great way to assess the commitment to the process and willingness of the finalists to make changes to their work. The goal of the second rewrite under the guidance of a dramaturg, is to help jump start the playwrights into the rehearsal process.

The high school playwrights have always been directly involved in rehearsals, but this is only the second year implementing a pre-Festival routine (last year introduced the dramaturgs; this year, the finalist rewrites). A year prior, I noticed that only a handful of playwrights were actively participating in the program. There are a variety of reasons for this, of course, but it seemed that much of it had to do with the playwrights being thrown into rehearsals without any significant orientation. Seeing professionals work on your script can be exciting, but it can also be very intimidating. Hopefully we've alleviated some of that this year. I can't wait to begin working on the scripts tomorrow. What I can wait for is my new role in this year's program.

I've been directing portions of the Festival for many years, but this is the first time that I will perform in them. Festival scripts are often populated by youth, or young adult, characters; however, this year we were surprised that of the 13 total characters in the four high school plays, only five characters were young people. The majority of the actors that I typically hire for young playwrights presentations are in their early to mid-20s, so the challenge became finding the actors needed for the adult characters. We did well, but fell short to the point where a colleague and I will need to step into two roles. That's all well for my colleague who is a professional actor. For me, on the other hand, it is not a typical role. I've performed onstage before, but I haven't since the New Plays for Young Audiences Series in 2007. So, this should be interesting, to say the least!

Young Playwrights Map

A few years ago I noticed through casual Google searching that there were many opportunities for young people to write plays and have them published or performed. It also was exciting to see just how many of these programs existed across the country, with new ones seeming to pop up every year. What appeared to be missing, however, was a central resource that brought together the variety of information about each of these projects. A few organizations have attempted this with varying results because - as some PTNJ interns and I discovered on a first attempt about two years ago - it is difficult to keep up with the pace of change within the field. (And thanks to those interns for their help!) However, as my dissertation has begun to take shape, I had an opportunity to really make this work; a handful of conversations with excited young playwrights and colleagues provided the encouragement; and finally, this past week, I was able to publish a compilation of 68 individual programs into one Google Map. You can see the result on this website using the Young Playwrights tab. 

It is exciting to think of the potential impact this map might have introducing young writers to new and undiscovered opportunities to share their voices. I also view it as a first step in connecting those in the field of young playwrights work. We don't often have the chance to do so.

Early this morning I sent an introductory email to the addresses and contacts associated with each young playwrights program. I hope that these organizations will provide me with any missing details, or program updates. I also plan to follow up with the programs over the summer, so that young writers can have fresh data when the school year begins and their new scripts begin to take shape.

If you know of a program that is not currently listed on the site, please contact me with information including the name and contact for any administrator who can provide me with details to include on the map. Thanks!

Our First Experiences with Theatre

When I was eight, an opera company came to my school to present an assembly about their work. I remember sitting on the floor in the middle of the gym completely transfixed by their presentation. Of particular interest was their explanation of how to stay safe on stage. Before one scene, an actor showed us a starter pistol and explained that they used it because it made a realistic sound of a gun, but did not have any bullets, which, obviously would be very dangerous. He further explained that for added protection the person firing the pistol would not point it at another actor, but aim it in the air. And with that, this troupe presented a scene they called "I Hate Men" (which may or may not have included the song of the same name from Kiss Me, Kate). The scene was about a female teacher who had grown so disgusted with her male counterparts that she shoots each of them while singing her song; the men wound up in a cartoon-like dog pile on one side of the stage. I was at once entranced and completely horrified, but not by what had transpired (which was horrible and surprising given the context, even in 1985). Rather what offended me was the idea that firing the pistol in the air was in any way believable. I knew there had to be a better way.

Armed with my retractable four-color ballpoint pen, I opened my Trapper Keeper and proceeded to write my own version of "I Hate Men". I cast classmates in the roles and wrote their lines assigning each character their own color  The plan was to perform the play at recess, but it never happened. But I kept writing: anything and everything that I could. Sometimes I wrote scripts that my friends and I would film using a VHS video camera that the kid up the street had; I loved doing research projects and creative writing assignments. I also wrote short comics based on doodles I drew in my notebooks. Writing also helped me cope with losing my hair just a couple years later and I kept a journal all the way through my freshman year of college. Now, while I write much less, I have built a career around mentoring young artists and writers. It wasn't a conscious decision, but something that progressed naturally as I made my way through the world. And it all stems from that one moment sitting on the gymnasium floor watching an opera company who thought enough to share their work - perhaps more importantly, their passion - with young people.

My oldest son had a similar experience about a year ago when my wife took him to see his first live theatre performance: a touring company presentation of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - one of his favorite books at the time. There were other picture book adaptations presented that afternoon and the one that he was most excited about was Borreguita and the Coyote. He enjoyed the story so much that he spent the next few days drawing pictures of the it, recreated it with his friends at day care, and eventually set up his own stage in the playroom in our house. One afternoon, my wife and I, along with our two other children, were directed where to sit, handed a program, and treated to a monologue about how the play would work - more a lecture on directing the piece than an actual performance.

This past Sunday, my son told me that he is writing a play about Star Wars (his newest interest) and wants to act it out with his friends at day care. Apparently, he asked his pre-K teacher if they could perform the play there, but he was not satisfied with her response. So, my wife and I have been recruited to help him make the play a reality. He is determined to make this happen and we're considering some ways that might work.

It is fun to think that my son and I had such similar responses to our earliest encounters with theatre. The resulting creativity and passion are wonderful benefits that I hope everyone might experience, if not for themselves then certainly for a child whom they accompany to the theatre. And I encourage all artists, if they are not already doing so, to share their work and their creative process with young people. It has an unbelievable impact and potential to benefit to that young person's life.

So, with that I wish everyone a very happy World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People!

Defining TYA

It can be difficult to discuss a topic when there is little consensus on the definition of the topic(s) being discussed. I've recently been involved in dialogue in which words that seem to have a concrete meaning, but really identify a more general area that allows for multiple interpretations dependent upon individual contexts and experiences that each discussion participant has with the term. One term that often falls into this realm is "theatre for young audiences" or "TYA", which typically defines those performances intended for "young" people. But what exactly does that mean? How young is "young"?

Last year, I was a member of the planning committee for a Forum on TYA (theatre for young audiences) at NYU and considered this topic in the Forum blog ahead of the weekend sessions (link here). The question I still have is "What is TYA?", or as the Forum sought to explore it, "Which way TYA?" The Forum sessions and workshops addressed these questions with a variety of examples of the direction and form that many productions for young audiences can take; however, I am still curious about the definition of the term.

During our planning, a colleague posed the the following questions to the group: "Does the category of 'Theatre for Young Audiences' create more problems than solutions for us? Does it carry a stigma? Are we too separate from the rest of the theatre movement?  In Germany, they talk about Young Theatre - a spirit that pervades young work, young performers, and a young/less conventional attitude to making theatre. This allows repertory theatres and main houses as well as what we would call more traditional TYA to share the same umbrella. And it means that there are fewer preconceptions."

I like this idea of defining the spirit of a theatre movement as opposed to the tangible qualities of the work. It also speaks toward the similarities among the various definitions of TYA as opposed to highlighting the differences. Whether we call it "Theatre for Young Audiences" or "Young Theatre" or some other incarnation of that phrase, what similarities exist among our work? Can we come to a consensus definition? Should we?

These are questions that are likely not new to your work. What similarities do you see in theatre that is labeled as "TYA"? What is your definition?