HERO WORSHIP

In the talkback, Gary talked about having a hero. A playwright hero/heroine. We all look up to someone. Or aspire to be like someone. Who is that person? For the most part, I've hero worshipped people like Tennessee Williams, Craig Lucas, and David Mamet. I remember reading "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" like ten times in a row. It changed the way I structured/thought out my plays. I have a habit of obsessively reading the works of one author. I did that last year with Tennessee Williams. I had to read everything he wrote--and he wrote a lot.

I'd have to say my playwriting hero is Edward Albee. He's one I always go back to. If I'm uninspired, or feeling like I don't want to write plays anymore, I go back and read "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" I have read that play so many times. It gets me excited about theater. It's such a simple set-up. And nothing really happens, but man, is it intense and dark and sad and funny.

I know many of you are new to reading/writing plays. But I do want you to think about this. Maybe read stuff on your own. Find your playwright. I'll start recommending writers to each of you--your style of writing will lead me to think you may dig some writer and I'll let you know. I remember being in Arnie Johnston's 368 Playwriting class and he asked me if I read any Joe Orton. I was like who? Now he's one of my favorite writers, and a big influence on my writing.

Find a writer you can relate to. Someone that speaks to you. Or someone that writes what you want to go see.

Pretend you're a six-year-old again--find yourself a hero.

Gary Garrison Visit

What did you all think of Gary Garrison? You learn anything...if so, what? I'm curious to hear what you all have to say.

New Play Project Deadline

Who needs the beach with all it's sand and sunshine when you can spend the day in a cold, dark theater?

The deadline for the New Play Project is March 16th, 2007. I want you all to submit your 10-minute plays.

I did the New Play Project last year and I can't tell you what a great experience it is, especially since all of you are new to playwriting. It's a fantastic group of actors, writers, directors--all working together to make an excellent piece of art. It's exciting to see the final result of all your hard work performed on stage in front of a live audience. I highly recommend you all do this. It's an experience you will not forget.

If any of you have questions or want to discuss your 10-minute plays (if you wish to submit), email me and we'll talk.

Here's the specifics/guidelines you'll need to know:

New Play Project (ENGL 5970), which will be meeting M and W 9-noon, with performances during three Thursday evenings, and rehearsals on Monday evenings (times as listed in the course book).

The class includes between twelve and eighteen playwrights, twelve to fifteen actors, five directors and two stage managers. During the course students will have one of their plays rehearsed for two weeks and produced as a script-in-hand public staged reading. Additionally, playwrights will participate during the seven and a half weeks as dramaturgs, stage managers, and actors (sometimes as directors) on their fellow playwrights work, and as company members in ensemble developed plays and activities.

Admission for playwrights is on a competitive basis, and for actors and directors by permission of the Theatre Department (please contact Mark). Interested playwrights should submit two copies of a 10-30 page one-act play to the mailbox of Dr. Steve Feffer (sixth floor Sprau) with complete contact information by Monday, March 16th. You will be notified soon after that date.

Please note: We have changed the submission process slightly this year. Playwrights who are currently in ENGL 3680, have already taken 3680, but not a 5000 level playwriting class, or have not taken playwriting at Western are strongly encouraged to submit a ten minute (10 page) play. Playwrights who are currently taking 5660, have taken 5660 or a previous New Play Project, or have instructor permission, may submit a longer (up to 30 page) play.

What is Leigh Fryling up to?

Leigh will be performing in Blue Kettle (by Caryl Churchill).

Where:
The York Arena at the Gilmore Center.

When:
Sunday, Feb. 25th at 5pm.
Monday, Feb. 26th at 6pm.

The show is free.

Leigh is also directing Little Shop of Horrors for Three Rivers Community Players. Auditions will be held on Feb. 27th and 28th at 6 pm at the Three Rivers Playhouse. A prepared Broadway song with sheet music or CD is needed. Auditionees will be requested to read from the script/and do a small dance combination. Carpooling is available.

Adaptation Exercise

Find yourself a Shakespearean Sonnet. A sonnet you dig. A sonnet that really turns you on. Take a good look at it. Read it several times. Write down your thoughts. Why did you choose it? What was it about this sonnet? What wow-ed you?

Read it again. Now I want you to think about visuals. What visuals does this sonnet evoke? What do you see? Maybe you see this or maybe this--whatever comes to mind. Weird or lovely. Both. Go with it.

Now I want you to organize what you see. Put all the visuals in some kind of order. Think about the setting. The environment. Think about what you want on stage.

Read sonnet again. Why again? Because maybe something new will jump out at you.

Now tell me WHO do you see? Write a brief description of this person (man in top hat). Bring in one more person. Just one. Tell me about that new person. Describe he or she.

Read sonnet again. I know, right, you're beginning to get annoyed. Good. Write a scene between these two characters. A silent scene. No talking. Think about silence and how they move. Think about activity. What does one character like to do? How about the other? Move them around. But no speaking!

Read the sonnet again. You want to kill me now. Good. Use that anger. Circle five words in the sonnet that you like or that you're intrigued by or maybe you don't know what the word is and you like it. Circle it.

X out a word you hate. You hate this word. You wish it weren't in the sonnet. X it out.

Start a dialogue using one line (or favorite word) from sonnet. Now have the other character respond using the X'd out word.

Write a dialogue with these two characters. One character wants ______ from the other; the other will not give _______ to he or she.

This exercise should get things moving. If you don't like sonnets, try using a fable or a fairy tale.

Good luck, and have fun.

The Pillowman at WMU

THE PILLOWMAN
by
Martin McDonagh

February 22-24 | 8:00 p.m.
February 25 | 2:00 p.m.
March 1-3 | 8:00 p.m.
in the Multiform Theatre
General Seating

A gripping crime drama set in a totalitarian state, The Pillowman investigates a series of gruesome child murders that bear an uncanny resemblance to short stories penned by a local author. Once under interrogation, the author and the sadistic guards reveal surprising and alarming information about themselves and the crimes.

An engaging drama for mature audiences.

Mr. Edward Albee

Edward Albee is one of my favorite writers. Why? He takes chances. He's not afraid to go there. And if someone doesn't like his plays--so what? He's unapologetic.

I've seen him give a talk in Chicago a few years back. He's cocky, smart, and wickedly funny. He's also 79 and still writing great plays. Pretty impressive. I found some quotes (and advice) that I thought you may appreciate.


His thoughts on audience:

"I want them to start thinking about whether the stuff they think they believe is really what they believe. To reconsider their values. In The Goat, I want an audience to go there and not make value judgments about the lives of the characters, about what goat-fucking really means. I want them to imagine themselves being the characters in that situation. I don't want anybody to go into a play of mine and come out exactly the same person."


His thoughts on writing what you know (and a slam against Williams' The Glass Menagerie--which I'm sure some of you will appreciate):

"Don't write about yourself very much. . . . I'm one of the few people who think `The Glass Menagerie' would have been a better play without Tom. . . . The more you invent, the more freedom you have to get to the truths you're after."


His thoughts on why he writes:

"I write to find out what's going on in my head. I always have ideas for plays. They come into focus, and I write them down, and I know why I wrote them down. I usually have three or four plays swimming around in my head somewhere. I'm writing one right now, not this instant we're talking, but these days, and I have two others that are lined up, like aircraft waiting to get clearance to land, that are waiting to be written down. I don't examine the process terribly carefully, because I think it's dangerous to. As James Thurber said, let your mind alone. It knows what it's doing."

Why do we go to the theater?

1) to be entertained
2) to be informed/educated
3) to be excited/provoked
4) to feel something

The 10-Minute Play Challenge

On your mark! Get set! Go! You have ten minutes (that's ten pages) to tell a story.

How do you tell a story in such a short amount of time? By thinking small. Don't tackle anything big. I wouldn't suggest adapting War and Peace--or maybe that's a brilliant idea.

Keep it simple. You don't want a lion tamer on stage dealing with his sexuality, married to a bearded woman, who is having a very hot affair with the Human Torch. (Or maybe you do?) You don't want too much going on. An audience may be overwhelmed with all the information.

Here's some old school advice: Let's have some characters in conflict who by the end of the play resolve the conflict.

Think theatrically. Think creatively. But what is most important here: have fun.

Conflict

All plays need conflict. Without it, you have a boring play--a total snoozefest.

What is conflict? Conflict is wanting/desiring/needing something or someone and not being able to get it. Example: I want your wallet. No, you can't have my wallet.

There are two types of conflict: External and Internal.

Internal conflict happens within a character (and often affects characters around them). Think about Tom from the Glass Menagerie. He wants to leave his family, but if he does what will happen to them? Who will take care of them? Especially Laura? If he abandons his mother and troubled sister, he'll have to live with the guilt and the regret and the sad realization that he has turned into his father.

External conflict involves a character and someone or something is physically in the way to stop he or she. Think about Hester from In the Blood. Society stops Hester from getting her 'leg up'. Maybe she isn't the best example--critics will say she doesn't really try hard enough. So, think about Mae and Eddie from Fool For Love. They can never be "together" because they are brother and sister--talk about an internal/external conflict combo. Yikes.

We go to the theater to see conflict. We want to see people having a tough time. And we want to see how those people get out of their tough time. Conflict is what makes drama...drama.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at WMU

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
by Tom Stoppard
February 8-10 | 8:00 p.m.
February 15-17 | 8:00 p.m.
February 18 | 2:00 p.m.
in the York Arena Theatre
General Seating
Tickets (269) 387-6222

In this spoof of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, two comedic courtiers set out to find the cause of the young prince’s madness but end up deep in their own craziness. Sir Thomas Stoppard fills the play that inspired the feature film with laughs and absurdist truths that puzzle even the sharpest of wits.

Office Hours

I don't have office hours posted on my syllabus. I will meet with anyone before or after class. I can do almost any day of the week--if before/after class doesn't work.

I know some of you may want to discuss your 10-minute plays. We can talk it out. I'd like to hear your plan for a play. Map it out for me. Tell me the story, character dilemmas, etc. I can give you my ideas/thoughts on what you should do or not do with the play.

If you're feeling stuck, I think it'd be wise to meet and discuss possible play ideas. Drop me an email and set up a time--

10-Minute Play Rules

1) 10-minute plays are 10 pages long.

2) No more than 4 characters.

3) Include an activity (such as listening to records on a victrola and looking at glass animals, lasso-ing a chair, putting on a red dress, or writing the letter A on a wall--these are a few examples of some activities we'd seen in the plays we've read so far).

4) No scene change--continuous action. By action, I do not mean explosions and car chases. Action is a character wanting something (or someone) and trying to get it. Example: I want your wallet. Action would be ways of trying to get the wallet.

5) Conflict. Conflict is something or someone getting in your way; stopping you from getting what you want. Example: You can't have the wallet. It's mine.

Adaptation

Suzan-Lori Parks 'In the Blood' is an adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'. I am sure most of you have read it--if not I'm sure you're familiar with the story. I had to read it not once, not twice, but THREE times in my academic career.

Adaptation is sort of like sampling--like that used in hip hop. You take something old and you make something new.

Last semester, I wrote an adaptation of Sherwood Anderson's 'Winesburg, Ohio'. It felt weird at first. Like I was stealing his work. I decided to familiarize myself with all things Sherwood Anderson. For months, I read his diaries, letters, bios about him, most of his short stories and novels. Adaptation wasn't stealing at all--it was more like a collaboration (between me and a dead man).

I don't like to hear writers complain about being "blocked" or having nothing to write about. There are stories everywhere. Read a newspaper. Read a history book. Or explore the works in public domain that are there for you to sample (literally). We will hopefully get around to doing an adaptation exercise (using Shakespeare Sonnets) sometime next week.

I hope you enjoy the reading.

Assigned Workshop Dates

Workshop Tues. Feb. 13th
(Distribute plays to class on Thurs. Feb.8th)
Tanisha
Joe

Workshop Thurs. Feb. 15th
(Distribute plays to class on Tues. Feb. 13th)
Andy N.
John
Scott

Workshop Tues. Feb. 20th
(Distribute plays to class on Thurs. Feb. 15th)
Erin
Andy A.
David

Workshop Thurs. Feb. 22nd
(Distribute plays to class on Tues. Feb. 20th)
Katie
Leigh
Alyse

Workshop Tues. Feb. 27th
(Distribute plays to class on Thurs. Feb. 22nd)
Evan
Nathan
Andrew

Workshop Thurs. Mar. 1st
(Distribute plays to class on Tues. Feb. 27th)
Ashlee
Ashley
Amanda