AW Playwrighting Workshop Discussion Thread.

[alleycat]

A place for those of us taking part in the First Annual AW Playwrighting Workshop to discuss our ideas, goals, problems, or ask for help.

[Greasy Spoon]

Well, here are my goals for the two months:

1. A submission-ready draft of a play for children (45 minute runtime)
2. A submission-ready draft of a play for young adults (45 minute runtime)
3. A first draft of full-length play for general audiences (minimum 90 minute runtime)

I know which stories I'm planning to write for the first two. The only thing that's still entirely open is the full-length. I haven't decided which idea to go with yet, so I imagine it'll be the last one I start. Thus, expect me to be in a panic mid-February with Number Three barely started. :)

That said, I still have delusions of submitting to this science-based script competition (http://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/stage/) even though the postmark deadline is January 15th and I haven't even settled on an idea yet. The problem will be if I think of an absolutely fabulous outline on the tenth. Now that will be a panic.

So what are your goals, everyone?

[alleycat]

Here's a basic description of the play I'll be doing. I kicked around several ideas before deciding on this one. Here are some of the things I considered.

First, I wanted a play with only two or three main characters, and a limited number of secondary characters; say a total of five to eight performers. I also wanted a simple, single set.

One premise that has intrigued me in the past (and that I've used) is that whenever people are put in unusually stressful situations (the death of someone close, a relationship breaking up, a major change in living arrangement, etc.) they tend to become more open and honest with each other; in other words, they "let the mask fall". A classic example is two people--one on his or her deathbed—who have grown distant from one another. At this point in their lives, they may let go of their long-held resentments and petty complaints and see each other in a truer or more forgiving light. It's often at such time that one or both says "I love you" for the first time in years.

I played around with this in my head for a bit and came up with this idea for a play entitled Waiting For News (I wanted to just use Waiting, for it's double meaning, but found there's a movie with that name). It involves two main characters, Kimberly Whitman and Robert Paxton. These two have known each other for a while and while there has been hint of a romantic interest, nothing has ever come of it. Kimberly, in fact, is involved in a serious relationship, possibly marriage, with a guy named David Gossett.

The inciting incident (backstory) is that there's been an accident involving David and several others (I'm thinking of using a sailboat racing accident, but it could be a climbing accident or something else; it's not too important). At the start of the play Kimberly and David arrive at the search and rescue location (the setting) to wait for news. David's sister is already there. There is also an older woman there alone, and a woman with a young child. They're all there to await news of their loved ones. In addition, there's a couple of the search and rescue people who enter and exit from time to time.

In thinking of the play in terms of beginning, middle and end (not necessarily acts), the beginning is the introduction of the characters, a bit about their relationship, the state of the current situation, etc. A turning point is when they learn that the chances of David being found alive aren't good. The middle is Kimberly and Robert dealing with their private and long-suppressed feelings; they finally but awkwardly admit some of the things they've felt for each other over the years. This is made even more difficult by the presence of David's sister at times. And, with David still missing, they're afraid to make any commitment. At one point, they learn that one of the missing men has been found alive. Kimberly and Robert are even more confused; what should that do if David doesn't come back, what do they do if he does? The end of this part is when it's learned that the older woman's husband has been found death. The woman, who for the most part has been quietly listening to Kimberly and Robert, takes the news stoically. And the end is . . . well, I don't want to tell you (but hopefully it won't be hackneyed or a cliché as you might be lead to believe).

I have a couple of things to still work out. Should I try to keep it a one-act play, or a full-length play? I'm thinking it's more of a one-act play of 45 to 60 minutes. Not a favorite of theatre managers from what I understand, but I don't think I have enough for a full-length play. The other is having a enough "movement" in the play; I don't want it to be just two or three people sitting around talking the whole time. I have a couple of ideas I'm still playing with (no pun intended).

So, that's a somewhat long-winded description of what play I'll be trying to complete.

Comments and suggestions are welcome, but remember, I'm still thrashing some of the details out myself. I won't decide on all of them until I'm well into writing the story. I plan on posting parts of the play in SYW as I get a rough draft done.

[Mandy-Jane]

Wow alleycat! That seems really detailed, for what you call a basic description. I like that theme. I'm sure it's something we can all relate to. Because it seems so detailed and complex, I think you could successfully do a Two Act - make Act One 45 minutes and Act Two could be as little as 15 or 20 minutes. Anyway, just my opinion.

Greasy - I can't believe you're doing 3 scripts at once! That's extremely brave. Good luck. I'd like to write a play for children one day, but I certainly won't be doing anything else at the same time.

As for my own goal for the 2 months - it's just one script, running time approximately 35 - 45 minutes. 3 characters - one a chef, one an apprentice chef and the other, a waiter. It will be set in the kitchen of a busy restaurant, and will basically be an examination and observation of the people who come into the restaurant, as seen by the chefs and waiter. The regulars, the ones who come in on special occasions, the person who always comes in alone and sits in the same seat, etc..... So I guess it's really just a look at life, and people's habits and mannerisms. The catch is, that while the chefs are speaking, they will also be taking orders from the waiter, and actually cooking food on stage.

So I've researched my characters, and I've also written about 2 pages of script. I think I can do it by the end of February. I'll post updates.

[alleycat]

It sounds like an interesting idea, Mandy. Are you doing it as a comedy or drama? I can see where you could have a lot of fun with it if it was done as a comedy.

[Cat Scratch]

Aloha all. I'm still focusing on a novel rewrite that my agent has been patiently awaiting, so that's my priority. I still have my next play (basically) plotted out, so I'm eager to get started, but it won't be right away.

Good luck to everyone in getting started.

[Cat Scratch]

Oh, crap, I'm supposed to post a goal. Well, my goal is to have a completed working draft--something good enough to workshop with a real theatre group, but not necessarily polished and ready for general submittal.

Disclaimer: I'm not a person for excuses. I'll generally work round-the-clock to get something finished, even if it's a just a self-imposed deadline. However, right now I'm going through an extremely difficult pregnancy (bed rest, ER visits, etc.) and rest and self-care are my top priority. So I'm cutting myself a lot more slack than usual. I'm saying this not because I think any of you are going to give me a hard time, but because I might give myself a hard time. As a self-motivated person, I tend to kick myself if I don't succeed, so I have to remind myself not to overdo it.

When I say I'm going to do something, I generally do it, but in this case I'm simply going to give it my best shot, within reason.

(P.S. You'd think bed rest would be a perfect opportunity for lots of writing, but when you're sick enough that an ER visit is just around the corner, the brain can't really do more than sleep and read People Magazine!)

[Bmwhtly]

My main goal is to actually finish a script and polish it enough to at least share it for crits.
I'm looking at a full length play (somewhere between 60 and 90). It will definitely be Two Act because the idea that I had either puts a bit of a spin on the two act structure (if done well) or uses the two act structure as a crutch (if done less well).
It may well shrink to something nearer 45minutes as I get going. This being my first Play, I'll have to see what happens.

Good Luck Everyone.

[lorcan]

Greetings!

My goal for the workshop is to complete an entire play, albeit a short one (I'm a novice in this area). It's a One Act/Two-Scene play, probably about 15-20 minutes for each scene. Yes, it's short, but as I'm a novice, I thought it would be a more manageable goal than a full-length play. Also, I'm tackling a difficult novel at the same time (with a much longer time horizon than the play, thank goodness!), so a short play will hopefully enable me to maintain my sanity.

The play focuses on a young widow in the Philippines who has decided to marry a much older American whom she met via an online penpal service. Her teenage daughter is understandably very resistant to the idea.

In Scene One, the mother tells her daughter that their paperwork is in order, and that they will be leaving in two weeks. The daughter refuses to go, and long-simmering resentment on her part regarding what she sees as her mother's betrayal of her father's memory (he died only a year and a half before) comes to the surface. In Scene Two, it's the day before their departure, and mother and daughter, tension still between them, are spending their last evening in their home.

What I'm doing is exploring the so-called mail-order bride issue, putting it up to the light and revealing it to be a much more complex phenomenon than it's portrayed in the popular media. I wanted to show a different side of it, one where the woman is fully aware of the decision she's made and accepts it; I want the audience to see her not as a helpless victim of circumstances beyond her control, but as someone whom we know has the strength and resilience to overcome whatever hardship may befall her and her daughter should her decision turn out to have unforeseen and unwelcome consequences.

I have the backstory pretty much worked out. There will only be two characters: mother and daughter. The whole play will take place in their kitchen, although I'm toying with the idea of shifting the location of Scene Two to the airport. Don't know yet... I'm still working out the kinks.

I'll post the first ten or so pages after I've reviewed them this weekend.

Good luck, everyone!

MRA

[lorcan]

Good afternoon! Well, I posted a rough draft of the 1st part of my play on the SYW Playwriting thread, under the title "The Implausible Dream." If anyone would care to comment/critique, I would be most grateful! Thank you!

Cheers,
MRA

[alleycat]

I'll take a look at it when I get a chance, lorcan.

I've had to revise my idea. I've written most of the first act of the play I'm doing but I'm going to wait until posting it.

[Mandy-Jane]

I have to go out now, but I'll have a look later as well lorcan.

[Cat Scratch]

I'll try and take a look sometime this weekend, lorcan. Congrats on getting started!

In other news, I met a fabulous and well-known playwright this week at a luncheon, and she's about to begin running workshops in my town. Hooray! Very excited about this.

[lorcan]

Thanks, Cat Scratch! No rush, I'll be working on doing some revisions this weekend. I look forward to getting your feedback. This is such a great forum!

Cheers,
MRA

[Mandy-Jane]

Okay, well it's been over a week since I posted, so I guess I should put an update. I done a few more pages of my script. I have to say it's still not coming together as easily as I would have liked. I'm quite clear in my mind what I want to say, but it's not coming out that way on paper. I'm wondering if I should ditch this one and start a different one. Or continue on with the few that I've started in the past and not finished.

I think I'll persevere just a little longer. If this keeps up, I might drop it and do something else. Will keep you posted.

How are you all going?

[Cat Scratch]

Well, I'm doing lots of things that are theatre-related, though not necessarily writing. I'm starting a youth theatre group for teens, and our first meeting/rehearsal is next week, so I'm frantically trying to send out notices to generate interest and support. I guess sending a gazillion e-mails to every theatre professional on the island counts as writing, does it not? Sadly, I'm not writing a play, yet. But I'm (I hope) inspiring youngsters to do so, which is a nice substitute.

Since all my time and energy this week has gone to that, I'm afraid I'm still behind.

[alleycat]

Okay, well it's been over a week since I posted, so I guess I should put an update. I done a few more pages of my script. I have to say it's still not coming together as easily as I would have liked. I'm quite clear in my mind what I want to say, but it's not coming out that way on paper. I'm wondering if I should ditch this one and start a different one. Or continue on with the few that I've started in the past and not finished.

I think I'll persevere just a little longer. If this keeps up, I might drop it and do something else. Will keep you posted.

What to discussion it? That's kind of the point of this thing; to try to help everyone get a play done. Sometimes just a comment or suggestion will help someone to get past whatever problem they're having.

For me, I'm still working on the main play I'm doing (I went in a different direction from what I thought I was going to do). In the meantime, or when I need a break, I've banged out a couple of ten-minute plays. I posted the first few pages of one in SYW. I've since cleaned it up and will repost the whole thing today or tomorrow. It was mostly just done for the fun of doing it.

Is anyone else who "signed up" working on their play? I know some people needed to wait until February to begin.

[Cat Scratch]

Well, I've managed to go through the SYW forum and comment on everyone's stuff, so there's progress, even if I still haven't written anything myself yet! (Helping others as a form of procrastination--on the next Oprah.)

Mary-Jane, don't be so quick to give up on your idea. A few more tries might be all you need, and when it hits, it hits. No one said this writing stuff was easy...

[lorcan]

I'm with Cat Scratch. Mandy-Jane, please don't give up! We're a small group as it is on this humongous forum and, from what I've seen so far, a pretty friendly and welcoming group. (I don't want to say nurturing, as it sounds so wishy-washy.)

Why don't you try posting what you have so far on the SYW forum? As you saw, I'm a total newbie to the playwriting discipline and have received lots of excellent, constructive critique on my first go at it. I'm sure there are plenty in this group who will be happy to help you out with some of the issues you're struggling with.

Does this sound wishy-washy? Hope not. Just wanted to encourage you to press on, press on! I've been where you are, thinking my MS is total crap, but sometimes when I just throw it out there and re-read it after a little break, I find that it wasn't so bad after all.

Cheers,
Lorcan

[alleycat]

Well, I've managed to go through the SYW forum and comment on everyone's stuff, so there's progress, even if I still haven't written anything myself yet!
I believe we can give you an excused absence . . . what with your other "project" at the moment.

[alleycat]

Why don't you try posting what you have so far on the SYW forum? As you saw, I'm a total newbie to the playwriting discipline and have received lots of excellent, constructive critique on my first go at it. I'm sure there are plenty in this group who will be happy to help you out with some of the issues you're struggling with.
Echoing, Cat and lorcan's thoughts . . .I'm pretty much a "duffer" at writing plays too. I've written dozens of short stories but only a few plays, and most of those were of the ten-minute variety. Most of us are just working to improve.

In other words, feel free to make mistakes (I'm sure I will), try some things, see if they work or not, post part of your WIP and ask for comments. And if any of us can help give you a push, just say the word.

[Cat Scratch]

Well, here's another update:

I just enrolled in a playwriting class that begins Feb. 3rd, so that will be perfect timing. We're supposed focusing on writing a single work throughout the 10 week class, so now I have double incentive to write this thing. Sheesh, now I actually have to do it.

I'm still putting final touches on my novel ms, the thing that has been distracting me so far, writing-wise, so I'm hoping to finish it this week. (Yikes!)

And I'm still co-founding a youth theatre group and our first performance is scheduled for March. Yet will still don't have a permanent rehearsal space. Stress? Is that you?

And meanwhile I"m still exhausted due to pregnancy. Why do I always take on too much? I can no longer remember why I thought any of these things was a good idea.

[Bmwhtly]

Wow, this playwrighting malarkey is harder than it looks.

But I'm soldiering on. I've got my first scene just the way I want it and most of the first act in roughish form.

How are the rest of you doing?

[Mandy-Jane]

I'm still struggling a little. But I do have a list of excuses - my daughter's starting school, my other daughter's starting pre-school, I've started doing some part time work from home........ All true, but not acceptable excuses, I know.

Next time I post I'll hopefully have an excerpt to put up.

[Greasy Spoon]

Gah! I've barely been to the boards since this all kicked off, so I've lost track of everyone's progress. I'll try to hit the Share Your Work board soon to see what people have been up to. (Wonderful things, I'm sure!)

As for me, I've done lots of preliminary work, but now is pretty much when the big push is on, as I've finally got some real solid free time to write.

Ridiculously large goals, here I come!

[Mandy-Jane]

I've had a change of plans. I'm no longer working on the idea that I originally had. Now I'm working on a Two-Act drama/comedy type play; basically about a divorced middle-aged man who's trying to re-establish himself after his marriage break-up. Along the way he has run-ins with other people who are struggling with the same kinds of issues he is (including his elderly father, who's a marijuana-smoking hippie!) I guess the theme of the play is about not needing approval from other people, but just learning to accept yourself.

I had previously started this play, but I've only done about three pages. Now that I'm settled with what I'm doing, I don't think I'll have any huge worries, so I'll try and post at least one scene soon.

[Cat Scratch]

Since I still don't have any actual scenes to present, I thought I'd at least pass along the exercises and lessons I'm learning in my new playwriting class.

We’ve met twice so far, and right now we’re mainly working on free-form monologues to learn more about our characters. The monologues are not intended to go into the actual plays, just for us to learn more about background, voice, and point of view.

So the first thing we were asked to do was to write a monologue from our own point of view about a person who gets under our skin.

Next we were asked to write about ourselves from the point of view of the other person. This was very interesting, as it helps with perspective, because as playwrights, we’re expected to see everything from everyone’s point of view equally, whether we view it as right or wrong.

Next we were asked to write as the irritating person again, only taking 30 points from their IQ.

Next we added the IQ back, but switched genders.

It’s a great way to explore and discover things you may not have already known about your characters.

The second week we were asked to start exploring the characters from the play we intend to work on. Again, we wrote about a person who gets under our skin, but from the POV of our fictional main character. Then we switched, and wrote as the antagonizing character about the main character. This helped me a great deal, as I’m not able to focus more on why the two sisters in my play really don’t get along. At first I thought it was because they are so different, but now I’ve discovered a lot of layers in that—the older sister resents all the attention the younger sister gets from her medical problems. The older sister feels more mature than the older, etc.

The next series of exercises are the main character talking about he/she feels about basic facts: his/her age, sex life, appearance, social status, etc. Again, it’s all exploratory in nature, and won’t necessarily be in the play, but can lead to scenes or plot points. Again, I understand now more why my character (who is 14) feel so alienated from people her age.

This is all still background work which is why I don’t have any scenes to present, but it’s really helping. The course is designed to build the foundation of a play, because the playwright believes that writer’s block simply means you don’t know enough about your world/characters. So these are the tools to help work through that. Which is good, for me, since I’ve had this play in my head for over a year now and couldn’t get started because I couldn’t figure out where to start. I realize now it’s because I didn’t know enough about my character and her relationships.

[Mandy-Jane]

That sounds so helpful Cat Scratch. If you don't mind, I think I might try a similar exercise with some of my characters. Sometimes I think we (I) don't spend enough time on background work. Sometimes I'm just too eager to get in there and start writing dialogue. Thanks for posting that.

[Greasy Spoon]

Oo, those are good excercises. Thanks Cat Scratch!

[Cat Scratch]

Please try them--that's why they're here! I, too, often make the mistake of jumping in because with novel writing it's easier (for me, anyway) to discover backstory as I go. Since a play is much more of a skeleton than a novel is, I find it harder to do that, and get stuck. In this case, I'm stuck on the first scene. I've had three false starts and none of them felt right, but I think I'm a lot closer.

[Cat Scratch]

Progress? Anyone? Tomorrow is our last day!

Alas, I've had a rough couple of months, and experienced a loss in my family that required me to leave town suddenly. As a result, I've no results.

Shame on me.

I hope others have had more success.

[Mandy-Jane]

I posted the start of a scene in Share Your Work, the other day. There's no way I'll get it finished, although I have done a fair bit more than I've posted. I'll just keep on working along. These months seemed to go very quickly!

[Bmwhtly]

I'm no where near finished. And I'm not confident enough with what I Do have to post it for crits.
But this exercise has given me the impetus to knuckle down on a project and I'd like to thank y'all for that.
I'm going to keep working on this one and who knows, I may even submit it :)

I wish the rest of you better luck.