Experienced writer writing first play
October 24, 2016 4:40 AM Subscribe
While I have an MFA in creative writing and lots of experience writing/publishing other genres (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction), I've never written a play that was meant to be performed. I have written verse plays, but performance wasn't a factor. I'm hoping to get some tips beforehand on strategies unique to playwriting. More inside.
Given my writing experience, I feel like I can handle the character development and plot arc pretty well. I'm also good at writing dialogue, but usually that dialogue is read and not heard. To boil it down to some specific questions:
-What are some things I can do to make my play easy to stage?
-I'd like to leave some room for directors to have their own interpretation of what scenes look like. Is there a good way to walk the line between being too specific and too open?
-Do I need to do anything different with the dialogue (than I would in a short story)?
-Finally, I think it'd be good for me to read more contemporary plays. I really like Suzan Lori-Parks. I've read some of the bigger names like Mamet, but I don't really know where to begin in learning other names. I'm open to an anthology if anyone can recommend one, and also to individual plays that are available.
Given my writing experience, I feel like I can handle the character development and plot arc pretty well. I'm also good at writing dialogue, but usually that dialogue is read and not heard. To boil it down to some specific questions:
-What are some things I can do to make my play easy to stage?
-I'd like to leave some room for directors to have their own interpretation of what scenes look like. Is there a good way to walk the line between being too specific and too open?
-Do I need to do anything different with the dialogue (than I would in a short story)?
-Finally, I think it'd be good for me to read more contemporary plays. I really like Suzan Lori-Parks. I've read some of the bigger names like Mamet, but I don't really know where to begin in learning other names. I'm open to an anthology if anyone can recommend one, and also to individual plays that are available.
Best answer: But if you are seriously concerned with producing this, plays with fewer characters are cheaper to stage and therefore appealing to theaters with small budgets.
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:06 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:06 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have had two plays produced. Directors often completely ignore stage directions they don't like, so you don't need to worry about being too specific. One thing that can be hard to get coming from writing fiction is that the written play is not the artwork. The artwork is the performance, which a lot of other people will be involved with. I've had actors (with director support) read lines in a way that I felt was a complete misinterpretation of my meaning (and that I didn't understand could even happen until I saw my own play). So be prepared for that.
posted by FencingGal at 8:19 AM on October 24, 2016
posted by FencingGal at 8:19 AM on October 24, 2016
Some basic things to answer your questions. All rules are meant to be broken of course.
Plays are all about conflict. Conflict that has to keep intensifying. And for most part it's an argument. Two people in a location arguing.
Most plays are thematically human vs. human. (Human vs. environment say is tricky in a play. There are not a lot of disaster plays. )
Technology is very often not interesting on stage. No phones, computers, cars, and so on.
Try to keep your characters in one location.
If you are asking, you are not ready for more than three characters. Seriously.
If it's important to you that an action happen put it in the dialogue. ("Thanks for opening the window!") As mentioned above, directions can ignore stage directions, they are not allowed to ignore dialogue.
Write only the stage directions and descriptions that are absolutely necessary. It's not prose. Don't try to tell the actors how to act it. The script is the blueprint.
Dialogue is everything. Subtext. People rarely say what they really mean.
Naomi Wallace. John Patrick Shanley. August Wilson. Tom Stoppard. Tennessee Williams. Annie Baker. Amy Herzog.
posted by miles1972 at 9:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Plays are all about conflict. Conflict that has to keep intensifying. And for most part it's an argument. Two people in a location arguing.
Most plays are thematically human vs. human. (Human vs. environment say is tricky in a play. There are not a lot of disaster plays. )
Technology is very often not interesting on stage. No phones, computers, cars, and so on.
Try to keep your characters in one location.
If you are asking, you are not ready for more than three characters. Seriously.
If it's important to you that an action happen put it in the dialogue. ("Thanks for opening the window!") As mentioned above, directions can ignore stage directions, they are not allowed to ignore dialogue.
Write only the stage directions and descriptions that are absolutely necessary. It's not prose. Don't try to tell the actors how to act it. The script is the blueprint.
Dialogue is everything. Subtext. People rarely say what they really mean.
Naomi Wallace. John Patrick Shanley. August Wilson. Tom Stoppard. Tennessee Williams. Annie Baker. Amy Herzog.
posted by miles1972 at 9:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Simon Stephens. Not just one of the most highly-regarded playwrights working in Britain at the moment, but also a great and passionate teacher of playwrighting.
He's particularly good on what theatre is (as opposed to other mediums) and the meaning of dramatic action - ie. the idea that plays are not made up of dialogue - they are made up of behaviour. A play is a map of what people do to each other, not what they say to each other.
He gave a two-hour online workshop ahead of last year's Bruntwood Prize, which is still available, and explores this idea really well. Put down whatever you're doing and watch it (and do the exercises).
So add Simon's plays to your reading list too.
Other contemporary British playwrights to add to your list: Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane, debbie tucker green, Lucy Kirkwood, Anthony Neilson, Mike Bartlett, David Greig, Mark Ravenhill, Laura Wade, Lucy Prebble, Rona Munro, Duncan Macmillan. I've not personally read/seen yet but also worth looking at: Jez Butterworth, Martin Crimp, Dennis Kelly, Robert Holman.
posted by penguin pie at 2:13 PM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
He's particularly good on what theatre is (as opposed to other mediums) and the meaning of dramatic action - ie. the idea that plays are not made up of dialogue - they are made up of behaviour. A play is a map of what people do to each other, not what they say to each other.
He gave a two-hour online workshop ahead of last year's Bruntwood Prize, which is still available, and explores this idea really well. Put down whatever you're doing and watch it (and do the exercises).
So add Simon's plays to your reading list too.
Other contemporary British playwrights to add to your list: Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane, debbie tucker green, Lucy Kirkwood, Anthony Neilson, Mike Bartlett, David Greig, Mark Ravenhill, Laura Wade, Lucy Prebble, Rona Munro, Duncan Macmillan. I've not personally read/seen yet but also worth looking at: Jez Butterworth, Martin Crimp, Dennis Kelly, Robert Holman.
posted by penguin pie at 2:13 PM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'll just emphasize that as few locations as possible makes the play much easier to stage.
posted by xammerboy at 8:41 PM on October 24, 2016
posted by xammerboy at 8:41 PM on October 24, 2016
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Write the play you want to write-- directors will figure their own shit out (and realistically, your 'next step' is impressing literary managers, not directors). A v brilliant playwriting professor I worked with had the mandatory instructions for her students to include an impossible stage direction to break them out of blahblah Sorkin realism.
Rather than read an anthology, I would check out what Theater and Theaterforum are publishing and look at the line-ups of playwright-centric theaters and festivals and groups. Read the plays on the Kilroy's List.
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:03 AM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]