The Reading Period

[plumtreeblossom]

This play reading has become addictive. Yeaterday I read 20+ one-act plays. I'm on the reading committee for the T@F one-act festival this summer. Submissions are coming in even faster than they did last year. Of the ones I've read, I've found one I love, and two I like. That's actually a pretty good percentage, considering.

Considering what, you ask? Well, a lot of play writing is happening out there, but this year and last I've been seeing a consistant and almost uniform set of mistakes being made. Specifically, I see evidence that the writer hasn't yet learned enough about theatre production and stagability, about how it works, and it's marked differences from that which is feasible for film. I'm seeing set requirements that even a professional theatre couldn't do, or focus on tiny objects that could work well in a film but wouldn't read from a stage.

Seeing it again brought back to mind an idea I had last year, which would be to teach a class for one-act playwrights at CCAE or somewhere that shows the writers the actual stagecraft and the processes involved with physical production. If their understanding of production (and specifically festival production) can be improved, an lot of mistakes could be avoided in the play writing, and they'd be able to write better, more stagable plays. Something to think about for the fall, perhaps.

For now, what I'm hoping to find in the pile is another Superheroes, something that really knocks me right out of my chair. I'll be directing one of the plays in the festival, and I want to fall head over heels with something that I can sink my budding directorial teeth into. I haven't found it yet, but I have many, many more yet to read. Back to the pile!

Comments

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

I was having this discussion with another reader last night. The major problem I'm seeing is a poor sense of plot. Many of the plays I've read have started off strong, with interesting characters. Sometimes they're even in interesting situations.

And then nothing happens.

They stare off into space at the fade with blank looks on their faces like chess pieces the player didn't know how to use. In my grumpier moments I blame it on Raymond Carver and the character-uber-alles MFA program writing style, but mostly I think it's that most writers end up with opaque endings when they don't know what they're trying to say. On the other hand, I'm also recognizing that writing a one-act is hard, the equivalent of a 1000 word short story. It's difficult to cram any kind of character arc into that little time in an original way.

Out of the dozen I've read, I've found one I love, and even that one sort of breaks apart at the end.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I might be loving the same one -- it had me howling with laughter at points, quite literally, but very tail end takes a downward hook that disappointed. I'm keeping it on my list though because I think the right kind of acting delivery could save it. But I'm looking forward to what I hope I'll find.

Do you get grumpy when you read something poorly written? I do, too. Yesterday I was reading scripts at work and I absent-mindedly made a cat hiss noise that was way too loud and somebody said "what was THAT?" I had some 'splaining to do.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

I do a lot of critiquing for various people at this point, so I try not to get grumpy, but yeah, there is a certain point where I find myself having to walk away from the screen for awhile to calm down. It's not a "I can do better" thing necessarily, as much as "I might even make these same mistakes but damned if I'd think it was ready for submission."

To be fair though, the standard of writing for this batch has been surprisingly high so far, even with the plot failures. I haven't read anything of the crayon and self-medication through writing ilk yet, so I feel like we're doing pretty well. :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

There is one that had something like FIVE different settings. And this is the one explicitly called the stage version, as opposed to the screenplay that she later adapted. ???

I can't wait to see some comments. Hint.

I suppose one out of 20 isn't bad in one sense, but it's not so great, since I don't know that we'll get 140 submissions. :)

(Though we're at about 50 at this point.)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Good lord. I haven't read the one with with 5 settings (but you know what I'll say about it).

I'm on my lunch break, so comments are coming!