Spotlight! E-news from Theatrefolk
Issue 14 - What's New?, October 2006Thanks for Reading!
This issue is dedicated to What's New at Theatrefolk. Our fall catalogue comes out this month and only our newsletter subscribers get a sneak peak at our new plays and playwrights.
In this issue:
- CIRCUS OLYMPUS
Lindsay talks about the development of our newest full length. - CAMEL DUNG AND CLOVES
An interview with Dara Murphy. - THE PREGNANCY PROJECT
Will schools produce a play on this volatile topic? - MALLED
An interview with Colleen Neuman. - AS YOU LIKE IT
John Minigan discusses adapting this latest addition to our "Shakespeare in an Hour" collection. - THE MAGIC DIARY OF MOZAMBIQUE
An interview with Chris Stiles. - DOWNLOAD OF THE MONTH
Read the first act of Circus Olympus. - CONFERENCE ALERT
Meet us in person. - IN THE NEXT ISSUE
What you can expect next. - STAY IN TOUCH
Contact info/Read our blog.
Circus Olympus
Lindsay talks about the development of Theatrefolk's latest full length play, Circus Olympus .Circus Olympus follows a ragtag traveling circus where the Greek Geeks charm the audience with their favourite stories: Greek myths. They know they're not Cirque du Soleil, they know they don't have an elephant on a bicycle, but they do have a lot of fun!
Circus Olympushas been in the works (from idea stage to published product) for about two years. The initial idea was to stage Pandora's Box as a circus show, with the gods as the aerial acts (trapeze, high wire) and the mortal characters as clowns. This expanded to the larger idea of doing a full length play covering a number of myths within the circus arena.
I spent a lot of time reading various myths and versions of myths to come up with a list of which ones would work well with large casts, which ones had good (and concise) stories to them and choosing on a combination of the and the not so familiar. I think everyone knows the Medusa myth (if perhaps not the Perseus side of the story) and not so many people know the Arachne/Athena myth. The one story I would have liked to include but could never quite make work is the Theseus and the Minotaur myth, chiefly for the possibilities for mask and physical work. But the Medusa story also offers some of that too, so there you go.
Right off the bat I knew that the play was going to have a flexible running time. Customers are always calling up asking if they can cut so and so for such and such and most of the time it's simply not doable as it dismantles the play. For Circus Olympus, there are three options: Full length, a 45 minute one act and a 20 minute competition piece. It was an interesting challenge, just the type that I love - ok go write three plays in one!
Initially I thought I wanted the gods themselves to be running the circus and playing themselves in the myths with a group of "mortal" clowns playing all the other parts. The idea being that Greek gods aren't as relevant as they once were, and the circus was a way to get their stories back into the mainstream. I liked the concept a lot and I went through two drafts with this idea in the forefront of my mind. While the myths themselves came together nicely, the prologue and exposition outside of the myths - the main concept - wasn't working at all. I could not for the life of me figure out why. It's always a little bit freaky when your main concept, the reason you're writing the play, doesn't hold up. Do you keep hammering away at it? Toss everything out the window? A tough pill to swallow when you've invested so much effort into the play.
I was wrestling with some dialogue where the gods were bickering and it hit me - these characters are really not nice. The gods don't like each other and they don't like the other characters and they especially don't like the audience. In and of itself, that's fine. But these are supposed to be the hosts of the show. The audience is supposed to like them. That's the whole point! I knew then that I had to scrap the concept and start anew. A tough decision, but I knew it was the right one. That's how the current narrators, the "Greek Geeks" came into being. These characters also bicker, but there is the sense that they love the stories, they love telling them and they want the audience to feel the same love. That base makes more sense in the long run.
One of the greatest discoveries while writing the play was the Mythapalooza Slam Jam. As you'll see in the sample download, the first act ends without enough time to do a third myth and everyone works together to perform a contest of sorts, where teams 'slam' out myths as fast as they can. The origin of this was exactly as it plays out in the text - I had roughly ten minutes left in the first act and I didn't think that was enough time to fully get into a myth. I didn't want to end the act without something interesting, so I came up with the slam jam. It turned out to be a nice way of adding more myths to the story (there are 6 in the slam) and it was such a fun section to write. I had to distill each myth into about a half a page, and that's with each character saying a sentence or two at a time. Another fabulous writing challenge.
Originally the slam was played by six teams of two, with each team performing one myth. At the first test reading, there weren't enough actors for all the parts, so I told two actors to take care of all the parts in the slam jam. One actor played all the A parts and one actor played all the B parts. Well, it was so exciting to hear two actors jumble around and move from one part to another that I decided to change the script. Now there are only two teams battling it out. It helps with the pace of the slam and creates a wonderful push toward intermission. It just goes to show you how a play is never finished till you get it on its feet and hear it. You never know what you're going to discover.
I'm very excited to get Circus Olympusout into the world. I think it's a fun play, it offers a lot of physical possibilities with a score of potential circus elements, and of course there's the three running times. I can't wait to see what the response is!
Camel Dung and Cloves
Dara Murphy first came to our intention with the black comedy The Plucky Pie Murder . She's gone even blacker with her new play, Camel Dung and Cloves .
In the play, Sara enjoys the ritual of making and drinking tea. Maybe she enjoys it a little too much. Sara pays Empy to join her at a tea party. Empy is eager to make a quick buck. But what are Sara's motives? What about the bones in the black box? And what exactly is in the tea? Whatever you do - don't drink the tea...
What is it you like about black comedy?
I like finding humor in unexpected places. I also like that it can be used to challenge people's perspectives.
Do you ever worry about going too black with a piece, or do you not even think about it?
For me, it depends on the piece. Sometimes I worry that it's not dark enough! There's always a line to watch out for and there's always the chance that you might offend someone. Often I try to keep the jokes light and a little bit on the ridiculous side.
What playwrights (or songwriters, novelists, movie makers) influence you?
Growing up I read a lot of Nancy Drew books. It's true. It might have been because she's a strong female role model or it might have been because I could brag about how thick my book was. Probably the second one. I've always enjoyed comic strips like 'The Far Side' and 'Calvin and Hobbes.' I like books that don't take themselves too seriously but I also like reading stories based on true events. The Conquest of the Incasby John Hemming is an amazing novel and so is This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hallby Gordon Korman.
What was your inspiration for this play?
When I started writing Camel Dung and Cloves, I had a completely different plot in mind. It was going to be a serious drama because, gosh darn it, I can write those too. I also wanted to try writing something that had a simple set up, a few simple characters, simple simple simple. I actually made it through a whole page before I re-evaluated my thinking. Empy needed to talk about running over Sara's cat. That just had to happen. Once that was in there, there was no turning back.
I was drinking a lot of chai tea, so, on a whim, I started researching the history of tea and tea time. It seemed to me that there were a lot of rules and etiquette surrounding tea, and that made me think about rituals. I took those ideas, twisted them around my characters, and Camel Dung and Cloveswas born.
One of the main reasons we chose to publish Camel Dung and Clovesis that it offers such a different take on the roles that are usually written for girls. What was your intention for these characters?
In the beginning of the play, I wanted the audience to think that the main characters are two comfortable stereotypes - 'bad girl' and 'good girl'. From there, the roles get reversed, warped and inside-outed. I wanted them to be different because I think it's more fun for actors to take on unexpected roles. Fun to act, fun to watch, fun to write!
Did you encounter any obstacles as you worked on the play? Any writer's block?
I really like writing dialogue. Once I had a basic idea about where this play was going, it was smooth sailing.
How was writing this play different for you than working on The Plucky Pie Murder?
The Plucky Pie Murderis a 'crazy weird', while I think Camel Dung and Clovesis more of a 'quiet weird'. In Camel, I snuck in a lot of tricks that build upon themselves and surprise people. Mysteries upon mysteries. I wanted the audience to have to puzzle and think throughout the play... almost like, ahem, Nancy Drew. The Plucky Pie Murderis more of a 'sit back and enjoy the spectacle' kind of play. Both pieces were fun to write but I found writing Camel Dung and Cloveseasier just because I have more writing experience.
Are you working on anything new?
I'm actually trying to write a novel for young adults. I've never written anything this long before and so far it's been a huge learning process. I've found that it takes a lot of discipline. I have to wake up a few hours before work so I can get in my 'page a day'.
However, I do enjoy taking breaks from all that to write short plays. Perhaps the next one will be serious... hmmm, probably not.
The Pregnancy Project
The Pregnancy Project deals, clearly, with the issue of teen pregnancy. With many of our customers dealing with increasingly restrictive play possibilities, why put a script like this in the catalogue?
I think teen issue plays are important. A play can be a great way to spark an issue-based discussion. One of my favourite stories deals with my play The Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note . A school was rehearsing the play and the parents tried to stop the production because they said "the play" was making their kids depressed. The cast stood up for themselves and said the play wasn't making them depressed. For the first time they were actually talkingabout depression. They were bringing the issue to light.
One of the things I like about being a part of Theatrefolk is having a hand in deciding what goes in the catalogue. I firmly believe there's room for everything. There's room for the happy, happy fun plays (hey have you seen the article on Circus Olympus??) and there's room for the less "fun" plays.
When I thought about doing a pregnancy play, my first step was to do some research, see what's out there, see what's being said. I was surprised to find that there aren't many plays for teens to perform on the topic and that, of those I couldfind, the sole "message" seemed to be "DON'T DO IT." In theory I agree with that. In fact, while writing The Pregnancy Project, most of the time all I wanted to do was fling myself, weeping, at the characters in the play and say, "Don't have sex! You're too young! Wait! You really don't want a baby! You really don't! You don't know what you're doing!" Alas, that's not the best way to address an issue. I'm writing a play, not an op-ed piece.
For an issue play to be effective you have to present the issue (both sides of it) and allow an audience to make up their own mind. That's how you avoid preaching, that's how you avoid something that sounds phony. In the play, there are characters who are proud they are virgins, characters who like having sex, characters who are deathly afraid of sex, characters who are desperate to have sex. There are characters who think those who have babies out of wedlock are whores. And characters who have babies out of wedlock and don't seem at all like whores.
You also have to be careful not to paint the issue as black or white. There is a girl in the play, who's rather a typical girl, and she gets pregnant. Though it may seem obvious what choices she has and what her decisions should be, she doesn't know that. She's confused, she's upset, she's certain she's not pregnant because girls like her don't get pregnant. Life isn't black and white and it's important to show that.
I also believe in not always showing characters making a final decision. It's important the character acknowledges the problem, knows they have to face the problem and are ready to face the problem. To me that's the most important thing to show in an issue play: the character is ready to face the problem and make a decision, whatever that might be.
There are some plays in our catalogue that maybe get only one or two productions a year because of their subject matter. I know that this play probably won't get a lot of productions. That's fine. Sometimes it's important for something to just be available. I want this play to be around. You never know who's going to read it. You never know who's going to produce it. And you never know who's going to be in the audience of that production and go home and talk about it.
Malled
We pleased to announce a new playwright to Theatrefolk: Colleen Neuman. Colleen has written two fabulous plays for girls: ellenalicemonajune andYes, Virginia, There is a Virgina . Together they make up Malled .
ellenalicemonajune(4W) is about Ellen, Alice, Mona and June telling those uncomfortable truths that only close friends can tell each other, particularly regarding a boyfriend who wears red leather pants. In Yes, Virginia, There is a Virginia(15W) an ordinary shopper survey takes absurd twists and turns for Virginia as she struggles to answer the surprisingly cosmic question: Is Ann Landers real?
Did you write the plays at the same time? At two different times and realized how well they go together?
I wrote ellenalicemonajunefirst. While I was writing it, this whole other play occurred to me. So I finished the first one and immediately wrote the second one. I thought it would be interesting to take the identical components -- teenage girls in the food court of a mall -- and see how different the two plays might be.
What's your process like as a writer? Do you come up with characters first or an idea? How long did it take you to write these plays?
I wrote ellenalicemonajuneas a result of being in the food court of a mall with three teenage girls. It occurred to me that it would be a natural setting for a play with girls of that age. So I just started writing to see what happened. I usually start with one character with a strong voice (June has an especially strong voice) and the rest of the play seems to naturally follow from that. It didn't take long to write these plays. ellenalicemonajuneprobably took some part of each day over several days. I wrote Virginiavery quickly - less than a day. Of course, those first drafts have been polished and fine-tuned a lot. Really a lot. Really really a lot.
Tell us about the development history of each play. Obviously, they each start in the mall, but why did you decide to take them in their singular directions?
I don't make conscious decisions about those things when I write. The play just takes off in a particular direction and I follow along and try to keep up. I did want the two plays to have very different styles. There wouldn't have been much point in writing Virginiaif it was an exact echo of the characters and issues in the first play.
What I like about these plays is that it takes the simple, yet extremely familiar sensation of going to the mall and infuses it with such heart in ellenalicemonajuneand with such absurdity in Yes, Virgina, There is a Virginia. Two completely different sides of the same coin.
What was your intention with the two pieces?
My intention with these plays was to write something interesting for teenage girls to do on stage. I was a high school drama coach at the time and wasn't happy with the scripts I was finding for one-act competitions. So I wrote these plays for that purpose. I had written lots of stuff for mixed ages (8-18) so focusing on just this one age group was a departure for me.
Working on anything new?
I am always working on a play or two. Right now I am writing a play for a cast of adult actors that will be performed for an audience of children and their families. I haven't written anything lately for teenage performers. I'm not a drama coach anymore so I guess I've drifted away from that. But I really did enjoy writing the plays in Malledso maybe it's time to revisit those kinds of scripts.
As You Like It and Shakespearean Sudoku
John Minigan is at it again. He has adapted As You Like It for our Shakespeare in an Hour collection. Here he talks about the puzzles this particular play presented and a special "tip" on casting Shakespeare in schools to allow as many kids to participate as possible.
Creating the cutting of As You Like Itfor Theatrefolk provided a unique challenge. I had previously cut Much Ado About Nothing to 45 minutes and done a "dual cut" of Twelfth Night , providing both 45- and 60-minute versions in the same text, but those cuttings were relatively straightforward. I was able to keep the scenes in Shakespeare's original order.
As You Like Itproved virtually impossible to cut to 45 minutes without rearrangment. Shakespeare seems to have been keenly aware of the need to engineer passages of time for the audience as well provide chances for his performers to change costumes; he provided passages or scenes (Amiens' song on the death of a deer, Touchstone's speech about "the seven degrees of a lie") that are not essential to plot, but which emphasize the play's themes while solving technical problems of timing and changes.
Once I had cut those moments that were not essential to plot, scenes had to move, split, merge, etc. in order to provide new solutions to the "engineering" problems. Yes, there was a lot of head-scratching involved, but part of the fun of creating the new As You Like Itadaptation was solving the "Shakespearean Sudoku puzzles" the cutting created while trying to stay true to the rhythm, plot and themes of the play. It was the hardest of the three comedies to cut, but, ultimately, the most rewarding.
TIP!! Shakespearean Tag-Team in the Classroom
I've had success with Shakespeare cuttings in class by taking a "tag-team" approach to casting. In Much Ado, for example, the "choice roles" are Benedick and Beatrice, but a traditional approach to casting would limit the number of actors taking the roles. Instead, I have cast many students in each role and had them "tag in" to take over the portion of the script to which they've been assigned. For example, my trial run with the new 45-minute cutting of As You Like Ithad nine different Rosalinds. Each brought a new perspective to the role, and they could also work together to share the discoveries they had made about the character. And, when necessary, I was able to cast boys in the class as Rosalind, for the scenes in which Rosalind is disguised as the male, Ganymede!
The Magic Diary of Mozambique
We welcome another new author to Theatrefolk, Chris Stiles writer of The Magic Diary of Mozambique .
Darla feels invisible and that nothing goes her way. She wishes she had a better life. When her globetrotting sister gives her a diary, Darla thinks it's just another dumb present. Then, bizarre things start happening and suddenly EVERYTHING'S going Darla's way. The diary, she discovers, gives her everything she wishes for: good grades, popular friends, lavish gifts from her parents - She's the top dog! But there are consequences to being on top. Be careful what you wish for.
What was your inspiration for this play? Why did you decide to write it? Did you write the play specifically for your students?
I was just coming off the success of the first play I ever wrote - success in that I finished it, produced with my junior high students, and got a favorable response. I decided to write a play for the next year's production - and that pretty much was my inspiration.
We love the characters in this play because they are multi-dimensional. One of the characters has autism. Why did you decide to write such a character?
I had an autistic student once, and that was much of the inspiration. The character works well in the story on two levels: it helps build the family dynamic, and it also is the one thing Darla (the main character) can't control (or fix) with her magic diary.
What is your process as a writer? Do you start with the characters or the story? Do you re-write a lot?
The basic story comes first, usually, but only as an idea. It's impossible to write a good story without strong characters in mind. I had the characters for this play right away, especially Mom and Dad; they just jumped right out at me. I wrote the first draft in about two weeks, sitting at the city pool while my daughter played in the wading pool. I do a lot of pre-writing, sorting out characters, conflict, but once I get going the first finished draft doesn't look too different from the final product.
You produced this play at your school - what was that like?
The students I work with are always excited to be part of something new and original. The cast becomes part of the creative process, and I think they take greater ownership of the original productions, because they do own a piece of it; they are one part of the writing process.
Working on anything new?
I'm always working on something. I've got a handful of finished plays that I'm marketing, and I'm working on a full length for my spring production.
Download of the Month
Be the first to read the first act of Circus Olympusby Lindsay Price. You'll want to read the rest!
http://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlight/download/19
What's New?
Been on our website lately? We're now offering downloadable versions of some of our plays. This is a trial phase, but we're very happy with the outcome so far. Offering downloads has allowed us to easily get scripts to India, France, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand and of course, all over North America.
Visit: www.theatrefolk.com
Conference Alert
Here's our upcoming conference schedule. If you're attending, please drop by and say hi!
In the Next Issue
In the November Issue of the newsletter we'll be looking at Children's Theatre, featuring Shirley Barrie's Hansel and Gretel .
Stay in Touch
Future issues will be guided by your suggestions. Email stories, tips, suggestions, and questions to us by visiting: http://www.theatrefolk.com/contact . This newsletter belongs to you!
Some of our playwrights post to the Theatrefolk Blog . Check it out for insights into what's happening with Theatrefolk.
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