Theatrefolk Featured Play – Hoodie by Lindsay Price

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight.  Hoodie by Lindsay Price is one of our most popular middle school plays that asks all of the tough questions that middle schoolers deal with every day.

Middle schoolers face a tornado of questions every day. What do I wear? What if I wear the wrong thing? What is she wearing? What do I look like? Stop looking at me!

Hoodie examines image and appearance in the vignette style and poses what may be the most difficult question of all – Do I stay in the clump or do I stand alone?

Why did we publish this play?
Hoodie was our first middle school specific play. We started solely focused on the high school market but as we went to more and more conferences, we started meeting more and more middle school teachers. And what middle schoolers didn’t have a lot of was plays that had characters their age dealing with issues they were specifically going through. It was either fairy tales which are too young, or high school plays that aren’t right either.

I’m proud of Hoodie (and the other plays that we’ve published that are middle school specific) and it remains one of our most popular plays to date.

Let’s hear from the author!

1. Why did you write this play?
This was the first play I wrote specifically for middle school. We started going to middle school specific conferences and realized these students don’t want to do fairy tales – they want characters and subjects that are relevant to their experience.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences.
This play examines appearance and image in middle school.

3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play?
The Clump. I love this group of characters and I feel for them!

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be?
Don’t give up on the Clump! This is the one group of characters that I get the most questions about. There are no shortcuts, it takes practice, practice and more practice both with movement and with dialogue. But when you get it, it will look and sound amazing.

5. Why is this play great for student performers?
The topic is relevant, the characters are easy to connect to, and it’s fun!