Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Plays”
The research for this play, the sequel to “The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective,” is involved and dense. It’s also shocking, and quite moving. The topic of women locked up as “insane” when they weren’t is part of a very long and intersectional history of women being treated terribly by the medical profession, women of color worst of all. Horrendous medical …
The sequel to The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective, Breaking Out of Bedlam, will feature a locked room mystery … specifically, a woman disappears from a locked room. According to John Dickson Carr, a master of the genre, there are seven solutions to a locked room murder. Robert Adey expanded Carr’s list considerably. In his book Locked Room Murders. Adey identifies …
“Bystanders” will premiere in October 2020. Here’s the description of this two-hander: BYSTANDERS, a new drama In the wake of a tragic and senseless act of gun violence, two women strive to connect despite their grief and guilt. Zayne is determined to learn if Hannah could have foreseen the shooting, or even prevented it. Hannah is fed up with clichéd …
The American Theatre Wing (who hosts the Tony Awards) offers a series of videos called “Working in Theatre” on Vimeo. This segment on Playwriting features David Henry Hwang, who admits he can’t stop rewriting. Perhaps you can relate. More: “‘There’s no formula for how to write a good play. Nobody knows what’s going to be successful, even if you define …
On Youtube, the National Theatre has posted a series of videos intended to spark creativity and give insight into the playwriting process. In the series, ten playwrights discuss different approaches to their craft, featuring writers Simon Stephens, In-Sook Chappell, Evan Placey, Alecky Blythe, Tanya Ronder, Suhayla El-Bushra, Ryan Craig, Lucy Kirkwood, Inua Ellams and Dawn King. Check out all ten!
An LA Times interview with playwright Rajiv Joseph, author of “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” yields his very interesting thoughts on playwriting as translation. The following is an excerpt: “Writing, it seems to me, can translate the unknown into the known, the mysterious into the lucid, the abstract into the concrete. And even if it doesn’t, a writer can …
Sometimes there are time sucks that get in the way of my playwriting. When this occurs, I feel frustrated at my own lack of productivity. I may sometimes go down the rabbit hole into Twitter (I have quit Facebook), especially on a big news day. Other times, I’m surfing the internet, telling myself I’m doing research. HA! Freedom is a …
A truism we writers already know! Much research has been completed that demonstrates the link between an active mind and an active body. The simplest effect is that during exercise, blood flow increases to the brain. But according to an in-depth article from Ferris Jabr in The New Yorker, there’s much more going on when we’re walking. “Walking on a regular …
Have you ever had an idea for a play (or any fictional story) that seemed workable, with a lot of promise … but you just couldn’t keep it going past the first two-dozen pages? I have. But I don’t like to get stuck in that situation, losing days or weeks writing something that doesn’t pan out. I’ve learned that I …
Hearts of Palm (4w, 1m) follows the personal ethical crises that play out among a group of United States land negotiators intent on expanding a Southeast Asian palm oil plantation. Relaxed safety standards, nonexistent environmental regulations, and dirt-cheap labor – these are the qualities that attracted Empire Holdings to the island of Marititu. Idealistic Empire negotiator Vi Wells is faced …