There is something different about
writing for the stage. It must be because of the rich history that
medium has; David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Thomas “Tennessee Williams
and Shakespeare all make it a privilege to call yourself a
playwright. Plays are the oldest form of written word to be
performed. A playscript is a living, breathing art form, it will
exist and be re-interpreted as long as there are actors willing to
speak your words.
After my recent good fortune of having
a screenplay produced into a feature film; a thriller called Cam-Girl
and also adapting that movie into a suspense novel, I decided to try
my hand at writing a story that was meant for the stage. This was
not something I was going to dive into blindly. Playscripts have
always been held to a high standard, that is why playwrights are
credited before the director of a play. I knew that playscripts were
a true test of a writer, they primarily deal with character and
dialogue, unlike the spectacle of Hollywood blockbuster films or
feeding the boundless imagination that a reader can have when they
read a novel.
Hurlyburly, 12 Angry Men,
Glen-Garry Glen Ross and Extremities; many of my
favorite movies are based on plays and reminded me of how polished
the dialogue has to be and how strong the characters have to be who
speak the well crafted prose of the playwrite. I watched those
movies over again and read a few playscripts, such as Bachelorette
which was later made into a feature film Written and directed by
the playwright Leslye Headland and starring Kirsten Dunst. The
script for Bachelorette was published in an annual collection
titled New Playwrights: The Best Plays 2011. This book series
is a great resource which I highly recommend, it lets you keep up to
date with emerging talent and see the types of plays that are
recently being produced. Classical plays are still captivating, but
the tastes of the public have changed a great deal since the days of
Shakespeare. I wonder what Shakespeare would be writing if he was
alive today? I bet he would have a blog, but maybe not a smart
phone, I'd like to think he would see trolling the internet or
playing games on a phone as a waste of time. To tweet or not to
tweet?
To help me with the structure and
formatting of a playscript I read Naked Playwriting by
William Missouri Down and Robin U. Russin. This book is worth
placing high on your shelf, it covers everything from writing a play
to the submission process, theatre etiquette, contract dealings,
rehearsals and the final production. This book contains advice from
master playwrights such as Chekhov who wrote; “If there is a gun
hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last.”
Naked Playwriting also
put into words what I feel most writers love about writing, why they
are compelled to do it; “Through dialogue we reveal our characters,
tell the story, push our point of view and say what we would have
said, if we'd been fast enough and cleaver enough to think of it when
we had the chance. For the playwright, it's never too late to find
the right words.” I couldn't agree more with this statement. If
plays and movies are a way for people to step outside of their lives
briefly, than being a writer is the ultimate escape; you are creating
your own reality. That is the kind of power dreams are made of, it
is what everyone wants.
First,
you must have a story you are eager to tell but is also best suited
for the stage. It has to do with the scope of the story. Some
questions you might want to ask are:
- Is this a character driven story?
- Are the main characters people the audience can identify with in some way and will they find them entertaining?
- Can this story be told with only a few characters and even fewer location?
When it comes to that second question, it should be clear that the audience does not need to like all of your main characters, but they must understand why they act the way they do and that should feel natural given who the character is. After thinking about the story I wanted to tell and proceeding to outline it beat by beat, I was confident that Anxiety would be a good fit for the stage.
Anxiety is about a
manic-claustrophobic woman who gets locked inside a bathroom after
hours at the office building she works at.
To make thinks interesting, I put a
male character trapped in there with her, a janitor who went in to
clean the place. Much like the play and film adaptation of Sunset
Limited, these are two worlds colliding, two people who are very
different from each other who are forced to overcome an obstacle
together. In this case, not only are these people of different
backgrounds and classes but they are of opposing genders. A man and
a woman together in a bathroom, not a common scenario to say the
least.
Part of the research for this play was
inspired by true events. On Friday night, December, 6th
2013 Karen Perrin was locked into the bathroom at her place of
employment for reasons that remain a mystery. The way she responded
was very interesting and received a great deal of news coverage.
Whatever is needed to inspire you as a writer and spark your interest
go out and find it. And then write, keep writing until the first
draft is done. That last part, following through is what separates
the professional writer from the well meaning hobbyist.
I have just finished Anxiety, so the
future of this playscript is uncertain, but what matters is that I
finished it and will make each draft better than the last.
PLAYWRITING RESOURCES:
Curt Wiser is a filmmaker and published author. He has written suspense novels and articles for Indie Slate Magazine.
