NYCPlaywrights November 19, 2022
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NYCPlaywrights
Nov 19, 2022, 5:50:01 PM11/19/22
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
THE DNA PLAY
By Malini Singh McDonald
***
Theater in Athens worked differently than theater today. Plays were performed in a competition at the annual City Dionysia festival. Each playwright would write three tragedies, often linked by theme (sometimes an actual trilogy) and performed one after another. Understandably, six hours of bloodshed, torment, and woe had a way of depressing the audience.
So, after each tragic trilogy, the selected playwright would conclude things with a satyr play. A satyr play was a ridiculous, partially tragic, partially comic parody (or satire, though our word satire does not come from this root) of a popular legend. They were loaded with sex, drunkenness, and Black Comedy. The satyr chorus were notorious for their costumes, which featured comically large penises. The leader of the satyrs was their father, the elderly and put-upon Silenus, whose part was played by the Chorus Leader.
More...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SatyrPlay
***
ONE ACT STRUCTURE
In terms of story structure, I use a model that, roughly, implements half of the scene/sequel model discussed in some of my other posts.
Set the Scene
Introduce the character goal(s)
Introduce an obstacle to the achievement of the goal(s)
Introduce a disaster (the result of a twist if your story has one)
Let the character(s) react
Resolve the story
AN EXAMPLE
Because a story with a twist isn’t dependent on characterization for its success, it can be told very quickly indeed using this model. I’ve mapped a quick adaptation of the misperception plot mentioned above onto the suggested structure…
[SETTING THE SCENE]
NARRATOR: Some say Hell is other people. Today’s story focuses on one such man, old and frail, and just now questioning whether his self-imposed life-long isolation has been worth it. We join him as he pushes his wheelchair around his yard on his bit of daily exercise.
SOUND: OUTDOOR AMBIANCE – BIRDS, A SLIGHT BREEZE, ETC. – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SOUND: SQUEAKING OF WHEELCHAIR – UNDER.
BOB: (MUTTERING) I hate bein’ old. I hate pushing this chair around. Time was, I hated the world more, though. Built these high walls so’s I could keep it out. (SNEERING) No “junk mail”. No “TV”. None o’ them blasted “sales-folks” hangin’ on the bell. I thought life was better without seein’ people. Just me ‘n my books…
More...
https://weirdworldstudios.com/5-twists-for-one-act-plays/
***
Ensemble Studio Theater’s 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays showcases what can be accomplished in short-form productions, and how, in some cases, they hem ideas in.
In Harron Atkins’s multigenerational saga “Still…,” artistic ambitions rub up against personal relationships. Careers wax and wane. A couple forms, bickers, ends — and may or may not be reborn on different terms. We even hear exquisite renditions of “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Valerie.” All of this in only 40 minutes.
The scope and length of “Still…” make it an outlier not just in Ensemble Studio Theater’s 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays, but in short-form theater in general, which tends to focus on economical vignettes and snapshots. Not here: Atkins follows Noah and Jeremy, starting with their meet-cute as tweens, then tracking them as young adults uploading songs on social media before they eventually make moves in the music industry, and going all the way to their reminiscing — but also looking ahead — when they are in their 60s. Much of the time is spent with the young-adult versions of Jeremy (Eric R. Williams) and Noah (Deandre Sevon) as their friendship morphs into love, which in turn becomes strained when Noah’s career takes off while Jeremy’s stalls.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/theater/one-act-plays-ensemble-studio-theater.html
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
THE DNA PLAY
By Malini Singh McDonald
The DNA Play is written and performed by Alexandra de Suze, Nicole Jesson, Elizabeth June and Malini Singh McDonald. Their personal excavation of familial lore and lineage reveals a somewhat better understanding of their lives through an intergenerational and intersectional lens. This is a work-in-progress and a staged reading.
Sun, November 27, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM EST
New Perspectives Theatre Company 456 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018
1 hour 30 minutes
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-dna-play-tickets-446576701937?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Through an open submission process, Middlebury Acting Company is looking for three new plays for our second American Dreaming New Play Festival. This festival aims to amplify three unproduced, unpublished plays that address the question: What does the American Dream mean today? The selected plays will each receive two rehearsals, dramaturgical feedback, and a culminating public staged reading followed by a carefully moderated talkback with the audience.
***
We are inviting submissions for our first 10-minute drama anthology titled ‘HEARTS & GUNS’ . The anthology will be published in e-book as well as paperback formats. Please submit your work as per the following guidelines:
a) The anthology covers the theme of world wars in general and wars in particular, so 10 minute plays revolving around or refering to these broad themes are welcome.
***
The subject of reproductive justice is one too often simplified by our current dialogues. And too often the voices and perspectives of the people most affected by restrictions, legislative prohibitions, and cultural prejudices are excluded from our artistic institutions.
A is For seeks to change that. We believe that theatre is a powerful platform through which to share stories, debunk myths, and create lasting change. We believe that theatre can transform. We want to challenge the abstract, politicized, and stigmatized ways people think about abortion and reproductive justice. We want to amplify voices which can reframe the conversation. We want to support and promote artists who can dispel myths and misconceptions. We want to hear the stories you want to tell.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** ONE-ACT PLAYS ***
“No one gives a sh*t about one-acts.”
He was lecturing me on not writing. On not writing enough of the “right” things. My playwright friend was trying to be helpful. But I wanted to tell him he was wrong. That he was just being clever. That his words wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny. That small can be big. And that big can come from small. I wanted to shake him. I wanted to shout, "You think great plays just grow on trees?!” But my pride shouted back, “Fin and Euba is published, ya know!” He just shook his head, repeating: “No one gives a sh*t about one-acts.”
Bitter isn’t a good look on anyone. But I was bitter, and for a long time after that. His words haunted me, and the more I thought about them the more they seemed plain reckless. What terrible advice! We’re all out here in Play Submission Land trying desperately to decode the process, to figure out the system, to uncover the secret of how we get from here to there, and our go-to medium when we are first starting out is almost always the short form. And more importantly, it’s how we learn the craft in the first place. There is an art to the short form. Its atomic energy is highly sought after by myriad theatre practitioners as a learning tool and as a prime fuel source for self-discovery.
More...
https://www.breakingcharacter.com/home/2019/4/8/write-your-one-act-play-the-short-form-as-thriving-medium
***
“A lot of people used to write one-act plays,” explained A Play Is a Poem director Neil Pepe. “In fact, a lot of the writers that I kind of knew and grew up with, like Sam Shepard and Lanford Wilson—and lots of writers who started out in the ’60s—wrote them. Back then, the one-act form was sort of a cool one.”
Along with being “cool,” the one-act form was considered challenging. “The one-act, because of its brevity, is much more difficult a form than the more leisurely full-length play,” wrote Los Angeles Times theatre critic T.H. McCulloh in a 1996 review of an evening of Lanford Wilson one-acts. In both character- and plot-driven stories, “the one-act requires a strong core,” McCulloh noted.
More...
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/news-and-blogs/news/2019/september/revisiting-the-one-act-form-with-ethan-coens-a-play-is-a-poem/
Sun, November 27, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM EST
New Perspectives Theatre Company 456 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018
1 hour 30 minutes
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-dna-play-tickets-446576701937?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Through an open submission process, Middlebury Acting Company is looking for three new plays for our second American Dreaming New Play Festival. This festival aims to amplify three unproduced, unpublished plays that address the question: What does the American Dream mean today? The selected plays will each receive two rehearsals, dramaturgical feedback, and a culminating public staged reading followed by a carefully moderated talkback with the audience.
***
We are inviting submissions for our first 10-minute drama anthology titled ‘HEARTS & GUNS’ . The anthology will be published in e-book as well as paperback formats. Please submit your work as per the following guidelines:
a) The anthology covers the theme of world wars in general and wars in particular, so 10 minute plays revolving around or refering to these broad themes are welcome.
***
The subject of reproductive justice is one too often simplified by our current dialogues. And too often the voices and perspectives of the people most affected by restrictions, legislative prohibitions, and cultural prejudices are excluded from our artistic institutions.
A is For seeks to change that. We believe that theatre is a powerful platform through which to share stories, debunk myths, and create lasting change. We believe that theatre can transform. We want to challenge the abstract, politicized, and stigmatized ways people think about abortion and reproductive justice. We want to amplify voices which can reframe the conversation. We want to support and promote artists who can dispel myths and misconceptions. We want to hear the stories you want to tell.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** ONE-ACT PLAYS ***
“No one gives a sh*t about one-acts.”
He was lecturing me on not writing. On not writing enough of the “right” things. My playwright friend was trying to be helpful. But I wanted to tell him he was wrong. That he was just being clever. That his words wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny. That small can be big. And that big can come from small. I wanted to shake him. I wanted to shout, "You think great plays just grow on trees?!” But my pride shouted back, “Fin and Euba is published, ya know!” He just shook his head, repeating: “No one gives a sh*t about one-acts.”
Bitter isn’t a good look on anyone. But I was bitter, and for a long time after that. His words haunted me, and the more I thought about them the more they seemed plain reckless. What terrible advice! We’re all out here in Play Submission Land trying desperately to decode the process, to figure out the system, to uncover the secret of how we get from here to there, and our go-to medium when we are first starting out is almost always the short form. And more importantly, it’s how we learn the craft in the first place. There is an art to the short form. Its atomic energy is highly sought after by myriad theatre practitioners as a learning tool and as a prime fuel source for self-discovery.
More...
https://www.breakingcharacter.com/home/2019/4/8/write-your-one-act-play-the-short-form-as-thriving-medium
***
“A lot of people used to write one-act plays,” explained A Play Is a Poem director Neil Pepe. “In fact, a lot of the writers that I kind of knew and grew up with, like Sam Shepard and Lanford Wilson—and lots of writers who started out in the ’60s—wrote them. Back then, the one-act form was sort of a cool one.”
Along with being “cool,” the one-act form was considered challenging. “The one-act, because of its brevity, is much more difficult a form than the more leisurely full-length play,” wrote Los Angeles Times theatre critic T.H. McCulloh in a 1996 review of an evening of Lanford Wilson one-acts. In both character- and plot-driven stories, “the one-act requires a strong core,” McCulloh noted.
More...
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/news-and-blogs/news/2019/september/revisiting-the-one-act-form-with-ethan-coens-a-play-is-a-poem/
***
Theater in Athens worked differently than theater today. Plays were performed in a competition at the annual City Dionysia festival. Each playwright would write three tragedies, often linked by theme (sometimes an actual trilogy) and performed one after another. Understandably, six hours of bloodshed, torment, and woe had a way of depressing the audience.
So, after each tragic trilogy, the selected playwright would conclude things with a satyr play. A satyr play was a ridiculous, partially tragic, partially comic parody (or satire, though our word satire does not come from this root) of a popular legend. They were loaded with sex, drunkenness, and Black Comedy. The satyr chorus were notorious for their costumes, which featured comically large penises. The leader of the satyrs was their father, the elderly and put-upon Silenus, whose part was played by the Chorus Leader.
More...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SatyrPlay
***
ONE ACT STRUCTURE
In terms of story structure, I use a model that, roughly, implements half of the scene/sequel model discussed in some of my other posts.
Set the Scene
Introduce the character goal(s)
Introduce an obstacle to the achievement of the goal(s)
Introduce a disaster (the result of a twist if your story has one)
Let the character(s) react
Resolve the story
AN EXAMPLE
Because a story with a twist isn’t dependent on characterization for its success, it can be told very quickly indeed using this model. I’ve mapped a quick adaptation of the misperception plot mentioned above onto the suggested structure…
[SETTING THE SCENE]
NARRATOR: Some say Hell is other people. Today’s story focuses on one such man, old and frail, and just now questioning whether his self-imposed life-long isolation has been worth it. We join him as he pushes his wheelchair around his yard on his bit of daily exercise.
SOUND: OUTDOOR AMBIANCE – BIRDS, A SLIGHT BREEZE, ETC. – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SOUND: SQUEAKING OF WHEELCHAIR – UNDER.
BOB: (MUTTERING) I hate bein’ old. I hate pushing this chair around. Time was, I hated the world more, though. Built these high walls so’s I could keep it out. (SNEERING) No “junk mail”. No “TV”. None o’ them blasted “sales-folks” hangin’ on the bell. I thought life was better without seein’ people. Just me ‘n my books…
More...
https://weirdworldstudios.com/5-twists-for-one-act-plays/
***
Ensemble Studio Theater’s 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays showcases what can be accomplished in short-form productions, and how, in some cases, they hem ideas in.
In Harron Atkins’s multigenerational saga “Still…,” artistic ambitions rub up against personal relationships. Careers wax and wane. A couple forms, bickers, ends — and may or may not be reborn on different terms. We even hear exquisite renditions of “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Valerie.” All of this in only 40 minutes.
The scope and length of “Still…” make it an outlier not just in Ensemble Studio Theater’s 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays, but in short-form theater in general, which tends to focus on economical vignettes and snapshots. Not here: Atkins follows Noah and Jeremy, starting with their meet-cute as tweens, then tracking them as young adults uploading songs on social media before they eventually make moves in the music industry, and going all the way to their reminiscing — but also looking ahead — when they are in their 60s. Much of the time is spent with the young-adult versions of Jeremy (Eric R. Williams) and Noah (Deandre Sevon) as their friendship morphs into love, which in turn becomes strained when Noah’s career takes off while Jeremy’s stalls.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/theater/one-act-plays-ensemble-studio-theater.html
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