Be Specific

Be Specific

by | Nov 11, 2024 | The Working Playwright, Theater, Writing Tips

The Working Playwright 

by Melissa Bell

It’s All in the Details

Do you know your character’s favorite color? Favorite dish? The street they lived on as a child? What was the game their mother played with them when they were five? Why do they keep an item in their pocket and when do they take it out and stroke it? What memories does it provoke? What emotion does it conjure in your character?

Details. From the larger, to the smaller, and from the smaller to the larger, details make the character specific and unique. This unique person is facing the challenges you give them, the puzzle to solve, or the recognition they must make to bring catharsis to the play. What are the details of the character’s life, and how will those details help them obtain the thing they want or be the obstacle that stands in their way?

In Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex, the king, Oedipus, has vowed to cure his city of a pestilence by finding and exiling the murderer of the previous king, Laius, late husband of his wife Jocasta. To discover who this man is, Oedipus consults many people: Oracles, herdsmen, and slaves who offer clues to the murderer’s identity. But the most telling clue is a set of scars on his ankles. Oedipus bears the same scars on his own ankles, which had been pierced by his father who sent him away as an infant to be killed. The herdsman given this grim task took pity on the baby and passed him along to another herdsman, who then passed the baby along to his king, and Oedipus, named after his swollen feet, grew up not knowing his true identity or heritage. When Oedipus learns that the murderer bore the same scars he carries, Oedipus realizes that a man he once killed in a roadside brawl was none other than King Laius, Jocasta’s first husband, and that he (and his actions) is the cause of the plague on his city. Moreover, he discovers that Laius was his true father and that Jocasta, his wife, is his mother. This had been predicted by the Oracle at his birth and had now come true.

Wow. Talk about why detail matters. It was the clue that solved the entire puzzle, unlocking his past, present and future.

Your character may not be a king who murdered his father, but they do have a want and a need and those wants and needs will lead your character on a journey of consequences and reckoning.

The same rule applies to objects. Does an object have a special meaning for your character? What does it symbolize? Is it shared by another? How is it used for them or against them?

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moorish military general Othello is manipulated into suspecting his wife, Desdemona, of adultery. While wooing her, Othello gifts Desdemona with a handkerchief, which she cherishes. When she accidentally drops it, her maid finds it and turns it over to her husband, Iago, who uses it in his manipulation of Othello as revenge for denying him a significant military post. When Othello asks Desdemona to show him the handkerchief and she is unable to produce it, Othello becomes convinced of her infidelity and smothers her. It is only after her death that he realizes the significance he had placed upon an object as easily lost as a handkerchief, which allowed him to be manipulated by an evil and cunning opponent.

What are the details in your character’s lives? What do they represent to the character and to the theme? How does the physical enhance the metaphysical? In a play, every detail matters.

Try to give your characters details that reveal and reflect their journey. Are you working on a play right now? Have you finished a play? Make a list of the details that you have used to support the theme of your play and make sure they are placed in a way that affects the outcome. The details often provide the “button” that your audience can hold on to after the curtain goes down.

Melissa Bell’s work has been featured in the New York Times and has been awarded Finalist for Henley Rose Playwright Competition and nominated for Best Adaptation & Modernization by New York Shakespeare for LADY CAPULET and awarded Honored Finalist for the Collaboration Award by the Women in Arts & Media Coalition for COURAGE. Read her work on the New Play Exchange.

What Are Your Writing Goals?

What Are Your Writing Goals?

by | Oct 29, 2024 | Inspiration, NPD, Theater

Setting Goals: Who Do You Want To Be?

Goals are a means to an end, plain and simple. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.

So maybe the key question you and I need to ask is, “What kind of person will I have to become in order to achieve all that I want?” This may be the most important question that you can ask yourself.

What kind of a person do you want to become, professionally? Who do you want to be when you grow up? I have decided that in my life I want to create new work as a dramaturg, I want to envision the production text as a director, and I want to put stories on stage as a producer. To learn how to do this I have pursued an education (B.F.A. in Directing, M.F.A in Dramaturgy, CTI 14-week for producing), but even then it took a few years of actual practice dramaturging, directing and producing professionally before I internalized the “I AM” that made me believe in my identity as a professional theatremaker.

When you start doing the work, you’ll realize that you ARE the person that you wanted to be.

 

Write Down Your Goals

When setting your writing goals, you should plan on becoming a produced playwright.  Once you see your plays on stage, with real actors in a real theater, then you will indeed be a professional playwright.

What would being a produced playwright feel like to you? Our writers here at CreateTheater have said all of these:

  • Being produced would give validation to friends and family that I am a professional writer
  • The joy of seeing my work actually take shape onstage is what I love most
  • Having a show on Broadway or Off-Broadway would be a dream, but I’d love a regional production to invite my friends
  • Making revenue from writing for the subsidiary markets is my goal
  • A production onstage would finally make me feel that I belong in the professional theatre world

The good news is that becoming a produced playwright is doable. However, just like learning anything, there is a process to master.

Take Daily Actions to Achieve Your Goal 

The best thing about setting a goal is that it gives you actionable tasks to achieve along the way. Through hard work, you can make the decision to be a success and achieve it.

What things do you need to do to become a produced playwright?

  • Write daily. Create a routine where you write at a certain time every day. If you’re a writer, you write.
  • Write in a variety of formats. Write musical librettos, write one act plays. Write a play for high school or college, and adapt it for middle school audiences. Write ten minute plays.
  • Create a catalog of plays. Volume counts – the more good plays you write, the greater the chances of multiple productions
  • Create a NPX profile, and upload all of your plays there. Read and recommend other writers’ plays, so they will read and recommend yours. (It’s a community.)
  • Join CreateTheater and The Experts Theater Company. The more theater friends you have, the more you learn and the more you’ll feel like a pro.
  • Get a website. Keep it updated.
  • Get an email list. Keep your fans updated on what you’re doing.
  • Take pictures of your progress. Post on social media.
  • Plan on taking focused marketing time twice a year to reach out to regional theaters and their artistic directors. Compile a database for yourself.
  • Get to know your local theaters. Buy tickets to their work, and talk to people while you’re there. Go to their galas and meet them.
  • Submit, submit, submit. This is one of the best ways to create opportunities for yourself.

(Notice that none of the above requires an agent.)

Does this sound like a lot of work? It is. One of our produced playwrights at ETC, Kim Ruyle, says that he remembers a quote someone once told him: “The playwright you envy works a lot harder than you do.”

Be Persistent

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So said Thomas Edison, who knew this through experience. However, persistence can be very hard to put into practice when nothing seems to be happening for you.

The best advice that every produced playwright can give you is to:

  1. Write everyday as a matter of routine.
  2. Submit as often as you can.
  3. Take focused time to create marketing databases and email twice a year.
  4. Network regularly. Follow up. Keep in touch.
  5. See lots of theater. Strike up conversations while you’re there. Go to galas.
  6. Network and hang out with theatre people as often as you can, both online and in person.

Be persistent. Don’t give up.

Embrace the risks and do the work — and drive the outcome you deserve.

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October Spotlight: ETC Member Kim Ruyle

October Spotlight: ETC Member Kim Ruyle

by | Oct 21, 2024 | Getting Produced, Inspiration, NPD, Theater

From Broadway Student to Produced Playwright

Kim Ruyle, a playwright who has written nine plays—with six already produced and another in the works—has built his career on a blend of passion, preparation, and strategic relationship-building. His journey reflects a deep commitment to the art of theater and a disciplined approach to networking and honing his unique voice.

For over 20 years, Kim has traveled to New York at least three times a year, immersing himself in Broadway shows. “I’d see four or five plays in a weekend,” he says, always attending as a student of the craft. He watched closely to learn: How does a play start? What humor lands with the audience? How do the dramatic elements come together for a satisfying end? This habit of absorbing theater, combined with seeing about 50 shows annually, has been key to his growth as a playwright.

But Kim’s success goes beyond just studying the craft. He brings a three-pronged approach, borrowed from his influence coaching background, into his writing career: credibility, relationships, and a unique voice.

Credibility, for Kim, is built through preparation and continual learning. Relationships are forged through smart, subtle networking. “When I go, I pay attention to who’s directing, who’s the artistic director, and which actors stand out – I say, man, they did a great job and I would like to work with them someday. I often send them a friend request on Facebook afterward or compliment them after the show, which helps me build relationships over time,” he explains, noting that being a known face in local theaters has helped him make key connections that can open the door to productions.

Finding his unique voice has also been central to his success. “If you don’t have something original to say, why should anyone listen? Developing your own brand, your own voice is key. It takes time and effort to discover and hone that voice.”

He continues, “I write plays for mature actors that have an edgy quality to them. I tend to write ‘dramedies’ — stories with a mix of drama and comedy. Even in my most dramatic pieces, you’ll find comedic moments; I believe plays need to entertain and engage the audience. Not to say that I don’t have thought-provoking content in my plays – but they don’t promote a social agenda. I focus on telling a compelling story, one that makes people think, laugh, or cry.”

“I’ll add one more thing,” he says. “Early in my playwriting career I was on a drama skill webcast, and I heard playwright Phil Olson say something that stuck with me: ‘When you finish a play, don’t start your next one until you get the first one produced.’ That really resonated with me, and I try to do that now. Out of the nine full-length plays I’ve written, six have been produced, and I think another is about to be. So, it’s not just about writing—you have to focus on getting your work produced as well.

 

Discipline and Persistence

Kim’s disciplined approach to both writing and networking has led to tangible results. He writes daily, and also makes time to attend theater weekly, dedicates two months each year to marketing his work, and conducts in-depth research to develop stories for new plays. “My current project is set in the 1880s Old West, and I’m deep into research. I think it’s a unique setting for the stage, and I plan to bring in my signature blend of drama and comedy, I hope.”

As Kim’s career shows, success in playwriting requires both craft and hustle—balancing creativity with strategic relationship-building, and always staying a student of the art. He’s an inspiration to me and to all of our ETC members in CreateTheater!

Find out more about Kim’s work at kimruyle.com and read his plays on the NPX.

CreateTheater is an artistic home for new plays and musicals. Thinking of joining? Click here for more information.

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The Working Playwright: My Love / Hate Relationship with Theater

The Working Playwright: My Love / Hate Relationship with Theater

by | Oct 14, 2024 | NPD, The Working Playwright, Theater

 

My Love / Hate Relationship with Theater

 

Sometimes I hate theatre.

I’m sure you do too.

No matter how much we say we love it — the collaboration, the creativity, the excitement of seeing our work go from page to stage, it can be as much of a pain as — you fill in the blank. Sometimes, especially on long hot summer days, I feel I don’t have it in me to keep going.

It takes a long time to create. It takes longer to submit. It takes a village to produce. It takes grit and stamina and persistence. And that doesn’t include the many coffee dates, chance meetings on the train, or zoom chats, seminars, or panels, or networking events we attend to improve our chances of getting our work noticed.

Then there’s submissions. Since the end of 2017, when I started keeping track, I’ve made over 456 submissions. How do I know? I keep a list in Excel. I have a color code system: Red for declined, Yellow for follow-up, and Green for accepted. But most of the cells are white, meaning no response or follow-up. Crickets.

And yet, there are those 39 yellow and green cells indicating some sort of response.

Let’s do the math: that’s about one in twelve or an 8.5% response rate. For every twelve submissions that I tracked, I got some sort of positive response. And every time that happens, I do a victory lap, have a celebratory beverage, and my mood lifts in anticipation. Some of these lead to a simple script submission and end there.

 But every once in a while, one of those yellow cells turn to green, and an interesting project takes shape: a table reading, a zoom reading or a staged reading, or at best, a full production.

 And once again, I’m full in, heart and soul. And I remember why I love theatre.

 

Melissa Bell’s work has been featured in the New York Times and nominated for Best Adaptation & Modernization by New York Shakespeare and awarded Finalist for Henley Rose Playwright Competition for LADY CAPULET and awarded Honored Finalist for the Collaboration Award by the Women in Arts & Media Coalition for COURAGE. Read and review her work on the New Play Exchange.

 

CreateTheater is here to help. Thinking of joining? Click here for more information.

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What’s the #1 Question I Get Asked?

What’s the #1 Question I Get Asked?

by | Oct 7, 2024 | Inspiration, NPD, Theater

CreateTheater Develops and Produces New Work

 

Since 2016, CreateTheater has been working with playwrights and musical theater teams to develop and then help produce new work, through general managing industry readings, dramaturgy, writing groups, worksbops, and producing new work in the CreateTheater New Works Festival, the CreateTheater Cabaret, and through partnerships that produce new plays and musicals,

So what do you think the #1 question that I get asked?

Drum roll please: “Will you produce my new play or musical?”

 

It Takes Time to Produce New Work

 

Typically a new play will take 3-5 years to get produced; musicals seven years or more. And even if you’re in a position to independently produce your own work on stage doesn’t mean that you can “fast-track” the process.

Theater is the most collaborative art, which means that it takes time to pull the work together. Time to check your script with directors, dramaturgs and company members; time to present readings to see how the audience reacts to the work. Time to rewrite yet another draft, incorporating what was learned in the previous reading, writing group presentation or workshop.

Not every reading should be recorded, especially in the early drafts; you’ll want to change the script to incorporate feedback, rendering the recording outdated almost as soon as it’s edited. Save that for the music-stand industry reading, when you’ll need it to pitch to theaters, directors, producers and investors.

Getting back to the original question, “Will you produce my show,” in the beginning no one will love your show more than you do. But I will be a close second. My goal is to see you get your play produced; sometimes I will produce it.

But it takes time. Most important things do; y0u can’t shortcut development without taking the time to make it great.

 

So, How Do I Get Produced?

 

First, write the script (or libretto). Get input from your collaborator, a dramaturg, a writing group – or all three. Then find some friends and do a table reading, often called a “pizza reading” since you can compensate your friends with food.

Make changes to the script, incorporating your discoveries. Check out your new pages with your collaborator, a dramaturg, a writing group – and hold another reading. Make more changes. Do this until you (and your friends) are enthusiastic and feel your play is “ready.”

Ready to submit to theaters, festivals, contests. Ready to submit to possible directors or producers. Make sure that you upload it to y0ur NPX portal, so other writers can read and comment on it as well.

This takes time. But you know what? With each step, your play just keeps getting better and better. And you gain more experience, and get better at your craft, with each iteration. You may even decide to start another play or musical, just for the fun of it, while you submit and continue to develop your first.

These friends, these colleagues, who are so ready (and experienced) to help you with their smart feedback? Here at CreateTheater, these are your fellow playwrights and ETC members, all experienced playwright and musical theater writers. I’m proud that many of our members have been produced Off Broadway, regionally, and in television and film. Some members are actual Tony-award winning producers, looking for new projects.

 

When Do I Get Produced?

 

This is a relationship-driven business. First you perfect the work itself, in collaboration with other artists; then you present it to friends, colleagues, and new industry friends that you make through social connections in the business.

From there your network keeps growing. Soon, a friend-of-a-friend, a writing group member’s cousin that works with a famous person’s sister wants to listen to your musical. A theater discovers your play through a submission process and wants to produce it. Your industry reading is so funny that a producer you know asks for the chance to produce it.

These things happen. And they can happen to you, too. Perfect the work, keep writing new shows, keep submitting and making social connections. That’s how you get produced.

CreateTheater is here to help. Thinking of joining? Click here for more information.

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The Value of a Theatre Community

The Value of a Theatre Community

by | Oct 2, 2024 | Inspiration, NPD, Theater

 

The Need for an “Artistic Home”

Theatre is an especially collaborative art. It takes a dedicated creative team to create, develop and produce new work, and always have. Today, collaboration often happens on Zoom, one of the benefits from the pandemic. However, the definition of theater is “live” and must happen first with the creative team, then with the actors and audience in the same space.

As it stands now, a three-week rehearsal schedule is built for commercial success, not development. What’s needed is an “artistic home” to serve as a nurturing ground, to foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation, with other trusted artists.

What is an “artistic home”?

An artistic home, to me, is a supportive environment for theatre artists to explore and experiment with new ideas. It offers a ‘safe space’ where artists can take risks, challenge conventions, and push the limits of their creativity, without fear of judgment, crucial for the development of groundbreaking and transformative work.

Moreover, an artistic home can allow theatre artists a place to collaborate and exchange ideas with a variety of other artists – playwrights, directors, actors, designers, and technicians – within a framework of critical resources and support. Funding, mentorship programs, and networking opportunities are crucial for artists to overcome financial and logistical challenges that hinder the creation of new work.

A true artistic home fosters a sense of belonging, an identity of professionalism, and provides concrete networking channels leading towards production.

CreateTheater is a Theater Community

I’ve founded CreateTheater to be this community for theater artists.

This year so far we’ve:

  • Hosted the CreateTheater New Works Festival Reading Series to give an audience to developing new plays and musicals
  • Provided two residencies that financed two readings, one new play and one new musical
  • Provided networking and mentorship opportunities to both CreateTheater and ETC members
  • Provided dramaturgy and development to 42 new plays and musicals this year
  • Workshopped twelve new musicals with industry experts in our SMASH IT! musical workshops
  • Pitching opportunities to Tony-award winning producers and to artistic directors
  • Created writing groups, workshops and social events to grow your industry connections
  • I pitched 12 scripts to a company for touring and licensing
  • We locked down a large studio to present readings and development space for new projects
  • Creating a cabaret for our first-ever fundraiser (stay tuned)

Need to experiment with form? Let’s do it. What about trying out your latest draft with actors, to see if what you have on the page is working? That’s different than a typical reading, where you invite others in to see the work, or a cold “pizza reading” that you plan with friends to get some feedback. I’ve been to two cold musical readings with minimal prep time, that were absolutely outstanding. We’re now trying to help the work go forward.

I’m proud that CreateTheater has been considered an artistic home for our writers,  as it’s playing a vital role in nurturing new scripts and fostering artistic development. The New Works Festival has proven to be a platform for artists to showcase their work, gain exposure, and receive critical feedback from their peers and industry professionals, helping these artists to refine their craft, develop their unique artistic voice, and establish themselves within the professional theatre community.

I also want to say, as an artist with both a BFA and an MFA, that forming your artistic vision among other established artists gives you a foundation to become, in time, an established artist yourself. Mindset matters; community matters. People you trust to hear your work and offer feedback, matters.

An artistic home, within an engaged theater community, is essential to foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation. A supportive and nurturing environment can allow artists to explore new ideas, collaborate with peers, access resources, nurture emerging talent, and push the boundaries of our art form. By investing in such places, we not only empower theatre artists in the 21st century but also contribute to the growth and evolution of theatre as an art form – which needs some help right now.

Let’s Develop New Work Together

I’ve created CreateTheater as a space where artists can challenge traditional norms and conventions and create some groundbreaking and thought-provoking work. Whenever you gather creative people in a singular space, some wild things can happen… especially in a theatrical hotspot like NYC. The people are here. Is your work here? It needs to be, even if you live somewhere else.

Last spring I offered a free Collaboration Event to introduce creatives to each other online (where we’re providing the space to make their work happen in November), and people have been asking me to start up the ‘Cocktail Hours” that I held during lockdown. So, I’m starting it up again. Would you like to participate? Come join us on the last Sunday of the month, October 27th at 2pm EST.

Join our email list for the link and to stay “in the know” here.

Any other ideas? There will be a “Welcome to CreateTheater and ETC” meet-and-greet webinar on October 29th at 7pm EST. Stop by and meet us and see what we’re all about!

 

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