THE DREAMUNLOCKED
  • TheDreamUnLocked
  • Actor Classes
    • What's Your Actor Super Power?
    • Emotional Type Audition Technique
    • How to Double Your Auditions
    • GET UNSTUCK >
      • I Am Enuf DOL MiniCourse
    • BLOGS >
      • BadAssActor Blog
      • BadAssWriter Blog
  • Writer Classes
    • What is the Solo Show Secret
    • Fix My Solo Show
    • Journalling into Story
    • How to Start Writing MiniCourse
    • Writer MiniRetreats
  • ABOUT APRIL
    • Work with April
    • Privacy Policy
  • Testimonials
  • DONATE
  • GetUnStuck CTA

​​BadAss Actor Blog

Subscribe

Jose Rivera's 36 Assumptions About Playwrighting

3/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture

Over the years, I've had the good fortune to teach writing in a number of schools from second-grade to graduate school. I usually just wing it. But lately, I've decided to think about the assumptions I've been working under and to write them down. The following is an unscientific, gut-level survey of the assumptions I have about writing plays, in no particular order of importance.



  1. Good playwriting is a collaboration between your many selves. The more multiple your personalities, the further, wider, deeper you will be able to go.
  2. Theatre is closer to poetry and music than it is to the novel.
  3. There's no time limit to writing plays. Think of playwriting as a life-long apprenticeship. Imagine you may have your best ideas on your deathbed.
  4. Write plays in order to organize despair and chaos. To live vicariously. To play God. To project an idealized version of the world. To destroy things you hate in the world and in yourself. To remember and to forget. To lie to yourself. To play. To dance with language. To beautify the landscape. To fight loneliness. To inspire others. To imitate your heroes. To bring back the past and raise the dead. To achieve transcendence of yourself. To fight the powers that be. To sound alarms. To provoke conversation. To engage in the conversation started by great writers in the past. To further evolve the artform. To lose yourself in your fictive world. To make money.
  5. Write because you want to show something. To show that the world is shit. To show how fleeting love and happiness are. To show the inner workings of your ego. To show that democracy is in danger. To show how interconnected we are. (Each "to show" is active and must be personal, deeply held, true to you.)
  6. Each line of dialogue is like a piece of DNA; potentially containing the entire play and its thesis; potentially telling us the beginning, middle, and end of the play.
  7. Be prepared to risk your entire reputation every time you write, otherwise it's not worth your audience's time.
  8. Embrace your writer's block. It's nature's way of saving trees and your reputation. Listen to it and try to understand its source. Often, writer's block happens to you because somewhere in your work you've lied to yourself and your subconscious won't let you go any further until you've gone back, erased the lie, stated the truth and started over.
  9. Language is a form of entertainment. Beautiful language can be like beautiful music: it can amuse, inspire, mystify, enlighten.
  10. Rhythm is key. Use as many sounds and cadences as possible. Think of dialogue as a form of percussive music. You can vary the speed of the language, the number of beats per line, volume, density. You can use silences, fragments, elongated sentences, interruptions, overlapping conversation, physical activity, monologues, nonsense, non-sequiturs, foreign languages.
  11. Vary your tone as much as possible. Juxtapose high seriousness with raunchy language with lyrical beauty with violence with dark comedy with awe with eroticism.
  12. Action doesn't have to be overt. It can be the steady deepening of the dramatic situation or your character's steady emotional movements from one emotional/psychological condition to another: ignorance to enlightenment, weakness to strength, illness to wholeness.
  13. Invest something truly personal in each of your characters, even if it's something of your worst self.
  14. If realism is as artificial as any genre, strive to create your own realism. If theatre is a handicraft in which you make one of a kind pieces, then you're in complete control of your fictive universe. What are its physical laws? What's gravity like? What does time do? What are the rules of cause and effect? How do your characters behave in this altered universe?
  15. Write from your organs. Write from your eyes, your heart, your liver, your ass -- write from your brain last of all.
  16. Write from all of your senses. Be prepared to design on the page: tell yourself exactly what you see, feel, hear, touch and taste in this world. Never leave design to chance, that includes the design of the cast.
  17. Find your tribe. Educate your collaborators. Stick to your people and be faithful to them. Seek aesthetic and emotional compatability with those your work with. Understand your director's world view because it will color his/her approach to your work.
  18. Strive to be your own genre. Great plays represent the genres created around the author's voice. A Checkhov genre. A Caryl Churchill genre.
  19. Strive to create roles that actors you respect will kill to perform.
  20. Form follows function. Strive to reflect the content of the play in the form of the play.
  21. Use the literalization of metaphor to discuss the inner emotional state of your characters.
  22. Don't be afraid to attempt great themes: death, war, sexuality, identity, fate, God, existence, politics, love.
  23. Theatre is the explanation of life to the living. Try to tease apart the conflicting noises of living, and make some kind of pattern and order. It's not so much and explanation of life as much as it is a recipe for understanding, a blueprint for navigation, a confidante with some answers, enough to guide you and encourage you, but not to dictate to you.
  24. Push emotional extremes. Don't be a puritan. Be sexy. Be violent. Be irrational. Be sloppy. Be frightening. Be loud. Be stupid. Be colorful.
  25. Ideas may be deeply embedded in the interactions and reactions of your character; they may be in the music and poetry of your form. You have thoughts and you generate ideas constantly. A play ought to embody those thoughts and those thoughts can serve as a unifying energy in your play.
  26. A play must be organized. This is another word for structure. You organize a meal, your closet, your time -- why not your play?
  27. Strive to be mysterious, not confusing.
  28. Think of information in a play like an IV drip -- dispense just enough to keep the body alive, but not too much too soon.
  29. Think of writing as a constant battle against the natural inertia of language.
  30. Write in layers. Have as many things happening in a play in any one moment as possible.
  31. Faulkner said the greatest drama is the heart in conflict with itself.
  32. Keep your chops up with constant questioning of your own work. React against your work. Be hypercritical. Do in the next work what you aimed for but failed to do in the last one.
  33. Listen only to those people who have a vested interest in your future.
  34. Character is the embodiment of obsession. A character must be stupendously hungry. There is no rest for those characters until they've satisfied their needs.
  35. In all your plays be sure to write at least one impossible thing. And don't let your director talk you out of it.
  36. A writer cannot live without an authentic voice -- the place where you are the most honest, most lyrical, most complete, most creative and new. That's what you're striving to find. But the authentic voice doesn't know how to write, any more than gasoline knows how to drive. But driving is impossible without fuel and writing is impossible without the heat and strength of your authentic voice. Learning to write well is the stuff of workshops. Learning good habits and practicing hard. But finding your authentic voice as a writer is your business, your journey -- a private, lonely, inexact, painful, slow and frustrating voyage. Teachers and mentors can only bring you closer to that voice. With luck and time, you'll get there on your own.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    ILove the blog? Consider donating so we can continue to provide great creative content.
    DONATE

    April Yvette Thompson
    is a Tony-winning
    producer,
    writer
    &  actor
    ​working
    across media.  


    FOUNDER/CEO of TheDreamUnLocked: Boutique Coaching for Actors, Writers & Dreamers⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    W/25 years of teaching, acting, writing & advocating for people's dreams, April has the uncanny ability to help her clients find their personal transformation magic. ⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    April is a midwife of genius: helping u give birth to ur dreams & crossing the finish line to ur goals. ⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    The DreamingOutLoud Technique from April's Ted Talk: ReWrite Your Story, is the basis of her teaching method⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    . • Writing is the way to focus ourselves in the present, on what's working & figuring out new ways to get around old problems⁣⁣

    ​ ⁣⁣ •Writing is a way to align the life ur living w/the life uv always dreamed about⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    • Writing is also how u let go of the BS beliefs u have about what ur capable of.⁣⁣ The DreamingOutLoud Technique allows ⁣⁣u to grieve the losses, forgive urself for past mistakes & weave a new story of how ud like to spend the rest of ur life thriving instead of just surviving.⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    HOW I HELP YOU MOVE FROM FEAR TO F🌀CK THIS⁣⁣
    The DreamingOutLoud Technique uses writing exercises, a rigorous questioning process & dismantling of all the limiting beliefs u hold that no longer serve u⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    Like Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction & transformation, I help u root out the dead weight so that u can focus on flying. ⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    I teach u
    How to get⁣⁣
    past FEAR ⁣⁣
    to F🌀CK THIS ⁣⁣
    F🌀CK THIS is that place where even though you're broke & nothing is working & you're afraid of complete failure, you finally decide:⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    I'm doing this sh🦋t by any means necessary because JOY is my BIRTHRITE.⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    TheDreamingOutLoud Technique is what happens next after F🌀CK THIS
    ⁣⁣⁣⁣
    From escaping the Pork N' Beans projects to Vassar, Broadway/Film/TV & doing the fabulous black expat writer thing in Morocco; I've figured out how to ⁣⁣WEAVE a RICH life ⁣⁣
    by RE-IMAGINING ⁣⁣POOR beginnings
    ⁣⁣
    I’ve created a process where u can learn how to change the very fabric of your life. This magic is available to everyone⁣⁣
    It's called ReWriteYourStory, the fuel that drives the DreamingOutLoud Technique

    TheDreamUnLocked.com
    AprilYvetteThompson.com



    Categories

    All
    12 Step MFA
    26 Things
    9 Times Fast
    Acting For The Camera
    Actor
    Actor Blues
    Actor Bullshit
    Actor Entreprenuer
    Actor Inspiration
    Actor Nudity
    Actor Prep
    Actor Problems
    Actors Arsenal
    Actorsarsenal
    Actor-tip
    Actor Training Programs
    Actor-vs-star
    Agent
    Aisha-hinds
    Alfre Woodard
    April In April
    April Yvette Thompson
    Artistentrepreneur
    Artist Housing
    Artist Shit
    Artists Survival Job
    ASK April
    Asking Permission
    Auditioning
    Audition Jitters
    Badass Actor
    BadAssActor
    BadAssActor FB Group
    Badass Black Womn
    Bald Black Beauty
    Beyonce-badassery
    Beyonce-badassery
    BFA
    Biggest Question About OnCameraAuditions
    Black Actresses
    Black Girl Magic
    Black History Month Special Edition Of The BadAssActors Arsenal Newsletter
    Black-ish
    Black Love On Primetime
    Blackness
    Black Panther
    Black-panther
    Black Women Telling Their Stories
    BOOK IT
    Branding
    Branding And Marketing
    Brene-brown
    Building An Acting Career
    BULL
    Burning Bridges
    Burning-questions-about-acting
    Burningquestionsaboutacting
    Business Of Acting
    Calling Your Own Shots
    Call To Performing Artists
    Case-study
    Center Of Your Emotional Range
    Character
    Character Actor
    Character Actor Vs Leading Actor
    Cherise Boothe
    Clients
    Client Success Stories
    Compassion
    Courage Over Fear
    COVID Wakeup Call
    Danai Gurira
    Dark Brown Girl Problems
    Dark Skin Representations
    Diversity
    Don-cheadle
    Don-cheadle-on-acting
    Dora Milaje
    Dreambuilder
    DreamingMoroccoRetreat
    Dreamingoutloud
    DreamingOutloud Emotional Type
    DreamingOutLoud For Writers
    DreamingOutLoud MiniCourse
    DreamingOutLoud Technique
    Ellen-pompeo
    Emotional Branding
    Emotional Chords
    Emotional Type
    Emotional Type Vs Physical Type
    Empathy
    Epa
    Failure
    Fall-in-love-with-acting
    Fck-it-moment
    Fck-that
    Fear
    Film
    Film-tv
    Financial Security
    Fit-for-a-queen
    Focus
    FOMA
    Fuck-availability-checks
    Fundraising
    Game Of Thrones
    Game Of Throness
    Gene-wilder-on-acting
    Getanagentmanager
    Getting An Agent
    Getting Out Of Your Own Way
    Getting Out Of Your Way
    Getting-out-of-your-way
    Getting Paid What You're Worth
    Get Unstuck
    Gift Certificates
    Goal Setting
    Greatest-actor-of-our-generation
    Greys-anatomy
    Growth
    Growtth
    Happiness
    Harriet Tubman
    Healing
    How To Be A Working TV Actor
    How To Get An Agent
    How To Move From FEAR To F
    How To Move Into TV/Film
    How To Write A Solo Show
    How To Write Your Story
    Idris-elba
    Inspiration
    Intention
    Intention Vs Goal Setting
    It-girl-summit
    Kerry Washington
    Let Go Or Be Dragged
    Life Changers
    Life Coaching
    Life Lessons
    Lord Of The Rings
    Love-art
    Lupita Nyong’o
    Make Your Own Work
    Making Your Own Work
    Maria Bello
    Marketing
    Marketing Strategy
    Mary Boughey
    Masters Of The Craft
    Memoir
    Memorization
    Mentor
    Meryl-streep
    MFA
    Mfae
    Michael B Jordan
    Michael Harriot
    Mini MasterClass
    Modesto-lacen
    Monetize
    Motherfucking-actor
    Musician
    Natural Hair
    Never-ever-give-up
    Newsletter
    Not-show-talent
    Nudity
    Oncamera
    On Camera Acting
    On Camera Auditioning
    Oncamera Audition Technique
    One Man Show
    One Woman Show
    Online Business
    Openhandsopenheart
    Paul Robeson
    Period Work
    Pilot Season
    Pilot Season Prep
    Pilot Season Strategy
    Pissing-people-off
    Play
    Playwright
    Playwrights
    Political Theatre
    Private Coaching
    Process
    Procrastination
    Producer
    Production Company
    Psychological Gesture
    Purposeful Life
    Raise-money-for-your-acting-career
    Recurring Emotional Chords
    Reg-cathey
    Rejection
    Release The Struggle
    Resilience
    Retreats
    ReWrite Your Story
    SAG-AFTRA
    SciFi Fantasy
    Screenplay
    Screenwriter
    Screenwriters
    Self Love
    Self Producing
    Selfproducing
    Self-producingartist
    Selfproducingartist
    Self Submission
    Self-Submitting
    Self-submitting
    Self-Tape
    Self Worth
    Self-worth
    Selfworth
    Setting Goals
    Show-business
    Simonsays-entertainment
    Singer
    Solo Artist
    Solo Performer
    Solo Play
    Solo Show
    Soulfood
    Soul Song
    Start A Coaching Business
    Start An Online Business
    Starving Artist BS
    Stay The Course
    Storytellers
    Storytelling
    Storytelling Circle
    Style Work
    Success
    Sugar Hill Film
    Support Films With Roles In It For You
    TellYourStory
    Theatre
    The Business Of Acting
    The Questions
    Therapy
    Theresa Randle
    The Walking Dead
    TheWritersRoom
    TimeSavingHacks
    Tv
    TV Writer
    Ultimate 30min Aud Prep
    Victimhood
    Viola Davis
    Voice-speech
    Vulnerability
    Wesley Snipes
    What's Your Fuck THIS Moment?
    White Actors Suing POC Projects
    WHY BRITISH ACTORS ARE TAKING YOUR JOBS
    Working Actor
    Working For Free
    Writer

    RSS Feed

  • TheDreamUnLocked
  • Actor Classes
    • What's Your Actor Super Power?
    • Emotional Type Audition Technique
    • How to Double Your Auditions
    • GET UNSTUCK >
      • I Am Enuf DOL MiniCourse
    • BLOGS >
      • BadAssActor Blog
      • BadAssWriter Blog
  • Writer Classes
    • What is the Solo Show Secret
    • Fix My Solo Show
    • Journalling into Story
    • How to Start Writing MiniCourse
    • Writer MiniRetreats
  • ABOUT APRIL
    • Work with April
    • Privacy Policy
  • Testimonials
  • DONATE
  • GetUnStuck CTA