Finding Playwrights Instead of Plays

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > RUNNING COMPETITIONS > TRAINING I > TRAINING II > PLAYWRIGHTS >

'Well, from the very first performance, that play had some sort of light shining on it. Within a month, I was getting offers. First, the play was going to be sold to television, and then it was sold to the movies. It became a hit at Playwrights Horizons. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It was almost too much to believe. It was the first play I had ever written! I didn't know what I had done exactly. . . .. I still don't, but you never do. I didn't realize that you don't have to know. I didn't know what made that play take off like that. I couldn't see it.'

-- Alfred Uhry

The "Me" Generation supposedly died when Drexel and the Junk Bond crowd drew the Go Directly to Jail card, though self-interest still has a place in the world of theatre. You can run a new play competition just for the general good of the American Theatre. But you stand a much better chance of having a major impact if you're out for the good of your own theatre -- and your own audience -- first.

The bottom line is: What's the best way to get back your investment in this new play competition? The answer is not . . . finding that great new play.

One play is a pretty slim return for the year you will have invested in this competition, let alone the money. And that's why the best result you should wish for is finding a playwright instead of a play.

Playwrights want -- and desperately need -- a theatrical home. In today's theatre, the most interesting playwrights develop out of a long-term relationship with a theatre that not only likes their work, but produces it. For this symbiotic relationship to flourish, the size of your theatre is only modestly important. Commitment matters more than bulk.

The great plays of contemporary playwrights -- David Henry Hwang's M. BUTTERFLY, for example -- are almost never their first or second or even third play. Their major work grows out of those first ventures into the art and craft.

Playwrights tend to be loyal beasts. Like sea turtles and salmon, treat them with modest consideration and they'll nearly always come back to where their professional careers began. And the odds are good that if you allow them to grow with your theatre, they'll return the favor if their work strikes a national chord.

So here's the ultimate question your readers should have constantly dangling over those piles of scripts . . .

• What's this playwright's next play going to be like?

• A 'Voice' that makes you want to listen.
  'Voice' is what a playwright's words sound like when they're spoken. And a Voice that makes your ears dance is a good guarantee of a playwright who can be counted on to write that next play.

  The best way to read for Voice: Forget about speed-reading. Speak every word of the script in your head so you can capture the rhythm and sound of the playwright's language. If you don't hear anything much doing this, then you probably don't have a playwright in your hands.

• A Theme that makes you want to know more.
  Most accomplished playwrights write the same "story" -- at least in terms of theme -- in nearly every play they create. Make sure the theme's compelling. Odds are you'll get the same theme in that next play, so be certain it moves you enough to see it again. And again.

  The best way to read for Theme: Listen for the values -- moral, social, political -- expressed through the actions of the characters. And see if they connect to the values expressed in the dialogue. If they connect, odds are you've got a playwright who can write about something that matters.

• A match with your theatre and audience.
  Listen for a connection between the Voice and Themes of this playwright and the interests of your theatre and your audience. If you sense they're made for each other, you've found that playwright instead of a play.