What can I say about playwriting that
can take you from the ideas, to the words, to the page, to the stage? Not a lot
in one sitting.
BUT--
I have written the scripts for a dozen
or so musicals and written the music and lyrics for more than 30 more. I was
commissioned at the age of 18 to write my first musical. At age 19 I finished
it, with some of my closest friends and the commissioners actually produced it
and it was quite successful. That was in 1973. I have won awards, been produced
across the world, and have spent more hours inside a theatre in rehearsal, than
some people have been alive, and have quite enjoyed the process of
writing. I spent years as a professional
actor, then a director/choreographer, then a teacher in the public schools. It
has all brought me great joy, but writing is my passion.
It must be yours to be good at it.
There is nothing more satisfying than
to hear a laugh (in the proper places) at something you have written that was
supposed to be funny. There is nothing more awesome than being able to evoke an
emotion from an audience, even a tear or a gasp, when they see something that
you have created and it touches them in those places that only the Spirit can
reach.
Writing is a process. For the Theatre
writing is THE process. It begins with a concept, an idea, a story. It is added
to, refined, reworked. The writing is not done once it is on the page, because
a script is not a novel. Living actors must be able to inhabit the characters
you write for them. The process is not complete without rehearsal. In rehearsal
you learn what does and doesn’t work the moment your actors start speaking your
words. LISTEN to them. If you keep saying, “They’re not getting it,” maybe you
should consider that it is you who didn’t get it. A written script is not even
a road map without the actors. It is only a guide book. If you think your
script is perfect before the actors get a hold of it, stop writing because you
will not be successful.
An open mind is a terrible thing to
waste. It is also a major hurdle to have a mind so full that you know
everything there is to know. Even Shakespeare did not always get it right.
The process of theatre writing is
re-writing. It is listening to what is happening on the stage. It is sometimes
more important to listen to what is NOT happening on the stage. Then make sure
that what needs to happen is what does happen. The theatre is not made up of
words alone, but words that embody action. Nobody wants to go to a play or
musical and hear words that lead nowhere. Hyperbole? No!
Active, progressive stories and
characters that take us on a journey; that is what you have to create. Every
word must contribute to the overall arc of the play. Every character must fit
into that arc. Each word moves us forward into some action that is inevitable.
This means that you must choose each word very carefully. One word out of place
and the story is broken, delayed, unfulfilled. Not shattered, but ineffective.
Characters have wants and needs.
Sometimes the plot is as simple as the character going after what he or she
thinks they want rather than what the audience comes to understand that they
really need. The needs and wants of the characters work on several levels. Each
scene has a want and/or a need. Each conversation can be broken down into wants
and needs -- these are things that are immediate. Then there are the long term
goals, the over-arching wants and needs.
Where does your character want to be at
the end of the play? What do they want to achieve? Each character must want
something or someone, or has a need to do something or be someone. These must
interrelate; must either contribute to or take away from the main character’s
ability to obtain what he or she wants. Each character is either a help or a
hindrance. They are colleagues or enemies, and all the shades that go with
that. Sometimes they can be both friend and foe at different times. Ambivalence
in a character is acceptable. Ambivalence in an author is not.
At the end of the play does your
central character achieve his or her Objective? Then you have a comedy or a
serio-comedy, usually. Do they not get what they want? Then you might have a
tragedy, or at least fine drama.
Every bit of dialog is an interaction
with a chain of reactions to what is said and/or done. It all must work
together for the viewer. The audience members are the reason we are all there
in the first place.
Most times we find ourselves as a
playwright or a composer locked away in a room. That’s what it sometimes takes
to create the kernel or the nut of the concept or idea. But it is only through
collaboration that the true writing process of the theatre expands your piece
into something stageworthy. Sometimes this collaboration works with yourself if
you have a really open mind and a propensity that leads you away from
schizophrenia. This collaboration can also be in the form of working with
actors and directors and designers who all bring something to the table for you
to sample. You, as the playwright, must decide on what ingredients work best in
your play. It is yours, after all.
I love collaboration, with the actors
et.al, but also with another writer. Some of my best work has been sitting in a
room with one of my collaborators (or even lately Skyping with them -- not
quite as good but it still works) and bouncing ideas off each other and
becoming inspired by the comments and contributions of your fellow writers.
(This is how TV writers work together in a group.) One word or thought can lead
to a new lyric or a better constructed scene. Put lots of words together and
the play starts becoming a better constructed play overall.
After all is said and done, you must
serve the play. What is best for the play is what you must write. Sometimes you
have an idea or a concept that becomes unworkable. You have to be willing, as a
writer, to let go of what does not work. Jettison the refuse. Start over if you
have to. After attending the recent premere of a friend’s new play, she told me
that a show I was in many years ago (which she had written) was being
conceptualized and a first draft written while she was Assistant Directing
another original show (not written by her) that I was performing in. She got a
script together. Then read through it. She was so disgusted that as she walked
by a trash can she just let the pages fall from her fingers and started over
again. She didn’t like a word she had written. She told me it was ‘awful’. You
have to set your ego aside for the betterment of the child you are trying to give
birth to. You want a healthy, walking, talking, laughing, crying child. Aunts
and Uncles, Grandparents, Church leaders, teachers -- all contribute the
raising of a child. The same process works in the theatre except that these
‘relations’ are replaced by your colleagues; the people you work with.
That is also an important concept:
Working with. They don’t work
for you. The Director is not your boss. The theatre is nothing more than a
collaborative process with each person doing his or her part to contribute to
the whole. It is like a built-in society operating under the Law of
Consecration: everyone with their strengths and talents contributing equally in their own realm; having an equal chance to be
heard. Actors don’t direct. Writers don’t act. Actors contribute through their
characterizations and insights as do others on the production team. Directors
and writers work together to make the script/show is as solid as it can be. But
it is, inevitably, the writer(s) who make(s) all the final decisions. The play
or musical is, after all, in the long run, the sole property of the authors.
If you want to write, sit down and
write. Do it longhand, use a typewriter, use a computer -- speak your notes
into your phone! Whatever. Just start the process. Gather your friends around
and read it together often! Feedback on what works and what doesn’t work, will
come from the strangest and most unexpected of places. Have an open mind. Be
willing to accept that you don’t do everything correctly.
Remember this, that the title of the
show we know as Oklahoma! was Away We Go! as it entered Boston on it’s
tryout tour in 1943. The title song had not even been written yet and it was
only two weeks before the New York opening! Remember also that the song Bali H’ai from South Pacific was hurriedly scribbled on the back of a restaurant
napkin during lunch between the morning and afternoon rehearsals of ‘preview
week’. Richard Rodgers left the afternoon rehearsal and by dinner time had the
song written and arranged and in the show.
Seek inspiration. Then listen to it.
Don’t always pretend you know better. You don’t. There is a guide out there.
Call him God, call her Muse, that doesn’t matter. Just listen.
Seek information. Don’t be afraid to
research. Ask questions. Solicit opinions. Change your mind.
Use words that lead to actions. Illicit
actions and thoughts from your performers. Watch them. And listen.
Use thoughts that express desires,
wants needs. Listen.
It is all part of the writing process
for the theatre.
About the Guest Blogger
C. Michael Perry was born in Colorado and raised in Chicago. He found the theatre in High School
and has made a living in Theatre, Film and Television since then. He has worked
on over 25 major network television shows and some 300 commercials along with
two feature films. He has performed in front of over 2000 live audiences from
Utah to Italy in various plays and musicals. He has received acting awards for
his many leading and supporting roles. He has directed over 40 shows on the
Community, Educational and Professional level. He has choreographed over 50
productions. He has won awards for lighting and scenic designs in community
theatre and continues to design shows at the high school level. He is a
graduate of Brigham Young University with a BA in Theatre. He is the composer
of over thirty musicals including “CINDERABBIT” for PBS, which won an Emmy
Award and a “Best Of The West” Public Television award. He is also a
playwright and lyricist for over 20 plays and award winning musicals that
have been produced across the nation, many of which are published. Other
works composed include, ENTERTAINING MARK TWAIN, FAUNTLEROY!, KEWPIE! THE APPLE
KINGDOM, OF BABYLON, TURN THE GAS BACK ON!, CURSES, FOILED AGAIN!, TOM SAWYER,
ONSTAGE!, A CHRISTMAS MEMORY and THE MIRACLE OF MIRADOR,
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and ANNE with an ‘e’ -
THE GREEN GABLES MUSICAL. His newest musical projects are:
ENCHANTED APRIL a musical, THE TYMES IN ALL ETERNITY, and THE BALLAD OF PARLEY
P!, along with the 14 novel series DANIEL LIGHT AND THE CHILDREN OF THE ORB and
the trilogy series WEMBLEY TEWKES ON THE EDGES OF TIME. He is also working on other
four other stand alone fiction novels: ANGEL, SINS OF THE SONS, NIGHT SHIFT and
SWEETWATER SALVATION.
He has been a member of The Educational Theatre Association, The International
Thespian Society, Christians In Theatre Arts, The Texas Educational Theatre
Association, The Utah Theatre Association, Ohio Community Theatre Association,
The American Alliance for Theatre In Education and The American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He has served as the President of
the Theatre Guild Of Utah Valley in central Utah. He is President of Michael
Perry Productions and its subsidiaries: Leicester Bay Books, Zion BookWorks,
Leicester Bay Theatricals, Zion Theatricals and Shining Sharon Music. He makes
his home in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife Sharon, and son Jon-Christopher.
His daughters, Jessica, Janalynn and Joelle are out on their own.
