LEARNING FROM STUDENTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH LILY BRAY, HIGH SCHOOL ACTRESS

 

Above, you will find a video about Erskine Academy's theater program in my home state of Maine, under the direction of Mr. Nored.  Last year, Mr. Nored and his wonderful group of students presented my play Confession: Kafka in High School for the state high school one-act play competitions. Even though I have lived in Maine for most of my life, my plays are rarely produced in my home state: I can count on one hand the number of productions of my plays in Maine that I haven't directly been a part of myself. So it was exciting for me to see that they were putting on my play, particularly since it is one of my personal favorites.

Time and again, the universe likes to tell us that, as Disney Land says, it's a small world after all, and not only was Erskine Academy putting on my play, but one of the actors, who also served as a student director, was the daughter Heidi Bray (who I knew as Heidi Ryder), a high school friend I was in a number of plays with lo those many years ago! Knowing that the daughter of a friend I had fond memories of going to one-act competitions with was now in a competition play written by me was surprisingly moving for me and gave me an interesting sense of... I don't know.... perhaps symmetry is the best word. 

Heidi is the blonde young lady... I'm the short guy being strangled affectionately

Heidi's daughter is named Lily, who at the time of this writing is a senior and an honor student.  Since I know her Mom and her grandmother, I thought this might be an opportunity for me to connect to an actual student who was recently in one of my plays and get direct feedback about her experience, what she and her cast mates found engaging, and to hear her thoughts about the piece as a whole. Since I no longer teach but still write a great deal for high school students, I felt this would be good for me and good for my writing--- particularly since I have been toying with the idea of writing a companion piece to Confession which would feature the character that Lily portrayed (a character named Miss Delisle, a principal at a high school, who is actually one of my favorite characters I have written in a play for students).  Lily kindly agreed to meet with me via Zoom (how else do people meet nowadays) to chat about her experience. The fact that she was not only a performer in the piece but a student director as well (something I think is a great thing for Mr. Nored to do, giving students these creative leadership roles) gave an extra layer of insight. 

Lily has always been interested in theater. Her middle school only had a theater program for one year when she was there, but she loved it and decided to shadow the drama class at Erskine when she had the chance for a "move up day".  As soon as she was a freshman, she got into her drama class, and through the drama class, got involved with the theater club.

Confession: Kafka in High School was my attempt to make themes explored in works like Kafka's The Trial  relatable to high school students, by having a character named Connor K (or Constance K when performed by someone who identifies by a female, like in Erskine's production) wake up to find himself or herself in a conference room at the the high school, accused by Ms. Delisle of having done something against the rules and being told to confess to his or her crimes. The only problem is, no one will tell Connor or Constance what they are accused of. From here, it leads to some of the issues of the absurd and existentialism, as well as the nature of authority that Kafka (and many others) approach in their classic works. 

Lily tells me that she and her fellow students thought a great deal about the questions of authority and what control (or lack of control) students may have in certain situations. I asked Lily if her portrayal of Miss Delisle, who we agree is very manipulative with her authority over students, was inspired by any real-life experiences. 

"When she is tearing the students apart, that is definitely a real life thing," she told me. "Not all teachers, but some teachers, will use their power to scare you into things.... No teacher has ever done this to me, but I have seen it happen, teachers using their authoritative control. Miss Delisle used her power to get what she wanted in the end."

Lily is rightfully proud of decisions she and her production mates made in terms of the set. One such decision I absolutely loved was adding pet door in the set for a character named Mr. Demetri, Miss Delilse's vice principal and yes-man. It resembles a doggie door, and is used only by this character who acts like lap dog to the character. It is a perfect example of making a choice that is not in the script (largely because I would never have thought of it!) that heightens both the character and some of the more absurd and darkly comedic themes. "We wanted to play up the fact that Mr. Demetri is the complete minion of Miss Delisle," Lily said. "Whatever Miss Delisle has, he has the.. well, the Wal-Mart version, if you will.... and no one else used it but him."

I was very excited to hear some of the other choices the student directors and cast made to heighten the absurdist elements of the play. "In rehearsals we were laughing all the time as things became more and more absurd," she said, which is always good for me to hear. "Every character had an absurdist piece to their costume, and other wacky characteristics." She described a character with a tool belt that hand everything but a tool on it, as well as a teenage girl with a Santa Claus fixation, carrying a Santa bag, and sometimes sneaking in a "ho, ho, ho" on occasion, while she would replace props onstage with cans of Spaghetti-Os (that Lily then later opened up and ate uncooked with her bare hands). 

"I wish you could have seen it," she said more than once, and I wish I could have seen it, too. 

I think the most rewarding thing for me to hear was how Lily and her other student director were very much into collaboration with the rest of the cast. Giving the actors a chance to own their characters is so important, to encourage young actors to make choices and commit to them. That's is one of the most important things to learn as an actor.  And hearing that they engaged with what I was trying to do with my script while also having so much fun meant the world to me. 

Lily tells me that, like myself when I was a student, the one-act play competitions are her favorite part of the theater season. I always loved the bus rides, watching all the other plays from the other schools and meeting other like-minded theater students. My heart has gone out to theater students who haven't been able to have one-act competitions in the way they have always been because of Covid-19, and Lily, like most theater students, has felt the impact of these changes. Still, she is grateful that they found a way to put on a show and compete last winter, and she is all set to act and co-direct the one act play competition this year. 

Near the end of our conversation, I asked her a more general question about the importance of theater and the arts in her school. 

"It's so important," she told me. "Theater club has always felt like a very accepting and very safe space, and I think that's important for the school to see... I love going to theater club because it's like an escape from the rest of my day... you get to release a lot of negative energy by performing and discussing what you're doing. It's completely an awesome time."

That last sentence is also the perfect way to describe my conversation with Lily:  a completely awesome time. Hearing about her experience with her friends and cast mates was a lovely reminder of why I write plays and why I have spent so much of my life working with students. As the title from this post suggests, cliché or not, I learn more from them than I feel they could ever learn from me. It is also a reminder that, in my opinion, theater will never go out of style and will always be meaningful and vital for our culture. 

Thanks for reading my blog. If you want to read Confession: Kafka In High School or license it for a production, you can visit the Playscripts, Inc. website by CLICKING HERE.

  

APPRECIATING THE LITTLE (BIG) THINGS

a VERY cool production photo from a school group in Virginia who did my play "Confession:  Kafka in High School"

It is easy making a life for yourself in the arts. I don't say this to discourage anyone from trying--- indeed, if it is what you love, and you can't imagine yourself being happy doing anything else, then I encourage you with a whole heart to pursue your passion and follow that dream.

Just know that it's not always easy.

My first two plays were published in March of 2010.  One of them was Rumplestilskin the R-Dawg: Hip-Hop Minstrel, from Brooklyn Publishers and the other was Confession:  Kafka in High School, from Playscripts, Inc.

Now, almost five years later, my plays have been performed in 44 different states and 4 different countries.  I have 32 publications in four different catalogs, and my work has been chosen to be a part of three different anthologies.  I have self-produced a few plays for adults, been to different festivals and competitions, met some really great people, and even have a script that some kind folks in Delaware are working hard to make a movie from.

Best of all, I hear from students every now and then from all over the country (and, sometimes, all over the world).  They'll drop me a line on my Facebook Page or at theater.is.a.sport@gmail.com, and ask me questions, or just say hi.  Sometimes, they'll send me cool pictures like the one above.  Or, this one below:

A poster for a production of my play, "Avoiding the Pitfalls of High School Dating"

All of this is super cool, and I love it.  But, still, it is easy to get down on myself many days.  After all, I'm 37 years old and I don't have a "steady" job (or, according to some, a "real" job--- but that's for another post), I struggle financially a great deal, and have no money put away for the future, because I barely have money for the present.  Such things can make one lose faith in themselves a little from time to time--- while I'm grateful that my work is produced, and I'm thankful for every group who chooses my plays, I've yet to have a definite "hit" per se.  A few have come close, but not quite.  And that's okay.  My playwriting career grows a little every year, and it feels wrong to ask for more than that.

But, in my defense, it is human nature to want to climb to the top of your field, or, at the very least, have a good view of the top from where you are.  And everyone wants stability, as well as a reward for hard work (and writing plays can be very, very hard work).

So when I get down on myself, I'll look at the messages I have received from students, or at the many cast photos and production photos.  I'll stop and remind myself of something very important:  the productions of my plays aren't just a list on a piece of paper I receive from my publishers.  They are teachers preparing a group of students.  These students practice to memorize words that I put on a page to tell a story.  They stand backstage before a show, feeling that same excitement and energy that I feel when I'm in a play, and they are feeling it for my work. My work!  This group of kids have come together to CREATE, they have formed a CAST BOND, all revolving around a play I WROTE!!

When I think of my work in these terms, I smile, and feel very special and honored and lucky.  No, I am not rich.  But my work is important.  In some small way, I have touched lives.  My work has taken on a life outside of me, and belongs to all of these other people now, and not just me.

And that's something that money can't buy.

Playwrights for the Youth and High School Markets

Welcome to Theater is a Sport, my humble place on the internet to talk about all things theater. My name is Bobby Keniston, and I often introduce myself as a playwright for the youth and high school markets, and I'm telling the truth when I do.  I have thirty or so plays published for young people (with many that have crossover appeal for community theaters), and you can learn more about them by clicking HERE, or HERE, or HERE, or HERE.  

Now that I've gotten that self-promotion out of the way, today I would like to talk about playwrights for the youth, high school, and community theater markets.  Not just because I am one, but also because, to be frank, I don't think writers in this market get much attention or acclaim, but I'm convinced that what we do is not only vitally important to the survival of all theater in general, but important contributions to our overall culture at large.  And no, I don't just believe this so I can feel better talking about what I do at Thanksgiving while other family members have promotions and raises to go on about in conversation.

So what is a playwright for the youth and high school markets?  Well, quite simply, it is a person who writes plays to be performed either for or by children and/or high school students.  These are two types of what are known as "amateur markets", simply meaning that they are plays written for non-professionals to perform. I don't love the term "amateur market"  In truth, I've seen so-called "amateur" productions, both from schools and community theaters, that could really knock anyone's socks off, so there's nothing wrong with being an inspired amateur onstage, and yet, I find the term a bit condescending.  

So who decides what makes a play for the "amateur market"?  Well, once again, it simply means that it is a play that is designed mostly to have non-professional productions, and, perhaps, has never had a professional production (there are, of course, exceptions to this).  Yet, on the other, hand, many schools and community theaters do plays outside of the amateur market all the time.  For example, The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang has been a very popular one act with high schools for years, though it was written to be a companion piece with his longer one act Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You, to complete an evening of theater for an Off-Broadway run.  And, there's Almost, Maine, by John Cariani, which is now one of the most produced plays by schools and community theaters across the United States, and it started out Off-Broadway and in regional theaters.  Not to mention the plethora of schools who have performed plays by Neil Simon, or productions of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.  So, who decides?  The writers, in terms of their intended audiences, and the publishers, in terms of how they market the play.

The types of plays and playwrights I'm talking about, who focus a great deal of their energy on the youth and high school markets, are the ones who are found in the catalogs sent out to drama teachers across the world every fall and spring.  The names that keep popping up in the glossy tomes mailed out by Pioneer, Eldridge, Brooklyn Publishers, Playscripts, Inc. (in the youth and high school section), Heuer, Big Dog Plays, Dramatic Publishing and so forth.  Growing up, my father was a drama teacher and director for middle schools, and I would always look through these catalogs.  names like Tim Kelly, Craig Sodaro, Pat Cook, and many others would pop up over and over again.  I knew their names long before I had ever heard of Harold Pinter, Eugene O'Neill, or even Neil Simon.

Tim Kelly published over 350 plays in his life, and he died at the age of 67.  While he was alive, his plays were performed over 6,000 times a year, and were translated into almost a dozen languages.  His easy-to-produce, flexible cast plays were everywhere.  Google his name, and you will see a headline from when he passed away by Playbill magazine:  TIM KELLY, PROLIFIC PLAYWRIGHT FOR AMATEUR MARKET, DEAT AT 67.  Mr. Kelly was thought to be the most published playwright in America.  He studied at Emerson College, and got his MFA in Playwriting from Yale.  He talked a great deal about making a living writing plays for the "Way, way, way off Broadway markets".  He also admitted that critics would never like him or take him seriously.

Here's the deal, though:  how many of us read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham before we ever read a novel?  I would say most of us.  How many of us read books like Charlotte's Web and Harriet the Spy before we ever read Great Expectations?  Nowadays, which is a kid most likely to read first--- the new Magic Tree House chapbook or The Lord of the Flies?  One might say there's a natural progression in a reader's life from Flat Stanley to the works of Beverly Cleary to mid-grade readers to Catcher in the Rye to Dickens, Tolstoy and Balzac.  And chances are, young folks tackle Goosebumps before they jump into Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe.

I cite these examples in the progression of a readers life for one simple person:  no one calls young people "amateur readers".  Even Young Adult fiction is called just that--- Young Adult.  And while writers like Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar, John Green, and Judy Blume may never be mentioned in the same reverential way people talk about Philip Roth, John Updike, or Joyce Carol Oates, their work is still celebrated, and people are able to glean the importance of work for young readers, and accept them by and large as literature.  There's even a National Book Award given each year for a book designed for young readers.

In my opinion, and completely from my perspective, I don't believe, outside of drama teachers, that people truly understand what goes into writing a play for the youth and high school markets.  We don't just dive in because we figure it will be easier to write for kids than adults. It's not.  People can argue about the merits of a Tim Kelly play, and I may grant that many follow a certain formula, but, speaking as a playwright, it is not easy to write a play with speaking parts for at least 20 kids, that can also be doubled if necessary, and to move this story through a dramatic arc with simple settings, and appropriate dialogue.  It is not a simple task.  It takes work, creativity and imagination.

Those of us who write for the youth and high school markets do so because we believe in the importance of theater in education.  Just as a readers' life progresses as they grow up, so does a performers'. Plays for young audiences are important.  Young actors need scripts that were written for them, with them in mind.  So do community theater groups.  My name might never be mentioned next to Harold Pinter or Edward Albee's, but I would like to think my work is one of many gateways that inspire a kid to grow up and read these men's fine work.

I am hereby suggesting these alternatives for the term "amateur market":  how about "the thespian-in-training market"?  Or maybe "Future Stars market?"

Perhaps we can just call it the "Youth and High School Market" and realize that it's just as important as any other market?

Thanks for reading.  If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions for alternatives to "amateur maket", please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

ADVICE FOR PLAYWRIGHTS: 10 Tips To Write a Play For School Theatre Programs (And Get it PUBLISHED)

This is me, Bobby Keniston.  This is my blog, Theater is a Sport.  Please read it and follow it.  Thanks.

Hello everybody, and welcome to Theater is a Sport.  My name is Bobby Keniston, and today I'm going to talk about writing a play for the school theatre market, and give you some tips about what might help it to get published. 

I have done a great deal of posts about the craft of playwriting.  In fact, you can see the very first lesson by clicking HERE.

This post is a bit different.  This one is all about tips to get a play published for the school market.  Playwrights like to earn money just like everybody else, and, while I can't know for certain that if you follow these rules you're guaranteed to be published, these are pretty basic guidelines for the market to help you along your way.

I'm not claiming to have all the answers, but I do have 24 plays published right now, most of them for the school market, with four different publishing houses.  I have learned by trial and error in the three-and-a-half years since my first acceptance for publication, and have also been fortunate enough to strike up online friendships with a great deal of playwrights for the school market, who have generously offered me advice and encouragement. 

So let's get started, shall we?

TIP #1:  Statistically speaking, more females than males audition for school plays and musicals (this is true for community theater productions as well).  Try to write at least a few more female characters than male characters, or, better still, it never hurts to have a number of gender flexible roles (roles that can be played by either male or females)

TIP #2:  Flexible cast size is also a good thing.  If you study the market and look at old classics by the wondrously prolific Tim Kelly, you'll notice how most of his full-length plays have cast sizes of 25 or more.  The more the merrier, right?  You will also notice that many of the roles can easily be doubled, or maybe even combined.  In this way, a play can accommodate a very large cast, or a much smaller one.  Hence, hopefully, more school groups will be able to produce your play. 

TIP #3:  This is not a hard and steadfast rule, but it is something I have found to be true for my work:  Lighter fare gets produced more often by schools.  This is not to suggest you should write nothing but comedies... far from it.  I'm just saying for myself, and for many of my playwriting pals in the market, the comedies sell more than the dramas.  Many of my friends have confided to me that the serious plays they worked so hard on and are really proud of get FAR less productions in a year than their lighter, fun ones.  That's the business.  Please don't mistake this as me advising you not to write dramas.  Dramas do get published and occasionally produced.  I'm just talking from a generalized, business-minded standpoint.  Two plays I'm very proud of, FRANKIE AND THE GINGERBREAD BOY, and AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA, do not do nearly as well as my plays I DON'T MIND THAT YOU'RE UGLY or CITIZEN'S ARREST.
(NOTE:  The one aspect of school theatre where this doesn't seem to be the norm is for the forensics market.  Serious monologues and serious 10-minute duets seem to do very well as a general consensus, sales-wise)

TIP #4:  Speaking of writing shorts, whether it be monologues or duets, remember, ten minutes is the maximum.  They are mostly selling for forensics' competitions, and they are strictly timed.  And also remember, the CONFLICT and CHARACTERS are what sells these pieces. 

TIP #5:  SIMPLE SETTINGS.  School drama teachers (and I should know, I am one), by and large, do not have a large budget to work with and do not receive a great deal of help to put a show together.  Because of this, a play with a simple unit set (which means one set for the show, without scene changes), or with representational set pieces (that can be moved on quickly and easily, like stools or chairs or boxes) are very attractive to drama teachers.  I don't blame them.

TIP #6:  Share the wealth when it comes to lines.  Make your supporting characters interesting.  Make sure that even the smallest part has some interesting feature or quirk that will make him or her fun and desirable to play.  School theatre is often about getting as many kids involved as possible, and we want to make sure that they are all having a positive experience, whether they have 100 lines or jut two.

TIP #7:  NO BAD LANGUAGE or EXPLICIT CONTROVERSEY.  Yes, it is good as an artist to sometimes push the envelope, and, yes, it is important to write plays that address issues that teenagers will face in their lives.  HOWEVER... if you write a play about teenage suicide (for example), it would probably be best not to have a kid with a gun to his head, a quick blackout and loud bang, and then bring up the lights with the kid laying in a pool of his own blood.  I apologize for the graphic image, and, while that image is certainly striking, and perhaps honest, most schools would not produce it.  Don't get me wrong--- some might, but most wouldn't.  And when it comes to language, it needs to be as clean as possible.  I have been asked by an editor to remove the words "hell" and "damn" from a high school-themed play.  Yes, I know many teenagers swear and curse, and we want to be honest--- I even wrote a blog about how young adult fiction can get away with so much more than young adult plays that you can read HERE.  But take my word for it--- you will most likely lose a whole bunch of productions, and maybe not even get it published, if you write a play with a ton of swearing for the school market.  The same thing goes with sexuality.  What you have to remember is that you are a creative writer, and that working within some of these certain guidelines can actually spark creativity and dimension, not destroy it. 

TIP #7:  While many plays for adults, particularly in the professional theater, do not appreciate in-depth stage directions, you have to remember that school theatre is often directed by people who see the value in the program, but might not have the most experience when it comes to directing.  There's an old adage about how many English teachers have been forced into the role of drama director over the years.  This is true for many different kinds of teachers.  Not every school has a separate theatre program with someone who majored in theatre in college.  So, stage directions can be very helpful to create a vivid picture for these folks.  The same is true for setting designs and costume and prop plots.

TIP #8:  The one play that I haven't managed to get published is called RAINBOW AND THE GOOFBALL.  It's a fairy tale I created.  Every editor who has read it has responded to me about how much they like the piece... some have even raved.  But each one has said there is no room for it in their catalogue.  If this play were called CINDERELLA AND THE GOOFBALL, it might have had a much more sporting chance.  If you're going to write a fairy tale, do something fresh and new with a name people already know.

TIP #9:  People often ask me if a play needs to be produced before it can be published for the school market.  Here's the honest answer:  only 2 of the 24 plays I have had published had a production before being published.  I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but it is the truth.  In fact, RAINBOW AND THE GOOFBALL was one play that had a production before being published, a successful one in fact, with great pictures and reviews, and that did not help it get published.  Now, obviously, a production doesn't hurt.  The reason some places strongly recommend it is because a great deal of rewriting can take place during the course of a production, making the script "tested for success".  So I don't know what to tell you.  What I will say, is that I ALWAYS read my plays out loud, often with a group of students, to hear how it sounds, and will make changes from that.  Hearing a play out loud does help one revise it.

TIP #10:  This tip will seem a bit like a cop out, but, it's true just the same:  KNOW WHEN TO BREAK THE RULES.  My advice is to get at least a few publications under your belt before you do, but, no one, not even editors, know for certain what can go through the roof and be a smash hit.  You just don't know.  You can do your best to follow trends (which isn't a bad idea), see what's big in the world of kids and teenagers, tap into all these different avenues, but, hey, in truth, it's all just a guess.  The number one job is still to please yourself first and to write something you can be proud of having your name on.  Plays are in print for quite a good stretch of time after being published.  Remember that. 

I hope you have found these tips useful.  To learn more about my plays, you can click HERE, and check out all the links (note, a few of my plays are forthcoming, so they are not yet available to check out). 

Remember, writing plays for the school market is tough, so it's good to get some advice here and there.  Also remember--- theater is not just a craft, or an art form, or a way to make some money--- it is also a sport.