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Working with New Plays – Some Thoughts and Guidelines 

One of the goals that is very important in establishing a playwriting production program at Mizzou is developing our own new play development process, so that it is possible to keep working on the script, even as it goes into production.  This handout is really just a first step in this process, which will be ongoing as we decide what works best for our MU playwrights and directors.  And truly each play, playwright, director combination is different—so with each step you should get to know each other—and just like the dating process—learn as much as you can about each other!

The ideas that I’m going to outline here are based upon Scriptwork: A Director’s Approach To New Play Development written by David Kahn and Donna Breed (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995).  It’s available at the Library.  Its call number is PN2053 .K34 1995.

1. For the Director:

1. Analytical

• 1. Analysis of the script is exploratory rather than prescriptive.  This is a time for the playwright and director to develop a common understanding and agreement on what the play is about.
  2. This requires that the director look closely at the script thinking about the play’s intention (what it’s trying to communicate); its elements (the world of the play, and its story, issues, chain of events, characters, and patterns); the play’s emphasis, that is, what weight or priority is given to particular elements; and finally, what kind of experience the play will create for its audience (in other words the fulfillment of the script’s intention).

2. Simple, Flexible, open minded & Transparent

• 1. Work simply at first, reducing scenes, actions, and characters to their essential values.  You are trying to discover the essential structure of the play and its elements.
  2. The whole point to a developmental process is to remain flexible as a director; you may give your playwright ideas about their play, and she or he may throw out a huge chunk of the play or revise it all the next day.  It can be very difficult to work this way, but you should be willing to work with these kind of changes—especially if the process is designed for you work this way from the beginning. You have to decide, however, when you need to set the bulk of the play, and focus on more minimal changes as production approaches.  It’s important to do the bulk of this developmental work before we start rehearsals on November 27.
  3. Stay open-minded about the script; let it become what it needs to become without forcing it to be another, better-known, play.  Part of the way to do this is to be aware of your own biases and make sure that you are facilitating the playwright’s play and not another play you want to write.
  4. Developmental directing is different from other directing in that your work as a director must aim at transparency; you want the play to be visible, now what you have overlaid directorially.  You can do this by 1) refraining from applying a heavy-handed concept to the script that is not organically inherent from the playwright’s words, and 2) resisting the temptation to use all of your director’s tricks and techniques to make the play work.  The play will either work or it will not; dazzling the audience with directorial fireworks will not help the play or the playwright.
  5. This does not mean that you have NO concept.  No director should approach any script without a serious matrix of ideas on how the acting, directing and design grow out of the dramatic action of the script. It’s important to note that the director is the central contributor to the production process regardless of whether a play is new or a revival.  However, it’s also vital to remember that in the developmental process for a new play, it’s the script that should be the center of the experiment, and not some elaborate productiong concept (unless, of course, the director is also the playwright!).

3. Areas of responsibility

The playwright is responsible for:

• 1. providing the script and its copies to be developed
  2. The playwright should participate in the development process and attend all readings, workshops, and rehearsals of the script.  During rehearsals the following rules are in effect.

• • 1. The playwright doesn’t usually talk during rehearsals, but takes notes, and then approaches the director after rehearsal.  This is usually the case for the first two weeks of rehearsal.  The director may opt to allow the playwrights to talk to the actors, but should mediate this experience, and keep a firm hand on the rehearsal process itself.
    2. The playwright needs to eventually step out of the process for a week or more and give the director some time to work on his or her own before the play is fully staged.
    3. The playwright returns to rehearsals at the first run-through of the script. (usually the week before tech).
• Do all the rewriting, cutting, and writing necessary, as the need grows out of the readings and rehearsals for the play. 
• Making sure that the work of the company is acknowledged in publications of the play.
• The director is responsible for:
• Choosing the script;
• Analyzing the script dramaturgically;
• Specifying the development process with the playwright
• Scheduling rehearsals and public presentations
• Casting actors in consultation with the playwright (playwright can’t insist that a particular plays a role, but can veto an actor)
• Keeping participants working within their appropriate areas
• Work with the designers
• Meet with the playwright afterwards, and after most rehearsals to summarize, reflect, and decide on next steps.

The actor is responsible for:

• Discovering the character’s journey through the play;
• Determining whether the character’s actions and responses make sense;
• Establishing the character’s relationships with others in the play;
• Seeing if the playwright provides enough clues to develop a character
• Testing the character for performability, plausibility, interest, and theatricality
• Being open and available for changes in the text.

2. For The Playwright:

• A. Your Basic Rights & Responsibilities

• • 1) You own your Play:

• • • i) No one, according to Dramatists Guild Production Contract Guidelines, can change a word of your play without your permission.  Use the magic words, “I’ll think about those changes,” before you actually change your play.  On the other hand, don’t ignore your director or dramaturg and assume they’re wrong; take notes now and agree or disagree later.

• • • ii) Any idea, suggestion, line, bit of business that becomes a part of your play is owned by you, unless there is a pre-existing collaboration agreement with your director, actors, or dramaturg.

• • • iii) You never have to change your play to other people’s demands.  You retain the right to withdraw your script at anytime with no legal penalties if you are unhappy with a production.

• • 2) Keep your premise of your play in your mind, taped to your typewriter, or on your bathroom mirror while you are within the development process.

• • • i) As you get ideas about your script, keep asking does this work with the premise of the play I have written?  Always keep in mind what your central character wants and what is keeping the character from getting it. 

• • • ii) Keep asking yourself whether the ideas or comments you have received will forward the action of the play, keep the audiences interest, and stimulate your own thoughts about the play

• • • iii) A really soul-killing remark should be ignored; even so, write all comments down. Never defend your script (you don’t have to), always try to get respondents to your play to talk about their experience of the play as written and not as they would rewrite it.

• B. Working With A Director

• • 1) Trust a director who asks you a million questions, but who doesn’t tell you how to write your play. The exception to this rule is a director who gives you wonderful ideas to explore, or asks you to dig deeper into your characters without telling you how to do that.  If the director isn’t asking your questions, beware.

• • 2) Trust a director who suggests cuts rather than one who tells you what to write.  A good director doesn’t want to dictate ideas to a playwright, they want to be surprised by your changes to your script in response to their questions.  A great development director will edit the play for the thousand incremental redundancies that occur in an early draft of a script, but who doesn’t hack off huge chunks of your play. 

• 3. Ask the director at least these basic questions:

• • • i) Who do you think is the central character of the play and what do you think he/she wants?  What or who is keeping this character from this goal?

• • • ii) What do you think is the premise behind my play?  What do you think this play is about?

• • • iii) Why did you choose my play to direct?  What draws you to my play?

• • If you don’t like the responses or you think they are contrary to your own, get a new director.  Step out of the process and find a new director.

• 4. Break down the script with the director, or at least ask to see how the director has broken down your play.  This will give you a lot of insight into the directors process.  You want to know where the director thinks the beats are occurring, what the main action for each character is per beat, and what kind of backstory the director is inventing to justify and ` storyline of your play.