Playwright, screenwriter, author of TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE MUSICAL, THE CATASTROPHIST, I & U, SILENT SKY, THE REVOLUTIONISTS, BOOK OF WILL, MISS BENNET & more
Jan 7, 2022 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
NEW YEAR NEW PLAY.
Finally getting it underway and thought I'd notate my process/progress.
For the last 2 MONTHS I've been researching.
A WEEK ago I described the play verbally to a colleague (it felt good).
2 days ago I outlined everything I know about the story so far.
YESTERDAY I wrote the title page (🤗), character and setting descriptions, and the first scene set up (meaning the first image of the play, the entrance, the stage direction that starts us off) but no dialogue yet.
TODAY: I start scene one.
Happy writing.
May 6, 2019 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Notes I always give on every single one of my plays in production:
- Go faster. Speak with urgency, pick up your cues, keep the energy driving until you hit the pause. Earn the pause. Crash into it. It makes the funny things funnier and the drama more gripping. Promise.
- If the play is a comedy, the characters think they are in a drama. (I.e. dont play the comedy, play the crisis. If you push comedy it dies.)
- If the play is a drama the humor is even more critical. It is the play’s humanity, it’s heart. Humor makes us lean in and connect.
Feb 25, 2019 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
How to take notes on your play:
- Is the note mean-spirited, offensive or patronizing? DISCARD
- Do you respect the note-giver? Did you ask them for notes? CONSIDER
- Is the note really a gesture of power over you? DISCARD
- Does the note make you say “ooohhh” out loud? CONSIDER
- Does the note-giver want to help *your* vision or make it into theirs? If the latter DISCARD.
- Does the note come with a veiled threat to take the note “or we won’t continue with this play”? DISCARD AND MOVE ON AND F THOSE GUYS.
- Does your gut like the note? CONSIDER
Aug 13, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
General theatre making sidebar:
DO NOT CUT OR CHANGE THE STAGE DIRECTIONS.
THAT IS PART OF THE PLAY. THERE'S A REASON.
You can always ask me for clarity or intention but don't ignore, cut or modify stage directions. Action, gesture, visual storytelling are as vital as dialogue.
I swear I even had someone add an intermission in the middle of a 90 page play. Just stuck it in.
WHAT. No.
You have to build dramatic structure that earns an act break, you don't just pause the play to go buy wine.
Storytelling is precise stuff.
Trust your storyteller.
