This week's play is...well, some might find it a bit controversial. Controversial enough that I'm debating whether or not to put it up on Google docs. Controversial enough that I don't know how comfortable I feel talking about it in a public forum.
Suffice to say, the play's title is Ten Things I Hate About Shrew. It is quasi-semi-sort of-allegedly based on an incident that may or may not have happened to me in real life. That possibly fictitious incident provoked a lot of rage, at least to me. Now that it's all over, I can see the humor in it. So, I wrote a play about it. I think it's pretty funny.
I may just have to call this one a closet drama that is not meant for public performance or distribution. So, I'll be in my closet, reading my play, having a cocktail, and giggling to myself if anyone is looking for me. :)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Week 3: Fish on a Bicycle
Well, here we are at Week 3 of my project. In the musical Rent, Jonathan Larson wrote that we should measure our lives in love. I am measuring my life in plays. It's the same thing, I guess.
I am happy to tell you all that I succeeded in writing a play that had nothing to do with Shakespeare this week. It was tough - when you study one guy for three years, he tends to take over your brain. Just a little advice in case you're thinking about grad school. ;)
This week's play, Fish on a Bicycle, was inspired by a post from She The People, a blog run by The Washington Post. The post can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/lap-dances-for-businesswomen-no-thanks/2012/01/20/gIQAes2KDQ_blog.html.
This week's play explores what it would mean for a couple of men to prove that they were team players to their female boss. When I started writing it, I really didn't have a clear idea of where I was going with this piece. After writing it, I was surprised at how, well, violent and angry it was. I knew I had a definite reaction to the Post piece, but I guess I didn't realize HOW angry it made me. That's the great thing about writing - it gets all of those emotions and thoughts out of your body and onto paper.
I am happy to tell you all that I succeeded in writing a play that had nothing to do with Shakespeare this week. It was tough - when you study one guy for three years, he tends to take over your brain. Just a little advice in case you're thinking about grad school. ;)
This week's play, Fish on a Bicycle, was inspired by a post from She The People, a blog run by The Washington Post. The post can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/lap-dances-for-businesswomen-no-thanks/2012/01/20/gIQAes2KDQ_blog.html.
This week's play explores what it would mean for a couple of men to prove that they were team players to their female boss. When I started writing it, I really didn't have a clear idea of where I was going with this piece. After writing it, I was surprised at how, well, violent and angry it was. I knew I had a definite reaction to the Post piece, but I guess I didn't realize HOW angry it made me. That's the great thing about writing - it gets all of those emotions and thoughts out of your body and onto paper.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
I Can Share!
All right! I think I have figured out a way to share my plays without blasting them all over the internet. Yay Google docs! If I think you wanted to see them, expect an email shortly. If you want to see them and don't get an email from me today, leave me a comment here, and I'll add you to the list. Does this work for everybody? :)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Week 2: Wiseguys, Part 2: Henslowe's Diary
Hello everyone! Well, I have completed my second play of the year a couple of hours before my deadline. Although I'm happy with the way this one turned out, my goal for next week is to write a play that doesn't have anything to do with Shakespeare or Elizabethan theatre history. Time to expand my horizons a bit and look for inspiration elsewhere...
The play is a sequel to one that I wrote for my final assignment in Playwriting. I wrote my M.Litt thesis on the two most important Elizabethan clowns, Will Kempe and Robert Armin. I argued in my thesis that both clowns could have worked for the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the same time, before Kempe beat it and decided to explore the profitable world of morris dancing (true story). The play I wrote, Wiseguys, imagined the two as roommates in a sort of Oscar Madison (Kempe), Felix Unger (Armin) situation. Wiseguys, Part 2 continues the story of this odd couple as they go for a drink at the Boar's Head Tavern and almost change the course of Elizabethan theatrical history...
The play is a sequel to one that I wrote for my final assignment in Playwriting. I wrote my M.Litt thesis on the two most important Elizabethan clowns, Will Kempe and Robert Armin. I argued in my thesis that both clowns could have worked for the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the same time, before Kempe beat it and decided to explore the profitable world of morris dancing (true story). The play I wrote, Wiseguys, imagined the two as roommates in a sort of Oscar Madison (Kempe), Felix Unger (Armin) situation. Wiseguys, Part 2 continues the story of this odd couple as they go for a drink at the Boar's Head Tavern and almost change the course of Elizabethan theatrical history...
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Week 1 - The Shakespearean Actor's Nightmare
The first week, and I've made my deadline with a few hours to spare. My first play of 2012 is The Shakespearean Actor's Nightmare. As I alluded to in my first post, I am a graduate of the M.Litt/MFA program in Shakespeare at Mary Baldwin College, which is associated with the American Shakespeare Center. You can find out more about the MBC / ASC here: http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=69.
The ASC begins every year with a three month season called the Actors' Renaissance Season. As the website explains “In the Actors’ Renaissance Season, the ASC goes even further than we normally do into the staging practices of the English Renaissance, cutting out the directors, designers, and the months of rehearsals that Shakespeare’s company never knew….all in productions mounted with very few rehearsals and with the actors making the production choices. The special experimental season offers five productions running in rotating repertory.” Interns from Mary Baldwin College’s graduate program in Shakespeare and Performance are often used as prompters during the season. If an actor forgets their line, they are instructed to say “prithee” and the prompter will let them know the correct line. The ARS is one of my favorite things about the ASC - the productions are always exciting.
My play is about what happens when a production of Richard III falls apart. What would happen if an actor forgot their line and it was one of the most famous lines in the canon? And what would happen if the prompter refused to give the actor the line? Obviously, this has never happened at the ASC, but it was fun imagining what might happen and what the actor and the prompter would do, when a production's success is on the line.
My intention is for this play to serve as a humorous, yet loving tribute to the actors of the ASC ARS and to the students in the M.Litt/MFA program, and it is therefore dedicated to them.
The ASC begins every year with a three month season called the Actors' Renaissance Season. As the website explains “In the Actors’ Renaissance Season, the ASC goes even further than we normally do into the staging practices of the English Renaissance, cutting out the directors, designers, and the months of rehearsals that Shakespeare’s company never knew….all in productions mounted with very few rehearsals and with the actors making the production choices. The special experimental season offers five productions running in rotating repertory.” Interns from Mary Baldwin College’s graduate program in Shakespeare and Performance are often used as prompters during the season. If an actor forgets their line, they are instructed to say “prithee” and the prompter will let them know the correct line. The ARS is one of my favorite things about the ASC - the productions are always exciting.
My play is about what happens when a production of Richard III falls apart. What would happen if an actor forgot their line and it was one of the most famous lines in the canon? And what would happen if the prompter refused to give the actor the line? Obviously, this has never happened at the ASC, but it was fun imagining what might happen and what the actor and the prompter would do, when a production's success is on the line.
My intention is for this play to serve as a humorous, yet loving tribute to the actors of the ASC ARS and to the students in the M.Litt/MFA program, and it is therefore dedicated to them.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
An Introduction
Hello!
My name is Bonnie. I am an actor (mostly early modern plays with some musical theatre thrown in, just to shake things up). I recently earned my M.F.A. in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College, in association with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. Last January as a graduate student at Mary Baldwin, I had the good fortune of taking a Playwriting class with Professor Todd Ristau, head of the Graduate Playwriting Program at Hollins University. I had never taken a playwriting class or written a play before. In fact, the last (and only) Creative Writing class I had ever taken was during my sophomore year in high school. I thought that Playwriting would be a fun elective to take with a professor I knew from my undergraduate days.
It is not an exaggeration to say that this class changed my life. Up until that class, I would have never thought of myself as a writer, let alone a writer of plays. That was something "other people" did. But I soon realized that writing plays was not only fun but something I was strangely good at. Apparently, years of talking to yourself (and other people) in your head allows you to write pretty good dialogue. Who knew? ;)
I have been searching for a creative project for some time now. Something that I could devote myself to, in an attempt to distract myself from the often frustrating travails of being (or wanting to be) a working theatre professional. Over the holidays, I hit upon it. The perfect project. I would write a ten minute play once a week for the entire year. 52 weeks. 52 plays. This blog will chronicle the project. I hope to share with you all the frustrations, the joys, and the inspirations behind these 52 plays. I have set myself a "due date" of 10 p.m. EST each Sunday for each week's play. So, wish me luck!
My name is Bonnie. I am an actor (mostly early modern plays with some musical theatre thrown in, just to shake things up). I recently earned my M.F.A. in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College, in association with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. Last January as a graduate student at Mary Baldwin, I had the good fortune of taking a Playwriting class with Professor Todd Ristau, head of the Graduate Playwriting Program at Hollins University. I had never taken a playwriting class or written a play before. In fact, the last (and only) Creative Writing class I had ever taken was during my sophomore year in high school. I thought that Playwriting would be a fun elective to take with a professor I knew from my undergraduate days.
It is not an exaggeration to say that this class changed my life. Up until that class, I would have never thought of myself as a writer, let alone a writer of plays. That was something "other people" did. But I soon realized that writing plays was not only fun but something I was strangely good at. Apparently, years of talking to yourself (and other people) in your head allows you to write pretty good dialogue. Who knew? ;)
I have been searching for a creative project for some time now. Something that I could devote myself to, in an attempt to distract myself from the often frustrating travails of being (or wanting to be) a working theatre professional. Over the holidays, I hit upon it. The perfect project. I would write a ten minute play once a week for the entire year. 52 weeks. 52 plays. This blog will chronicle the project. I hope to share with you all the frustrations, the joys, and the inspirations behind these 52 plays. I have set myself a "due date" of 10 p.m. EST each Sunday for each week's play. So, wish me luck!
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