Writing, Directing, And Producing A Stage Play
By Joan Donaldson-Yarmey
Last winter I took my writing in a
new direction. I attended a two day, play writing course. By the end of it I
had adapted a short story of mine, which had won first place in a flash fiction
contest in Ascent Aspirations Magazine, into a half hour stage play. In the
spring I entered my play in the Fringe held here in Port Alberni, B.C. This
summer I produced and directed my play on stage in front of an audience. In the
process, I discovered this is not an easy thing to do.
I needed a male and a female lead actor and I asked two people who had
been in plays in our local theatre before. They agreed and I gave them each a
copy of the play. We met and had a run through with us discussing how we each
saw the characters. Their interpretation of their character's actions and
attitude were sometimes different from mine, but, other than a few places where
I felt a certain delivery was needed, I let them decide how to play the part. Through
our many rehearsals with the props, which my husband, Mike, was in charge of,
the characters evolved and took shape as we discovered better ways for them
move, react, and relate.
I also needed actors for a party scene and I approached people I knew
and/or worked with in my quest. Even though I told them that they would only be
on stage for less than five minutes, that all they had to do was listen to the
male actor beak off about how good he was, and that they had no lines, many
gave a flat no, explaining that they could never get up on stage in front of an
audience. Some agreed so I gave them the times of our next two rehearsals. Most
of them never showed up. I kept asking people: my cats' vet, the owner of a new
store in town, the person who donated some props. But I only had the same two people
show up for any of the rehearsals and it looked like Mike and I would be making
our acting debut. I was beginning to worry. Maybe I would have to drag up some
of the audience members.
On the evening of the first presentation, two of the three who had
attended rehearsals, two actors in another play and I made up the attendees of
the party. For the Saturday matinee the partiers were, one of my three regulars
along with two members of my dragon boat team, the two actors from the other
play, a theatre volunteer, and myself.
One thing I did learn was that for something like the Fringe where plays
are being presented one after the other, having a lot of props is not a good
idea. Because I was showing a story instead of telling a story, I had over
forty props, some large ones being: fridge, stove, desk, computer, sewing
machine, two chairs, table; smaller ones being: duster, broom, envelope, paper,
boxes, material, pens, wine bottle and glasses, and many more. The play after
me had only two tables, two chairs, a laundry basket and some beer bottles.
Another play I watched had some tea cups and teddy bears.
On the first evening there were going to be four separate plays, mine
being the first. That was perfect because it gave us time to set up our scene.
However, at the end, we had to get our props off stage so that the next play
could set theirs up before their showing. Our actors became stage hands and
things disappeared in a hurry. The same happened on Saturday afternoon.
The important thing I learned was that while I had written the words, I
was at the mercy of the actors to show up for the rehearsals, learn their
lines, and speak those words on stage. My female lead was off book (I did get
to know some of the lingo) quickly, but the male lead found it harder to remember
his lines. He also missed some of the rehearsals.
Putting on a stage play isn't like making a movie. You don't get to go
back and redo a scene. When asked, the way I put it is, opening night did not
go as rehearsed. To be honest, it wasn't even close. The male character kept
forgetting his lines or changing them which threw the female character off, as
well as the lighting guy and Mike who had to operate a smoke machine.
The Saturday afternoon presentation went better. He still missed many of
his lines but the audience laughed when they were supposed to and they
understood, and laughed at, the twisted ending. I was elated and hearing that
laughter made the whole process worthwhile. And I do believe I will try another
play for next year, but I will keep the props to a minimum and have the actors
tell the story instead of show the story.
While there were many mishaps and problems getting my play to the stage,
the most memorable is about our wine bottle. We needed a wine bottle for the
opening scene, so I rinsed one out and filled it with water. We used it for our
first on stage rehearsal and left it along with our other props for our full
dress rehearsal the next evening. When I went to find it for that rehearsal, it
was gone. We searched everywhere and couldn’t find it, so we used a beer bottle
in its place. We laughed and hoped that the person hadn't decided to take it as
a hostess gift to some fancy dinner. I found another wine bottle for our
opening night. At the end of the evening I discovered our first bottle by the
back door, empty. That person must have thought it was the weakest, worst
tasting wine ever made.
http://thetravellingdetectiveseries.blogspot.com/
http://facebook.com/writingsbyjoan
Books of The Travelling Detective
Series boxed set:
Illegally Dead
The Only Shadow In The House
Whistler's Murder
.jpg)