Back in 2016, during rehearsals for the world premiere of my play THE GULF, Joe Calarco approached me and asked, “What if we get them out of the boat?” I know he thought my head would explode… but instead, my brain went into overdrive imagining the possibilities. All I’d experienced in terms of my plays up until that moment had been grounded in realism. Now, here he is asking me to think “outside the boat” and conjure something far more theatrical than just two women adrift after dark out on the Tensaw.
Everything I thought I knew about my play was blown apart that day. I came away with the understanding that my biggest nemesis is not the press or the business or the clock or any of the other inconsequential forces I wrestle with as a playwright. The real enemy is my precious little bag of immutable expectations.
I tell you reader, I was thrilled. From the play’s very inception, I’d always been energized by the audacity of putting two women in a boat on stage for 90-minutes (real time), and letting them fight to the death. And looking back now, though it was a bold choice, it was quite literal. And there’s nothing wrong with literal… it just isn’t always inherently theatrical.
When we write for the stage, we ask ourselves, what can I do here that I couldn’t also do with film (or any other medium for that matter). What makes this play of mine “theatrical?” In the early days of your script, it certainly isn’t necessary for you to consider every possibility. After all, there will be visionaries down the road helping you sort all of that out. But, to be sure, the rubric by which many plays are judged includes the aspect of theatricality. If yours conjures a new realm with its own rules (e.g., maybe time is backwards; maybe up is down; maybe dogs talk; maybe we’re all puppets), it not only sets the story apart from other more literal narratives, it suggests you’ve made room for magic.
What directors look for is the sense that you’ve at least given this world of yours some thought. Don’t just put characters on a stage and have them talk to each other. Look past the literal to something no one has ever imagined before. Theatre, after all, is a medium that insists we not only make and break rules, but that we invite the disruption. We crave it.
So, take a cue from Tolkien. Start world-building. Make up the rules of this card game. It’s dealer’s choice! Give your designers a feast. Give your audience anything but ordinary.
"You call forth something beautiful by asking a beautiful question." ~ David Whyte
This image came across my feed right as this article went live and it felt right to share it here.
All, if you’d like to support my work, why not purchase one of my archival prints or waterproof stickers. Message me with your order and I’ll get these to you in time for Christmas. Many thanks! Audrey
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Fine Art Print - Three Dog One Moon Night (only 1 available)
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I wrote my first play twenty years ago. I wrote my second play one year later. Here are 21 things I learned in the year between the two.
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Audrey Cefaly's plays (Alabaster, Maytag Virgin, The Gulf, The Last Wide Open, Trouble) have garnered the Lammy Award, the Calicchio Prize, the NNPN Goldman Prize, the Edgerton, and a Pulitzer nomination. Her works have been produced at Signature Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Barter Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Florida Studio, Florida Rep, Gulfshore Playhouse, and countless others. Cefaly is a Dramatist Guild Foundation "Traveling Master," an Arena Stage playwright cohort, and a recipient of the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers Conference. She is published by Concord Theatricals, Applause Books, Smith & Kraus and TRW