Mac Theatre Class
2007 11-12:20
Spoke to a class at the U of I. Question: “Did you ever take a class in theatre or playwriting?” “No.” “Then why are were here?” It’s good to see Mac getting active in theatre again.. Used to be the best around.
I went to I.C. .. always liked to visit Mac. Had the most gorgeous women.
Mrs. Smith.. Perry 5th grade.. “Whatever you do….”
I write plays & musicals. About 100 published. Newspaper column ..14 newspapers every week. Four books. TV commercials. Been Writing for 35 years. Took teaching job.. saw scripts, thought they were terrible. First play.. didn’t know where to find them. Wrote one. Published. I’d planned to be an undertaker. Some of you are probably taking this class for the credit with little interest in theatre… You never now. At your age I had applied to three schools of mortuary science to learn how to embalm bodies.
My specialty.. much like your writing assignment for this course.. the 10 minute scene. The big plays and musicals win the awards, but it’s the one-acts that bring in the income.
I would rather write than anything I know. Nothing more satisfying. . Audience response is nice, but…….Private shouts of joy which only my computer can hear are far better. Journal.. every day since 1969. Many shouts of joy in it. Best way to become a playwright.. Sit in the audience and cringe. After a bit, you’ll learn to cringe at your keyboard and the bad stuff won’t make it onto the stage. Theatre is like practically no other art form in that an audience is not only necessary, it’s part of the equation. Windshield wiper blades. Tax man.
Yesterday.. wrote the program notes for a new play..opens in two weeks. I said, “You never stop writing a play. You just quit one day.” Actors often don’t like having the playwrite around… too many rewrites.
Rewriting: .. closed 8th season of Abraham. 82 performance. Still changing things.. this year we added a whole new song.. an 8 min scene without music.
I think the creative process is the most enjoyable experience in the world. More than once I’ve sat enjoying the Alps or the Louvre or St. Basil’s cathedral, thinking…I can’t wait to get back to the hotel to write about this.
I firmly believe in the old motto: Write about what you know. Monsters… Grandpa’s finger.
The idea… Yesterday. Jr. High. Boy…nothing to write about. I said, “Well, tell me about your life.” Dad: alcoholic and beat him. Mother on Meth when he was born. Older brother killed in a motorcycle accident and his youngest brother had leukemia. We all have something to write about.
I’ve nearly stopped speaking on how to write. My answers are often unsatisfying. Spoke to writers’ conference at U of I. Introduced me: I’d written over a hundred plays.. most produced author of school scripts in the US and my answer to “How do I write?” I don’t know. I pray and sweat and it comes.. Not satisfying for the PhD’s congregated there.
Undertaker Me: IC prayer.. next day, call. Write plays. This doesn’t make a good how-to seminar on how to write.
The idea is the hardest part. Writing is easy. The Idea is hard.
A gift from God.. pure and simple.
Chillocothe.. dead probably..
Publishing is a funny business. Iowa publishing company called: Banned in Indiana.. winning too many contests…Small schools can afford them. Bob & I found the answer: Our answer… compiled into a play.
Being published is dangerous. A Sermon Diary.
But…I often use Improv as a jumping off point for a play. I teach Improv and get to see probably 300 scenes a year… I steal freely.
I find myself calling my father to get details of a story he told me years ago. _______ Walker. “Shall we gather at the river.”
I had to return to my family after 30 years to find out why I’m a writer. Recent family reunion… all telling stories of Perry 60 years ago. Storytellers. That’s why I believe we’re all writers. Some of you just haven’t begun yet.
Newspaper column… My own hate fan-club in Peoria… Militia members.. Don’t like my remarks about equality of the races. Springfield African-American lady.
Formed a publishing company. Now the largest supplier to schools in a few years.
It’s good to have a writing partner. Writing is a lonely life. Not sad. Not depressing.. just solitary. Never write together. He has the time and ambition to push my work and our work. Bob is a good promoter. I am a recluse. Bob enjoys public performances. I usually dread them.
Roger Ebert.
New writing venture… TV commercials.. An entire story in 27 seconds. Good practice for a playwright. Last week: septic tank company.. “Try to make it funny.” This afternoon: meeting with a chain of funeral homes to find a way to liven up their TV commercials.
I’ve always wanted to write full-time…to try it. I retired from teaching in the public school two months ago..now teach only a few college classes and I do write full-time. Interesting.. I’m still finding out whether I like this or not. I know I walk funny.
Sometimes I think I write too much. Newspaper interview this summer. My new Lincoln play. I couldn’t remember.
Current projects: 4 right now. I need to work on more than one at once.
---Most recent project: Faith on Wry. Trying a new method of play writing…. short scenes that seem to have no connection, then they come together in Act II.
---New musical… Roger sent script.. awful. Tough to write around someone else’s work, but it’s good for me.
Probably why you asked me here: How do you write a play? Actually…I’m not sure. I don’t think much about the process. A good description I once heard.. Put a loaded gun onstage at the opening of the play then don’t fire it.
A FEW THINGS I’VE LEARNED: ---Know your audience… different writing styles for high school contest, and a tourist crowd at New Salem. ---Plays aren’t written as much as they are re-written. ---If your audience doesn’t care about your characters, the play won’t work. Saw RENT last night. Before: mixed feelings. Last night: loved it. The actors made me care. Saw MAN OF LA MANCHA last week.. a much more expensive production…but I didn’t care about the characters. ---Some character has to change. That’s more important than action and more important than plot. A character must grow and change. Otherwise you’ve written a skit and not a play. ---Number one rule: Do not bore. --- Anger is a good start. Shiloh.. songwriting. The best things I’ve written were born out of my anger at something. And the best tool to fight injustice or stupidity is humor. Ex: Amtrak station last week..newspaper column. Ex: Faith on Wry.
Questions?
I'm looking forward to it, too! I found out the best place to park would be off of South Clay, (west side of campus). There's a lot directly south of the library, but it's really small. There is another lot to the west of the library that should have spots available. Neither of these lots are designated parking for visitors, and with about half of Mac's students now being commuters, they're getting kind of nasty about parking without a sticker or a pass. So, I will have to do a bit of street walking (I wonder if I have time between now and then to slap a shine on my stilettos???) and meet you with a parking pass. Regarding the location in the library, we're upstairs and to the left in the "Biography Room". This will be the first day of class after Spring Break, so we'll probably do a bit of housekeeping at the start, but after that, you can run with whatever floats your boat. This group is very bright and very curious, but sometimes you wouldn't know it. At times, they appear to work very hard at looking disinterested -- but I guess that is the required mantle of deportment if you are between the ages of 18 and 21! By the way, don't feel obligated to fill the entire 80 minutes -- we'll just see how it goes. Let me know if you need anything else ~ Kerry
There are, on any given day, 28 students in my class. You can count on 26 being there.
You will be with, once again, a wide variety of students. However, this go round, my students have already been divided into four Production Teams, (who are trying to decide which of your "short plays" to do), and they are already thinking about their own individually written "10-Minute Plays".
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