playwright

[scotty94]

dear GA Authors,

 

the other day I was reading a play script and it got me thinking, if GA started a playwright anthology do you reckon it will be popular. I want to discuss it with the staff here first but if it is given the go ahead can I rly on author to contribute please all your comments are appreciated and I take everyone's views in to account.

 

your,

 

scotty94

[Thorn Wilde]

I've never tried writing a play before, but it would be cool to try!

[Sasha Distan]

plays? Oh god,that's well out of my comfort zone. i know a guy who does scripts though. scripts and plays?

[K.C.]

The anthologies are already set for 2013, but you can always put this into a suggestion for the themes for 2014.

 

Here is a link to the 2013 suggestions: https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/35436-2013-anthology-theme-suggestions/ They usually take theme suggestions in late summer/early fall.

 

Or you can do a screenplay for your anthology submission   That would be cool for the Pandora's Box theme!

[Bill W]

It would definitely take a totally different mindset, since you would be totally focused on dialogue.  Stage directions aren't nearly as detailed as descriptions in stories and leave much of that up to the actors.  I'm sure you might have some interested parties though. 

[Bill W]

It took me a little while to find it, but I remembered a play being written for one of the Anthologies and here is the link to it, if you are interested. 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/w-l/lookawaydickie

[Andy78]

You (or indeed anyone) can always write an anthology entry as a play (or a poem or a film/TV script or a journal entry or whatever), it doesn't always have to be prose.  We have more than enough poetry writers (and readers) here to be able to have a poetry anthology, but I'm not sure about a play anthology.

 

My concern with having a "play" anthology is that it may not prove to be popular enough on two fronts:

 

1. that enough authors have the interest in writing plays to have the usual large glut of varied entries we get with the anthologies

 

2. even if we do get a sufficient quantity of plays written that there are enough readers on site who like reading plays

 

In my opinion it's kind of the same reasons why the anthologies are theme-based and not genre-based.  If the anthologies start becoming too niche I think we run the risk of making them less popular and more exclusive.

 

If it does go ahead I'll happily support it (I know it doesn't sound like it given what I've already said), but I think consideration would need to be given to running it in addition to the existing quarterly anthologies; after all, the poetry anthology is given its own entry.

[K.C.]

It took me a little while to find it, but I remembered a play being written for one of the Anthologies and here is the link to it, if you are interested. 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/w-l/lookawaydickie

 

You beat me to it, Bill! I was searching for the same one, I remembered seeing a play in the anthologies

[Slytherin]

Great idea - that would be fun to read Gonna read the play Bill W posted now 

[Johnathan Colourfield]

A script anthology would be an excellent idea for next year The thing with writing a play, it is as difficult as a novel because you have to fit the whole character arc and story into around 80 pages worth of script. This is highly difficult to do.

 

I work in a devising theatre company, so we don't tend to use scripts. We tend to use prompts (like the writing prompts). For example, in my production 'Why do they do these things while they sleep in the fields of elysium' our prompt was a ghost story about children in a school. This turned into about an hour of material which we cut down. 

 

Another example would be I created a 15 minute performance (around 10 pages) with a co-performer purely from the instructions One Actor: 'The other performer is trying to kill you. You must defend yourself in any way you can.' Two Actor: 'The other performer is suffering from mental delusions. You must attempt to calm them in any way you can'. (For your interest I was Two Actor )

This actually led to a 3 hour improvisation, which we eventually cut down to 15 minutes

 

If there is a script anthology there will almost certainly be an entry from me

[Sasha Distan]

Another example would be I created a 15 minute performance (around 10 pages) with a co-performer purely from the instructions One Actor: 'The other performer is trying to kill you. You must defend yourself in any way you can.' Two Actor: 'The other performer is suffering from mental delusions. You must attempt to calm them in any way you can'. (For your interest I was Two Actor )

This actually led to a 3 hour improvisation, which we eventually cut down to 15 minutes

 

and this would have been something i would have actually watched.... dang it