Thoughts from Playwriting Canidate Workshop 3 of 6

Different experience today. I enjoyed getting in and thinking about our miniature pieces of plays in terms of other plays, something I don't feel like I've gotten much from the previous two candidates. I've been looking at these candidates through the lens of criteria which are evolving as I go. I definitely felt like I could not only see myself collaborating with him, but learning a lot from the process. I worry, though, that there would be a steep learning curve. He operated the class with a solid knowledge of theatre, and with the expectation that we, too, had a solid knowledge of theatre. I worry about how well that would work in an introductory-type class, one in which not everyone reads and sees loads and loads of plays in their free time. That said, four scenes:



1: Hey, did you see that?
2: (silence)
1: Hey, did you see that?
2: (silence)
1: Did you see that horse?
2: (silence)
1: I said, did you see that horse?
2: Holy crap, it's a horse!
1: Yeah, I know.
2: Why's it here?
1: Why not?
2: (silence)
1: Here it comes.
2: Here what comes?
1: The horse.
2: What horse?
1: (silence)
2: What horse?
1: Really?
2: Holy crap, it's a horse!
FOGHORN
1: Come back, horse!
2: (silence)
1: Now the horse is gone.
2: What horse?
1: (silence)
2: Holy crap, it's a horse!

ONE WEEK LATER

1: That sounds like a lie.
2: No.
1: Are you lying?
2: No.
1: Why would you lie to me?
2: Why would I lie to you?
1: Why would you lie to me?
2: Why wouldn't I lie to you?
1: (silence)
2: Well?
1: You know, you haven't made sense in a week.
2: Huh?
1: You sound stupid.
2: You look stupid.
1: (silence)
2: That was mean.
1: That was mean.
2: What do you mean?
1: What do I mean?
2: What do you mean?
1: I mean-
2: I wasn't mean.
1: You were mean.
2: (silence)
1: I wish I had a horse.

ONE YEAR LATER

1: You're late.
2: You're a stickler.
1: You're a name-caller.
2: You're a hypocrite.
1: (silence)
2: You're a mute.
1: You're a jerk.
2: (silence)
1: You're an idiot.
2: You're a meanie.
1: You're a child.
2: You're a parent.
1: You're transparent.
FOGHORN
2: Did you hear that?
1: Yeah.
2: Do you think that-
1: No.
2: Well maybe-
1: Nyuh-uh.
2: I wish you'd let me fin-
1: Shhhhh.

TEN MINUTES BEFORE SCENE ONE

1: It feels like rain.
2: It looks like rain.
1: That's what I said...
2: (silence)
1: ...roughly.
2: I don't want fish tonight.
1: (silence)
2: I don't want fish tonight.
1: Not roughy, roughly.
2: Ohhhhhh.
1: So what about beef for dinner?
2: Don't you mean veal for dinner?
1: No, beef. Full-grown cow meat-
2: As opposed to baby cow meat?
1: Yes.
2: But where are we going to get beef?
1: Where are we going to get beef?
2: We're far out of town.
1: We are far out of town.
2: We could walk.
1: We couldn't walk.
2: (silence)
1: Hey, did you see that?


In reflection, I see the influence of the plays I've been reading lately seeping through. I feel like this tone and fast-paced sort of thing would need a lot of thought (as well as a lot of letting thought go) in order to work right, and I suspect it would just end up resembling a third-rate Beckett knockoff anyways. But, alas, for fifty minutes of insomniac creativity...