Comments on: Let Me Explain My Concept For Your Play

By: Daily Dojo of Joshua James » Blog Archive » 2005 Dojo Makiwari Board Greatest Hits

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 02:43:28 +0000

[…] No More Covers Hey, What’s That Guy Doin’ In A Dress? Let Me Explain My Concept For Your Play […]

By: Joshua James

Joshua James — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:49:22 +0000

Laura, talk all ya want! You are welcome here in the Dojo! Writers are welcome, it’s not like rehearsal where we’re told to sit in the back and shut up - this is the Dojo and you can speak out!

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:50:31 +0000

Yes, Joshua. Once again - and not to get too boring - I agree completely. I can’t tell you how many directors have told me that they would like to include me as a writer in their “acting companies”, intending to put the focus entirely on their directing and the actors. Playwrights tend to be an afterthought, as if they could somehow put the play on without the play itself. I like your architectural analogy. Construction Managers don’t look at drawings and suddenly announce that they have a different vision. Playwrights are the visionaries of theater. Without a playwright’s vision, directors and actors are left with improvisions. Perhaps that is what many of these directors *should* be doing. And quite honestly, I wonder if Shakespeare (whoever Shakespeare was) would like what done with his work if he were in the same room as half of these so-called “interpretations”.

And on a side note to Dorothy - that’s why I had to unlearn what I learned. LOL.

(Sorry to leave a long comment Joshua. I’m still trying to focus on my play and not writing blog entries. )
There’s a difference between adaptations and interpretations. A big difference. And if a director is working on a play that is having its world premiere - or is not as well known as Shakespeare - then s/he has a responsibility to be faithful to the text since audience members and critics will automatically blame the playwright if the director makes bizarre choices. Believe me, I speak from personal experience on that one. A director once make a “choice” as he called it, moved a light cue and rendered the climatic monologue completely redundant - thus ruining the play. Everyone afterward wondered why I wrote the monologue since they already figured out what happened in the beginning - due to that moved light cue.

I don’t believe that theater is about the director’s vision. It’s about the playwright’s vision and how the audience is intended to see the play. Theater does not revolve around the director.

By: RB Ripley

RB Ripley — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:21:03 +0000

JJ gets my gold star of the day for referencing what I believe to be the cornerstone concept of the theatre experience: “how it is intended to be received by an audience.”

By: Joshua James

Joshua James — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 04:29:38 +0000

I was saying to some playwright friends tonight that it seems these days that playwrights are treated as ugly stepchildren and directors, regardless of how good they are, are the golden children. It seems that way, anyway.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 03:11:03 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is one of the best posts I’ve read in a very long time and hits home in a way that I can’t express. It sounds like you and I and perhaps ten thousand other playwrights have had similar experiences. It is only when playwrights start to stand up for themselves and *know* that they don’t have to put up with stuff that things will change. I, too, have pulled a few plays and have no regrets. I, too, have had directors attempt to re-write my work. I notice that this tends to be a pattern with directors who are either intimidated of writers or who wish they were writers themselves. How do I know this? Because a few of these directors have admitted it to me.

What I wonder is this: Is this trend growing because of ten minute play contests, etc. that ask for playwrights to simply send their work in and not be present during the rehearsal or production process? From what other playwrights have told me, some of these contests, etc. can get quite sloppy with regards to directors rewriting scripts. This is just what I’ve heard - I have no personal story with it.

Nonetheless, every director should read your post. And this post saves me from saying very similar things. (I’m still writing my play and am still on blog hiatus.)

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:02:51 +0000

Well it was long but I enjoyed it !
You know what i’ve discovered lately… one of the things that is hugely missing from conservatory programs are workshops and classes on collaboration. These of us who are lucky to have gone to programs that focused on that, know and understand the value of it.
But people who go to directing programs, or acting programs or creative writing programs just feel over and over that the play is all about *them* and their work.
Great post.

By: Philip Akin

Philip Akin — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 03:38:32 +0000

Naw Josh. I say let’s get some actors and have them improvise a shorter version of the post.

By: Joshua James

Joshua James — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:57:45 +0000

I can’t believe how long that post was - I should get a director to cut it for me.