OCT
11

Incorporating Playwriting into Your Already-Packed Drama Program

By Kendra Thomas 

Kendra Thomas has been writing stories since she was in Mrs. Jewell’s first grade class for dyslexic learners.  After learning to remove the labels of her disability, she went on to become a writer, teacher, theatre director, principal, and counselor.  She is the author of 14 plays published by Pioneer Drama, including the four plays displayed below. 

“Dr. Thomas, I want to be a playwright, too!”

Playwriting is my passion, so as a drama teacher, how could I not share this fundamental part of my life and the theatre with my students?  It’s hard, though, when you have a full schedule, no class time to focus on it, and a dozen students who are begging you to read and critique their play.  It doesn’t help that in many states playwriting isn’t even part of the state standards in theatre courses.  So what’s a busy drama teacher to do?

Believe it or not, I’ve found many ways to still incorporate playwriting into my already-packed theatre program:

Create a student playwriting club.  Bring the young playwrights together into a dedicated group.  Have these students meet as often as once a week to read each other’s plays and give feedback.  Hearing their work read aloud will help them catch mistakes they wouldn’t otherwise notice.  Encourage students to bring unfinished work and scenes.  Be sure to set ground rules for feedback and foster constructive critiques.  Here are some questions I ask my students to prompt them toward quality, helpful feedback:

• What was one thing you really enjoyed about your peer’s writing?
• What is something you wish you knew more about?
• Was there anything that didn’t make sense in the script?
• How does this script make you feel?  Do you think the playwright intended that?

Consider using student work.  Ask students to write and submit scenes and monologues to you for use in classroom activities and projects.  Students love seeing their writing performed.  This will not only encourage them to write and foster new ideas, but it also gives you an abundance of free materials.  Just be sure to ask students’ permission to use their work.  This could also open the door for a short lesson on the importance of copyright and usage permissions.  Also, set clear ground rules for submissions.  You can even give them ideas to prompt them and require everyone to submit as part of a classroom assignment.

Spend time on script analysis.  If you’re working with a play in class, be sure to discuss how the play is structured and why the playwright chose to present their themes in this way.  This critical piece is often overlooked in the rush of rehearsals, especially when working with younger students, but it helps budding playwrights understand how their choice of style affects audience perception and stage presentation.  As you are having these discussions, be sure to draw your young playwrights’ attention to how they can bring these elements into their own writing.

Host a coffee house presentations.  At the end of each grading period, open your theatre up for students to perform their work at an open mic coffee house night set up in your performance space.  Consider scenes, monologues, poetry, and/or reader’s theatre.  It’s critical for students to see how their writing is received by an audience.  You can even put students in small groups to work on coffee house materials, assigning actors, directors, and playwrights to all work together.  If you make this event a normal part of your program, parents and students alike will look forward to them and work toward making them wonderful evenings.  As a bonus, this can also be used as a fundraising opportunity!

Share your own work with students.  If you are also making space for student work, there is nothing wrong with sharing some of your own.  It can be very empowering for your young playwrights to see you asking to have your work critiqued.  Allow them to give you feedback in the same way they would give it to a peer and then model the appropriate way to accept criticism.  Students watch us closely, so by sharing your work, you are showing them that it is okay to expose yourself to criticism and grow from it.  They are also learning that writing isn’t perfect on a first draft, and that all writing requires feedback and edits.

Have office hours for working with writers.  If you have a lot of student writers in your department, it might be beneficial to set aside a time that works for you that is just for going over student work individually or in small groups.  As teachers, we have a lot on our plates.  Set boundaries that give your playwrights an opportunity to get assistance but also allows you space to run the rest of your program.

Whether you’re able to integrate playwriting instruction into your theatre classroom or you’re using one of these other approaches to create a space where you can encourage your students to write, it has many benefits for your program, for you, and especially for your students.  Who knows?  You might have the next Shakespeare sitting in your classroom just waiting for the opportunity to thrive!