Issue 49
What's New At Theatrefolk!

Welcome!

For April, we're talking about all the new scripts at Theatrefolk. Get the inside scoop! Make sure you read the whole thing to find the FREE SCRIPT...

In This Issue

• STUPID IS JUST 4 2DAY
  A vignette play with a twist
• THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
  An adaptation of the Robert Browning poem
• TEN MINUTE PLAY SERIES: ALL GIRLS
  The first collection in our short play series
• LETTERS
  Wartime Reader's Theatre
• THE SCARLET HEART
  Our first Commedia dell'arte play!
• COMPETITION LENGTH
  Two plays get streamlined for competition
• STAY CONNECTED
  Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
• FREE RESOURCES
  Some amazing (and free!) resources for drama teachers.
• THEATREFOLK BLOG
  Theatrefolk talks!
• CONFERENCE ALERT
  Meet us in person.
• IN THE NEXT ISSUE
  What you can expect next.
• STAY IN TOUCH
  How to reach us.

Stupid is Just 4 2day

Our latest vignette play Stupid is Just 4 2day takes the form down a slightly different road. Yes it's short scenes on a theme - this time the theme being all the stupid things human beings do in a day. (e.g. The state of mind of being stupid, doing stupid things for girls/boys, why do I do stupid things when I know what I'm doing is so, so stupid?)

But there's more here than a bunch of scenes strung together. The play is 'an orchestral comedy.' The sections are described as movements. The characters are listed as instruments (first violin, trombone, percussion). The actors dress in formal concert clothes. The play starts with an overture and ends with a coda.

Getting the picture? There is an aural quality to Stupid that doesn't exist in any of our other vignette plays. Each 'movement' is introduced with choral work that relies on the cast working with and listening to one another. 

Listen to a sample from the Stupid Overture.

Stupid is Just 4 2day premiered in December 2009 at St. Cloud High School. I asked director Karen Loftus about her experience and her students experiences with the play.

Stupid is the second play you've premiered for me, (Censorbleep being the first). This play is a vignette play with a twist: a heavy ensemble component with a huge dose of unison choral speaking. How did your students react to the ensemble sections?

They loved them - you could tell they thought of the ensemble sections as a type of music since they would come up with cool beats and rhythms for it on their own. It also made everyone in the cast have a greater stake in the show. There were no "small parts." Everyone was vital for the play to succeed.

The thing that impressed me the most when I saw the show was how crisp the cast was in the unison speaking! Did that take a lot of work?

Definitely! But the process was fun. We still laugh about some of the challenges we faced. We liked to call it the "Stupid sneeze" when actors would start the ensemble sections a bit too early and then try to stop themselves.

My favourite moment is when the nerdish boy equates frog dissection as, "something fun to talk about with girls." Did the students have a favourite scene? Did you?

The students had quite a few favorite moments. Some of the standouts include the end of the roller derby scene where they got to play the parents; the "tater tots" scene; the three-person "Environement club, bus and missed cue section." They also had fun with the slow motion section. Our conductor had quite a bit of fun as well.

My favorite moments include some specific lines: Ripping the tag off the mattress in the store section, and the Ms. Culligan monologue is fantastic! I HIGHLY recommend it as an audition piece.

Were the students able to relate to the 'stupid stuff' the characters do in the play? (of which, at least half a dozen were taken directly from my life...)

They related to it so much that they even started using lines from the show in their everyday lives. They would explain something they had done and would say, "Is that Stupid?" Ironically enough, the actress who played the missed cue girl really didn't know her lines for that section. So the "I'm supposed to say something here" moment was so realistic we could never really tell if she meant it or not.

What was the audience reaction when you took Stupid to your District Festival?

The audience LOVED IT! There were quite a few holds for laughter. The judges even commented on how they liked the play.

What advice would you give to teachers and students putting up this play?

First of all - perform this play! This was a rebuilding year this year for us since we had 15 seniors graduate last year. This play allowed me to "discover" students who had been "hiding in the woodwork." Our program has become much stronger just from students who were introduced to theatre in an ensemble "non-threatening" environment. They were all in it together so they didn't feel the weight of the show on their shoulders.

Also, I highly recommend having a student cue the ensemble starts for each section. We had a student who was in the center of the last row click his tongue twice. It wasn't very noticeable from the audience and it kept the starts very crisp. Also, we used tuxedo t-shirts for costumes that were so popular we were able to raise some money from the sale of them to non cast members.

Click here to read sample pages from Stupid Is Just 4 2day.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

We have two scripts from Mrs. Evelyn Merritt, the first being The Pied Piper of Hamelin, adapted from the original poem by Robert Browning. The script is designed for middle school students to perform and offers a great theatrical experience.

It's a very familiar tale: Hamelin has a rat problem and the pied piper offers a solution. But when the town council tries to weasel out of paying the piper, things take a rather nasty turn...

So, why should you snap up this version? And why is there a version of The Pied Piper at all in the Theatrefolk catalogue considering we're actively staying away from fairy-tale-type material?

First off, it's true we're not actively looking for fairy tale material for middle schools. Middle school plays can be so difficult: they exist in that in-between world of not being kiddy, but young enough to suit the age.

But what we are looking for is something that promises theatricality. And if the material is going to be in that fairy tale type realm, we want to be able to offer a challenge for student performers. A perfect example is Shirley Barrie's Hansel and Gretel – a familiar fairy tale with a challenging puppetry element.

For a familiar tale, Robert Browning's original text for The Pied Piper is pretty sophisticated. The vocabulary is hard:

Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
For a plate of turtle green and glutinous.

Insulted by a lazy ribald?
With idle pipe and vesture piebald?

The poetic nature of the language is also pretty sophisticated. It takes a skill to wrap your tongue around some of the phrases:

So much on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!

There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling,
At merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling.

The play is also physical. It's not standing in a line and reciting a poem, it's not a poetry reading, it's a play. There are interacting characters. There are rats.

All of this makes for an interesting experience for your students. A theatrical challenge. The Pied Piper is something we felt fit the teeter-totter balance needed at the middle school level.

Click here to read sample pages from The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Ten Minute Play Series: All Girls

We've been talking about a new ten minute play collection for quite some time. Our original offering, Theatrefolk's Ten Minute Play Collection was compiled at the start of our journey as a publisher. It has plays in it that while challenging and awesome to do, don't exactly follow our mandate.

Our second collection Girl Talk was discontinued a couple of years ago. Again, great plays, but we weren't able to offer PDFs and photocopy licences for all the plays and that was becoming important for us.

The ten minute play is used time and time again by our customers, most often in class work. It was time to revisit the form.

I may have gone a little overboard in the initial stages. Once I started writing, it seems I had trouble stopping. I strove for vivid characters, challenging situations, unique plays that were relevant and dynamic. I wanted to challenge myself as a writer and explore the form to the top of my game. And so, I threw myself totally and completely into the process. What started out as one collection quickly became five (FIVE????). That's when I had to slowly back away from the computer keyboard and gain some perspective.

Five books has now settled down to a series of three. They'll be published one at a time over the upcoming year. Each collection will have a different theme. And the first is... Ten Minute Play Series: All Girls.

Students from Lakewood Ranch High School workshopping the plays from this collection.

Because so many drama classes and clubs have a disproportionate number of girls to guys we know it's necessary to offer girl-heavy scripts. I've always been disappointed that Girl Talk went by the wayside and knew that the first collection in our Ten Minute Series would involved plays just for girls.

For those of you who know Girl Talk, one of the plays will sound familiar: Sandy is an Eggplant, Shannon is a Pretty Girl. The rest are brand new works:

Lies: A young girl slowly realizes the disheartening truth about her mother and sister. 

Anger Management: Life in the afterworld sucks for Juliet and Ophelia. And they're not afraid to tell you where to shove your decorative pot holder.

Fight Over Fuchsia: A fight over a blouse at the bargain low bargain big bargain sale fractures a friendship. 

See The Light: The truth hurts. Especially when you're afraid to tell it and not expecting to hear it. 

Slow Songs Make Me Puke: The girls of a rather unusual club find it hard to commit to the cause. Boys are too tempting.

Click here for a free copy of Anger Management. And be on the lookout for the next two books in the series: Ten Minute Play Series: Be Challenged, and Ten Minute Play Series: Girls and Boys.

Letters

The Letter is an art form. With the increasing use of email and text, there's not so many people these days sitting down with pen and paper. But for many wars, the letter was the only form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones. 

Letters is a Reader's Theatre Script and shares letters between those on the front lines and those trying to cope at home. Spanning from the civil war right up to the Iraq war, some letters are filled with love, some with sorrow, some with pride, some with hate. Some are written to share the horrors of war, some are written to hide those horrors. It is a character-driven, thought-provoking script.

I spoke with Letters author Mrs. Evelyn Merritt.

Why did you write this play?

I attended many a Memorial Day and Veterans Day assembly. Often students would read aloud real letters and that's where the idea started. As the play grew, it became clear how similar the letters were, whether from the Civil War or World War II or any of them: people want to connect with each other. Sometimes they are good at writing, and sometimes they are not. Sometimes they need to get out their anger and frustration, sometimes all they want is to hear about the normal things happening at home. Sometimes it is those at home who are frustrated. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Why Reader's Theatre?

I knew I wanted to have letters from wars across the years. Reader's Theatre, which does not emphasize costumes or sets, was the best format for this. Because the idea came from seeing letters read at an assembly, I never really thought of it being fully staged! Reader's Theatre makes the most sense.

Are any of the characters or letters in the play real?

No. Although I did do a lot of letter reading! It's amazing how much you can learn about the Civil War, for example, by reading the letters of the young men smack dab in the middle of the experience. I spent a lot of time reading letters for each of the wars portrayed in the play and from that, I created characters.

Click here to read sample pages from Letters.

The Scarlet Heart

We are doubly excited by this new play. First, it's a new offering from Allison Williams (Hamlette, Mmmbeth, Drop Dead, Juliet!). Secondly, The Scarlet Heart marks our first venture into Commedia dell'arte.

When we ask teachers what kind of plays they are looking for, a Commedia dell'arte play suitable for high schools is at the top of almost every list.

We've been working with Allison for two years now to bring The Scarlet Heart into our catalogue. It's been a challenging road. True Commedia and high schools don't exactly fit together neatly. 

We love the solutions Allison has devised. For example, traditional Commedia always deals with sex. Sex is something most, if not all, high schools are touchy about. To address this, Allison added a 'naughty bits' extra lazzi section at the back of the book, separate from the play proper. A great way to stay true to the form and respect the needs of high schools.

I talked with Allison about her process with The Scarlet Heart.

Why did you write a Commedia dell'arte play? 

Shakespeare and Commedia are my two favorite genres, and they are two sides of the same coin - in Shakespeare, the characters say everything they think. In Commedia, they take action on everything they feel. Either way, there's no subtext. In Shakespeare it becomes about the beauty of language; in Commedia it's the beauty of immediate action. I love how Commedia performers must be ready to improvise cleanly and clearly at any moment, using their whole body and playing the mask.

What's your experience with the Commedia genre?

I've been a Commedia teacher and performer for about 15 years - my partner Todd Espeland and I have a theatre company, Commedia Zuppa, that performs and teaches mask and movement theatre. As guest artists, we directed the creation of Commedia shows at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and for many high school and college theatres. We've done script-based shows like Scapino! and A Servant to Two Masters and coached actors creating their own characters and shows from scenarios. In fact, Mmmbeth started its life as a Commedia piece for five actors.

Do you have a favourite character? 

I love the idea of lineage and remembering where you came from - many Commedia characters are named after the original actor who created them. When I play Commedia, I play a very smart female lover, Isabella. The name and the character are after Isabella Andrieni, who was the first woman to run a theatre company in Europe - probably in the world. In her time, she was so famous that when she died, Kings and Queens from all over Europe came to her funeral, and coins were minted with her likeness. Her troupe was called I Gelosi, which translates as "The Ones People Are Jealous of" - it's very "we're good, and you know it."

What was your process in writing The Scarlet Heart?

I started much as actors start, with a scenario. We originally thought that the play would be a full-length with a competition version, but it started to become clear the the script wanted to be short and tight and open to interpretation. So the best bits of the full length that didn't fit became extra lazzi in the short script.

I'm fortunate to have a strong dramaturgical relationship with Lindsay, whom I trust implicitly for feedback. I send her the draft when I feel like I've done what I can and I need an outside eye, and she asks great questions that help me refocus the next draft. The Scarlet Heart went through five long drafts and four short drafts over two years. We're both perfectionists, and I love that Lindsay will never let me put out a play that isn't truly the very best I can write it.

My favorite part of writing was when I went to Bergamo, Italy where The Scarlet Heart is set. Many Italian hill towns have a modern section at the bottom of the hill and a historic area at the top, and the Citta Alta ("high town") of Bergamo is absolutely lovely. The architecture and the decorative painting are very Venetian, since that's who came to town with money - it was part of the kingdom of Venice from 1428-1797. I found a darling little hotel, Agnello D'Oro (The Golden Lamb) and used it as my model for Hotel Amatta.

It's exactly two rooms wide. I needed a building where the thieves could sneak around the side to the kitchen at the back, and most buildings in Italy are not freestanding!

Commedia explores some themes that just aren't doable at the high school level (coughsexcough) how did you stay true to Commedia's intention but still write a play high schools could perform? Did you have to make many concessions? 

I don't self-censor in the first draft, but I do always know that it will be for high schools. When I come to a path where it could go down the sex-joke path or it could go down a different path, I take the second path when I can. I do write jokes that I know won't survive future drafts, but they're placeholders for other material that serves the same rhythm or makes the same point. 

For example, when Arlecchino and Columbina hide in the closet in Pantalone's room, in the first draft Arlecchino says, "Quick, do a Clay Aiken! Get in the closet!". This was before Clay Aiken came out in People, and you can't slander a celebrity, it makes all kinds of legal trouble. But as I rewrote, the joke was no longer necessary because Arlecchino is dumb enough that Columbina comes up with the idea to hide, and that's not her type of joke. So if I listen to the characters and let them be less concerned with The Big Three (sex/profanity/violence), they will naturally come up with actions and dialogue that serve the play.

In the end, I think the Big Three are a bit of a cop-out - anyone can say the F-word. Shakespeare wrote rhyming iambic pentameter that accomplishes anger just as vividly. And it engages the audience more if  there's a little innuendo and they write a punchline in their heads, instead of having it shoved down their throats. And then the audience is being a little naughty themselves and playing along instead of shaking a mental finger at the play.

You've included not only the script of the play, but a scenario of each scene. Talk about improvisation in Commedia. 

There are two schools of thought on Commedia - one, that the actors improvised everything from a scenario, making a new play every time. Other scholars believe that they improvised in rehearsal, and actors brought in bits that became a finished play. 

I lean heavily toward the "made it up in rehearsal" theory. It was in the original Italian troupes' best interest to present a show that was polished and funny, but leaving room for interaction with the audience. It's like stand-up comedians - when they're good, it looks like they're making it up right there, all stream of consciousness. Some of it is, but most of that material has been set and polished before they get on stage. Commedia troupes were often family-based, and they were actors who worked together for years, sometimes their whole lives. Think of an improv troupe that spends a long time together gets to know each others' rhythms. That's where lazzi (comic bits that are repeatable) are so valuable - everyone knows what's coming next, you can bail each other out of a technical problem, you can have fun with your favorite fellow-actor.

The Scarlet Heart is written for a troupe to be able to use as much or as little improv as they like. If you're feeling brave, tack up the scenario, spend a few weeks playing the characters, and have at it! But if you want more structure, or you have a scene that's just not coming together, use as much of the script as you like. I hope that actors get to bond with each other by developing their own spin on the characters and material, making up their own lazzi, and helping each other out of comic dead ends with improv. Never be afraid to end a scene and leave the stage! The audience will love you for not beating a dead horse.

What's your favourite moment in The Scarlet Heart? 

My favorite script moment is when Capitano uses his hands as defibrillator paddles to shock Pantalone back to life. I love that sense of the absurd; it's a world where anything can happen. We talk a lot when we teach Commedia about Truth in Size - the idea that the world is bigger and crazier than our world, but it's true and real for the characters in the world.

I understand you're working on a Commedia textbook, what is that going to include?

There are some terrific but very academic Commedia books out there, and not much written for high school performers or beginners. I think there's a need for a clear, concise book that takes actors and their director step-by-step through Commedia. There's not a lot of dense historical background, just enough to get to know the characters, and games for finding the character walks and bodies, playing with status, working in masks, what to do without masks, and how to come up with your own lazzi. It could be a supplement for rehearsals of The Scarlet Heart or any Commedia script or scenario, or a unit in a drama class.

What I think is amazing is how much of a living art form Commedia is - when we watch Glee, or Friends, or That 70's Show, the characters are archetypes based on Commedia characters, and the plots function the same way - it's about spending time with the characters as they get into a crazy situation and get back out of it, and it's all about the plot, not about deep subtext or great personal growth. Watching someone get a chicken stuck on their head, or fantasizing about their secret superstar life and then getting caught acting it out is 100% Commedia.

Click here to read free sample pages for The Scarlet Heart.

Competition Length

What does this mean? Competition Length? Whatfore you talking about, Theatrefolk?

One of the greatest aspects of being a small company is that we can address issues quickly and with relatively little red tape. We're big on change. Sometimes we make a wrong turn with our changes, but again, it's pretty easy to steer the ship around again. Sometimes it takes us a while to come around to the idea that something needs to change but more often that not we do.

For example, it took us a few years to figure out our one acts should be 30-35 minutes. Can we have longer ones? Sure. And we do. Sometimes the length of the play is what it is. But they don't do as well because the vast majority of our customers perform in one act competitions where the plays need to be 30-35 minutes. This isn't always the case and we're not stuck in the mud over that time length - The Pregnancy Project is an hour and has found an audience. But by and large, the 30-35 minute rule stands.

So a play like Mmmbeth, which is very popular and many schools want to perform, runs into trouble. It's 45 minutes. A play like Body Body, which teachers love for its theatricality, hasn't found the same kind of audience as The Pregnancy Project, even though it's the same length.

The cutting of a play can take you down a slippery slope. Each cut takes the play farther away from the playwright's initial intention. It can really muck up the story, and leave characters one-dimensional. Then again it depends what your purpose is as a playwright. I'm a process over product type of writer - I want students to get the most out of the process of being in a play. So long as the process is being honoured in a production, I'm not terribly precious about cuts.

Sometimes it turns out the cut version is just as good. That's what happened with Body Body - a school asked for a shorter version, I wasn't sure it could be done and set to work. As it turns out, the cut version is leaner, more efficient and quick to the punch. The original is still lovely but I like the lean and quick version too. And with little red tape, a competition length version of Body Body is now available.

Mmmbeth is the number one play we get cut requests for. So many that we have a standard approved list from Allison Williams all ready to go. So many that we started thinking about an official shorter version. Then we started talking about it. And Allison started work on it. And now it's available for you. Mmmbeth - Competition Length. 

Again, I like this shorter version. We wouldn't put it out unless everyone on our end, especially Allison, was happy. It's leaner, more efficient, and quick to the punch. And you don't have to worry about going over time in competition and being disqualified (as what happened to a school in Florida a few years ago)

Same great plays, same stories, same characters, just a little leaner...

Stay Connected

We’ve got big plans for this year, including giving away some free plays through our Twitter and Facebook pages. Now would be a really good time to friend us up!

Free Resources

Did you know we have a page full of free resources for theatre teachers? Check it out here!

Conference Alert

Here's our upcoming conference schedule. If you're attending, please drop by and say hi!

• NCTAE - North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators Fall Sharing 2010 Monroe, NC
  Sep 18, 2010 to Sep 19, 2010
• Educational Theatre Association,Annual Conference New York
  Sep 30, 2010 to Oct 4, 2010
• FATE Conference
  Oct 16, 2010 to Oct 16, 2010
• CODE Conference Niagara on the Lake Queens Landing
  Oct 29, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010
• Texas Thespians
  Nov 18, 2010 to Nov 20, 2010
• Missouri Thespians
  Jan 5, 2011 to Jan 9, 2011
• 2011 TETA Conference Houston, Texas
  Jan 27, 2011 to Jan 31, 2011
• Florida Junior Thespians
  Feb 11, 2011 to Feb 12, 2011
• Florida Thespians
  Mar 16, 2011 to Mar 20, 2011

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