Playwright Spotlight: Get to Know Matthew Webster

Welcome to "Playwright Spotlight" — your exclusive backstage pass to the creative minds crafting the incredible plays featured in our Theatrefolk catalogue. Discover the magic, quirks, and genius of the playwrights who help bring the stage to life. Let's meet one of these exceptional playwrights who offers the chance for your student performers to shine in their spotlight.

What inspired you to start writing plays specifically for high school & middle school students?

I love the energy that middle and high school students bring to a production. Students will get excited about a script and jump into the production process with both feet. That makes writing for them really fun!

Can you share a bit about your creative process when developing plays that resonate with students?

First and foremost, I want to tell a good story, no matter who I am writing it for. After I have the foundations of a story I work very hard to create believable characters that students enjoy playing. I also carefully choose the words and language the characters speak so that the characters are both challenging and relatable to middle and high school students.

Are there any challenges you face when writing for student performers, and how do you overcome them?

The biggest challenge is threading the needle between material that is challenging yet appropriate for young people. I try to respect who these performers are, while at the same time giving them materials that allow them to push their boundaries either physically or vocally. I also try to provide opportunities for more challenging design work for tech students whenever possible.

What themes or messages do you aim to convey through your plays?

I always try to find the truth of the character, whether in a comedy or drama, and encourage the performers to connect to that truth.

How do you balance education and fun in your scripts?

To explain my philosophy on this balance I will reference a quote by Walt Disney: 'I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something, than educate people and hope they were entertained."

Can you share a memorable experience or feedback from a student performance that left an impact on you?

I recently wrote a script of ghost stories and had the good fortune of having a class of high school students do a first reading for me. At one point in the script, a malevolent character turns to the audience and starts looking for a child as their next potential victim. When these stage directions were read, a number of students gasped out loud! That's when I knew they had completely bought into the story. That's when I knew the script had real potential.

Any advice for teachers or directors looking to choose engaging and age-appropriate plays for their student performers?

Choose materials that will challenge your students with achievable goals. Push them just beyond what you think they are capable of, and watch their pride and growth as they rise to the challenge.

What is your favourite play you've written so far?

That's like asking who my favorite child is! However, if I had to choose right now, I would have to say Arctic Adventure Theatre: The Case of the Crazed Crashers. It is based on characters I created when I was in middle school and when I finally sat down to write a script for these characters, the words just leapt onto the page. Plus it is written in a style - a radio play - that was a lot of fun to write.

Anything else you'd like students and/or directors to know about you as a playwright?

I'm not just a playwright, but also a director, actor and educator. Therefore, when I write, I try to give directors and actors the opportunity to not only successfully produce the script, but also explore it to its fullest potential. That means my scripts are designed to be produced by theatre programs from beginning and advanced, and everything in between. My goal is to create works that compliment a theatre program, no matter how deep its talent pool is or how much tech support it has.