š£SCRIPT SALE! Treat yourself to an easier Fall. Save 30% on 5+ perusal scripts with code SPRING30 before May 3 and head into summer stress-free.
Lindsay and Craig sit down to answer questions and address comments that came up from our recent customer survey.
Topics include: Can students directly contact us? What social issues do we cover? And do we sell plays?
Show Notes
Lindsay: Welcome to TFP, the Theatrefolk podcast. I am Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello, I hope youāre well. Thanks for listening.
So today is an extra-special edition of TFP, but as I say that, I mean I shouldnāt say that since I think every episode is special, but what I really mean is that today Iām not alone, I have my partner in crime sitting beside me, Craig Mason.
Craig: Hello, Lindsay.
Lindsay: Hello. And I guess what I mean is that Craig and I were going to do something a little special today, arenāt we?
Craig: Yeah. We did this little survey where we asked two guys just four questions. What were the four questions, Lindsay?
Lindsay: They areā¦
Craig: How did you hear about Theatrefolk? Why do you buy our plays, and if you donāt, why not? What do you like about us? And what else would you like us to offer? Now, that was just intended to be like an internal thing for us to get like a measurement of whoās out there and what they want from us, because weāve just been soaring with people on Facebook.
Lindsay: Yeah, and weāve never done that before, first of all, because itās kind of hard for us. Weāre sensitive folk, a little bitā¦
Craig: Yeah.
Lindsay: ā¦and itās hard for us to ask that question, āIf you donāt buy from us, why not?ā except that itās really, really helpful and useful. Like how can we get better if we donāt get feedback?
Craig: And the good news is weāve got a couple of hundred responses and they were just fantastic. Iām not saying it was all positive, but I thought that the stuff that was negative was stuff that we really could embrace and do things with.
Lindsay: And learn from.
Craig: Yeah. I was so concernedā¦
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: ā¦and those concerns were completely unfounded.
Lindsay: You know what? Weāre always concerned. Craig and I have I would sayā¦well, I can only speak for myself, but I have an imagination which helps me write a lot of plays. People ask me all the time how is it that I write so much and my inner answer is because my brain is whacked out. [Laughs] It goes places. But then the other side of that is that I always think something hugely negative is going to happen every time we put ourselves out thereā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦but that doesnāt happen, and letās get down to it. Letās go, letās go, letās really go!
Craig: Okay, so what I didānow, you have not read any of these responses yet, right?
Lindsay: Noā¦
Craig: Okay.
Lindsay: ā¦so that I can give a very honest andā¦
Craig: Okay, cool. And I only really just look at themā¦
Lindsay: ā¦fresh answer.
Craig: I look at them quickly at the beginning just to make sure that the form was working, and then I havenāt really touched it since then. But what I did just before we started recording is I went through, I just grabbedāand oh, I should say this too: The survey was just completely anonymous. The only data we have are the four answers that people gave. We donāt have any otherā¦
Lindsay: Where theyāre from or who theyāre from, soā¦
Craig: A couple of people left their names, but theyāre people that we know. [Laughs]
Lindsay: Oh, thatās nice.
Craig: It was very sweet. One person said, āThereās no need for anonymity here, I love you guys,ā or something like that. So, anywayā¦ [Laughs]
Lindsay: Well, we love you too.
Craig: [Laughs] Iāll tell you who it was after we stop.
Lindsay: Okay.
Craig: So what I did was I took each of the four questions and I went through them and just pulled out things that I thought would beā¦
Lindsay: Good to address.
Craig: ā¦worthy for us to discuss and worthy enough that we could be able toā¦
Lindsay: That other people might be interested.
Craig: Other people might benefit from the responses to these, yeah. So the first question was, āHow did you hear about Theatrefolk?ā Now, what would you think would be the number one way people heard about us?
Lindsay: Um, a conference or getting our catalogue in the mail.
Craig: Yeah, that seemed to be about it.
Lindsay: Score!
Craig: Yeah. Also, the Facebook page. Also, referrals from other teachers.
Lindsay: Okay.
Craig: And evenā¦there was one where they were a student who had done one of our shows and is now a teacher, if you want to feel really old.
Lindsay: Oh myā¦
Craig: [Laughs]
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: So here are some of the responses, and you can just pipe in if you want to.
Lindsay: I pick up my tea, I take a sip, and I will listen to your responses.
Craig: āI was judging IEs at International Thespian Festival and two boys did a piece from Wait Wait Bo Bait. I was hooked.ā
Lindsay: Oh, see, I know who that is.
Craig: Yeah, I know.
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: Actually, thatās the person who left their name. āI came across Theatrefolk through their resources page and from there requested a catalogue.ā Iām guessing by that they mean the free resources pageā¦
Lindsay: Yes.
Craig: ā¦which is Theatrefolk.com/free, and thereās a ton of great stuff there that you can download and use in your classroom.
Lindsay: All of which is conveniently free.
Craig: Yeah, thatās why itās /free.
Lindsay: Yeah.
Craig: There you go.
Lindsay: Youāre supposed to slash.
Craig: Slash pay.
Lindsay: Hundred million dollars.
Craig: Yeah.
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: āI got your catalogue in my school mailbox.ā We do send out a lot of catalogues.
Lindsay: We send out about, is it 20,000 a year or 20,000 twice a year?
Craig: Itās a little over that, yeah.
Lindsay: Twenty-thousand a year. And itās very interesting because there was a time whereā¦I think we are headed towards a paperless society.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: But we decided that we were heading there quicker than we actually are.
Craig: Thatās right. We stopped doing the catalogue.
Lindsay: About five years ago we stopped doing the catalogue, which was not a good decision.
Craig: No. It impacted us negatively.
Lindsay: It impacted us negatively and took up about five years to sort ofā¦well, not that long, but itās interesting how, you know, you have to make these choices and decisions about what youāre going to do and where youāre going to go, and itās hard because sometimes those decisions are wrong.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: But you canāt be afraid of a wrong decision.
Craig: No, but I think the catalogue will still be around for a few more years.
Lindsay: I think so too.
Craig: Mm-hmm. Um, weāll be much shier about pulling that. Ah, Facebook ā another teacher liked the page. āIām always looking for new ideas, so I like the page too. I found a lot of great information and resources on the Facebook page along with the emails. I used the scriptwriting ideas in my class this year.ā
Lindsay: Awesome. Student, playwriting rocks! I think thatās what weāre here for.
Craig: Hereās one ā they learned about us through NCTAE, which is the North Carolina Theatre Arts Educator. Thatās the first conference we go to in every school year and theyāre awesome people.
Lindsay: They are. North Carolina has a very strong and small but mighty, vibrant theatre teacher community.
Craig: Hereās someone who learnedā¦yeah, like I said, they learned about it from Facebook friends who are drama teachers. āI then liked your page and subscribed to your newsletter.ā Theyāre looking plays. They found sample pages.
Lindsay: Awesome. So itās nice to hearā¦itās nice to know how people find you and actually itās nice to know that people find you in the way that you expect.
Craig: Mm-hmm. Alright, so letās move on to the next question, yeah?
Lindsay: Yup.
Craig: āWhy do you buy our plays? If you donāt, why not?ā Thereās some good stuff in here.
Lindsay: Excellent. Thatās what weāre here for.
Craig: Okay. Ah, one, āBecause you write for teenagers. You write for them in a way that is respectful, mature, and that they get.ā
Lindsay: Well, I like that a lot because itās very important that they like it and that they get. And I always say that, like I have a couple of plays that are quite oldālike theyāre verging on 20-plus years oldāthat still get done. And that to me says that theyā¦regardless of there are some technology mentions in a couple of them, which lead me now to never write about technology because it dates so quickly, but whatās going on in the play, the meat of the play, the characters of the play, they still hitā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦and thatās a great source of pride for me. Okay.
Craig: āI was intrigued by the selection and variety of plays. Many of your plays tie into the ELA curriculum that my students are learning about.ā
Lindsay: Oh.
Craig: I donāt know what ELAā¦
Lindsay: I donāt know an ELA. [Laughs]
Craig: English Language Arts?
Lindsay: Oh, maybe.
Craig: So they could be talking about some of the Shakespeare adaptations, Canterbury Talesā¦
Lindsay: Sure.
Craig: Yeah.
Lindsay: Sounds good.
Craig: It would be great to have even more, I thinkā¦
Lindsay: I think so too. Well, adaptation is my absolute favorite form of writing. I like taking something in one form and turning it into another.
Craig: Hereās a good one, āI donāt purchase. Your costs are too high for a small elementary middle school with not much of a budget.ā
Lindsay: Too high? [Laughs]
Craig: Well, listen, some people donāt have any budget at all.
Lindsay: Itās true, but things are not free, and we offer a lot of free stuff.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: You know what? Thatās another thing. If weāre going to be totally honest and upfront, thatās a kind of answer that really hurts because we want everyone to be able to do our stuff.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And I would love to give away everything I have for free but the problem is that, you know, when you go to the dentist itās not free, when you go to a bookstore itās not freeā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦and it irks me that Iām expected to be free, that the arts are expected to be free.
Craig: And I donāt even think that itās the teacher themself thatāsā¦
Lindsay: No, of course not.
Craig: ā¦to blame, as it were, in that question. Itās if they donāt have a budget, they donāt have a budget. And so if their school district doesnāt value the arts enough to actually give them money to perform a play, then itās a really difficult situation.
Lindsay: But then on the other hand, I know weāre going to feature a podcast where a teacher does not have a theatre in herā¦or even a gymnasium that she can use and she works like crazy and finds a place to perform. I know a teacher whoā¦she wanted me to come into her classroom and teach and I said this is what the price is, and she went out and she went to other teachers in other areas where I could maybe do some cross-curricular stuff. So, you know, itās such a hard question.
Craig: I know.
Lindsay: I want everything to be free and Iā¦but then on the other hand I find too that I undervalue my stuff all the time.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: Like for the time that it costs to write something or to prepare a lesson for a workshop or to give feedback to somebody, all of that, it doesnāt take like hours of time ā it takes years of time.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: Itās years that you and I have been doing this.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And it still doesnāt matter. People have budgets or they donāt.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And it still sucks when someone says, āYouāre too expensive.ā
Craig: I know. I mean, because if you look atā¦well, you just look at the comparables, you look at other publishers, what theyāre charging ā weāre right down the middle. There are a couple of people who are cheaper than us but thereās a whole lot of them that are more expensive. And actually, you know what? Also reflected in the feedback was that we were affordable. People could afford our stuff.
Lindsay: Yeah.
Craig: So youāve got to go somewhere in the middle. You canāt please everyone. Ah, āYou offer a wonderful range of plays for true high school level. Many others simply offer middle school plays and say they are high-school-appropriate.ā Thatās a great compliment.
Lindsay: Thatās interesting becauseā¦so that says that they think that weāre not too kiddie. Is that what that says?
Craig: I think theyāre saying that, if Iām reading that correctly, they are saying that our high school plays are appropriate for high schoolsā¦
Lindsay: Are for high schools.
Craig: ā¦not just middle school plays that a high school student could also perform.
Lindsay: Awesome.
Craig: I take that as a compliment.
Lindsay: I take that as a great compliment.
Craig: āIām not in a position to buy plays since I donāt run a theatre department for a school or other organization. Iām a playwright who teaches playwriting creative process, so Iām usually hired by people who would be in a position to buy your plays.ā
Lindsay: Well, thatās an interesting person who hangs out on our Facebook or hangs out where we are who is a different sort of customer.
Craig: Mm-hmm. Well, you do a lot of playwriting exercisesā¦
Lindsay: Mm-hmm.
Craig: ā¦so I could see where playwrights wouldā¦
Lindsay: Be interested in that.
Craig: ā¦would be interested in that. And that would be great. Hey, and if youāre in those schools, then, hey, let them know about what we have and how great we are.
Lindsay: Thatāsā right.
Craig: There you go.
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: [Laughs]
Lindsay: Thatās another thing weāre not good at. Weāre not good at sayingā¦you know, because weā¦weāre pretty good. See? I couldnāt even say it. I was about to say weāre pretty great and I had to downgrade to āWeāre pretty good. Weāre okay.ā
Craig: Thatās Canadian.
Lindsay: Oh, I know.
Craig: Sorry.
Lindsay: Sorry!
Craig: āThus far Iāve not purchased one of your plays but itās only because I had a different need this fall. I found several that I really like and I love all your resources.ā Awesome.
Here was a curious one, I thought: āFor our evening of one-acts, main stage, we were going to do Shuddersome: Tales of Poe, but the costuming of it was too expensive. The one-act that weāre taking to the one-act festival killed our budget due to set and costume, but Iām not giving up.ā Now, that I find curious because when we saw Shuddersome: Tales of Poe, the original production, they were wearing blackā¦
Lindsay: Black tops and black pants.
Craig: ā¦black shirts and pants, so I donāt know what the costumingā¦
Lindsay: And some capes?
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And I would sayā¦I think the only really costuming bit was they did the Mask of Red Death, and they did these wonderful eye masks that they wore on one side when they were doing the party that when Death sort of swept the cape over them and they were able to flip them to show the Red Death on the other side, which I thought was a really great way of theatricalizingā¦
Craig: That effect, yeah.
Lindsay: That effect.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: Also, very quickly, without makeup. You know what I say? I say theatre works in jeans and T-shirts.
Craig: I think thatās always the joke of that we say about our showsā¦
Lindsay: Yeah.
Craig: ā¦is that you could do most of our plays withā¦
Lindsay: Two cubes.
Craig: ā¦two cubes, and if you really had two you could cut one of the cubes.
Lindsay: And I likeā¦weāve been going to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska off and on for 10 years, and then we did a number of teaching years before that in the nineties. And Iāll always remember I saw a play from, um, I donāt remember where it is but itās as far south in Texas as you could go. This was before they had a second theatre, so this was four kids with four chairs on the lip of the Lead Center. So this is a theatre that can hold 3000 patrons, and one of the shows we saw had a life-sized ship on it from Pirates of Penzance with cannons firing, eight follow spots, and a Jesus Christ Superstar, and this play was four kids in blue jeans and T-shirts and four chairs, and itās one of the most memorable moments I have.
Craig: Itās still my most favorite thing Iāve ever seen on that massive Lead stage.
Lindsay: So all I can say is bring the world of theatre to life with the words.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And with your action. And you know what? Ifāand hereās an actually very interesting story. I know another theatre teacher who was in a new theatre and they decidedānot her, but whoever was building the theatreādecided at some point that they had run out of money and they werenāt going to finish her theatre. So she had a space but she had no lights and she had no sound, and so she did Our Town and she did it in the space, and I think they used flashlights and they just used anything handheld that they could use to light the play. And the paper got involved and itās like, āWhy is this theatre, this school, which is doing such great workā¦where are their lights?ā you know? Soā¦
Craig: That works for that play though because itās so earthy.
Lindsay: It would work for Shuddersome too.
Craig: Sure. Yes, absolutely.
Lindsay: You know?
Craig: Okay. Hereās one that hurts, you ready?
Lindsay: Okay, Iām ready.
Craig: Have a sip of tea and get ready for this one.
Lindsay: Have a sip of tea.
Craig: āSome are good,ā this is the question about the play, āSome are good, but so many of them have stupid titles and plots. Just because we like to work with young people doesnāt mean we have to dumb everything down to zombie level.ā That one hurts, and Iāll tell you why.
Lindsay: Iām sorry, I have to stop for a moment to pull the arrow out of my heart.
Craig: [Laughs] So first of all, okay, letās talk about zombie. We have 200 and some plays, two of them of have zombies in them.
Lindsay: And I will say that both of them are very applicable. Itās not justā¦
Craig: Well, the thing is I think we have a very good mix. We have stuff thatās really like serious, dramatic, issue-based, and we have like the zany kind of comedies, the stuff thatās like Shakespearean parodiesā¦
Lindsay: Yup.
Craig: I mean, Hamlet, Zombie Killer of Denmark I think is a fantastic scriptā¦
Lindsay: Itās a good play.
Craig: Yeah.
Lindsay: Oh my goodness.
Craig: Now, the thing is, those parody-type scripts actually tend to be the most popular.
Lindsay: Theyāre popular.
Craig: So when youāre flipping our catalogue, when youāre looking at our stuff on Facebook, youāre going to see us posting a lot more about those shows because they are justā¦theyāre done more often. So there are more people sending us stuff about them. And what I take from a comment like this is that we really need to also highlight that we do have earthy dramatic stuff thatās really, really quality, dramatic material. Dramas just arenāt chosen as much.
Lindsay: Dramas donāt get done. Dramas donāt get done, and you know what? What I love about our catalogue is that it is varied. We have plays like Magic Fairy in the Microwave and Camel Dung and Cloves written by the wonderful Dara Murphyā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦that are just get-out weird. They are weird, weird, weird. They are black, people die. They are not normal comedies, and I love that with have stuff for weird. And then we have, you know, if youāre looking for stuff that isnāt zombified, we have a whole ton of issue-based stuff.
Craig: Like Sweep Under Rug that looks at poverty.
Lindsay: Poverty. Likeā¦
Craig: Chicken. Road, that looks at teen suicide.
Lindsay: Flaky Lips, that looks atā¦
Craig: Racial separation.
Lindsay: ā¦racial separation. Funhouse, that looks at bullying.
Craig: Hoodie, that looks at self-image. On and on. Thereās lots of stuff there. And actually, I think a lot of that is on us to promote that stuff.
Lindsay: To promote that stuff.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: You know what? You know, youāre quite right. Itās so easy to talk about the light and the funā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦because itās fun to talk about the light and the fun. But you know what? Having said all that, I think our mostā¦if you want something thatās challenging, I challenge you to pick up a copy of Tuna Fish Eulogy. Tuna Fish Eulogy takes place in sort of a limbo where there is a character who has diedāhe died when he was 12 and itās 12 years laterāand he sort of brings back the people who may or may not have been involved in his death. And it is sort of a trial, it is sort of a revelation, and it is a story where when the answer is found out it helps no one.
The play is written in ladder format. That means that when you look at it the characterās lines are written from top to bottom. Theyāre not written from left to right. So when you first look at it, it kind of looks like a mess of words. And so I hold that play up as a real example of the challenge that exists in our catalogue for the student actor.
Craig: Alright, Iām going to do two more in this little section.
Lindsay: Okay.
Craig: Oneās a little uplifting, so itās good.
Lindsay: Yay.
Craig: This will make you feel good. āThe scripts are relevant for my students as well as affordable in royalties and fees.ā So there youā¦like that is the maddening part of doing a survey like this because you get that whole yin and yang: āItās too expensive, itās very affordable.ā
Lindsay: Well, you know what? But that means itās good. I think that you need both sides of theā¦
Craig: Youāre absolutely right. It means weāre doing something right if you have people on both sides.
Lindsay: It means weāre doingā¦yeah. It means weāre doing something right. And sometimes what I tell young playwrights in terms of when they get feedback and response, you never want to be in the middle. You want the people who love and the people who donāt, because if youāve got that that means youāve hit a nerve.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And nothing is worse than mediocre theatre. So if weāve got people on both sides saying, āI will not buy your stuff because youāve got zombies,ā and other people saying, āYou are so appropriate,ā Iām good with both.
Craig: Mm-hmm. This comment goes on.
Lindsay: Okay.
Craig: It says, āThey also keep in mind the technical limitations of low-budget programs. My students actually laugh at your jokes. That is priceless.ā
Lindsay: Ha.
Craig: āSomehow the scripts are so accessible that they make my students feel that they can write. That is a gift.ā
Lindsay: Oh, thatās nice! Oh, I never thought about it that way.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: Oh, doesnāt that make me a happy camper.
Craig: See? I took you down and I brought you back up.
Lindsay: You took me down, you brought me back up. I think itās really funny that people laugh, if they laugh atā¦ Well, maybe theyāre talking about other playwrights becauseā¦
Craig: [Laughs]
Lindsay: ā¦I am not funny. [Laughs]
Craig: This is the last comment Iām going to put it in this section, āDidnāt know you sold plays.ā
Lindsay: Oh no!
Craig: [Laughs]
Lindsay: Oh no!
Craig: I know.
Lindsay: Oh my gosh, thatās the worst.
Craig: You know what that means though?
Lindsay: Oh no!
Craig: See, we have this like great Facebook page, we have this great email newsletter, we just pump out tons of great stuff for peopleā¦
Lindsay: Oh boy.
Craig: ā¦but it also tellsā¦ Iām always afraid when I actually want to post something that I say, āHey, hereās something you might be interested in buyingā¦ā
Lindsay: Buy this, buy this. Weāre not doing it enough.
Craig: No, clearly not. [Laughs]
Lindsay: Oh, Craig.
Craig: I know.
Lindsay: Thatās worse than the other comment. āDidnāt know you sold plays.ā
Craig: [Laughs] Okay, last question.
Lindsay: Okay.
Craig: Alright. āWhat do you like about us?ā Ah, so thereāll be some positive stuff in here, hopefully.
Lindsay: Yay. Pump us up a little.
Craig: āGreat scripts for large casts, PDF scripts.ā All of our plays are available as downloadable PDFs. āWe can contact you, no problem. You support and encourage young people. Reasonable prices. You want to provide a quality product for a very specific group and your plays work.ā That was all one comment, so itās lovely.
Lindsay: Go young people!
Craig: āThe free exercises, ideas and monologues are wonderful. I also find the plays to be smart, witty, very much in tune with young actors.ā
Lindsay: See? There you go.
Craig: Bonus. āI like your willingness to answer questions. I like the humor in the plays. I appreciate silly plays that have young actors in mind without writing down to them, āWeāre being silly.ā I love buying scripts online instantly.ā Hereās one about you.Youāre totally accessible. Lindsay initiated an open line of communication last week as we did Tick Talk. I and my students have emailed her several times.ā
Lindsay: Okay, so thatās something everybody needs to know ā if youāre doing a play, I try to send out an email to everyone, just sort of say, āHey, you got questions? Let me know. You got comments? Let me know. You got pictures? Let me know. And Iām also always available to do a Skype conversation just so that you and I and the students can sort of meet face-to-face and they can ask me questions face-to-face.ā
Craig: āWhen I call a real person, assuming Craig is real, actually answers the phone.ā
Lindsay: [Laughs] Well, we think heās real.
Craig: [Laughs] Iāll never tell.
Lindsay: [Laughs]
Craig: [Laughs] āI like that my students can use cuttings from your plays at festival without having to pay royalties.ā
Lindsay: So if youāre doing a competition, particularly with a sceneāhas to be under five minutes, five minutes or underā¦
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: ā¦although I think the group one is eight minutes in IEs, whateverāif youāre doing an excerpt specifically for competition, so what that means is that thereās a judge and thereās noā¦itās not really an audience forā¦
Craig: Itās not a show .
Lindsay: Itās not a show. Itās competition. Then you can do a cutting. We do lots ofā¦our stuff ends up in lots of monologue competitions. Actually, I just learned that there are two kids, two students who are going to be performing one of our IEs, one of our scenes for the opening ceremonies at the Florida State Thespian Festival, and then I think there are three students who have qualified to go to the International Thespian Festival in Nebraska already this year.
Craig: So, yes, weāre talking about thespian individual events and there are a few other similar contests. If you want to get the specifics on that free royalty thing, itās Theatrefolk.com/royalty_exemptions, and thatāll give you the list. Weāll put that in the show notes, too.
Lindsay: On show notes. Awesome.
Craig: āWhat else would you like us to offer?ā āMore full-length plays.ā Weāre working on it.
Lindsay: Weāre working on it. We sort of see ourselves as a one-act competition focused-company, but absolutely weāre working on full-lengths.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: And have you seen our latest full-length, which is called The Gift? Which isā¦
Craig: We offer plays?
Lindsay: Do you guys sell plays? I didnāt know. It is inspired by The Gift of the Magi and it is a modern play, takes place in the past, takes place in the present. It looks at the whole notion of how recently the economy has tumbled and what that does to a family and how a girl goes from being completely materialistic, selfish, completely unlikeable person to becoming a kind of and generous and giving and selfless person, and what is that like to her friendships and what is that like to the people around her. And, the three magi show up through the play.
Craig: Ah, hereās a tough one, actually. āMore challenging, serious one-acts that are approximately one hour for middle school performers.ā
Lindsay: Ooh. You know what? Iām not sure that is in our range.
Craig: Wellā¦
Lindsay: Thatās tough.
Craig: We like to respond with what weāre asked for, and that is something that that might be a first that weāve ever been asked specifically for that. So if actuallyāthatās a good point.
Lindsay: Hereās a good point.
Craig: If you actually are looking for serious one-act plays for middle school performers that are about an hour long, then please, please, please email us because we donāt know what you want unless you tell us what you want. So if we start getting a ton of emails about that you need this, then that wakes us up and starts us looking for stuff like that for you.
Lindsay: Like, for example, one that came in recently thatās going to be put into a movement in the next year was we have 10-minute plays that are for two actors or three actors or four actors, but we donāt have anything for large groups, so like something that you could do in a class. So like a 20-character, 10-minute play.
Craig: That would be tough.
Lindsay: You know? So itās somethingā¦right now itās in the āLindsay is thinking about itā mode and that, as I said, my brain is a little hornetās nest of wackiness. Weāll get there.
Craig: Okay, hereās a good one, āResources for elementary students.ā
Lindsay: We tried.
Craig: We tried a couple of times and we havenāt cracked that nut.
Lindsay: And I think that what we really have to just say is weāre a middle school and high school company, grade five and up. We have some Christmas plays, which are in our catalogue because usually theyāre performed by middle schools and high schools for elementary schools, so a lot of that material is going to be relevant. You know what? Iāll send you toā¦if you go to dramanotebook.com she is someone who has been featured on our website, and I think that last week she was featured in our podcast, and she focuses on elementary. So go to dramanotebook.com.
Craig: Yeah, she has great stuff. Ah, āDirectorsā binders of scripts.ā Now, thatās actuallyā¦if youāre doing the photocopy licenseā¦
Lindsay: You can do that.
Craig: ā¦you can do that. I mean, all the scripts will come in aā¦you have two different options when you do a PDF download. You can print it one-up so itās basically one page centered in the middle of an eight-and-a-half/eleven piece of paper, which is just perfect setup for directors and for stage managers. Or you can also do them two-up, which are basically two pages on one page the same as if you were to take a script and photocopy it ā you know, you have two pages on one page. You can download both of those options with the photocopy license, and yeah, a lot of people use that for directorsā or stage management or other tech binders.
āIād like to see more scripts that cover social issues.ā We looked at that before. We have a lot of social-issue stuff, so thatās clearly something weāre not telling people enoughā¦
Lindsay: Weāre doing enough of.
Craig: Yeah.
Lindsay: Okay. Well, letās doā¦well, we just did, actually. A lot of the things that we talked about, if you look up issue-based plays on our website, that is a category that you can search on.
Craig: āYouāre so good at interacting with us. Maybe a direct way for kids to connect with you? Just a thought.ā
Lindsay: Email. I am always accessible by email, Lindsay@theatrefolk.com, and Skype. I would be happy, if youāre doing one of my plays, if youāre working on playwriting, all you have to do is reach out and let us set up a date.
Craig: And if itās not a Lindsay Price play, most of our playwrights are really, really open toā¦
Lindsay: And accessible.
Craig: Yeah, to discussing plays and to talking with you, so just get in touch with us and weāll connect you up, and hopefully we can make something like that work for you.
And in there a few people also asked for more tech resources.
Lindsay: Thatās a good one.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: You know what? I think thatās an excellent one. I agree. Itās kind of hard because Craig and I doā¦you know, weāre the ones who provide the resources, and my expertise is playwriting and Craigās expertise isā¦
Craig: Acting.
Lindsay: ā¦acting, so we are leery of providing expertise in an area which we donāt have a lot of background in. But we hear you and we agree, I agree thatā¦
Craig: It would be great to have more tech stuff.
Lindsay: It would be great to have more tech stuff. So we hear you.
Craig: If youāre a tech person, get in touch with us and we could probably work something out with you putting together someā¦
Lindsay: Resources.
Craig: ā¦resources for us.
Lindsay: One thing that we have are the Practical Technical Theatre DVD series, which covers the gambit. And I know theyāre not in everybodyās budget, but if youāre looking for a really comprehensive program on lighting, on set design, on stage management, on sound design, on the basics of lighting, on costuming, there is a DVD on every one of those subjects that comes with lesson plans, that comes with tests, that comes with assignments. Itās really a textbook for your entire classroom.
Craig: Yeah, theyāre not cheap but theyāre comparable to buying a set of textbooks and theyāll last forever.
Lindsay: Ever. Yeah.
Craig: Theatrefolk.com/ptt, and also through that page you can click a link and weāll send you a free demo DVD thatā¦
Lindsay: Just so you know what youāre getting into.
Craig: Yeah. Lastly, āDo you have printed play catalogues? Doing things online is a hassle with public schools and paperwork. I have to keep a paper trail of everything I do.ā Yes, we do have printed play catalogues.
Lindsay: Where can they find those catalogues?
Craig: Theatrefolk.com/catalogue. I think itās catalogue, U-E. Catalogue, U-E.
Lindsay: Because weāre Canadian.
Craig: Itās the Canadian spelling.
Lindsay: Weāre Canadian, eh? Well, I think that was really awesome. I guess what weāre learning is we need more tech, we need to let people know that yes, we have issue-based plays, yes we haveā¦not everything comes with a side of zombies, and that yes, you can reach out to us directly and that, particularly, I can tell you forā¦I can speak for myself ā if youāre doing one of my plays, I would love to talk with you, talk to your students. Does that sound good?
Craig: That sounds good to me.
Lindsay: Yay!
Craig: Can I set up a Skype session with you?
Lindsay: Well, you could, except weāre in the same room, so.
Craig: Oh, okay.
Lindsay: So before we go, letās do some Theatrefolk News.
And really, as weāre talking here about communication, feedback, what can we learn, what I really want to talk about is our Facebook and whatās been going on there. Something that Craig and I believe in, and I think I can speak for you, Craigā¦
Craig: Please do.
Lindsay: ā¦is that theatreās really about community, right? A production is a little community. And particularly at the school level, if we can play a part in building communities, weād be very happy. Is that good? Is that good for you?
Craig: Yup, Iāmā¦
Lindsay: Youāre on board?
Craig: Iām following, yeah.
Lindsay: Sweet. So to that end, thatās really the goal with what weāre doing on Facebook. And we love it when you respond to stuff that weāre doing, but when you guys talk to each other and you guys help each other, itās just so fantastic. And this week we posed the question, āWhat are you struggling with?ā And that prompted a conversation about classroom management. And another question that came up, someone was looking for games and exercises for building energy and team spirit, and there was a ton of response.
So I guess this is news because I want you to know, if you have a question, if you feel youāre alone in your classroom, reach out to our Facebook fans. They are incredibly knowledgeable, they share their knowledge, I think theyāre the best.
Craig: Yeah. Oh, itās just awesome over there. Now, when you post, anybody can post on our Facebook wall, but itās highly unlikely that too many people will see it. So what I usually do is I just grab them and I repost them as us, and that way it goes out to everyone.
Lindsay: Yes. Yeah, so if thereās something you want to know and weāveā¦because thereās lots going on there, if we miss it let us know, so that we can make that happen.
Craig: Mm-hmm.
Lindsay: Okay, so if you want to come to our Facebook page, itās very simple. Itās Facebook.com/Theatrefolk.
Craig: R-E, like Shakespeare spelled theatre.
Lindsay: R-E, like Shakespeare, because weāre Canadian, eh?
Lindsay: And thatās where weāre going to end, so take care my friends, take care.
Music credit: āAveā by Alex (feat. Morusque) is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
by Lindsay Price
The tragedy of a young boy's death is examined. Written in the Ladder play format the text runs in vertical columns for fuller choral work.
by Dara Murphy
Sara enjoys tea parties. But camel dung and cloves are two things that should never end up on the table. The twists never stop coming in this play.
by Chris Stiles
Denmark is plagued with zombies in this gruesomely comic adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
by Dara Murphy
An ordinary girl has an overactive imagination. Maybe. This is a fast physical extravaganza with guns, knives, and blood. Kittens will be harmed.
Subscribe for our exciting updates, insights, teaching resources, and new script releases. Plus, sign up now and get 4 plays and 2 lesson plans for FREE!
