betweenity

Time for a Tfolk Top Plays List For….Building a Theatre Program. You’ve had a large group of seniors graduate. You’re starting at a new school that doesn’t have a theatre program You’re taking over a program that needs some serious love. What plays should you choose to build your program? Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. All the best with your search – and with building your program! Choose a play with a familiar link that people know. Use the familiar as your hook.

If you are looking for an excellent class project play with parts for everyone at all levels with a great technique exploration, look no further than betweenity by Lindsay Price. We’ve all been there. The awkward pause. The silence where you just can’t think of something to say. The space in-between words where nothing is said and yet so much is spoken. The state of being between. This vignette play explores the beats, pauses, and never-ending silences in conversation. The girl who tries to tell her best friend she wants to date him. The boy who creates the wrong kind of pause. The sister who is dealing with the silent treatment. The guy who wants to confess but can’t open his mouth. The daughter who doesn’t want to talk because talking makes her remember. How do you act in a pause? Director Laura Maney and the drama students from the York County School of the Arts in Williamsburg, VA explored the sound of silence and the power of the pause with this engaging vignette play. It’s important to learn that sometimes it’s not what’s being said that’s important. It’s the space in-between.

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays For….Classroom Production. Are you putting on a play with your class? Do you need flexible casting? Do you need ensemble driven works? Material that’s easy to stage? A show that can actually be rehearsed in a class period? We’ve got plays just for you! Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. Hand this list over to your student directors and see what they think. All the best with your search! Mmmbeth Your class will have a blast with this one. So much fun to do as it takes a twisty turning and gender bending look at the Scottish play. A great piece to teach comic timing to your students. Large flexible casting! Ten/Two Ten plays for two actors. The plays can be performed individually or all together for a full evening of theatre. Excellent for the classroom. This collection is ideal for student directors because each play is a contained piece. Box How do middle schoolers deal with perception? A middle school vignette play with great small scene and monologue opportunities. Flexible casting and it can be run entirely within class time. Anxiety is Orange This play is all about colour. Join the characters as they navigate the world, each other, and the greens, greys, blues, reds, pinks, yellows, and oranges around them. Does orange make you anxious? Vignette plays are awesome for class projects. Everyone gets one scene to perfect. Everyone can be rehearsing at the same time and not waiting around. Myth-O-Logues Pick and choose from this must-have collection of greek mythology inspired monologues. In this play everyone gets a monologue and an ancient greek character to present. Students practice a necessary theatrical form and get cross-curricular! The Perils of Modern Education Got student directors? Give each one a scene to develop in this vignette play. A comedic romp through the stresses and struggles of making it through the school day. The Perils of Modern Education are many! Gender flexible casting, doubling possibilities, and easy to stage. The Bottom of the Lake An awesome combination of ghost stories, urban legends, teen issues, romance, absurd comedy, and film noir, all in a single play. Because this play is divided into scenes, everyone can work at the same time. betweenity This vignette play explores the beats, pauses, and never-ending silences in conversation. An excellent class project play with parts for everyone , at all levels, and a great technique exploration. How do you act in a pause? Letters Have less time but need a class project? Try this Reader’s Theatre play about war. For many wars, letters home were the only form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones. Letters is thought-provoking and character-driven. It’s not hard to visualize these characters reaching out with pen and paper. Pandora’s Fire Everybody knows the story of Pandora. Her curiosity got the better of her and she is to blame for releasing all the ills into the world. But is that the whole story? Work on ensemble acting with your students with this great greek adaptation with a modern twist.

Sometimes it’s not the words themselves but the spaces between them that say the most. In the vignette play betweenity by Lindsay Price students have a chance to explore the beats, pauses and neverending silences in conversation. It sounds easy but are you up to the challenge of the ‘awkward pause’? This is an excellent class project play with parts for everyone at all levels with a great technique exploration. Charlie McMeekin and the drama students at The Sharon Academy in Sharon, VT fine-tuned their techniques and learned that silence can be awkward… and golden. “My student director expanded the concept of the silence between words using a warm-up where we stood in a circle and tried counting to twenty, one person randomly at a time. If two spoke at the same time, we returned to zero. Only when we began to “feel” the silence did we make it to twenty. On performance night at our regional festival, the cast was pretty wound up. Before performing, our warm-up was this same exercise, despite strenuous objections from the cast. It worked to calm them down, however, and focus them. . . and we counted to 20!” Congratulations, Sharon Academy!

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Today we look at betweenity, a vignette play that explores the beats, pauses, and never-ending silences in conversation. The girl who tries to tell her best friend she wants to date him. The boy who creates the wrong kind of pause. The sister who is dealing with the silent treatment. The guy who wants to confess but can’t open his mouth. The daughter who doesn’t want to talk because talking makes her remember. We’ve all been there. The awkward pause. The silence where you just can’t think of something to say. The space in-between words where nothing is said and yet so much is spoken. The state of being between. This is an excellent class project play with parts for everyone at all levels with a great technique exploration. How do you act in a pause? Why did we publish this play? Okay I have to take my writer hat off now and put on my publisher hat. Goodbye writer Lindsay, hello Publisher Lindsay! Vignette plays are a staple here at Theatrefolk. It’s one of the reasons Writer-Lindsay writes them. :) They work well with classes and with beginner groups – the small scenes are excellent primer grounds for moving toward one-acts and full lengths. With betweenity there is a little bit more work involved than just short scenes – there’s learning the skill of acting in the pause. Students are not just putting together something fun, they’re exploring a communication skill. What is communicated when there isn’t any dialogue? It’s an added bonus. Let’s hear from the author! 1. Why did you write this play? Before writing the play I had been working with a group of students who were having difficulty with pauses. They didn’t want to take them. They didn’t want silence on stage. That issue was eventually solved, but the thought never left me. What if I wrote scenes where the pause (or the beat or the long, long silence) was the focus? That started the ball rolling and betweenity is the result. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. It’s not what’s being said that’s important sometimes. It’s the space in-between. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The opening. It’s done almost in silence, so it’s all visuals. Most of the actors have to stand, look at the audience, and wait. It’s unnerving, but it sets up the whole play. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Love the pauses! Practice the pauses. Figure out the timing of the pauses. Get comfortable with silence, even when the audience is uncomfortable. I would also say, to keep in character during the pauses. It’s not the actor who has stopped talking but the character. What does that mean? What are they thinking in the silence? Have your actors come up with own their inner monologue, especially with the longer pauses. The acting doesn’t stop when the lines do. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? Learning how to act in a pause is a fabulous exercise. But on top of that, this is an ensemble piece with a lot of immediate character work. Because it’s a vignette play characters have to come to life immediately within their short scene. Another fabulous exercise for students.