small plays, BIG VOICES: Writing and Staging the 10-Minute Play - Susan Erickson
Participants were promised they would “learn the nuts and bolts of dynamic playwriting by creating their own 10-minute plays.” We did. Susan Erickson’s energy, insight, and encouragement urged all participants to produce, if not a full play, a scene charged with clearly defined characters and a compelling conflict revealed through dialogue and action. We read Gary Garrison’s Perfect 10: Writing and Producing the 10-Minute Play (Heinemann, 2001) and found it full of practical advice tempered with general encouragement to find our own way. We also read sample ten minute plays, identifying the moment the characters and conflict are clearly defined. Once we drafted a scene, Susan had us do “cold reads” to get a sense of the characters and conflict and to allow for input from the rest of the group. Participants got to “cast” their own plays, but were not allowed to participate except as an audience member—a great way to let the work stand on its own. The scenes we shared were poignant, funny, sweet, and smart. Besides Susan’s clear expertise in all practical matters, we were impressed with her ability, after only a brief scene, to get to the heart of the matter and provide the right kind of reinforcement and refocusing. Several of us made plans to include a similar experience for our own students. In this particular instance, the transfer from workshop to classroom was almost effortless.
