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WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN A NEW PLAY:
In brief, when we are looking at a new play, if the title is of interest, the first thing we do is look at the cast list.
You must have a cast list! Do not expect everyone to have to read your play to find out who is in it!
If the cast list looks interesting, multi-ethnic or DO-ABLE (23 characters is NOT do-able, unless you have the budget of the National Theatre in the UK!) Then we look to see what the plot is, what it is about, what it might have to say about the human condition.
All too often, we are sent plays that are NOT plays, they are poems or even essays.
A play must have a plot, and it must have an action/conflict of some sort. It must have an energy/quest or goal, to drive it forward.
One should feel that something was accomplished– someone succeeded, failed, learned or grew on this play’s journey.
We should have become involved, intellectually or emotionally–or preferably BOTH in the time we spent with your characters onstage. To accomplish this, you need to give us PLOT DRIVEN dialogue, not narrative dialogue, or simply dialogue for the sake of talking!
It does not matter how clever your dialogue is, if it does not drive your plot forward, or tell us more about the needs of your characters, then GET RID OF IT.
Happy writing!
Alexa is the co-founder and Executive Artistic Director of Pulse Ensemble Theatre, founded 1989. She has worked regionally at the Alliance Theatre, Walnut St. Theatre, Academy Theatre, Attic Theatre, etc., she also ran a Drama Program at the Men’s FCI in Tallahassee, and has worked as a host for PBS. She has taught acting and directing for many years. And has taught and/or directed at UNC, FSU, U of M-Ann Arbor, Adelphi University and Tisch School of the Arts. She was also the Founder and Producing Artistic Director for the HARLEM SUMMER SHAKESPEARE for fifteen season. Her touring show A MAN FOR ALL TIMES: W.E.B. DU BOIS, has toured in Edinburgh, Europe and the USA. She has produced and directed over 60 new plays, and innumerable classics. She is interested in all genres of material if the material is meaningful. She loves teaching on the College or Professional School level. Favorite shows she has directed are: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Top Girls, Juno and the Paycock, West Side Story. SSDC, AEA, SAG, DGA, League of Professional Theatre Women.
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