10 Minute Plays, Day 1

I really enjoy ten-minute shows. I think it’s an impressive feat to write a well-rounded and engaging show, with developed characters, all in under ten pages. Full-length plays have 90+ minutes to do all this, sometimes with multiple acts. Yes, there are increasingly more characters and more complicated plot lines, but still. They have a lot of time to work things out. Ten minute plays have to communicate a lot of things in a very short amount of time, so when they actually make sense and are interesting to watch, I am impressed, to say the least.

My favorite show of these four was definitely The Roads That Lead Here. I think what I liked about this was the subtle use of exposition and how it was developed. Without them having to say anything, from the beginning I began to figure out what these boys were doing. There were small hints, like when the Xander and Marcus were discussing the need for Jason to be there because they need to share their things, or mentioning only seeing each other once a year. So once they back story was actually explained, it wasn’t as much of a surprise, which I think worked. Instead of being thrown off, the audience is affirmed in what they thought was true. And I liked the way the back-story was given to us: the father is questioning what they do, and thus as a way to affirm their lives, they explain it to us. I also enjoyed that there were a few surprises after the big expository moment. I was not expecting them to be so intensely dedicated to their project, i.e. all of them were still virgins when the oldest is almost 30. Also, the father blowing up their cars at the end of the show. I wasn’t entirely expecting it, yet I loved that, the idea that by living their “dream” they weren’t actually growing up, so the father killed their dream so they could go live their lives. Brilliant! But I also loved how ambiguous it was at the end; you didn’t exactly know where it would go after that, which is really interesting. So I guess if I was to summarize things I learned from this show I would say: use hints to begin developing exposition, have a big moment revealing back story, add a few surprises, insert dramatic yet ambiguous ending.

What I think is great is that for the most part, the other shows did all those things as well. In The Man Who Couldn’t Dance we understood immediately that Gail and Eric were more than just friends, but not to the extent that we later find out. The surprise? Eric being the one who is more upset about it. The ambiguous ending? The dance together and what it could mean when she turns out the light. In A Bowl of Soup we get hints that something is not quite right with Robbie and Eddie wants to help him, but the surprise is that Robbie’s lover just died. While the ending is less ambiguous, it is still very powerful with the last line “Put it in a bowl. I want to know we were here”. In That Midnight Rodeo we know she is going to a doctor’s for some reason and are slowly clued in as to why. The surprise? It’s for an abortion because Cindy is unwilling to give up her dreams. The ambiguous ending? Whether or not she will actually get it.

What I think stands out to me the most is the simple natures of these pieces and yet the complex ideas they raise. They are snapshots in the moment of someone’s life. I view them as a theatrical punch, like they are almost a bang of energy and drama and then they’re done. The shows are less about furthering the plot and more about showing us the back-story and then revealing something new or surprising. But I think the thing that is most important is the end. You need to leave the audience with some moment or line that they will remember, something with impact. The plays almost seem like a road to getting us there, which I think is really cool. It’s almost as if the climax of these plays is the end, which is kind of a cool idea.

Suffice it to say, I anticipate that I will enjoy writing these ten-minute shows :)

Fences

I really loved this show. Honestly, it was just really well written. SO many good things to look at.

I think one of the best things was the balance between the “real” of the play and making it dramatically interesting. I found that the language was the most helpful in making them seem real. We obviously don’t know EXACTLY how people back then talked, and I am not extremely familiar with Southern dialects. But I felt like August Wilson captured the spirit of the South in their speech patterns. Each person spoke slightly different. Troy definitely sounded older, like he was from a different generation, whereas Lyons and Cory, in their speech, represented two aspects of a new generation: the beatnik musician and the rebellious, forward thinking teen. This contrast in speech not only set Troy apart from his sons, but it also showed the clashing between the generations. Cory’s language was also slightly elevated from Troy, as if he was slightly more educated. This established, from the beginning, a disconnect. Troy, unable to attend school, is stuck in his ways. All he knows is work. Cory is educated and understands a need for progress. He has dreams, and goals, and he wants to make them happen. He wants to go to college. So I guess I would say what I learned from Wilson here is to really develop the voice of your character. These differences can help establish relationship immediately and subconsciously.

Something else I noticed was the continual use of symbols. First, there is baseball. Troy uses this as something to make him feel better. It represents his past, his glory days. He was the big cheese in baseball. He can relate to baseball. We soon understand that he views his whole life as a game of baseball. His family and friends are the players on his team, and the obstacles are the team he plays against. When he finally tries to explain to Rose why he slept with Alberta, he himself uses baseball as a means to explain his life. Because he cannot view his life as anything more than a game, he cannot really live his life in a healthy way. He is only competing, even against the members of his own “team”, such as his son Cory. This need to feel like the top dog is what ultimately tears his family apart and leaves him with little to be happy about.

The other symbol that I noticed was the fence. Obviously, this is the title of the show, so it’s important. But I think the thing I noticed that was interesting was calling it Fences and not the singular Fence. It is an allusion to the many fences in the show, both physical and emotional. Bono actual speaks of what the fences mean to people, that sometimes they are meant to keep people in, some to keep people out. Rose begins wanting to hold the family in, whereas Troy wants to get out. Not until his mistress dies and his wife refuses to talk to him unless necessary, when he is no longer comfortable in his life, then he wants the fence. He suddenly wants to bring his family in. But it is not the same love as with Rose. Troy wants to selfishly hold them in to make himself feel more powerful. He is the father, the alpha dog, and he must maintain that status. I think on some level he does love Rose, but it appears to be more the idea of a loving wife rather than Rose herself. So what would I say I learned from this? Find a symbol that can connect to certain themes and weave it throughout the play. It creates something the audience can follow and grab onto, making the play that much more easy to understand.