“It’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womprats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters.”
--------- Luke Skywalker, taking on a skeptic regarding the rebel’s chances of destroying the Death Star.
Sending out your play to a theater and getting a production out of it is a lot like the chances the Rebel Alliance had in destroying the Death Star, but they had to try. For them it was a life or death battle. For you and me it’s a matter of credibility and identity. Will my life as a playwright survive? Without that production coming along, the answer is “no.”
How do you get that production? First you have to bullseye a whole lotta womprats in your T-16 back home.
Gunning for womprats
Where are these elusive creatures? They take on a variety of forms, from reading books on playwriting, to taking a class, to going to the theater, to reading new plays, to local readings of your latest play, to 10-minute play festivals, to concert and staged-readings of your work. Womprats are everywhere. So why can they be so hard to see?
First, there’s the T-16. You gotta learn to fly that vehicle, take her out around the block, see what she can do. Then you take her for a spin in Beggar’s Canyon. Before long you're blasting at womprats as you tool along.
Learning to fly the T-16 is you sitting down and reading plays, going to local theater, and reading a few books on the craft of playwriting. It might also include taking a class, either through a university or an informal class through your local parks & rec. What’s available to you? Start at your local library. They will have a collection of drama and some instructional guides. They will also have information about local theater groups and classes.
By going to see plays you will not only learn about theatrical form and conventions, you also become acquainted with your local acting-talent pool. Keep the programs and mark the names of actors who might be able to help you read your play to you. Try volunteering with the theater groups that are doing work that interests you. Whether you’re helping build the set or handing out programs at the top of the show, the experience will help you understand the mechanics of theatrical production while it introduces you to the people who make theater happen in your community.
Write a short play and invite some of your new actor friends to come read it out loud. Take notes either during or after the read through, and do whatever rewrites are needed.
BLAM! You just blasted a womprat. Score one for you.
Now, you start looking for places to send your short play. There are many theaters that host short play festivals. A few minutes a day searching the web and you’ll have at least ten or more places that will be willing to read your work.
BLAM! Another womprat bites the dust.
Send out the play.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! More womprats.
You get a play into a festival! BLAMMO!
You're working on a few more short plays, having them read, rewriting, and sending them out.
BLAMMAMUNDO!
You’re knocking off womprats left and right.
Try writing longer works. Get ‘em read. Send ‘em out. With your new and improved resume, and the theater experiencing you’re garnering with your group, you are starting to feel more like a pro. You are making a dent in the womprat population in your community.
See if there are other playwrights in your community and start organizing sessions where you bring in pieces of new work and read it out loud for each other. You can all share resource information, like where to send your plays. You can also begin organizing local reading series of your plays. See if a local theater, library, art gallery, church, or civic agency might be interested in donating some space for you guys to show your art.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
You’re knocking off some impressive womprats.
Before long you’ll be ready for the big challenges, but they won’t seem so big anymore because you’ve been primed by taking out all of those womprats.
Death Star…Shmeath Star. You’ve been bullseyeing womprats in your T-16 back home, and they’re not much bigger than two meters. It’s not impossible at all.
