*Note* Dr. Freudine has been resurrected from her successful probing in a recent essay of the illustrious mind of Epinionator 29th_Candidate in order to assist this struggling reviewer/mind-agog playwright wannabe to better appreciate the lessons she can learn from Playwrighting: Master Class. If it doesn’t work, don’t blame me. I tried. J

Dr. Siggy Freudine, a disheveled-looking woman with thick, black glasses and a grimace wrinkling her face, opens the book I had given her earlier to peruse. I shift in my seat across the desk from her, fully expecting a few snide remarks bitten off with a don’t-waste-my-time sneer. The author, or perhaps commentator rather, Michael Wright (coincidentally a playwright, hmmm) will turn blue cold from the negative karma.

“Tsk, tsk. I…have never written a fool play. What the bejesus do I know about creating a stage performance that keeps an audience rooted like weeds in their seats? Tell me, young scribe. What do you really want to know about...this serious, little book?”

I clear my throat, feeling small. “Whatever comes to your mind...if you please?”

“Hmph. Well, Mr. Wright has a good idea in letting us see what seven accomplished playwrights of various backgrounds go through in developing a short play.”

After several seconds of respecting her silent thoughts, I plunge in. “I thought so, too.”

“The starting image he gives them of a key in an envelope in a drawer helped them all to expand in their own directions with a mini-play that reveals their subconscious. I would have never expected such insight from a mere playwright.” She turns a page, then glances over the top of her low-sitting glasses at me. She eyes the page again. “After an introduction, the first part explores how dreams inspire two of the playwrights. Fascinating dribble the plays are, but quite...yes, quite exciting to a psychoanalyst like myself.”

I could barely contain myself, leaning forward. “Did you understand them?”

“Understand? Who do you take me for? Einstein? Besides, that’s not important. It made sense to them and healed something in their souls that they were able to express. That, my gawking friend, is the number one lesson from this book.”

I close my mouth, nodding. “What can I or other playwrights learn from Part Two? Anything?”

“Of course one can learn from anything if he wants to, silly child. I wish I could tell Mr. Wright something he needs to learn. He told this queer fellow, Gary Garrison, to write a play from his homosexual point of view and the unlucky man had never done so in his life! He preferred to cast normal females in all his plays.”

“Yes," I said with a laugh. "I thought his attempt with a man unrolling himself in a carpet to seduce the other uncloseted gay man was pathetic.”

“Exactly. ‘Rug Store Cowboy’ by name. However, it does show the theme of journeys, for he went on to write another play about a lesbian. In his journal we find out that the first play made him realize how he just didn’t have enough distance from the identity of the characters to be able to engage dramatically with them. While I found both plays too rambling and complicated to hold my interest, the second was more real.”

“I agree. The male playwrights were generally boring to me, to tell the truth. Getting into a man’s mind was kind of a letdown. Anyway, stay true to your inner voice, perhaps?”

“Yes. Yes…” Dr. Freudine flips through the book. “Now the third part, called Cut From Whole Cloth, has two playwrights, a gay Chilean-born male and an American woman. They didn’t need to dream up or journey to their play. With only a few minor changes, their plays came out fully formed the first time.”

I fume. “So what can an aspiring playwright possibly take from that? Why were they even included? Actually they were more interesting plays than the others, but it didn’t show much of...you know...”

“The struggle to write?”

“Yeah. They were intimidating.”

“Miss Jan, they should be the most motivational chapters of all! Those playwrights prove that after you’ve gone through the hard time of finding your voice, you can finally just let the play write itself.” She smiles at my blank stare and fingers the page the book is opened to.

“Here, listen to this intro from Mr. Wright:

Julie (Jensen) doesn’t worry about the meaning of the play as she develops it. Her view is to let the story and characters evolve through basic, random explorations, which she calls ‘notes in dialogue form.’ As she describes it, the meaning or central issue in the play (this book’s play) did not surface until she had worked on it for a while. Pp 177

“So you see, she just let whatever wanted to come out to come out. Like what Mr. Wright said in his Foreword, that the journey plays take us on is an adventure to be relished, not some kind of punishment. Remember that.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Thanks for helping me with my review.”

“Thank me by writing a play. I want to read it.” She winks at me as I stand to leave and hold out my hand. The book all of a sudden swooshes over the edge of the desk and I catch it as it falls. With a devilish laugh she extends her hand to shake mine. I then, bemused, turn and leave.


Final Thoughts

This was a very untraditional, inspired way to teach playwrighting. Wright believes that seeing the process a veteran playwright goes through will be more helpful to beginners like me. I can understand his reasoning. It lessens the mystery of it somewhat, but only in the sense that you realize how much thought and work go into most plays.

At first I was bored with the plays and didn’t know why I was reading about other people struggling to write plays instead of trying to write one myself. I only read their journals and skipped their weird plays, which were just dialogue mainly. When the author praised their final works, I felt like I was being too traditional and out of my league. It started to get interesting with the gay playwright who never wrote about homosexuals. Perhaps he’s right that straight women are more open with their same-sex sexual experiences than straight men are. It makes sense.

I read this wondering how it would prime me for my own playwrighting adventure and it’s convinced me I just need to start writing with a basic idea and go from there. Of course, all playwrights need to hear their play being performed to know if they really worked, since plays are not simply words to capture your imagination, but actors in relation to your words.

All things considered, I’m glad I read Playwrighting Master Class and can recommend it for anyone curious about what it’s all about. It should leave all students or visitors with a deeper appreciation of the artistry involved.


Recommended: Yes