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- How to write an unproduceable play
How to write an unproduceable play
trust me, i have experience, this will be very useful
Put the explosions in your play
Put the full body transformation in your play
Put the monster, the ghastly figure, the animated doll in your play
Put the magic in your play
Put the superpowers in your play
Put the wounds, the rivers, the ocean, the menstrual blood, the balls, the scars, the mountains, the gods in your play
Put the time jumps in your play
Put whole centuries in your play
Put your rage, your joy, your fear, your love in your play
Put the sinking ship, the collapsing dirigible, the crashing space station in your play
Put the entire world in your play
Put the ever-expanding universe in your play
Put the effects of climate change in your play and include the exact emissions of the theatre in your play
Put the symptoms of long COVID in your play and have the actors pass out masks in your play
Put the Artistic Director in your play
Put the theatre’s 990 in your play
Destroy private property in your play
Say all the actors in your play have to be your neighbors
Say all the actors in your play have to be Black or trans or disabled or fat or all of the above
Use your stage directions in your play - give them voice, make them indecipherable, remind us that a story is not just the words that are said or the plot points that happen
Require a cast of ten, or one hundred, or the population of the entire world in your play
Say your themes with your chest in your play
Show and tell in your play
Say ACAB in your play
Say Free Palestine in your play
Say fuck borders, no more countries in your play
Say free health care, free food, free housing in your play
Say people are more important than art in your play
Put the theatre’s 990 in your play and this time ask the actors if they’d be willing to share what they’re being paid per hour in your play
Don’t make your play about your trauma
Or do make your play about your trauma but don’t make it for them
Or do make your play for them but make them uncomfortable, so uncomfortable they can’t feel in on it
Or just make your play for you, only you, and when they ask who it’s for say “me” and dare them to say that’s not good enough
Make the cowards look you in the face and say “your play is unproduceable” then ask why an entire art form is full of decision makers with no imaginations