Theatrically Speaking: a playwriting podcast

In the season two finale, Jonah looks back at season two and finds a piece of advice from each episode.

Season three will begin early in 2022.

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A Brand new show from ActualStoryPodcasting.com!

Roll To Meddle is an actual play campaign based on the game Brindlewood Bay.

Launching September 1st, Roll to Meddle is like, What if The Golden Girls was a murder mystery?

What if H.P. Lovecraft started writing for Murder, She Wrote in season four?

What if your grandma had a secret life that was incredibly awesome?

Available wherever you get your podcasts!

Once a month-ish, Lee Shackleford comes on to talk with Jonah about a 10-minute play. Both Lee and Jonah are playwrights, directors, and have produced short play festivals (Lee has done many more than Jonah). These discussions tap into not only the writing and storytelling, but also what goes through the mind of a producer when they read your play.

The play in questions is Backyard/Blues by Nick Baker. Much of the conversation is about the information on the Character page, so I've pasted it here.

CHARACTERS

BRUCE: (Masc/60’s/white) A recently retired CEO of a company his great grandfather started.

FRANKLIN: (Masc/mid-late 30’s/Black) Bruce’s long time personal assistant who has been promoted to CEO after working closely with him for 12 years.

POMEGRANATE: (Femme/50’s/white) Bruce’s wife. Has been fooling herself into believing in an empty, loveless marriage for far too long.

SETTING

A cozy backyard in suburban Massachusetts, USA.

TIME

July 4th, 2021

Notes for Consideration:

- When a character’s line reads “ … “ it marks a dramatic beat. This could be a rest, a moment of reflection, connection, regret, realization, humor, awkward tension; anything really.

- If a line is bracketed with double parentheses on both sides ((like this)), it marks a character saying a line for themself. Can be an aside. Doesn’t have to be heard by everybody.

- Feel free to construct the house and porch with the cheapest materials possible. Everything about this set is flimsy and not built to last.

Everyone with a creative process has been disrupted over the last two years. Laura Lewis-Barr and Keegon Schuett are here to talk about how their process and outlets have been impacted by Covid and the lockdown.

Laura Lewis-Barr

https://lauralewisbarrfilms.com/

Keegon Schuett

https://www.keegonschuett.com/

Seth Bisen-Hersh is the musician/composer behind Love Quirks.

Seth breaks down the ten year development history of this new musical from conception to being shut down by the pandemic. He talks about the value of expanding your creative team (co-writers, dramaturges, directors), revising lyrics, listening to actors, and his philosophy on getting funding.

Follow the progress of Love Quirks: the musical here

https://lovequirks.com/

Learn more about Seth and his many projects here

http://www.sethbh.com/

This week we talk about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in theatre. How popular are these genre plays? Are there storytelling techniques that work particularly well or particularly poorly that we should keep in mind?

Special guests:

Edward Einhorn - edwardeinhorn.com

And

Michael Thomas Cooper - mthomascooper.com

Theatrically Speaking is a part of the Actual Story Podcasting network.

If you're a writer like me, you might think that how actors move is not the writer's job. But after listening to movement coach/actor Kathrine Stroller it's clear how playwrights can subtilty and effectively influence an actor's movement choices to better tell the story that has been written.

Katherine Stroller's website is katherinestroller.com.

Theatrically Speaking, a playwrighting podcast, is a part of the Actual Story Podcasting network.

Save The Cat is a series of books and writing philosophy originally focused on screenplays, so it makes sense that it might not be on the radar of playwrights. However, Save The Cat ideas have been used successfully in other mediums such as fiction, television, and in theatre.

Jamie Nash, author of Save The Cat Writes For TV, shares some ideas on how playwrights might use these ideas in theatre.

https://twitter.com/Jamie_Nash

https://savethecat.com/tv-writing/save-the-cat-writes-for-tv-is-now-on-sale

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1912178/

Getting a play published is a different process from fiction. But, how important is publication to a playwright? Where should it be on your to-do list? And how do you go about it?

Special guests:

Daniel Guyton is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright from Atlanta, GA. His stage plays have been produced nearly 600 times around the world, and he has been published in nearly 50 anthologies and solo publications. His screenplays have won first place in the Vegas Movie Awards, Los Angeles Film and Script Festival, Feel the Reel International Film Festival, Golden Sparrow International Film Festival and more. He is a theatre professor at Georgia Military College and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America East. For more information, please visit: www.danguyton.com.

And

Aaron Leventman attended Columbia University’s Graduate School for film then was a writer/director/actor at the Provincetown Theatre Company.  Since living in Santa Fe, he performed with most of the local theatre companies and acted in industrials, commercials, short films, and features.  Many of Aaron’s plays have been published and performed all over the country. He is also an instructor, writing coach and film festival curator and creator of the virtual LGBTQ+-themed theatre company Almost Adults Productions. http://aaronleventman.com

Each month or so Lee Shack will come on the show to discuss a new 10-minute play. These plays are submitted by our listeners. If you would like to submit a play for us to discuss, the details can be found at actualstorypodcasting.com

This month's play is Nothing Got by Straton Rushing. More information about Straton can be found at www.stratontheplaywright.com