Open Forum

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

Please do not troll the twitters of real live high school students and then turn their twitter posts into monologues.  Yes, that actually happened to us, and when it's nearly word for word from a student's twitter account, it's a bit awkward and weird, to say the least.

Also, please don't write stand alone monologues.  Thank you to those of you who write full length plays or one acts about teenage life.  Students are always looking for new things to direct and perform, but they cannot perform things that were written as a one-off monologue for competitions or auditions for college or scholarships.  It is wonderful to find something new, fresh and entertaining written for contemporary students in a full length play.

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

I agree it's important to let kids play characters close to their own age.  Enjoyed your blog, Jonathan.

Since it seems like this thread has morphed into a wish list for playwrights, I have a request.  I'd like to see fewer plays about students putting on a play.  And I say this having enjoyed the work of playwrights who are members of this community on this very topic, and so I mean no disrespect.  It just seems to be an over-represented subject in the field, and I'd like to see theatre for younger actors that explore ALL facets of life.  Heck, I'd go as far as to stay stories about young folks don't always have to take place in a school setting either.  Let's adopt a wide view of the world.  

Please do not troll the twitters of real live high school students and then turn their twitter posts into monologues.  Yes, that actually happened to us, and when it's nearly word for word from a student's twitter account, it's a bit awkward and weird, to say the least.

Also, please don't write stand alone monologues.  Thank you to those of you who write full length plays or one acts about teenage life.  Students are always looking for new things to direct and perform, but they cannot perform things that were written as a one-off monologue for competitions or auditions for college or scholarships.  It is wonderful to find something new, fresh and entertaining written for contemporary students in a full length play.

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

Thanks for the comments and the kind words about the blog, folks. I've been in Hong Kong (which was a very interesting place from which to follow the election).

This does seem to have turned into something of a wishlist, but that's OK. Many playwrights who decide to write for this market don't seem to know much about it, so hearing about things that work and don't work is useful.

Laura, I'm not sure what the copyright implications of composing a monologue more or less wholecloth from someone else'sTwitter posts is, but stalking students' Twitter accounts is definitely awkward, with a heavy dose of creepy. I completely agree about stand-alone monologues (unless they are long enough to constitute a one-person show). As a publisher, we don't accept them, and as a playwright, I don't write them. On the other hand, I love writing monologues as part of my plays, and I often teach a monologue-writing workshop at Thespian festivals.

Ryan, I feel the same way about plays about people in the theatre as I do about plays about writers writing. Frankly, I'm a writer, and I wouldn't want to see a play about a writer. At best, they're really only interesting to the people who do those things--the rest of the audience would rather, as you note, see plays about other things and a wider world.

And yes, all high school students aren't the same, and of course they should play things out of their specific/personal experience. That's why we call it acting and not "being." :-)

Cheers,
Jonathan

I agree it's important to let kids play characters close to their own age.  Enjoyed your blog, Jonathan.

Since it seems like this thread has morphed into a wish list for playwrights, I have a request.  I'd like to see fewer plays about students putting on a play.  And I say this having enjoyed the work of playwrights who are members of this community on this very topic, and so I mean no disrespect.  It just seems to be an over-represented subject in the field, and I'd like to see theatre for younger actors that explore ALL facets of life.  Heck, I'd go as far as to stay stories about young folks don't always have to take place in a school setting either.  Let's adopt a wide view of the world.  

Please do not troll the twitters of real live high school students and then turn their twitter posts into monologues.  Yes, that actually happened to us, and when it's nearly word for word from a student's twitter account, it's a bit awkward and weird, to say the least.

Also, please don't write stand alone monologues.  Thank you to those of you who write full length plays or one acts about teenage life.  Students are always looking for new things to direct and perform, but they cannot perform things that were written as a one-off monologue for competitions or auditions for college or scholarships.  It is wonderful to find something new, fresh and entertaining written for contemporary students in a full length play.

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan

There is a desperate need for good age-appropriate plays for teens that have substance. Teens want to produce theatre that adults do, but most of the scrips being published for teens are goofy parodies of well-known plays, "issue" plays dealing with popular teen anxieties, or plays that involve stereotype teen characters (the jock, the cheerleader,etc.) I think there is a perception that high school students can't handle sophisticated material, but I've found that they hunger for it. Almost all of the one act competition pieces I've seen that do well  are plays intended for adult actors. I jump at the chance to produce age-appropriate plays that have some meat on their bones. 

Thanks for the comments and the kind words about the blog, folks. I've been in Hong Kong (which was a very interesting place from which to follow the election).

This does seem to have turned into something of a wishlist, but that's OK. Many playwrights who decide to write for this market don't seem to know much about it, so hearing about things that work and don't work is useful.

Laura, I'm not sure what the copyright implications of composing a monologue more or less wholecloth from someone else'sTwitter posts is, but stalking students' Twitter accounts is definitely awkward, with a heavy dose of creepy. I completely agree about stand-alone monologues (unless they are long enough to constitute a one-person show). As a publisher, we don't accept them, and as a playwright, I don't write them. On the other hand, I love writing monologues as part of my plays, and I often teach a monologue-writing workshop at Thespian festivals.

Ryan, I feel the same way about plays about people in the theatre as I do about plays about writers writing. Frankly, I'm a writer, and I wouldn't want to see a play about a writer. At best, they're really only interesting to the people who do those things--the rest of the audience would rather, as you note, see plays about other things and a wider world.

And yes, all high school students aren't the same, and of course they should play things out of their specific/personal experience. That's why we call it acting and not "being." :-)

Cheers,
Jonathan

I agree it's important to let kids play characters close to their own age.  Enjoyed your blog, Jonathan.

Since it seems like this thread has morphed into a wish list for playwrights, I have a request.  I'd like to see fewer plays about students putting on a play.  And I say this having enjoyed the work of playwrights who are members of this community on this very topic, and so I mean no disrespect.  It just seems to be an over-represented subject in the field, and I'd like to see theatre for younger actors that explore ALL facets of life.  Heck, I'd go as far as to stay stories about young folks don't always have to take place in a school setting either.  Let's adopt a wide view of the world.  

Please do not troll the twitters of real live high school students and then turn their twitter posts into monologues.  Yes, that actually happened to us, and when it's nearly word for word from a student's twitter account, it's a bit awkward and weird, to say the least.

Also, please don't write stand alone monologues.  Thank you to those of you who write full length plays or one acts about teenage life.  Students are always looking for new things to direct and perform, but they cannot perform things that were written as a one-off monologue for competitions or auditions for college or scholarships.  It is wonderful to find something new, fresh and entertaining written for contemporary students in a full length play.

There was a recent post which expressed a certain...let's call it trepidation...about plays in which high school students played characters their own age. It wasn't the subject of that particular thread, but I think it's an important issue.

I actually wrote a blog about the importance of age-appropriate roles for teens (and also providing concrete tips for writers trying to create them). I'd invite you to check it out here:

https://www.playscripts.com/blog/2016/10/why-age-appropriate-roles-for-teens-are-important-and-how-to-write-them/

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share them!

Cheers,
Jonathan