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  • 1.  Crimes of the Heart

    Posted 05-15-2014 09:32
    I am thinking of using Crimes of the Heart for a competition. We have 45 min. I am up in the air between just doing part of the play in tact or trying to do cuttings. Does anyone have experience with cutting a show like this? (That may be passive-aggressive for "does anyone have an edited version of Crimes?", but really I am interested in what you do with other shows too!) It seems like if you Google one act winners, most of the plays listed are full length shows. I am guessing someone has to cut those down. 

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    Donald Griffiths
    Theatre Director
    DCA Nashville, TN
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  • 2.  RE:Crimes of the Heart

    Posted 05-15-2014 14:25
    Most of the shows I do for one act are cuttings of longer plays. I approach each show according to what seems to work best. If a show is episodic or divided into several scenes, I will select the scenes that I think work together to tell the story and use each of those scenes in its entirety. I'll string those together and make that our one act. Examples: Almost, Maine; Agnes of God; A Few Good Men. In other cases, I go line by line to create an abridgment of the piece. Examples: The Crucible; Bus Stop; A Streetcar Named Desire. In the case of Shakespeare, I combine the approaches, pulling out entire scenes as well as cutting down other scenes line by line. I have not done Crimes, but a school in our region did a one act version of it last year, so I know it's possible. However, being only remotely familiar with the show, I'm not sure which approach the director took in cutting it. Hope that helps!

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    Jeremy Williams
    Adel GA
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  • 3.  RE:Crimes of the Heart

    Posted 05-16-2014 11:24
    I LOVE doing great scripts and adapting them, rather than shows written just for competitions.  Some are good, but there's nothing like having a GREAT script.

    We did "Crimes" two years ago and did very well.  We didn't win our competition, but all three of my girls playing the sisters won Best Actress honors or were named "All-Star" cast.

    I cut and re-cut it (with permission, of course) based on a 55-minute time frame.  We started where the last sister enters the show and discusses the shooting and court case which is the bulk of the exposition.  Then, we did about 80% of act two, only cutting up some of the longer monologues and speeding up the "suicide" scene.  My students loved the challenge of doing a dark comedy that is so well constructed.

    Break a leg with it!

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    Josh Ruben
    Fine Arts Head
    Chattanooga TN
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  • 4.  RE:Crimes of the Heart

    Posted 05-16-2014 17:42
    I often cut full length works for competition.

    First, I would contact the author's agent for the show, in this case, Dramatists-- and see if the work can be cut, not all can be.  You will probably have to submit your cutting for review-- either to an amateur rights agent or sometimes to the author.  She/he might also be able to look at past production history and see if someone else has done a cutting.   It can actually be a lot of fun.  I cut the Tempest a couple of years ago, and working with Shakespeare's dialogue was a blast.

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    Michael Johnson
    Trinity NC
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