Letter of Reflection

The biggest difficulty when writing this short play was creating complex characters with clear motives for why they were doing what they were doing. Instead of just creating shallow characters without strong motives driving them, I aimed at creating complex people who experienced inner conflict and show a growth of some kind. I am most proud of finishing a play and not giving up on it. I never thought I would be able to have a finished play and be happy with the result. I would like to do some sort of reading of the play, even if it is not staged, to hear my words on actors, so I can see what works and what does not work as much.

Reflection

I have really enjoyed working on longer works this quarter. It has allowed me to dive deeply into each character and explore their complexities. I find it more useful to work on a longer piece rather than many smaller ones because I can perfect and refine my play. I have achieved my goal of finishing the play by the end of third quarter, and I am happy with the result. The most difficult part of this quarter was making the language sound natural rather than scripted. I want the characters to seem realistic to the audience. If I were to make a performance out of this short play, I would stage it in a small theatre so that the audience members felt immersed in the action. After first speaking to Dr. Totland, my characters have become much more rounded out and I have explored the different sides of them. I am happy with my polished draft and look forward to others reading it.

Old As Time and Forever Young

Day after day,

We wish all of our cares away

Fighting the things we feel

Pushing them deep, deep, deep down

Hoping that if we keep burying them farther and farther

We won’t be able to find them.

But, what we never learn is that the farther we bury,

The closer those feelings are to our hearts.

Prospectus

Description of the Project:

I began writing this piece during the playwriting workshop we did back in November. I really enjoyed writing this scene, so I decided to continue refining and revising it. I would like to continue making revisions and expanding the scene a bit more.

Characters:

Mr. Z: an older, more experienced member of the group.

Mr. X: a cool, easy going younger member who usually keeps quiet and follows orders.

Mr. Y: an energetic but slimy younger member; a bit older than Mr. X.

Officer Calvin: a young police officer being held hostage.

Synopsis:

A group of men meet at a warehouse after a heist. Mr. X has taken a police officer hostage because the heist did not go as planned. Mr. X explains to Mr. Z that he could never kill anybody because he would never be able to stand the guilt. He can’t stand seeing another man being tortured.

The men believe the police may have followed them to the warehouse, so Mr. X and Mr. Y begin packing up as Mr. Z takes out his revenge on the officer that is being held hostage. Mr. Z reveals that he remembers this officer because he paralyzed his brother. As Mr. Z tortures Officer Calvin, Mr. X shoots Mr. Z. He lets the officer go and, realizing what he has done, crumbles to the floor holding Mr. Z in his arms.

Thoughts on Semester Two

I would like to explore screenwriting and/or continue to work on playwriting during the second semester. I think it would be nice to spend a long period of time working and honing in on one bigger project rather than a number of smaller ones at once. I also think working with Dr. Totland again this semester would be really beneficial so that the class can dive deeper into playwriting and understand how to add more depth and complexity to our characters and storytelling.