Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
Dramatic Performance by Patrick Boucheron
Patrick Boucheron explains why he likes to combine history with theater and the
other arts: “To be a proper historian, you should not content yourself with
simply being one. That is why I try to make history inviting to all that
extends beyond it—literature, cinema, painting, and theater—as I look for new
forms of writing that are simultaneously conceptually demanding and narratively
stimulating… I try to make history relate to our lives. I try to make people
realize that they do not have to choose between knowledge-teaching and
emotion-sharing.”
Patrick Boucheron is a Professor and Chair of the History of Powers in Western
Europe from the 7th to the 16th at Collège de France. He specializes in the
Middle Ages, particularly in Italy. His work also concerns the writing of
history and changes in the discipline. It was in this spirit that he wrote
Histoire mondiale de la France (Seuil, 2017). Since 2017, he has partnered with
the Théatre National de Bretagne (TNB) headed by actor and stage director
Arthur Nauzyciel. For each program, he invites associates, academics, and
artists to imagine and create with him a monthly gathering, “Rencontrer
l’Histoire” (“A Rendez-vous with History”), based on the program’s themes or
current affairs.
February 8, 2023
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Columbia University
Maison Française
515 West 116th Street
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dramatic-performance-by-patrick-boucheron-tickets-489689373097?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** HUNTER COLLEGE MFA PLAYWRITING PROGRAM ***
The Hunter College MFA Playwriting Program is accepting applications through
January 15th! The program is a highly selective, rigorous, and affordable
two-year playwriting program located in the heart of NYC. We seek writers eager
to develop their craft and challenge assumptions about what theater is and will
become.
Students study with award-winning writers, working theatre professionals, and
esteemed guest artists. The program offers workshop opportunities and fosters a
collaborative, close-knit artistic community. Teaching Assistantships and
tuition waivers are available.
Current and recent faculty include: David Adjmi, Clare Barron, Mia Chung, Lisa
D'Amour, Maria Striar, and Lloyd Suh. Visiting artists for 2021-2022 include:
Eboni Booth, Sharon Bridgforth, Sheila Callaghan, Morgan Gould, and Daniel
Alexander Jones.
For more information, visit: https://www.huntertheatre.net/mfa
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Anacostia Playhouse is seeking new and non-produced 10-minute and one-act plays
for the 2022-2023 New Voices, New Works Festival: Love: Make Ya Do Right / Make
Ya Do Wrong. Selected playwrights will have the opportunity to work with a
professional director and actors to prepare for a final staged reading
performance.
***
“Premiere the Play” is a podcast featuring audio performances of new stage
plays. The podcast can be found on all major podcast platforms.
· Our goal is to fill our season with diversity, so all topics, time periods,
cultures, etc. are welcome.
· English, however, must be the primary language.
· The play must be an unproduced STAGE play (not radio play, screen play, or
zoom play).
· The play should run no less than 30 mins and no more than 2 hours.
· Maximum cast size of 6.
· No musicals... yet...
***
Onstage/Offstage is looking for several 10-12 minute plays to produce and air
on its podcast.
This year there are TWO OPPORTUNITIES:
1 - Our annual themed opportunity (see below); and,
2 - Inspired by Halloween, an opportunity for A SCARY PLAY THAT INCLUDES A
GHOST.
The 2023 opportunity theme is “EXPLORATION.” Three characters maximum. Plays
must include a journey, and the protagonist must end up somewhere different
than where they started and changed irrevocably. Spiritual/emotional growth
could very well be a factor. Comedies and dramas welcome. **No monologues.**
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** RULES OF COMEDY ***
Sometimes called trebling, the Rule of Three is a pattern used in stories and
jokes, where part of the story is told three times, with minor variations. The
first two instances build tension, and the third releases it by incorporating a
twist.
Three is the smallest number required to create a pattern, so it's especially
common in storytelling.The third of three siblings succeeds after their older
siblings each failed. The protagonist is given three tests and receives the
prize after the third. It's fairly unusual to find a folktale that does not
incorporate the Rule of Three in some form.
More...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfThree
***
Forrester shares an important television comedy writing tip for screenwriters
in his interview with BBC Writersroom.
"Don't start with premise. Start with character. Most hit shows are a
collection of good characters in a location. There are two kinds of locations,
generally, in the history of TV. Family, which has its location in the home...
or the office... workplace shows. Cheers, Taxi, The Office are all workplace
shows. They're both essentially collections of characters."
More...
https://screencraft.org/blog/5-rules-of-comedy-according-to-the-office-showrunner/
***
Comedy is often found in the gap between how a character perceives himself and
how we perceive him. For example, consider Valere in David Hirson’s La Bete. He
is a buffoon who believes himself to be an inspired playwright, much to the
chagrin of the acting troupe who’s stuck with him. He’s a close cousin to Corky
St. Clair in Christopher Guest’s Waiting for Guffman. Both of these men believe
they possess theatrical genius, but this is nonsense, and we know it.
More...
https://pwcenter.org/playwriting-toolkit/tips-writing-comedy-writers-who-don’t-write-comedy
***
An oft overlooked literary aspect of standup is its poetics. Indeed, Kevin
Cummings writes, “Humor and poetry often make use of the same literary
techniques, except that humor doesn’t know how to behave for company.” As
Cummings further points out in his article “Words That Sound Funny,” words with
hard consonants, especially the K-sound, are more likely to elicit laughs. This
“comedy K” has actually long been part of comedy lore, though comedians may
also haphazardly discover it on their own through trial and error at open mics.
Besides diction, poetic techniques like assonance, consonance, and even
rhyme—in the form of phrases like “itty-bitty” or “rinky-dink”—are all part of
the comedian’s toolkit.
Another
shared priority between poets and comics is word economy: a joke improves as
you “trim the fat,” making it concise and more to the point. As a poet myself,
it’s no wonder that my jokes often come in the pithiest form: one-liners. In
similar fashion, comedians pay close attention to rhythm and pauses, much as a
poet does with line breaks and syllable counting. In fact, Jerry Seinfeld
admitted that he counts syllables in his jokes. (For more info about his
scrupulous writing process, watch his 2012 New York Times interview here.) Like
a slam poet, comedians choreograph pauses into their routine, allowing the
audience to digest the words, visualize the scene, and feel the tension, before
a quickly-delivered surprise punchline. And then we pause for laughs, too.
TLDR: comedians are essentially poets.
More...
https://hothouselitjournal.com/2020/03/12/3568/
***
For non-Catholic readers, here they are again: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth,
Anger, Envy and Pride. I keep a framed copy of the Seven Deadly Sins on my
desk.
A couple of them may need further explanation: Gluttony is either a sin of
over-indulgence, or of status, or withholding from the needy.
Greed, also known as Avarice and Covetousness, is about the pursuit of wealth
and power. (The church knows a thing or two about that). It would include
treachery, disloyalty or deliberate betrayal, all for personal gain.
Vanity and pomposity, essential qualities for characters in comedy, are
presumably sub-sections of the sin of Pride.
More...
https://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2011/09/06/13934/my_13_favourite_rules_of_comedy
***
The real difference is that comedy shows or segments that are legitimately
funny always punch up. Instead of wasting their time going after people who are
typically in the minority, they go after people with tangible power that’s
being abused. A basic tenet of humor — and I mean real basic, we’re talking
ancient Greece here — is that your best stuff will come from going after people
bigger than you. But Watters and Southern, and their respective networks, are
too dedicated to maintaining the status quo to be remotely entertaining.
More...
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/why-punching-down-will-never-be-funny
***
Here are five great tips for writing a comedy scene:
Take a typical situation and exaggerate it
Let tension build
Use specificity
Embarrass someone
Finish with a bang
More...
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-write-comedy/
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