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How I Juggle Teaching and Playwriting

The word “playwright” first crossed my brain in third grade. I remember being intrigued by the grammatical aberration in its spelling. I understood what a play was, having performed in a one-act in second grade. I was aware that someone wrote the text, yet I understood little about what writing plays entailed. My participation in theatre lay dormant until it was rekindled in high school, when, thanks to the mentorship of a drama teacher, I became aware of the many components involved in producing a polished stage production.

Teaching made me more aware of learning opportunities in everyday life, the perpetual “teachable moment.” I viewed my re-entry into theatre with a greater appreciation for and understanding of its various components.

My ongoing interest in drama led me to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from an alternative college in the Midwest. Degree in hand, I traversed what I later realized was a disconcertingly popular route, aspiring theatre professional descending on New York City. I was unprepared for the sheer volume of beautiful, talented, confident actors, directors, and playwrights, with their monologues and their lingo and their sophistication. I decided a behind-the-scenes role was a wise starting point. I had the good fortune to make contacts at an Off-Off Broadway theatre in the East Village and commenced trying to figure out how to carve a spot in the wondrous world of New York theatre. Thus I began stage managing and assistant directing.

I soon discovered that theatre, like crime, seldom pays well. I would have benefited from conducting research into various job titles, training, and certification opportunities, and otherwise plotting a logical, methodical career path. My alternative education instead found me approaching my theatre career in an experiential manner, confident and hopeful that appealing opportunities would continue to present themselves.

While working in media research, where my duties included reading and editing news articles, I decided what I yearned to do was to “give back,” to find more of a sense of meaningfulness in my career. I discovered teaching offered the promise of the sort of satisfaction I had previously only experienced in a theatre. The direct relationship between teacher and students reminded me of that between the theatremaker and their audience. There is a performative quality to teaching that bears a striking similarity to the sensation of an actor in front of an audience. Students are inclined to give you honest, sometimes blunt feedback, and your ability to capture and maintain their attention is crucial to a successful class. Additionally, teaching offers the steady paycheck that theatre work seldom rewards.

It was in the midst of teaching a unit on drama in my high school English Language Arts class that the bulb was lit which, torch-like, let me back to the stage. Since I had yet to find my voice as a playwright, I decided to return to the comfortable perch of box office manager, a spot I held in my early New York days. This time I worked for a major theatre festival, ready to view theatre from the perspective of an aspiring playwright and director. Teaching made me more aware of learning opportunities in everyday life, the perpetual “teachable moment.” I viewed my re-entry into theatre with a greater appreciation for and understanding of its various components.

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Attending memorable stage productions sustained my dramatic spirit and helped lead me to paying work at that theatre festival for a few years. It was while watching dozens of festival shows that I was belatedly coming out as a playwright. The initial awe I felt at seeing so many inspired, micro-budgeted shows soon morphed into a sense of fatigue with some of the less-developed productions. A painter friend attended a few shows and, over the course of several conversations, encouraged me to begin writing my own plays and submitting them to New York festivals. We’ve spoken about that turning point, from wannabe to produced playwright, since then. Her take on that transition? “You were ready, you just needed a little push.”

I thus set about the business of writing, revising, and submitting plays to theatres and festivals all over the English-speaking world. One of the few written rejection letters I received was from the United Kingdom. The kindly Literary Agent informed me that my play, about Americans, did not speak directly to his subscription-based audience. I also sensed that many domestic theatre companies were hesitant to present a play by a little-known writer, at least as part of their season of full productions. To paraphrase Dorothy, I learned that there’s no place like New York for a receptive audience for my plays. I discovered that the festival circuit was the most accessible route to having plays presented and produced for paying audiences. After a year or two of submitting widely, it became easier to organize a short list and otherwise focus my resources on select festivals, many based in New York.

I’m still teaching, and still writing. At first I was singularly dedicated to playwriting, at the expense of my finances. That persistence enabled me to make a modest mark as a produced New York playwright. I had made sufficient inroads to turn my attention to practical matters such as rebooting my teaching career, this time with a sense of accomplishment regarding my theatre endeavors. I’ve taught English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, and creative writing, and recently become a Drama Teaching Artist. My writing and teaching naturally complement each other; one fulfills my artistic side, while the other my need to help students. My professional theatre experience seems to bolster my teaching skills. I continue to submit, write, and revise plays, and sense my writing style evolving and improving with the benefit of occasional readings, with their opportunities for audience feedback, as well as fully-staged productions. I belatedly but gratefully have found a true balance.

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