I had a main character, but I still needed something for her to do. My roommate chose that moment to begin reading over my shoulder and start asking questions: “What are you writing? Can I read it? Why is it spaced that way? How long is a one-act play? I think I would like to write a story. What happens next?” I remember I was so annoyed at her (to me) stupid questions that I snapped “It’s an English major thing. You just don’t get it.” I started wondering what would happen if Mandy Jo had a roommate like mine, and gave her Beth. I went on with the idea of having Beth write as well, but turn out to be better than Mandy Jo.
Once I started writing, I realized all my problems with characters and ideas were the easy part. How on earth was I going to squeeze 20 or more pages out of the fact that Mandy Jo thought her roommate was an idiot? Through trial and error (and lots of late-night sessions with Mountain Dew), my script took shape. That shape, however, was not always easy to control. I couldn’t decide who should be the antagonist and who the protagonist. Originally, Beth was my protagonist and Mandy Jo was my antagonist, but then I couldn’t decide how Mandy Jo’s stealing her story thwarted Beth’s ambition to have fun with her writing. Mandy Jo took a turn at being the protagonist with a burning desire to write a wonderful story and bask in the glow of success. Beth was then switched to the antagonist, but her stupid questions and attitude didn’t provide much of a roadblock to Mandy Jo’s progress. Theresa stepped in as an antagonist for a bit before making way for Professor Winkler. An antagonist who has the ability to completely end Mandy Jo’s scholastic career at the college is infinitely more interesting than a senior English major who doesn’t think Mandy Jo has what it takes.
My most annoying problem throughout this entire experience was my genius for misunderstanding. If I thought a stage direction was a major one, it turned out to be a minor one. If I felt it was minor, then it turned out to be major. I still can’t tell the difference. I was told I had too many stage directions in Mandy Jo’s monologue, so I pared down the directions in my play and was informed I needed to give the audience something to watch as well as listen to.
When my script was performed, people expressed surprise that it took place in a single day. I said I thought I couldn’t have a time shift in a one-act, and was told I could--all I needed to do was dim the lights in between. I put in a week time shift, and learned that there really shouldn’t be a time shift. Even once I ironed out all the contradictions and inconsistencies I still had problems. I simply couldn’t end my play. I didn’t have enough information on how the Judicial Board would act in real life if there was a student in Mandy Jo’s place. I wanted to keep the board’s decision in the script, but realized if I wanted to avoid the time shift problem, that scene would have to go.
Problems are inevitable, I suppose. Mandy Jo won out as my protagonist because I had done the most work on her. I did my best with the stage directions--I’ll just have to hope for the best. My suitemates and I spent hours bouncing ideas around for my ending. Each time I thought of a reaction the Judicial Review Board might have, I checked it with my roommate for believability--as it turns out I didn’t need to, since I cut that scene so I could eliminate the one-week time skip.
Some of the recurring themes and patterns in my play are intentional, while others just happened on their own. Mandy Jo’s fascination with her hat and the ongoing confusion with the notebooks were intentional, but the fact that every character makes her exit after looking at a watch or clock and realizing she’s late for something was entirely accidental. The main theme of my play was how one’s work and skill is perceived. Mandy Jo has a questionable skill, but she is supremely overconfident. Beth is a fantastic writer to everyone but herself.
My ideal audience for this play, or at least the one I had in mind, is high school English students and English majors. I think they would appreciate some of the comments in the play, especially Mandy Jo’s beliefs on poetry. It would also be good to reinforce how strongly schools and universities feel about plagiarism.
I entered into this course with the idea of filling a gap in my training. I have had both fiction and poetry courses, and I’ve written “creative non-fiction,” but the only previous experience I had with drama was watching my suitemates tear each other apart in World War III. I enjoyed having this chance to learn about manipulating the various components of playwriting.
The first few times we performed scenes I had a very large inferiority complex. I was convinced my scenes were always the weakest in the class--everyone else had something I lacked. Now, of course, I realize that the odds of being the only mortal in a class full of Shakespeares are next to impossible. Sure, there are people in our class whose scripts far outstrip mine. That will always happen. That doesn’t mean I am not a good writer; it simply means that they have more skill. I learned something else as well. I enjoy writing drama, but my strength is in fiction. I will continue to write scripts after this class ends, but I won’t kill myself trying to polish them into being worthy of performance.
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