#manhattanrep

[greatlittlewords]

HEY HI HEY HELLO I’M GOING TO BE ACTING IN NEW YORK CITY

I'm ecstatic to share that I've been cast in my first post-collegiate creative project (and my NYC acting debut) as the role of Alex in Elizabeth Mangan’s short play "Okay."

This beautiful piece is being produced as a part of Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Summer One-Act play competition this coming July, and I'm thrilled to be able to help bring it to life. If you would also like to contribute to helping this work manifest and happen to have something to spare, any donations that could be made to help with production expenses (props, printing programs, etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.gofundme.com/okay-play

I can't wait to begin working on this intimate, lovely, woman-made and woman-lead production!

[uptownbill]

Manhattan RepertoryTheater and Uptown Productions presents Harlem Haven by Eddie Goings directed by Bill Johnson featuring Okema T. Moore & Bryant Wingfield. Fri 7/21 & Sat 7/22 @ 6:30pm. 17 W.45th St. #310 #Theatre #theater #ManhattanRep #DirectorLife #creativelife #UptownProductions (at Manhattan Rep)

[manhattanrep-blog]

What’s a good idea for a play?

So you have an idea for a play? How do you know if it is any good?

Here is my litmus test for to see if an idea will hold water for the long haul:

1. Are you passionate about this idea? Does it excite you emotionally?  Does it actually make you feel good - raise your adrenaline when you think about it?

Passion will fuel the creation of any play. Make sure you are passionate about your idea so it drives you.

2. Has this idea caused you to envision the entire play? Or major elements or scenes of the play?  Do you find this idea following you around?  Are you thinking about it a lot of the day?

If you idea is causes you to begin to obsess about it - it is a good idea!

3. Were you looking for this idea, or did this idea just fall in your lap?  

Seeking ideas is fun and exciting but I find my best ideas are thrust upon me sometimes in very strange ways. An example of this was when I got the idea for New York City's first One Man One Dog show DAD AND THE DOG that we have produced on two occasions at Manhattan Rep. I was sitting with my mother and sister at a family social gathering eating and chatting with our Dog Roma in my arms. We started to talk about growing up, and somehow, we brought up how when I was 11 my father and mother had a huge fight and she took the five of us and ran away to Willow Grove, PA to live with her parents, and she left my father home in our house with our dog Missy. When we finally returned 6 weeks later, the dog was at least 20 pounds heavier and my father was different, changed somehow. That Summer, alone with Missy, was the beginning of his transformation from being a very troubled man to being incredibly selfless and crazy loving to his five kids. As I was sitting there, it hit me. "I should do a play about that Summer." And then, I looked down into my arms, and Roma stared up at me and smiled, and it hit me again "And Roma and I will star in it!" It was a scary, wonderful discovery, and I knew it was a play that needed to be created. As it turned out, we received some wonderful reviews - Roma's reviews were actually better than mine. And it was the most exciting experience I have ever had on stage. Literally hanging out with Roma, embodying my father's journey was simply amazing.

   4. Is this idea important? How will it affect others? How will it affect you?     This is the diesel fuel of a play. If your play idea is somehow connected to some grand message that YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE it is a good idea, and it will power you to write it to its conclusion.  DAD AND THE DOG was important for it showed how even in the worst situations, we can persevere with the power of love and the connection to our creator. If your idea can affect people, go in the back door and shake up negative beliefs in people, it is a good idea.

How will it affect YOU is an important question!  How will you feel when you see this play up on stage? Will it make you laugh? Will it help you heal?     Now you will notice in these questions I didn't include,

"Is the idea commercial?"     Bad place to start.       For if you start from there, you will be writing a "commercial play" not one from your passion, and most often, IT WILL SUCK. Not the place to start.       And bottomline, any good play written from the heart, dealing with an important issue about life or love or society or belief systems etc etc will probably prove to be commercial too, for a play like that becomes universal!

So is your play idea good?  Start there.

[manhattanrep-blog]

It's Magic!

It's an interesting challenge. 

A one act play in 30 minutes or less. 

Beginning, drama or comedy, and then, a satisfying conclusion.  And how do you make it compelling, moving or just plain funny?  It's an interesting challenge.

I just love it.

Next week, we begin our 10th one act play competition at Manhattan Rep, our Spring One Act Play Competition 2013, and I am psyched out of my mind.  We have 32 AWESOME one act plays competing for a $1000 cash prize, with a total cast of well over 100 actors.  For the next month, it is going to be a veritable cornucopia of amazing theatre here at Manhattan Rep.  Each creative team is hungry to win, and also hungry to perform in our usually sold out houses.  This Spring, we are offering each play (for the first time) FIVE performances each, not including the Semi-Final round or the Finals.  This competition is really going to be fun!

The thing I love about the one act play competitions here is that I often see the birth of a full-length play in 15 minutes.  "Wow, it works, but heck there is more to this story!"  - so the playwright takes the characters or the situation and expands it, grows it, develops it and in 6 months to a year, it is this new full-length theatrical adventure.

And it began as a 15 minute play at a play competition.

The reason this happens is because PERFORMANCE is MAGIC.  In performance things are discovered.  The playwright and director can see what works and what doesn't.  The energy from the audience feeds the actors in wild ways and what was OK in rehearsal, all of a sudden, becomes NEW, EXCITING, DIFFERENT and IMMEDIATE.

You can write all day and all night as a playwright but ultimately it is a waste of time.  Plays need performance, early in development, because a play is not on paper.  It is a live, moving, evolving, present-moment thing, and it's MAGIC.

So come check out our Spring One Act Play Competition at Manhattan Rep.  We are running almost every night in May (except for Sundays, 3 Mondays and Memorial Day Weekend.).  The plays are looking real good, and once we pop into performance next week, MAGIC is sure to manifest.

More info on our Spring One Act Competition can be found at:

http://www.manhattanrep.com

Also if you have a short play, 7 to 30 minutes, we are accepting submissions for our Fall One Act Play Competition which will take place next September at Manhattan Rep.

Info on submissions for our Fall One Act Play Competition can also be found at: 

http://www.manhattanrep.com

So come experience some theatrical magic, or help us manifest some more!

with best regards,

Ken Wolf

Artistic Director

Manhattan Rep