Act I: How Theater Helps Us Write
Hey, tumblr! Get excited, because the Ch1Con tumblr is taking part in our first-ever blog chain! AND, we’ll be joined by a special guest…JULIA BYERS!!!!
Julia: Hey, guys! Julia here. I run Ch1Con, am an admin and writer for Teens Can Write, Too! (TCWT), and recently accepted a blogging position for the College section of the Huffington Post. When I’m not doing one of those things, I’m also a Creative Writing & Literature major, Global Media Studies minor at the University of Michigan. Pleased to meet you. :)
Emma: Because we’re both rather busy (and in the same physical location!!!) we’re going to be doing a joint blog post today about how our theater experiences have helped our writing.
First off, here’s the TCWT blog chain prompt for the month…”What are your thoughts on reading or writing books in non-novel formats? Are there any you’ve particularly enjoyed?”
Here is our theatrical response (in script format)! ~~~
For both of us, one of the biggest non-book forces in our creative lives has involved acting.
Julia: I grew up acting in community theatre, school plays, at summer camps, and in super super teeny tiny indie films. In high school, I was part of every mainstage show my school theatre company put on (and then some), alternating between being an actor, crew member, and staff member (I assistant directed two shows and choreographed another)—plus I was lucky enough to be a member of the student board that ran the company my senior year. So I basically spent more time in the auditorium than at home.
Acting and theatre defined my childhood and, because of that, a lot of who I am now. I don’t act as much currently (college is insane), but it’s still one of my favorite things in the world and I miss it like crazy.
Emma: I’ve been acting, student-leading and directing with my local theater company since middle school. I’ve been writing for a really long time, but I still spent a lot of my kid-hood searching like crazy for other creative outlets. When theater finally came along in the seventh grade I felt like I’d finally filled a drama-shaped hole in my heart. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to enjoy directing and teaching at my company more than personally taking center stage. Being a full-fledged director this winter for our stage production was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.
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Obviously, acting involves a lot of non-book reading, interpreting, and creating. Our experiences with theatrical productions have definitely bled into our writing.
Julia: When you’re playing a character, you have to completely let yourself go and get into the head of who that other person is, which has definitely helped in being able to identify with and understand characters in my writing who are different from me.
I’ve also had the opportunity to write stuff for theatre (I wrote and directed a one-act once, wrote a ton of monologues for auditions and class projects in high school, and was in charge of revising a full-length show into a forty five minute one-act senior year)—and just learning how to work with words in such a different format kind of distanced me from regular prose writing in a way that allowed me to see the mechanics of how to construct plots and dialogue and character development and everything better.
Emma: My acting/directing experiences have worked their way into my writing, not only in the sense that they’ve impacted my life, but also because they’ve changed the way I look at the basics like dialogue, description and character.
I learned a lot about physical description from blocking (or staging) scenes. Knowing the physical placement of characters and objects during a scene is important, and my stage-manager instincts draw my attention to little details that might sometimes go unnoticed (Where is she standing when she says that? Did I mention the chair was in the corner before I had her beat him up with it? What happened to that pencil she was holding two paragraphs ago?).
Theater has also taught me how to write dialogue that flows. It’s one thing to create prose that looks good on paper, but it takes a little bit more know-how to write a scene that can be performed. Knowing where to add beats, monologues, asides and cut-offs can make any piece more dramatic and impactful.
As Julia said, acting is all about crawling into the headspace of a character; seeing how they tick. That’s so critical to writing any real, raw fiction. If you understand your character, your audience—whether they’re watching you on stage or reading you in print—will understand them too.
~~~ We advise any writers looking to tell stories through acting to…
Julia: Remember that whether you’re creating a character on stage or on the page, you’re working with a 3D, imperfect and terrible and absolutely wonderful human being. Don’t be afraid to stretch your limits and try out new things in your performance (theatrical or otherwise) in order to discover new levels. And remember that while the audience is important, what you get out of the performance is more important.
Have fun. Explore. And, of course, break a leg!
Emma: Poke around for your local theater group, improv class or poetry slam sesh. Despite the diva stereotype, real performers are always looking for fresh faces to share the spotlight with. Be generous, take criticism and have fun!