BWW Blog: Clarissa Moon - UCF Celebrates the Arts Recap: Female Playwrights Panel

This past Sunday, UCF faculty members Belinda (Be) Boyd, Cynthia White and Sybil St. Claire hosted a female playwrights panel as part of "UCF Celebrates the Arts." Boyd and St. Claire provided insight on playwriting, while White offered advice from the developmental perspective.

Here's my take away from the event:

- White looks for a few key features in a new play: an important topic, humor, structure and a compelling story.

- According to Boyd, it's hard for a play to have a life after a single reading or production unless you're a famous playwright. Theaters rarely take chances on new playwrights, since the well-known ones are more likely to sell tickets.

- Boyd writes when she feels the need to "fill a hole." She can do this because she doesn't make a living writing plays.

- Movies and TV are more about what you see while plays are more about what you hear, noted St. Claire. For this reason, writing for film is more formulaic and the dialogue has to be much shorter. After all, making movies is expensive--roughly $160,000 per second of film!

- In her plays, Boyd presents who the characters are rather than what they do. She said this is an element of African-American culture--it's more about putting people up on stage and letting them talk.

- Allow your work to be bad at first. You can go back and fix it later. It doesn't have to be perfect. "Perfection is the enemy of art," St. Claire said.

- If you have a story, Boyd advises you start with an outline of events. See if you can connect them. Write a description of the people in your story. What do they do? How do they meet each other? What do they want?

- Work on your story 15 minutes a day.

- Most of the time, actors and directors make a point not to read stage directions, St. Claire noted. When writing stage directions for a play, write only what you think is necessary for the plot and the characters.

- Write what you want! Boyd encourages writers not to worry about following a certain structure or being like a famous playwright. Who knows? You might just create a whole new genre.

"UCF Celebrates the Arts" continues through March 14 at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. See the full schedule of events here.

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