Sue's News

Getting Out of the Way

May 26th, 2010

Here’s a confession: When I’m not 100% confident about what’s on the page, I tend to overcompensate with stage directions. I don’t think I’m alone in this. It’s possible many playwrights use this crutch.

The fact is, they help me see what’s happening a little better. The other fact is, a lot of directors and even some actors ignore stage directions… as they feel it gets in the way of the storytelling. And there might just be some truth to that.

Though it might be helpful for me during the process, there has to be a point where I pare them down, to sharpen the focus on the story, rather than the action on stage.

So, I spent some time weeding through a few direction heavy scenes. It’s not helping my page count at the moment (I’m not a believer in page counts, but sadly, plays are classified that way. i.e. one act, mid length, full length).  It is helping me get to the heart of the story…

Still not anywhere close to 100% sure, but I’ll keep going anyway.

–Sue

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