It makes sense that most Tufts classes don't collaborate with student performance groups. Engineering students probably have little to learn from the Burlesque Troupe, and mixing mimes with a course on public speaking sounds like a recipe for disaster.
This Tuesday, however, playwriting and directing students will team up with Bare Bodkin for the second production of "Play by Play," a series of 10-minute plays produced exclusively by Tufts students.
The event is the result of collaboration that began in the fall of 2006 between Lecturer Laura Harrington's Playwriting 1 class and Bare Bodkin. Harrington is a professional playwright, and she felt that it was important for her students to see their plays come to life at the end of the semester.
"Theater isn't really a literary medium. It isn't finished until you see it performed," Harrington said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for beginning writers, because it's usually a couple of years before you see your work on its feet."
Going through the process of production not only helped students revise their work, but taught them about more technical issues, like working with a director and casting actors. This makes for a more well-rounded class, as most introductory playwriting courses don't focus on production.
"The production of a play is such a collaborative process, because we all have different visions," sophomore Serena Chang said. "It's pretty exciting, but pretty scary to see all of those visions come together and finally have the sum of the parts."
Most students say they signed up for the class because it combines several of their interests, most commonly creative writing and theater. Each student wrote one 10-page play per week, then chose one to develop and submit to Bare Bodkin. In addition to revision and dialogue, students drew some much subtler lessons from the class.
"The most important thing I learned was to be kind to yourself, which is something the teacher told us at the beginning," senior Douglas Foote said. "You might have something you think is absolute crap, and then the rest of the class finds so much value in it."
Taking their plays from the notebooks to the stage was simultaneously challenging and exciting for students.
"It's one thing to see something on paper and view it with my voice and the character I picture in my head, and another to see it read by someone else," Chang said.
Once the playwrights handed their work over to their respective directors, they had no say in how their play would be performed.
"It's hard to give your baby to someone else, because once the director has it they can interpret it however they want," Foote said. "It takes a lot of discipline to sit back and let them handle it."
Most of the students feel that their directors had a very positive effect on their plays.
"I feel really lucky about the director I got," freshman Aaron Zucker said. "My play involves a 10-minute fight scene, and he knows every Italian-named sword in existence."
"Play by Play" will consist of seven 10-minute plays, each of which has widely different themes. Chang's play, entitled "Dusk," is about an elderly couple making an important decision, and most of the play takes place in the husband's head. Foote's play, "The Senator," is about two members of a presidential campaign grappling with issues of reality and politics, and Zucker's "In Distress" is a spoof on a traditional hero story.
Students looked for inspiration in sources that were as different as the pieces they produced. Chang cited people-watching, music and poetry as her sources of inspiration, while Zucker said most of his characters were drawn from real life.
Students consider the community atmosphere created by the playwriting class as one of its most fulfilling aspects.
"The most rewarding thing was really forming this community with six other people who are really supportive of each other. We learned to recognize each other's styles and notice when people try new things and really write in their voice," Foote said, "We've already agreed to keep sending each other our work after the class is over."
"Play by Play" will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 11th at 8:30 p.m. in Balch Arena Theatre. Admission to this unique opportunity to witness theater produced completely by Tufts students is free.
"Everything is done by students, everything is us," Foote said, "It's seven world premieres."
