The Challenge of Putting a Show Together

The TAEA One-Act Play Competition has been an absolutely incredible experience, and I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity. My drama teacher had suggested I submit a piece to this contest after I had written two plays for our school and brought home awards for playwriting at the NTS Dramafest. I was then surprised to see that I had been chosen as one of the winners. It still feels unreal, but the process has truly helped me expand my piece and work with incredible people.

I saw this contest as an opportunity to be creative and experimental. My play featured characters from other unfinished written works that I’ve been creating over the course of several years. I am deeply attached and connected to these characters, so writing about them and being published meant a lot to me. 

I then had to begin the process of begging our school for funding to take the piece to Starfest. I was insistent that the school help us for the sake of our drama students. We successfully got the funds and I rounded up a team of student actors who I believed would be best suited to portray my characters, and would commit to the piece, take the subject matter seriously, and work well as a group. 

Over the next few weeks of rehearsal, we somehow managed to pull the show together. My cast greatly helped me by bringing life to their characters and providing me with insights as to where I could tweak or improve the script. Seeing the piece in real life helped a lot and allowed me to make the script stronger. My peers and drama teacher were all extremely supportive and dedicated to this project, and I am forever grateful for their help throughout this journey. 

Our workshop with competition judge John Lazarus and director Sean Meldrum also benefited us greatly, especially in regards to the script. Sean helped us significantly by providing feedback on our blocking, which helped since we had to adjust to a different stage size on short notice. He was very helpful with his notes and advice for, in his words, “tightening some screws,” to make the piece all come together. 

John popping in through a Zoom call was appreciated as well – it was a little intimidating having to perform our piece in front of a giant George Orwell Big Brother head on our large screen, but that helped ground us and prepare us to perform in front of an audience. His insight and advice were very valuable, and it was great to talk to another playwright about my work and intentions. I greatly appreciate the way he delivered his notes, allowing me to choose whether or not I wanted to implement certain changes. I really appreciate everything he’s done all this time and I do feel I’ve learned a lot from him even in just the short amount of time we’ve been developing this piece.

I’m still reflecting on the past few months. This all started immediately after we wrapped up our last school play, so I’ve had a lot going on and not much time to think. In the end I’m incredibly thankful to my family and friends who supported me. They’ve shown up for every play and are always cheering loudest. Thanks as well to Sean and John, as I’ve previously stated, for all the help they’ve given me. I’d especially like to thank my absolutely fabulous drama teacher Ms. Robins, who has given me so many incredible opportunities and supported me over the last four years. I’ve completely come out of my shell since being part of her classes and plays, and I don’t know where I’d be without her. 

Lastly I’d like to thank my cast, who all embodied my characters perfectly. They all rose to the challenge of putting a show together in such a short amount of time, with short notice during a very busy time of the school year. Thank you so much Sierra, Jovie, Bowie, Grey, Sage, Selene, Abby, and Alyssa. You’re all amazing and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast.