Playwriting MFAs

[EccentricDreamer]

Okay since we're all naming more than one. I feel compelled to add the ones that are up there for me

 

Red by John Logan

reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute

M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

Three Tall Women by Albee

Time Stands Still by Margulies

Long Day's Journey into Night by O'Neill

The Clean Room by Sarah Ruhl

anything Ibsen or Strindberg

 

I don't know why but didn't enjoy August:Osage County as much as I thought I would.

 

themirandatragedy,

 

I read August and really liked it. I had to read the old man's monologue three times for it to seep in. I like most of Tracy Letts' plays, but I have to admit, he can be tragically dark at times. Did you read/see his play "Bugs?" Apparently, they made a movie out of it but I try to avoid movies that they adapt from plays. They're usually not that good. 

 

What was it about Osage County that you didn't care for? 

 

@tjack ~ And yes, this forum is totally cool! Everyone is so supportive.

Edited February 19, 2013 by EccentricDreamer

[failsafe]

Some of my all-time favorites besides August: Osage County (meaning, at the time that I read them they really rocked my socks off)--some are duplicates to others' lists:

 

The Glass Menagerie by T. Williams

Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel

Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes

Betrayal by Harold Pinter

A Doll's House by Ibsen

The Dreamer Examines his Pillow/Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by JP Shanley (And Doubt, obviously!)

Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (really prefer this one to Ruined, somehow)

The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl

Buicks by Julian Sheppard

Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally

Hay Fever and Private Lives by Noel Coward (Private Lives I thought was the better play, but Hay Fever is HILARIOUS!  Although I didn't much care for Blithe Spirit, oddly)

 

 

I have to agree with EccentricDreamer, not a terribly huge fan of Albee--I was gifted the complete set of his plays and go back and read another one every so often, but it often feels a bit too much like homework. Two plays I recently read that I thought were really good but somehow didn't *love* were A Bright New Boise by Sam Hunter and After the Revolution by Amy Herzog.  I just read Other Desert Cities yesterday and absolutely HATED, loathed, despised it...but am wondering if that's actually the sign of a great play?  Or a terrible one?  (I can't deal with characters just standing around explicitly stating their perspectives while giving the audience a lecture of what constitutes "good" and "bad" politics).

[failsafe]

By the way THANK YOU all for playing along!!  I'm definitely going to read all of these plays! =)

[lurkinglucy]

@failsafe, I totally agree with you about Other Desert Cities! I saw a very strong production of it but the text fails to wow me. On the other hand, I am a huge Albee fan. Albee's Seascape is a personal favorite! 

 

Other playwrights and plays that I love...

 

Donald Margulies - Sight Unseen and Dinner with Friends

David Lindsay-Abaire - Rabbit Hole

Will Eno - Thom Pain Based on Nothing

Tracy Letts - Man from Nebraska and August: Osage County

Annie Baker - Body Awareness

Daniel Goldfarb - Sarah, Sarah

 

Thanks to all on this forum for sharing!  

[Captain]

My favorites are: Three Tall Women (Albee) hamletmachine (Muller) A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams) Topdog/underdog (Parks) The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide... (Kushner) The Homecoming (Pinter) Any Brecht Any Caryl Churchill (especially Cloud Nine) The Chairs (Ionesco) And failsafe, I agree with you 100% about Other Desert Cities. I saw it on Bway and, while the cast was superb, I found the play to be lazy, obvious, and safe.

[Captain]

Oops. I forgot to add The Iceman Cometh. Might be my top choice, actually. I hope everyone is staying sane while we play the waiting game! Sending good vibes everyone's way.

[lurkinglucy]

I just got an email from NYU saying that my application is "under review." In addition to a bunch of info re: the FAFSA, the email said, "This note is to confirm that your application has been sent to the Department for review and that we are anticipating results from them within the next few weeks." (AHH!)

 

I'm assuming this email went out to everyone. Can anyone confirm? I don't want to get excited about something that's proforma. Thanks in advance and please keep the play lists coming!  

[Trilogyfan]

Hey LurkingLucy, I got the same email a couple of hours ago. I am also assuming everyone that applied got it, but could be wrong. Anyone else?

[failsafe]

Yep, I got it too.  Did yours also have a line that said "You should know, however, that all of our 15 graduate departments are in the process of finalizing their decisions and that you are being looked at very carefully."  ?  That was the line that threw me.  Ahh.

[EccentricDreamer]

I received the same email, too!  

 

Okay, so it's confirmed from your posts...I won't be seeing 'Other Desert Cities' anytime soon. I saw a video preview on the NYT and I was like, "Really???" I'm reading 'Rabbit Hole' by David Lindsay-Abaire now and love it. The dialogue is so real and gripping.

 

My husband said the best plays are the ones where the narrative/story comes through in the dialogue (as opposed to a monologue every five pages). He's not even a playwright and he recognizes that!

[lurkinglucy]

Yep, failsafe, my email had that same line...  

[themirandatragedy]

Got the NYU e-mail too. You guys are really giving me a lot of plays to read this semester. On my previous post I meant 'The Clean House' by Sarah Ruhl, not the clean 'room.' 

Lurkinglucy, Albee's seascape is one of my favorites too. It was actually the first play I ever directed, and I loved it.

 

Eccentric dreamer, I agree Beverly's monologue at the beginning of August OC is great, but I feel once he's gone-and we're stuck with his grieving family- that the action never excited me or surprised me. There were no characters I could truly identify with, and I could see the ending by miles. But that's just me. It also didn't help that I came to it with such high expectations. That was kind of unfair from my part. 

 

A few plays you've mentioned and that are also in my A list: Dinner With Friends, A Doll's House, Rabbit Hole, Streetcar...  

 

What is you guys' favorite Arthur Miller play? I feel I often find myself undecided when answering this question...

[teethwax]

I had my Northwestern interview yesterday -- it was one of those days where everything possible goes wrong, but I think it went pretty well and everyone seemed awesome.  (I got lost, my phone died so I didn't have my map, there were no maps on campus, etc. etc.)  I'm Monday-morning-quarterbacking myself a little bit, but that's just how my brain works.  One thing they did say was that there aren't tons of reading/performance opportunities built into the program itself yet, but they do give you a stipend for production, and since I currently live in Chicago, I already know a bunch of people  I can call up to read my nonsense when I need it.  Now I just have to hope that they can give me some funding if they take me.

 

As for my favorite plays, hmm:

 

J.B. by Archibald MacLeish (the story of Job, in incredible verse)

Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson (two childhood friends and the women they become -- very funny, very painful)

Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard and John Kani and Winston Ntshona (also very funny and very painful, written by a white man and two black men in South Africa during apartheid, about apartheid)

 

Those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.  I'm not a huge Arthur Miller fan, myself; I enjoyed The Crucible, but overall I like things that are a little more recent and dirty and ugly.

Edited February 20, 2013 by teethwax

[themirandatragedy]

Good luck with Northwestern, teethwax. The Chicago theatre scene is exquisitely delicious. I'd love to live in that city.

 

And yes J.B. is incredible. Agreed.

Edited February 20, 2013 by themirandatragedy

[puttputt]

Hi,

 

I applied to: 

Michener - Texas

Texas Austin Theater Dept

Ohio

Iowa

Brown

Yale.

 

Only heard from Michener with a rejection. Good luck to all. My friend's at Ohio and really likes it. 

[teethwax]

Good luck with Northwestern, teethwax. The Chicago theatre scene is exquisitely delicious. I'd love to live in that city.

 

And yes J.B. is incredible. Agreed.

 

Thanks, miranda! Good luck to you too -- we're applying to some of the same programs, I think, so maybe we'll run into each other.  

 

I love Chicago, although the culture shock (I'm from Boston) was pretty nuts when I got here.  I found midwestern niceness profoundly unsettling, haha.

[EccentricDreamer]

Hey everyone,

 

Did you know this part of the forum exists - a place where everyone posts their acceptances and rejections? 

 

http://thegradcafe.com/survey/

 

Pretty fascinating stuff.

[failsafe]

Thanks for sharing, @EccentricDreamer!  Although you can do a search for playwriting and it's pretty grim. Fingers crossed this will be a banner year!

 

Here's something pretty hilarious if you haven't seen it yet:

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Play

 

How is everyone doing out there?  Okay?  This week has been the roughest for me yet, but I'm chugging through...

Edited February 21, 2013 by failsafe

[teethwax]

Thanks for sharing, @EccentricDreamer!  Although you can do a search for playwriting and it's pretty grim. Fingers crossed this will be a banner year!

 

Here's something pretty hilarious if you haven't seen it yet:

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Play

 

How is everyone doing out there?  Okay?  This week has been the roughest for me yet, but I'm chugging through...

Failsafe, why did you post this? I've been doing it wrong for years! I'll never get in anywhere now! *tears at hair*

[failsafe]

Sorry, @teethwax, but 23 different editors cannot be wrong!  But better late than never, right?  For my next play I am going to try to focus on "emotions played big" as well as some angering moments.

[themirandatragedy]

My personal favorite is: "if you're not an experienced actor, take the advice of your 3-show-experienced friend, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT SOUNDS."

[Trilogyfan]

So glad the thread is getting active...I guess 'tis the season.

 

Congrats on the interview, Teeth. And thanks for posting that link, Dreamer! I had seen that page but had forgotten about it. Judging from that list, it looks like Brown may be the next school making its early decisions.

 

My contribution to the reading list follows. I have to say I am a believer in experiencing a play in performance before you judge its worth. I think, for example, that August: Osage County plays better than it reads, which can be said of a lot of great plays. Of course I saw the original Broadway/Steppenwolf cast which didn't hurt AT ALL; in lesser hands that might not prove true. Anyhow...

Angels in America, Tony Kushner

An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen

Travesties, Tom Stoppard

Betrayal, Harold Pinter

True West, Sam Shepard

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley

Candida, George Bernard Shaw

King Lear, William Shakespeare

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller

Long Day's Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill

[teethwax]

So, uh, I just got back from the dentist and half my face is numb, so everything seems surreal already, but I got a message inviting me for an interview at Yale.  Oh my god oh my god.  Anybody else? Or does anyone have tips from having done it before? 

 

Good luck to everyone! Big piles of it.

[Trilogyfan]

WOW! Way to go, TEETH! That's terrific. How were you notified?

[teethwax]

Phone message! I was walking home and my phone started ringing, and when I took it out the caller ID just said New Haven, CT.  I was super numb and knew I wouldn't be intelligible if I picked it up, so I stared at it like a freak, and then when I got home I listened to the message, and then I rolled around with the cat for a while.