Pubspeaks

Becoming & Being A Playwright

By Victoria Rayner, WIW member

Wherever playwright, poet, and journalist Gwydion Suilebhan goes, he is always asked the same question: “How did you get to be a playwright?” His response is never quite what they imagine. For the first 25 years of his career, Suilebhan confesses he devoted himself almost entirely to writing poetry. After receiving his B.A. and M.A., he became a poetry professor and wrote articles, while also trying his hand at novels, short stories, and non-fiction. He also became a book reviewer, and even a restaurant reviewer for Voice of the Hill. Despite all his writing achievements, however, he was still dissatisfied, so he decided to attend The Writing Center in Bethesda, Md., and take a playwriting class. Success quickly followed.

A supporter of other writers who seek to become playwrights, Suilebhan offered us interesting insights on making the transformation to becoming a playwright. He said that more than any other genre, playwriting is a deeply collaborative endeavor, and he urges us to understand that what we put on the page is going to be different once it is transferred to the stage. He spoke of the influence actors, directors, production crew, set and costume designers, lighting technicians, sound board operators, and others will have on our original work and how playwriting is not for controlling personality types.
 Suilebhan believes that a writer becomes a playwright the very second he or she writes a play. He talked about how we do not need a degree to be playwrights. Throughout history, he claimed, 99.99% of the playwrights who have ever existed have not had a degree in playwriting. Having said that, however, he encouraged us to learn all aspects of theatre.

Suilebhan suggested that writers who want to be playwrights apprentice themselves to the craft by seeing many different types of plays and critiquing them. He stressed the importance of learning what makes a production good or bad – the acting, directing, production values, and the script. Ushering, attending PWYC (pay what you can) performances, and obtaining tickets at half-price or by taking advantage of special offers available through email theatre lists, he claimed, will make it possible for us to continuously see live theatre affordably...and even occasionally for free.

Another tip was to read reviews after you see a show – but honor your own reactions and form your own opinions. He also encouraged us to take the time to read plays. He admitted to reading three to four plays a week. He reminded us that at a modest pace, an entire playwright's work can be read in very little time: David Mamet in one month, August Wilson in three weeks, Richard Greenberg in two weeks, and Sarah Kane in a week or less.

Suilebhan also told us to watch television actively and to consider how popular program series have evolved. Quoting Steven Johnson's book “Everything Bad Is Good for You,” he discussed how Dragnet evolved into Starsky and Hutch, then Hill Street Blues, and then ER.

In summarizing his lecture, Suilebhan provided us with one final invaluable piece of advice – he said we need to have the courage to follow and activate the voices in ourselves, to listen, and to act on our instincts.

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