You've got to give it up for researching not only the locations of Food 4 Less in California, but WHEN they opened ha!
I think the question of stereotyping and regionally specific theater is an interesting problem to try to solve at the playwright level. With all of that heavy lifting trying to balance the experiences of characters, but also making them unique makes me picture the playwright trying to solve the problem by lifting a stack of heavy objects from the bottom. It's heavier and harder to try to make your play "safe" and "good-intentions proof" for a process months or years down the line. But that's often how I feel when editing.
I'd be really interested in reading a "best case scenario script". One with all of the jokes and references and candid stage directions and rough draft ideas and harsh character descriptions that you could give to a hypothetical best collaborator under the best circumstances vs the stand-alone polished script you feel no reasonable person could misunderstand and is lean and concise and can speak for itself. Especially in a play analysis class (like you what you had with seeing multiple productions' interpretations).
Also- I remember that play analysis class! Luis Alfaro's plays always seemed like such a perfect fit for that class and reading them in conversation with the ancient Greek play.
Hi Aaron. I often write about Jewish subjects and people, and I try to identify what is distinctive about them--about me. It isn't stereotyping, I think, but recognizing what and how our identities project to others, even unconsciously to ourselves. Obviously there is blatant stereotyping, intentional on the part of the writer, and maybe mistaken as authentic by well-meaning but uniformed audiences, as parodied pretty hilariously in "American Fiction." But those same audiences, I do think, come to plays like yours or Alfaro's to learn and broaden their own understandings. If we only write for our own tribe, we're preaching to the choir. Isn't part of the point of what we write, to reach those who aren't from our "world?"
I appreciate the "not yet" option in the poll, but I of course love this entire post, Aaron! It is a privilege to read through your thoughts and what you've been mulling over, for years, and how you and your thoughts have changed. I love Alfaro's work, and I think you make an awesome point about stereotyping -- those questions about who are we writing FOR and TO are coming up for me right now, now that I'm finally putting words on paper and calling it a scene, hopefully soon-to-be a play. Thank you so much for your analysis as always, Aaron.
You've got to give it up for researching not only the locations of Food 4 Less in California, but WHEN they opened ha!
I think the question of stereotyping and regionally specific theater is an interesting problem to try to solve at the playwright level. With all of that heavy lifting trying to balance the experiences of characters, but also making them unique makes me picture the playwright trying to solve the problem by lifting a stack of heavy objects from the bottom. It's heavier and harder to try to make your play "safe" and "good-intentions proof" for a process months or years down the line. But that's often how I feel when editing.
I'd be really interested in reading a "best case scenario script". One with all of the jokes and references and candid stage directions and rough draft ideas and harsh character descriptions that you could give to a hypothetical best collaborator under the best circumstances vs the stand-alone polished script you feel no reasonable person could misunderstand and is lean and concise and can speak for itself. Especially in a play analysis class (like you what you had with seeing multiple productions' interpretations).
Also- I remember that play analysis class! Luis Alfaro's plays always seemed like such a perfect fit for that class and reading them in conversation with the ancient Greek play.
Hi Aaron. I often write about Jewish subjects and people, and I try to identify what is distinctive about them--about me. It isn't stereotyping, I think, but recognizing what and how our identities project to others, even unconsciously to ourselves. Obviously there is blatant stereotyping, intentional on the part of the writer, and maybe mistaken as authentic by well-meaning but uniformed audiences, as parodied pretty hilariously in "American Fiction." But those same audiences, I do think, come to plays like yours or Alfaro's to learn and broaden their own understandings. If we only write for our own tribe, we're preaching to the choir. Isn't part of the point of what we write, to reach those who aren't from our "world?"
I appreciate the "not yet" option in the poll, but I of course love this entire post, Aaron! It is a privilege to read through your thoughts and what you've been mulling over, for years, and how you and your thoughts have changed. I love Alfaro's work, and I think you make an awesome point about stereotyping -- those questions about who are we writing FOR and TO are coming up for me right now, now that I'm finally putting words on paper and calling it a scene, hopefully soon-to-be a play. Thank you so much for your analysis as always, Aaron.