Strictly Playwriting #4

Back to basics

I was 19 years old here.

It ain’t 2009 no more.

I came across this picture when I became an adjunct professor for the Theatre Arts Department at East Los Angeles College, and I was like holy shit who is this guy. Look how lost my eyes are. This shit looks like a damn mug shot rather than a community college ID photo. On one hand, this person is unrecognizable to me. I feel like I’ve grown and changed so much since then, but on the other hand… I still feel like I got that lost look in my eyes sometimes, (but now with two styes).

Back then, I was going through the motions of being a first generation college student. I was taking remedial classes, so I could take general classes. I didn’t know what a major was or where I was going to transfer too, or even how. I thought I was going to be a revolutionary, then a poet, and finally an English Teacher.

Part of the requirement to transfer was to take an art class. I was horrible at drawing, but I remembered I enjoyed listening to Death of a Salesman in high school, so I took an intro to theatre class, and for whatever reason I didn’t feel so lost anymore. At the time, ELAC was under construction, but the theatre arts building was brand new, and I just liked smelling that new building smell. Learning all the different areas of the theatre really felt like there is something here for everyone. Acting warm ups reminded me of P.E. or baseball warm ups; if you were handy and knew how to use tools you could help build sets and if you weren’t afraid of heights you could adjust lights; if you were organized and liked to tell people what to do, you could be a stage manager. Shit was cool. For me, Playwriting came natural, but I think the great late Edward Albee said in order to be a great playwright, you need to know everything there is to know about the theatre. He also said, every playwright should know how to say “Fuck ‘em” (or something like that, I can’t find the Youtube clip anymore where he said something to that effect). Anyway, trying to know everything about the theatre became my obsession. I wanted to know about Q-lab and rigging and turntables and front of house operations. I then wanted to learn about the administrative side of theatre too, and the economics of it all, and who the audience is that comes to see this shit. I wanted to learn it all.

So when I got the opportunity to teach Intro To Theatre at ELAC the past two semesters, it was super gratifying. (Not to mention it is was always a goal of mine to be a professor at ELAC one day. Now my new goal is to get one of my plays produced there one day.) But don't get me wrong, the first year of teaching was tough because I wanted to teach the students everything I knew and more. I also didn’t really know what I was doing. My “lectures” sucked ass, and I was often scrambling the night before to create a lesson plan. When I tried to lecture about theatre stages, or lighting, often times I would be staring out to blank faces.

But the second time I taught the course I found my stride/style. My syllabus and lesson plans were already built. I felt more confident and comfortable teaching the material. My lectures still sucked a little bit because I would rush through them, but I realized it might be more important for the students to get a practical and tactile understanding of the material by participating in exercises/activities.

Teaching intro to theatre for the Fall of 2025 made me realize just how much joy this shit brought me. As I would unlock the door to the classroom, I would take a deep breath before I entered and just appreciate the quietness. As I exhaled and began setting up, I would quickly remind myself that I have this great opportunity to teach something that I love. In the Fall of 2025 that classroom became my refuge, my solace, my happy place in a time when I needed it the most.

Unfortunately, this spring I didn't get a class to teach at ELAC. However, I found myself still craving the joy that teaching brings me, so then I thought of this million dollar idea:

What if I teach an Intro To Theatre course through this Substack; an experiment inside of an experiment if you will.

The plan is to do 10 to 15 minute mini lectures on the following areas:

Part 1

1. Intro to Intro to Theatre (or a reintroduction)

2. The Audience

3. The Play and the Playwright

4. Acting

5. The Director and the Producer

6. Theatre Spaces and Scenery

7. Costumes

8. Lighting and Sound

Part 2

9. Early Theatre: Greek, Roman, Medeival

10. Early Theatre: Asian

11. Renaissance Theatre

12. Restoration through Romanticism theatre

13. Modern Theatre

14. Theatre Today

15. Final Project

The idea is to share my knowledge, love, and experience in these areas with y’all through my own unique stylized lectures and exercises.

The hope is to practice preparing and giving lectures while also creating an archive of learning resources/materials. To establish a baseline with my readership so you all have a better idea of where I am coming from when I write about theatre, my plays, or my playwriting process. I also would love your feedback on my lectures and to create a dialogue around these areas in an informative and entertaining way.

So what do you say?