The Master of Fine Arts playwrights have a little more time than most students do to complete their final projects.
The Seabury Quinn Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is the culmination of all nine MFA playwrights’ yearlong work to finish their original plays. For two weeks, from Wednesday to Saturday, two full productions and seven readings will take place.
The two fully produced plays are Rust On Bone by Bianca Sams and Poor Bob by Anthony Ellison. Rust On Bone analyzes the effects of war and society’s perception of mental illness by following a therapist who is trapped in her office and must use her wit and skills to get out. Poor Bob is a comedy about a family struggling to properly grieve the death of a family member who was also a pillar in the community.
Even with a year under their belts, the playwrights continue to alter the script even during rehearsals, presenting some challenges to the actors.
“Two weeks before opening we got some fairly major changes, which for me meant I’d been spending the last couple of weeks building up this character … and now that’s not right anymore,” said Thomas Daniels, a second-year MFA actor who plays Jim Daniels in Rust On Bone. “It’s exhilarating and fun … but it’s frustrating.”
Third-year playwright Ellison said he was aware of how much he threw at his actors but said that process is invaluable to playwrights.
“It is a fully dimensional experience,” he said. “The actors have more time to work with the script. It’s extremely gratifying to watch them work with it. I could go home and change things and rewrite them toward the choices they were making.”
The two full productions will share the same set in The Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater, with only the set pieces changing between shows. Sams, the festival coordinator and third-year playwright, said she is always amazed at how imaginative and creative the technical department is with a small budget of $1,000 for both shows.
A vital aspect of the festival is the feedback sessions after the plays during the second week when the three guest mentors are in town. This year features playwright Lydia Diamond as well as producer Steve Scott and director Chuck Smith, both of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
Charles Smith, head of the professional playwriting program, said these professionals, as well as the community members, give fresh perspectives on the playwrights’ work.
“You have to know how to give a note but continue to encourage and make sure the writer doesn’t think they’ve failed,” he said. “(For the community members) there’s not a language to talk about some of these concepts, so when someone is able to talk about a concept in a different way, it helps people to hear things they previously were unable to hear.”
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