Time Capsule

I was floored when a Canadian high school drama teacher got in touch with me and asked if I would mind being the subject of an entire unit in her Grade 10 drama class. A requirement of her curriculum is to study a Canadian playwright, and after years of studying the likes of Robertson Davies and Merrill Denison, she felt it was time to mix things up and introduce her students to a contemporary (not to mention living) playwright. She happened upon one of my scripts (Split) and thought my point of view would grab the attention of the students in her class. Needless to say, I was thrilled by her request and more than happy to oblige.

Seeing as I am alive (and relatively well, at least compared to Davies and Denison), the final assignment of the unit was for the students to pair up and get in touch with me via email to ask me one question that they could then turn into a visual presentation. I have to say that it's pretty cool that there will be a dozen or so posters all about me on display in some school foyer where I have never been!

Anyway, some of the questions I got were the usuals ("How did you start playwrighting?" "Where do you get your ideas?"), but one of the groups asked a particularly thoughtful question that I thought warranted a blog post unto itself.

YOU HAVE WRITTEN A LOT OF PLAYS. IF YOU COULD ONLY PUT ONE INTO A TIME CAPSULE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE? AND WHY?

At first glance, this is a variation on the old question, "Of all the plays you've written, what's your favourite?" This question is, obviously, a tough one to answer (impossible, really) because each play is special to me and the most important thing in my life at the moment I am writing it. However, this question had just enough of a twist on it that I immediately had an answer. I knew exactly what play I would want in a time capsule and, although it may or may not be my favourite (like I said, I have no favourites), it does represent a large part of who I am as a writer and, even more-so, a person.

SIXTEEN IN 10 MINUTES OR LESS

Perhaps I'm cheating a little, considering this play is actually made up of ten separate 10-minute plays, but if you read the play as a whole you will discover that they are not separate at all. Not only do the characters overlap, but the themes connect in a way that (I hope) paints a clear picture of my personal outlook on life.

I bring up the subject of "theme" because I am often asked what the themes are of each of my plays. I love turning that conversation around and asking students what they think the themes of my plays are. While there are no wrong answers, their answers rarely line up with what I had in mind as I was writing. For instance, Split could certainly be classified as "a play about divorce." But it's actually a play about love and all of its various permutations. Divorce was simply the hook upon which I hung stories about characters who are afraid of love, embarrassed by love, embracing love, etc. Similarly, I Don't Want to Talk About It could be considered "a play about silence," but it's actually a play about listening.

 

This brings me to the theme of Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less. All of the characters in the play are sixteen years old, which is the hook I used to create this play. But "a play about being sixteen" is not the play I was interested in writing. I wanted to write a story about a group of teenagers who are not quite kids anymore and not quite adults either. Thus, the theme of the entire play became "Not Quite."

FRIEND REQUEST - Not quite friends.
DOUBLE CLICK - Not quite attractive.
BRACE YOURSELF - Not quite smart enough.
LAZY EYE - Not quite normal.
FIREWORKS - Not quite in love.
PAY PHONE - Not quite trusting.
BENCH WARRANT - Not quite popular.
WHEELS - Not quite independent.
TUMBLEFUR - Not quite understood.
STATUS UPDATE: A SYMPHONY - Not quite ready.

Another reason I am fond of Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less, and why I've chosen it as the answer to the question in question, is the variety of styles I was able to include under one title. I pride myself on being able to write a serious drama one day and a laugh-out-loud comedy the next. It may come as a surprise (it does to me) that I wrote Lip Service, a wacky farce, the same week I finished I Don't Want to Talk About It, a much more serious play about suicide. Likewise, Split and They Say... were both written in a span of two days. If you take a look at them side by side, they could not be more different. One is a seriocomedy made up of very short vignettes that span a year, while the other is a straight forward situation comedy that takes place in one place and one time. I never want to write the same play twice, so I always try to take a brand new approach with my work when I'm staring a new play after finishing another.

Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less was fun to write because I was able to hit on a wide variety of theatrical genres. Among others, it includes an ensemble piece (Friend Request), a comedy duet (Brace Yourself), a drama (Wheels), a monologue (Tumblefur), an absurd comedy (Pay Phone), a fantasy (Lazy Eye), a romance (Fireworks), and a choral piece (Status Update: A Symphony). My idea was to keep the audience on their toes by never allowing them to be quite sure what's coming next. I was also conscious to make sure each individual play could stand on its own in the event it is performed as a stand alone production. I believe I succeeded in doing these things, or at least I hope that's the case. I've always told myself that a belief is the end result of a hope, and by hoping that each characters gets what they want, I believe in them. To that end, I say: mission accomplished.

So while I could proudly pick out any one of my plays to put in a time capsule, right now -- today -- I would select Sixteen in 10 Minutes or Less. And I could not be more honoured that the rights to this play are carried by Theatrefolk. Founders Craig Mason and Lindsay Price understand better than anyone I know what teenagers are thinking of, dreaming of, and made of, which is exactly why they have done such an incredible job nurturing the play. In the two years since publication, it has slowly discovered a large and passionate audience of teenagers and adults who have repeatedly let me know what an impact it has had on audiences. It means the world to me to know that it has touched the lives of so many people.

To read a preview of any or all of the plays included, visit Theatrefolk.