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ORIGINAL ONE-ACT PLAYS / ONE-ACT PLAY FESTIVAL

The following is instructions and a guide for a proposed 2022 Playhouse West-Philadelphia One-Act
Play Festival. The one-act plays are intended to encourage more work on stage in front of a live
audience, the benefits of which cannot be gained solely in a classroom, and which the value for an
actor's growth, confidence and technique are immeasurable. We are hopeful the One-Act Play Festival
will inspire creativity, so that we can continue to present more of them in the future.

Please thoroughly read the following information.

The goal is to produce a bill of original, 10-15 minute one-act plays (4-6 plays adding up to a
maximum of 90 minutes) which can be performed together. If we get more plays worthy of
production, we will have multiple blocks of one-acts. The more the merrier!

The plays will first be presented to me at a time to be announced in the future, or as soon as any are
ready. The best ones will be selected for a full production at the school, scheduled for at least 2-3
weekends, 4-6 performances (possibly more).

Writing One-Act Plays

The first step in this process will be to write a one-act play. A student may do this solo
(recommended), or you may co-write with another student (more challenging). It's up to you. The
biggest piece of advice – write about what you know, something you understand and that is personal to
you. You all have experiences and stories to tell, be it about relationships, conflicts with your family,
friends, loved ones, conflicts at work, etc. You've also observed many interesting and dynamic
situations throughout your life that can be the germ of inspiration for a characters and a short play.
Write from instinct and from what's personal. The more personal the better. And ask yourself what
you'd like to say about the subject or situation.

Do not attempt to write about subjects or issues you have no experience or understanding of, it likely
won't work out or come across as authentic. Do not write out of ambition! This means, do not think
of this as an opportunity to “showcase” yourself or create some “big character” for you to play that is
not really in you. I guarantee that will not lead to a successful play.

Keep it simple. Keep it personal. Keep the settings simple. We will not be building sets or doing any
elaborate production design for these plays. They will be performed in our black box theater with
minimal sets and props, so please take this into consideration. This is further explained below.

Here are some helpful writing tips:

• Each play should have a Theme or Premise that you can articulate in one, concise sentence.
(what the play is really about or what you want to say).
• Stick to this structure, Crisis, Climax and Resolution. This is the structure of every dramatic
story. And with a one-act play it is best to stick with a single crisis that can be resolved in a
short period of time.
• The two primary elements of all dramatic stories are 1) Great want or need. 2) Conflict.
Without a character with a great want or need, and without conflict, there is no drama.
• Every story is propelled forward, from crisis to climax to resolution, through Conflict! What is
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the central conflict?

• When setting up doors and activities, especially with the more advanced relationship, you
already have experience constructing dramatic situations with these elements. You may even
want to look at the play as one big “door and activity”. Some scenes/plays are also structured
like an “alone exercise”, or some other exercise you are familiar with from class. Thinking like
this may help you with structuring your idea into a play.
• There is one protagonist, the primary character who dramatizes the theme/premise. Every other
character should be an antagonist to the protagonist, and thus, conflict is inevitable.
• Think about and define each character's spine, their central most meaningful issue or desire in
their life. All actions are wedded unconsciously to a character's spine, including all their more
immediate objectives.
• Consider each character's Three Dimensional qualities. There is a Guide to Three Dimensional
Characters saved in the files on our Group Rehearsal page, but I will include it here as well.
• Remember that most dialogue is subtextual. Try to avoid “on-the-nose” dialogue.
• Perhaps someone has an idea for a play, some characters and a situation or conflict, but doesn't
know how to write it down. You may try setting up improvisations with classmates and
recording them to help you flesh out your ideas, help with dialogue, etc. You take from these
improvisations what is useful and can disregard what is not.
• Remember that re-writing is also part of the process. It doesn't have to come out perfect in the
first draft.

Casting & Rehearsals

Once a play is written you need to find a suitable cast and a director, all whom must be current
students, intermediate level or above. The director and cast must be approved by me.

Cast the actor, not the role! If an actor is not right for a role you are doomed from the start, so be smart
about it. And only cast people who are excited to do the play. My advice is to ask actors to read the
script first without any promise they have the role. See if they like the script and can see themselves in
it. You may think they are perfect for a part but if they don't get it or can't see themselves in it, it's best
to cast someone else. Likewise, cast people who can commit to the whole process, not someone who
may flake out on you.

The writer may wish to serve as the director, and they may wish to be in the play too, that is fine. Or
you can ask another student to direct the play. As stated above, you may even want to use actors to do
some improvisations to help you with the writing process.

Learning to listen to and be directed by a fellow classmate is a learning curve, as is learning to direct a
classmate. But it's good training for all of you! Cast the right actors and the less you have to direct.
And the less you have to direct, the better! You all observe how people are directed by me or Ed in
class. Use that as a guide and you will be better off. You are all trained alike, use the same rehearsal
techniques, and speak the same language, so working with each other should not be an issue.

I directed many of my classmates in plays over the years, as did other students. I always found that the
most talented and best actors, folks like Mark Pellegrino, were the most open to direction. It didn't
matter to him I was a fellow student or his roommate. We left our egos at the door. It didn't mean we
always agreed, or that he didn't challenge me, because he did, as I did him. This is what professionals
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do. It's collaborative! You work to make each other better. Most importantly, have fun!

Presenting/Auditioning the Plays

A deadline will be announced as to when the plays will be presented, which will serve as an audition
for production selection. As soon as you think your play is ready, let me know. The emphasis will be
on how excellent, connected and real the acting is more than how excellent the play is.

Parameters/Requirements for the One-Act Plays:

1. Participation
◦ Current, paid up Playhouse West-Philadelphia members only. All participating
◦ students must be currently in class, tuition paid in full and on time, and they must regularly
attend classes throughout the entire process. Any participant who falls behind on tuition, or
who does not regularly attend their classes during this process, or during the actual
production, will be replaced. If they they cannot be replaced the play they are in will be
cancelled.
◦ All Participants must have completed at least two intermediate level scenes. Newer
students may help in other ways (tech crew, box office, usher, etc.)
◦ A student may work on (write, direct or act) in more than one play.
◦ Arrangements can be made for some rehearsals at the studio.
◦ All participating students must have weekends off. We will not schedule performances
around the actors. If you do commit, utmost professionalism will be expected.
◦ The one-act plays will be first presented/auditioned on a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday
afternoon.
2. Run time of plays: minimum of 7 minutes, a maximum of 20 minutes. This probably means
about a 3 – 10 page script, depending on how it's formatted.
3. Minimal set designs and props, simple technical requirements. Limit the situations to simple or
suggested settings, with limited props; nothing requiring messing up the stage during the play.
We need to be able to go from one play to another fairly simply and quickly, with minimal set
changes.
4. The emphasis will be on alive, real, truthful, connected acting. This will be of utmost
importance! As with all of our productions, our standard for acting will be high.
5. Each Production Team will be responsible for all production values; props, wardrobe, any
minor set pieces in addition to what is already onstage. Again, keep this to a minimum.
6. The plays can be a comedy or drama.
7. No limit on the number of characters. A two character play is fine, but more than two is also
fine.
8. You may be asked to cut or rewrite the plays, at my discretion, and I will supervise the final
production of the plays and how they are presented.

I will set a date to present the plays, hopefully as early as July or August, with hopes of an early fall
production. If the work is done more quickly I am open to doing this earlier. So, get to work on this
asap!

I hope you are all as excited as I am to get this process started! Good luck!