Playwrights Program Aids Students and Pros

During a recent rehearsal for Elliott Kennerson’s play “The Line,” the cast was horsing around, enjoying a brief moment of levity between run-throughs. Director Mickey Mullany looked on, smiling, glad to see her teen-age actors bonding and communicating with one another. As the laughter increased, however, Mullany saw it was time to get back to work.

“Time!” she shouted, and the young performers stopped on a dime. Six silent heads turned toward the former Blackfriars Theatre associate producer, eyes rapt with attention. “Larna is doing something we should all do more of,” Mullany said. “She’s taking time to establish her images. She’s awarding herself pauses. We can all do that.”

The cast took note. “Let’s run it again, from the beginning,” Mullany said, and the performers moved quickly to their places.

This behind-the-scenes episode epitomizes the Playwrights Project. The independent, nonprofit organization brings together young theater artists and theater professionals to encourage and nurture promising high school students.

Each year, the project, which is based in San Diego, sponsors the California Young Playwrights Contest, a playwriting competition open to high school students statewide. As part of the contest, Playwrights Project produces a handful of these plays locally, with San Diego high school student actors performing most of the roles and theater professionals directing, designing and producing the festival.

This year, two San Diego authors will be represented in the festival. Kennerson and Leslie Grant, both from Bishop’s School in La Jolla, will see their work produced in the upcoming “Plays by Young Writers ’91.” The festival opens Wednesday at San Diego State University’s Experimental Theatre and runs through Jan. 19.

Playwrights Project founding director Deborah Salzer created the organization in 1985 to nurture young writers, but the festival has evolved into a rewarding experience for everyone involved. Student actors learn from working with professionals, and established veterans such as Mullany also benefit from the experience.

For example, for this year’s festival, Mullany is working as both production stage manager for the entire festival and as director of Kennerson’s “The Line.”

“This is a kind of warm-up for me,” Mullany

said after rehearsal. “I’m hoping to direct soon at Blackfriars Theatre, but I haven’t directed for a while. With this show, I’ve been flexing my directorial muscles, remembering a lot of things that I had forgotten.

“These kids are kind of like my guinea pigs,” she said.

Willing guinea pigs, one should note. Judging from the way the teen-agers responded to Mullany’s advice and direction, everyone in the cast was thrilled to be working on the production.

“I would say they’re all pretty stoked to be doing something outside the high school scene,” Mullany said.

Including Kennerson. The 17-year-old writer will study drama at Yale University next fall, with the distinction of entering the prestigious undergraduate program as a produced playwright.

“It’s just great,” Kennerson said about his upcoming debut. “I’m very excited. Not nervous, really, but very excited.”

Kennerson’s play is a collection of intense monologues springing from time he spent helping on a student-help hot line. The 12 stories involve troubled youths who openly discuss their traumas.

The three other works in “Plays by Young Writers ‘91” deal with a variety of issues: Grant’s “The Passion” is about a youngster’s isolation following the death of his best friend, Paul Aaron Thomas’ “In Cucamonga” pokes fun at contemporary suburban living, and Jim Knable’s “The Jesus Scheme” satirizes military and organized religion.

“Playwrights Project encouraged me to write this play,” Kennerson said. “They offered a class at my school, an extracurricular class. It really got me excited about writing a play.”

Playwrights Project isn’t just about developing a writer’s interest, however. Once his script was selected, Kennerson, Mullany and Salzer sat down and analyzed the material. After several long meetings, Kennerson went home and worked on some rewrites and produced a final draft of “The Line.”

“Originally, the whole piece couldn’t really be called a play,” Mullany said, “but we worked on it.”

“Mickey was just incredible,” Kennerson said. “She was so enthusiastic about turning this group of monologues into something theatrically workable. I felt like they both really cared about my play. They were listening to it and open to it and letting themselves respond to it. They gave me really constructive criticism.”

“They treated me very well,” Kennerson said, “but I was kind of expecting to be treated like an adult because I’ve worked with Debbie before, and that was always her attitude with me.”

Just as Kennerson appreciated being treated as an adult, Salzer enjoys sharing her knowledge with youngsters.

“I love working with young people, and I love theater, and I love teaching,” Salzer said. Playwrights Project allows her to incorporate all three loves in a paid, full-time position.

In organizing the California Young Playwrights Contest, Salzer works with high school drama and English teachers throughout the state. She encourages teachers to encourage their students to write and submit plays. Last year, 174 new plays were submitted, and, of those, four will be staged. Every script, whether selected or not, is read, analyzed and returned to the author with constructive criticism.

Students are usually quite eager to participate, but part of Salzer’s task involves lining up professional theater people--such as stage managers, directors and designers--to work with the youths.

“When I first started doing this, I thought it would be very difficult to attract” local professionals, Salzer said. “I was unsure of what I had to offer them.”

As it turned out, she had plenty to offer. In fact, Salzer didn’t have to ask Mullany if she wanted to work on the project; Mullany approached Salzer. This, despite the fact that Playwrights Project offers minimal pay and requires a substantial amount of time. The other professional artists, including Old Globe Theatre Literary Manager Mark Hofflund, playwright Jeremy Lawrence and local director Nonnie Vishner, were also eager to participate.

“When theater professionals work with us, it’s because they love the experience of helping young people grow,” Salzer said. “They appreciate the service Playwrights Project is offering to the future of American theater. We’re nurturing and challenging the young writers and developing young audiences.”