Advice from a playwright

On Tuesday, January 22, I went to a preview of the play Wittenberg. It was a really creative play about Martin Luther, Dr. Faustus and Hamlet, set at Wittenberg. Hamlet was the star student and tennis player, and his two mentors/professors who were friends but great adversaries at the same time were Martin Luther and Dr. Faustus. It was a fantastic play and I really enjoyed it. Not only did it play around with history in a unique way, but it was thought-provoking and hilarious at the same time.

I hope it won't sound too cliché if I say that I was inspired by it. Every time I read an amazing play, I'm always inspired to write, not necessarily my own play, but just to write in general, to get something down before it's too late. I felt the same way when I saw this play. I found myself wondering what the playwright's inspiration was, and how long it took him to write it, and other things of that nature. At the end of the show, when the only people left in the theater was my honors class, they announced that the playwright and the assistant director were going to talk to us.

I listened to the fascinating things David Davalos, the playwritght, had to say for a good 20 minutes. I think all writers know that writing is a long process, but it helped to hear that even if it does take five years to put together one play, and to go through drafts and drafts and drafts, it is still worth it. I got the courage to ask him how he dealt with other people taking what he created and completely changing it. Among the useful and insightful things he had to say, one thing stuck out in my mind. It was something along the lines of, "If I didn't want my writing to be changed, I would have written fiction." I know that's not exactly how he said it (he put it better), but his point had an impact on me. It isn't always bad when one's work is drastically changed. Creating and putting on a play is a process, and there are a lot of different types of people involved in that who can improve it, even if they aren't writers. I've always had a hard time with the idea of professional writers being torn apart by people producing or publishing their work, but I can see now how sometimes change can be good, especially in regard to plays. Thanks, Mr. Davalos.

If anyone is interested in seeing Wittenberg (I highly reccomend it), it is playing now at the Arden Theater in Old City.