Big art, small package: Tiny plays offered to stage at home
The task facing playwright Tito Livas was intense: Write a new play in a few days that could be read alone or aloud with friends. Don’t worry if it’s too crazy. Oh, and make it 10 minutes or less.
Livas is part of a national initiative called “Play at Home,” a push by not-forprofit theater companies from New York to California to keep people connected to live theater. He wrote about insects and the good work they do.
“They said to be as dreamy as you can and I was like, ‘All right. Here comes a giant dragonfly, here comes a giant bird! We’re going to change the scope of everything,’” he said.
The initiative works like this: Theaters commission playwrights to write a new micro-work for $500. Those plays are then offered free online so people can download them to perform at home or via video chat with relatives and friends. This week, “Play at Home” crossed a milestone with 100 commissions.
Stephanie Ybarra, the artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage, came up with the idea, hoping that the more people experience plays, the more they will want to go see one. “I’m in love with the idea that the playwright is speaking directly to their audience,” she said.
“I think it’s been a great opportunity to just stay creative,” said Tre’von Griffith, a St. Louis playwright who wrote the powerful “Ain’t Nobody Here But You and Me,” a story set in the 1930s South commissioned by The Repertory Theater of St. Louis.
“With these uncertain times, we don’t necessarily know exactly what the next move, what will be the next phase of our art. So it was really, really good to just get something out,” he said.
The “Play at Home” push is just one way playwrights have kept busy during the pandemic. Lauren Gunderson and Young Jean Lee have offered online tutorials, while Richard Nelson has written a six-person play designed to be livestreamed.
Contributing to “Play at Home” not only helps keep the artistic spirit alive. It also offers playwrights a taste — albeit an appetizer portion — to show the world their unique voices.
“It’s a nice way to introduce myself to a broader audience and to articulate stories that I like to tell,” said Griffith. “It’s a really cool idea to just bring the theater to you.”