By Madi Whiteley / Photography Editor
Play!Write! winners Kate Franklin and Pablo Slaven. Photo Credit: Madi Whiteley.
On Nov. 12, 2023, students from Harpeth Hall and Montgomery Bell Academy gathered in MBA’s Dead Poets Society Auditorium to kickoff the improv-inspired playwriting competition: Play! Write!. In this competition, the students chose whether they wanted to be a writer or an actor.
The five writers, freshman Caroline Walsh, junior Leo Paolicchi, junior Owen Shurden, senior Kate Franklin and junior Ethan Durham, were tasked with writing a short 10 minute play, based on prompts submitted by MBA students over several lunch periods. These requirements included first and last lines, places, props, and finally, who would be acting in their play.
Students began the kickoff with improv games such as “What are you doing?”, “Questions only”,“Late to Class”, “Scene Replay”and “Spelling Champions”, with a finale of slow motion poison blade fighting. These games were used to help the actors learn to be quick on their feet, and use the golden line of improv, “Yes and?”. The kickoff finally concluded with the directors meeting their actors. The following week consisted of the five writers working hard to write the 10 minute play that would win over the judges in hopes of receiving the Best Director/Playwright award.
“I thought it would be fun, and I wasn’t positive if I was gonna be chosen to write,” said Freshman Caroline Walsh. “I want to learn how to write a play because I haven’t done that before, and I’m hoping for feedback because I hope to write more in the future.”
On Nov. 19, the playwrights met again with their assigned actors to rehearse for two hours in preparation for the Play!Write! showcase. The 30 actors did readings, blocked scenes and ran through their plays. Additionally, the stress of needing to memorize lines was gone because they had their scripts in hand while on stage.
After the two hours of rehearsals, it was finally time to perform. Each of the five plays had 10 minutes to perform with their prompted prop, setting and lines making sure they made sense in the context of the play. After the showcase, the judges left the theater to discuss who would be voted Best Actor and Best Playwright/Director.
During that time, the students participated in improv games using leftover lines and locations from the buckets. After three rounds of improv games, the judges entered the room and asked everyone to return to their seats.
The winner of best playwright/director went to Kate Franklin for Tilted Townsfolk, and the winner of best actor went to MBA Sophomore Exchange Student Pablo Slaven as Briggs as well in Tilted Townsfolk. Both received an award and gift from the judges.
Pablo Slaven, an MBA exchange student said, “To be honest, I’m a big fan of theater, and I’m involved a lot back home, but I really wanted to experience what theater was like here in America, and though Play! Write! is very different from an actual play, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Play!Write! is an opportunity for aspiring and experienced writers and actors to practice their skills in front of an audience. Although there may be awkward prompts like the given location being a police line or having a prop being a pool noodle, it is guaranteed that it will get a laugh out of people and be a fun experience for all.
