Author, author!

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You often work with the same director, Chuck Smith (no relation). How come? One reason could be not having to reinvent communication—y’all have a shorthand.
I like working with Chuck because we have the same social, political, cultural, and artistic points of view. I don’t try to tell him how to direct and likewise, he doesn’t try to tell me how to write, so in that sense, we have somewhat of a shorthand when it comes to communication. But even though we may have a shorthand, it doesn’t mean that we don’t discuss absolutely every aspect of the production we’re working on. Having a shorthand means that we trust each other. We trust that we are working toward the same goals and that we agree on a lot of the aspects of the production.

What do you stress to playwriting students?
In the MFA Playwriting Program, we stress three things: the development of voice, the mastery of the theories of narrative storytelling, and how to write for performance. The development of artistic voice is easiest but also the most difficult. After a writer has written perhaps 50 short pieces over the period of a year, you can look at the work and identify a recurring style, ideas, and/or themes. This is the beginning of the identification of voice. Once you identify that for a writer, sometimes the writer doesn’t want to accept what you’ve identified. Occasionally, a writer wants to be a different type of writer other than who they actually are, and that’s when things can get difficult. The theories of narrative storytelling are somewhat easy to understand but very difficult to apply. Sometimes a writer is able to apply the theories to their own work within the three years of the program; sometimes they come to fruition afterward graduating. Finally, we put our writers in the theater with actors who perform their work on a weekly basis. This is one of the things that makes our program here at OHIO unique. 

Reflect on the inaugural fall commencement speech you gave at OHIO last December.
My fall commencement speech was about artistic voice and vision. Whenever I am asked to speak in public, I talk about the arts because the arts are what I know. It’s what I’m comfortable with. When speaking to an audience who may not necessarily be versed in the arts, the challenge becomes making the remarks and/or observations relevant and applicable without being pedantic or didactic.

Do you consider writing for the theater reinvention?
No. Writing for the theater involves a profound understanding of who you are as a writer and artist. Once you understand who you are, you will understand what you have to say. Everything else is the application or execution of that understanding.

Charles Smith, distinguished professor of playwriting and head of the Professional Playwriting Program at OHIO, talks about writing, teaching, and the arts.