By Patrick Rainville Dorn This isn't the only way to start writing a play. There are probably better ways. This is how it happened for me, and this is a pretty typical example of what has worked in the past. A few months ago I was browsing through the used paperback bookstore, trolling for ideas. I came across a collection of Washington Irving's writings, including "Rip Van Winkle," a short story about a lazy, easy-going man who falls asleep a few years before the American Revolution, naps through the war and wakes up 20 years later. First published in 1819, I knew that the story was public domain, and therefore ripe for the picking. The story has always appealed to me, mostly because I'm a lazy, easy-going man who loves to nap! I'd discarded the idea of turning it into a play years ago because the story has far more male characters than female, and in the pivotal scene, Rip gets rip-roaring drunk with the spirits of Henry Hudson and his bowling buddies, precipitating his decades-long snooze-fest. That's a hard concept to pitch to a wholesome, family run publishing house like Pioneer Drama Service. So I let the idea rest--believe it or not, for nearly 20 years! I bought the paperback anyway, hoping that there might be a way to "fix" the problems of the story and make it work for middle and high school students. It was just a dollar, and there were lots of other stories in the book that might work out, even if they are less well known. I like Washington Irving's style, and I also knew that there are many, many stage versions of "The Headless Horseman," so I ruled out "Sleepy Hollow." Over the years, I had written "Blather, Blarney and Balderdash," which incorporates narration, storytelling and dialogue right into the characters themselves. Then I wrote "The Beggar and the Wolf," in which the townspeople serve as a collective character. As I re-read "Rip Van Winkle," I realized that my skills and voice as a playwright had developed to the point where I could adapt the tale in such a way as to make it work for the Pioneer demographic and still stay true to the spirit and tone of the original story. Some playwrights like to "update" a story using modern teenage characters. Many of Pioneer's most successful comedies (like "Twinderella") remix fairy tales with contemporary settings, characters and costumes. (This has been going on long before "Shrek.") But I like the colonial/early republic setting for "Rip," including the costumes and permission to avoid the issue of modern technology. Also, I felt that the "ghost" component wouldn't work as well in the modern world. |
