FreePlays.org - an open letter to
teachers
Hi.
I'm writing this to you, a teacher whose students may have written, or
may want to, write, a play.
I'm a part-time teacher (I teach math & computers to kids and
adults), full-time computer programmer, and a dad with a 10-year-old
son. I got involved with a kids' theater group last summer and
looked for free scripts on the internet. I was surprised to find
very few. So, I've started a website at
http://www.FreePlays.org. The idea is pretty simple: to
distribute free scripts, allowing free printing, copying, modification,
distribution, and performance. Players/groups may charge for
performances, and pay no royalties. Only one major limit:
if the works are redistributed in any form (including as audio or video
recordings of performances) the redistribution must be free of charge.
FreePlays.org is new, and what it needs now is a lot of scripts.
Our short-term goal is to offer at least a hundred scripts. We
want to enable a teacher, parent, or anyone else who cares for and
about children to search for and browse scripts, print off a few,
modify them if needed, and be ready to play. Time spent acquiring
scripts: 10 to 45 minutes. No writing letters or checks,
obtaining permissions, or sending royalty payments. More time
left for the good stuff (rich, creative, participatory experiences that
stimulate kids intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and
artistically).
Once when I was a student, I had the option of writing a play as one
way of fulfilling a writing assignment. I'm writing this to ask
you, if you have students who have written a play or may be interested
in doing so, to please:
- consider offering your students the option of writing a
play, and
- tell them about FreePlays.org, and that if they would
like, they may contribute their work.
For now, we are offering only English language plays, but we are ready,
willing, and able to offer scripts in other languages as soon as we
get them.
In the case of minor students, I would of course need permission from
your student's parent/guardian; but I can obtain that, or make it easy
for you to do so. I wrote a letter much like this one, explaining
to parents FreePlays.org and how they may permit us to publish their
child's work.
Though FreePlays.org is young, I've already found that some people and
organizations take offense at our effort. They state variously
that it will tend to eliminate the livelihood of playwrights, that I'm
disrespectful of their craft, and/or that I am committing an offense
even to ask a skilled professional to give away their work. I'm
sometimes asked “how would you like it if someone asked you to give
away your work for free?”. My answer to that is simple: I
like it just fine, and do it all the time. We computer
programmers frequently give away our very best work, freely, to anyone
who wants it, just like FreePlays.org gives away scripts. I used
free software that volunteers created to write this letter, and if
you're reading it on the FreePlays.org website, it's free software that
served it up to you.
Back to the point, which is your students, who are presumably not
professional playwrights. A question along these same lines could
be “isn't this exploitation of child labor/my students?”
I'm not attempting to exploit your students. I value my own
students and care about them and their welfare. To exploit my
students or yours would be repugnant. I've carefully chosen the
rules for works published on FreePlays.org to, as much as possible,
protect authors exploitation. For details of this protection, you
may see the license information at the bottom of every page on
FreePlays.org.
Another consideration. A FreePlays.org contributor (and teacher)
told me that "the teachers need to be convinced of solid educational
benefits of submitting to Freeplays.org." I can identify two
solid educational benefits, plus one less solid.
The first solid educational benefit is inspiration. I'll bet your
experience as a teacher agrees with mine: if I can get 'em
inspired, the rest is relatively easy (and very pleasant and
rewarding). FreePlays.org does inspire young writers. My
own son loves writing plays for FreePlays.org and begs me for the
chance to write more. For whatever reason, kids just love the
idea of other kids reading, enjoying, and benefiting from their
work. It is a very powerful motivator; they sit right down and
write with gusto. Surprisingly often they keep on working,
without duress, until they finish.
The second solid educational benefit is a broadening of the student's
writing ability and experience. Writing a play is different from
writing poetry, short stories, or book reports, with different rules
and considerations. There are too many of these to list here;
I'll just mention three. The language style needs to be
different: lines that read fine on the page can be
unpronounceable or sound clumsy on stage. Certain technical
errors, such as putting a character in a quiet love scene after they've
just finished a battle scene, are possible only in plays. And
plays, if they're to be performed, need more characters than stories,
even if the story doesn't demand them. A good story can contain
only 1 or 2 characters, but cast sizes tend to run around 10 to
20. People won't select your play for performance if it excludes
90% of their drama group (although please note that FreePlays.org's
"around the world in 40 plays" project addresses this
difficulty). When writing plays, student authors learn about and
address these challenges and considerations. It takes them into a
whole new realm as writers.
FreePlays.org can support this “broadening” benefit by offering a
student playwright a much greater chance of hearing &/or seeing
their work performed, than if their script goes into the trash or the
"old homework" box. We will accomplish this by freely
distributing audio and/or video recordings of performances, as they
come into existence. The effect on a young writer of
hearing/seeing their work performed, is powerful. Students learn
that only when writing plays (or their cousins, screenplays) do you
determine the speech, behavior, and actions of another human
being. Other humans become the characters you have created, speak
your words and thoughts, and carry out your actions and
directions. It's exciting, dramatic, makes kids proud, and truly
boosts their development as a writer. They often will rewrite
their play, after seeing/hearing the performance, and learning what
“worked”, what didn't and why or why not. When this
happens, FreePlays.org will publish the revised script, while still
serving up the original version to anyone who wants it. It can be
very educational to read both the “before” and “after” versions of the
script.
Of course no one can guarantee that a play will be selected for
performance, and if so, that anyone will record it. That is a
part of the “playwright biz” that I don't imagine anyone will ever
overcome.
The third benefit that FreePlays.org provides is exposure, or
publicity. FreePlays.org can provide a publishing outlet for
authors that would otherwise be completely unpublishable and remain
unknown. I don't envision FreePlays.org as a place to become
famous, but the site does support an "author profile/bio", which may
include contact information. In the case of minors we are very
careful about this; typically including the contact info of the
student's parent, rather than the student themselves.
This third benefit, the opportunity to become renowned, or get
verifiable public recognition, is a minor consideration to me, but it
appeals greatly to some folks, including "stage moms" and/or parents
who are looking for something unique to put on their kid's application
to a 7 sisters or Ivy League school.
Recalling that some folks almost viscerally oppose the idea and
existence of FreePlays.org, I know that you, fellow teacher, may
disagree with our effort. If so, I apologize for any offense I
may have given, beg your pardon, thank you for your time, and ask you
to please disregard this whole matter.
On the other hand, maybe you approve of FreePlays.org, our goal of
promoting participation in and love of drama, and our way of going
about it. If so, perhaps you'll offer your students the option of
writing a play, and let them know that if they would like,
FreePlays.org will publish their script freely to the world, under the
terms at the bottom of every page of the FreePlays.org site.
Thank you
Paul Bunyan
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