Jay Raskolnikov has a great post on what criteria he uses when reading new plays. I think his list is pretty good. Check it out.
Of course, it got me thinking about the same question. How do I evaluate new plays?
It's been almost 20 years since the last time I served on a script reading committee for a theatre company, in part because I'm a terrifically slow reader and probably too opinionated to be of much use to anyone.
However, I still stand firm in my conviction that what was true then is even more true now in what's wrong with the criteria currently used to evaluate scripts in most theatres.
If we can agree that the most fundamental requirement of a piece of theatre is that it comes alive on stage and engages its audience fully, then I would argue play readers ought to start focusing more on the technique on display in script submissions and less on the content of said plays.
Most new plays that I see being produced do not lack for most of Raskolnikov's list of criteria. Plot, a point of view, some interesting subject matter, etc. etc. These elements are in abundance on stages all across the country every year.
What is far less often on display is the ability to speak through dialogue authentically. Too many scripts that are produced suffer from stilted dialogue or—and to my mind, this is just as bad—charming, clever, effervescent dialogue in which every character on stage speaks with exactly the same voice.
When I read a new play, the first thing I look for—more important than all the rest—is evidence of the fundamental craft of playwriting, on the local level.. page by page. If a play's overall structure needs work but each scene is crisp and alive and leaps off the page as you read it, the play is worth pursuing because questions of structure can always be addressed in rehearsal and in rewrites. However, if a play makes a bold statement in a hackneyed or tedious way, no amount of reworking will ever be able to salvage it.
That's why on the question of what ought to be produced, I say choose craft over content every time. A well-crafted play, even when it's about nothing, can make for a delightful evening of theatre.
Just ask Noel Coward, if you don't believe me.
