Tramps Like Us
Through Signature Theatre, Arlington VA, I was able to take a playwrighting course and have my short play produced with real Equity actors. The process took a few weeks and culminated in a staged reading in one of the rehearsal rooms. My play was called Tramps Like Us, and I took inspiration from Waiting For Godot, the Beckettian writing style, and British Farce.
It was my first ever attempt at writing a play and it was extremely nervewracking, having my first work shown off in front of a live audience. But through hard work and guidance from the mentors at Signature Theatre, I was able to come out with something I really love.
Process
In the program, we wrote with writing prompts, analyzed theatre and language, and were driven headfirst into the deep end of writing a play with exposure therapy. And when it came down to choosing our play, I knew I wanted to do something minimalist and conversational from the get go.
Here’s a page from my brain-dump document I created during the process, it shows how many ideas I had and how I refined them to create my final peice.
When writing the script, I had a very specific idea in my head about how each joke would work, the timing, the movements, the set-up, and the delivery. I even wrote it in the script, which you can see at the bottom of this page.
I also tried to stay away from references, as I wanted my show to be understandable by everyone, and for it not to be overfilled with references
Product
Looking back, I learned so much from this experience. I had a lot of ideas going into the show, but after handing it off to the director, I realized how challenging it can be to keep things clear and ensure jokes land the way you hope. I also experimented with a style influenced by Theatre of the Absurd and some of my favorite British TV shows, which didn’t translate as smoothly as I’d envisioned when performed by two American actors.
Overall, for a first attempt, I’m genuinely proud of what I created. The process taught me a lot and has only deepened my enthusiasm for writing.
