Upfronts and Downsizing

When I wrote my first play twenty years ago I made a real rookie mistake.  There were eight characters in it.  The vintage comedy plays I grew up with by playwrights like Kaufman & Hart all featured multiple characters, outlandish costumes, physical comedy, props galore, several themes, a romance, some satirical poking at society, and usually three or four stories intertwining to service all of the characters.   They generally built to a big final scene where most, if not all, of the characters were on stage at once, and in principal, the laughs would be flying fast and furious. 

So having never taken a playwriting course I used that as sort of my guide and wrote UPFRONTS AND PERSONAL.  (I should mention that I’ve had several readings and have done major rewriting on it since my first draft twenty years ago. I’m probably on draft fifteen.)

I was lucky enough to finally have it produced by the Gallery Players in Brooklyn in 2019 and they did a terrific job.  A current production is going on now through the 23rd at the Riverfront Playhouse in Aurora, Illinois -- equally as excellent.  Get your tickets here.  

I caught a couple of performances this past weekend and what a joy after two years of Zoom plays, to hear an actual audience laugh from start to finish.  Everyone did a great job and it really worked.  

But as I watched it I got a little wistful.  When I first wrote it I sent it to Garry Marshall who owned a theatre in Southern California.  He called back and said, “Very funny!”  I asked if we could develop it for his theatre and he said, “Too many people!”  “How many is good?” I asked.  “Two!!!” was his answer.   (My next play was a two-hander and his theatre did produce it.)  

The point is most theatres don’t want large cast plays anymore — especially if they have to pay the actors.  I certainly get that.  That’s the world today.  But it saddens me that these bigger plays that are real crowd-pleasers are going the way of the dinosaur.

I’m so glad I got at least one in although I’ve had five different plays and one musical produced since I wrote UPFRONTS AND PERSONAL.   I probably won’t be writing another like it, but I’m sure glad I was a rookie and didn’t know any better at the time.  

The photos are from the two productions.  Looks like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?

from By Ken Levine