For the Students, by the Students, about the Students
Growing up in the Boston area, Sheri Wilner, the Fred Coe Playwright-in-Residence with 菠萝视频鈥檚 this spring, was always writing. Painfully shy, she used writing as a means of expression, encouraged by her grandmother, who paid her a quarter for each poem.
鈥淚t was the most consistent salary I鈥檝e had as a writer,鈥� she laughs.
When her mother enrolled her in a summer theater program to try to bring her daughter out of her shell, Wilner found a connection that ultimately led to her current career.
鈥淚 definitely was not a performer,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut it was a great epiphany for me when I realized I could stay in theater and use a talent I was comfortable with. That鈥檚 when I realized I could combine writing and theater.鈥�
Connection is what playwriting is about for Wilner, two-time recipient of the prestigious Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville鈥攃onnection between writer and material, between material and performer, and between play and audience.
鈥淎 play is a blueprint for what will be a living, breathing, moving work of art,鈥� Wilner says. 鈥淭he designers and directors bring three-dimensionality to it. Poets and novelists are always alone [with their craft], but playwriting is my ticket to being in a room with a lot of wonderful, creative people.鈥�
At 菠萝视频, Wilner has just finished teaching a playwriting course for undergraduates and worked with students to create an original play, which was staged April 18鈥�19 as part of 菠萝视频鈥檚 Festival of New Works.
鈥淭here is this big middle ground of characters 18 to 25 years of age that doesn鈥檛 exist in theater,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to start creating material that鈥檚 age-appropriate for college students to perform. I just feel that instead of colleges going crazy trying to find these plays, it would be great for them to create them.
鈥淚t always comes back to that personal connection for me. To ask these kids to play roles that are 20, 30 or 40 years older than they are, when they haven鈥檛 had those life experiences, is to ask them to stretch in ways that aren鈥檛 possible for them yet. Seeing Willy Loman [in Death of a Salesman] performed by a 19-year-old鈥擨 don鈥檛 know who that serves.
鈥淪o that was my mandate: to create material written for them, about them and by them.鈥�
Wilner has worked previously with students in high school and college while at the Playwright鈥檚 Center in Minneapolis, helping them create their own plays. She learned quickly not to presume to know what was on their minds.
鈥淭heir thoughts and inner lives are so much more complex and sophisticated than what we give them credit for,鈥� Wilner says. She helped them create monologues from discussions, emails and writing assignments, which they put together into a cohesive whole.
鈥淲hen there is that palpable connection between artist and material,鈥� she says, 鈥渋t will move the audience in a way that having [students] do Death of a Salesman will not.鈥�