The Power of the Vignette Play
How shows like ‘Almost, Maine;’ ‘Late Bus;’ and more are a theatre educator’s secret weapon. Plus, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week's email,
Guest writer, B.D. Samuels talks about how the vignette play, is a theatre educator’s secret weapon.
Plus, we keep you informed about the most crucial theatre news and stories from the last week.
So, raise the curtain, shine the spotlight, and dive into another thrilling week in the world of theatre. Welcome to The Scene.
‘Gypsy,’ starring Audra McDonald, will reopen Broadway’s Majestic Theatre by Michael Abourizk, Broadway News | Hear McDonald sing from the score in a video preview from the revival, set to open in December. Read...
‘Appropriate’ gets final extension on Broadway by Andy Lefkowitz, Broadway News | The Tony Award-nominated play will run for an additional week. Read...
Interpreting the details behind the 2024 Tony Award nominees for Best Costume Design of a Musical by Ruthie Fierberg, Broadway News | The artists behind ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ ‘Water for Elephants,’ ‘The Great Gatsby,’ ‘Suffs’ and ‘Cabaret’ dissect the stories told through clothing. Read...
Tony Award nominees Lila Neugebauer and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins discuss their ‘Appropriate’ collaboration by Michael Abourizk, Broadway News | Click below to watch the latest from the American Theatre Wing’s “Working in the Theatre” series.
Joy Woods Performs "My Days" from ‘The Notebook The Musical.’ | Click on the video below to check it out.
Where Did the 77th Annual Tony Award Nominees Go to College? by Molly Higgins, Playbill | Find out which colleges and universities have the most alumni among this year's Tony nominees. Read...
Maryland educator and Broadway alum CJay Philip will receive the Tonys’ 2024 Excellence in Theatre Education Award by Michael Abourizk, Broadway News | Philip runs Dance & Bmore in Baltimore, Maryland. Read...
Lynn Nottage, The Art of Theater No. 19 by Christina Anderson, The Redux | Lynn Nottage is one of the most successful playwrights in American theater. She is the only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Read...
How PBS Captures Broadway Shows for Great Performances by Diep Tran, Playbill | Executive producer David Horn on what audiences can do to make sure more shows are filmed for broadcast. Read...
What if the Disabled Characters Were Just Going About Their Day? by Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times | Madison Ferris and Danny J. Gomez star in the meet-cute “All of Me” — proof that depictions of disability onstage don’t have to be “a buzz kill,” as Ferris puts it. Read...
Jessica Lange on Playing ‘Wildly Emotional Characters’ and Finding Roles that Still Fit by Charles McNulty, The Los Angeles Times | Jessica Lange began her Broadway career playing Blanche DuBois in a 1992 revival of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ It was a challenge the two-time Oscar winner admits she wasn’t ready for. Read...
The Big Idea
The Power of the Vignette Play
How shows like ‘Almost, Maine;’ ‘Late Bus;’ and more are a theatre educator’s secret weapon.
by B.D. Samuels, Guest Writer for The Scene
We're approaching summer, which means theatre teachers everywhere are looking forward to some time to relax and some time to find new plays to bring back to school. There are some plays that theatre teachers come back to time and time again, whether that's in the classroom or in a full production. 'Almost, Maine' has remained one of the most-produced titles in North American high schools for over a decade now, topping this list for the majority of that time. What is the key to its popularity and success? Look no further than the power of the vignette.
John Cariani's 'Almost, Maine' is a play comprising nine independent, interlocking scenes or vignettes. Each of the nine scenes functions like a self-contained mini-play, with need, conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution. The play is a poignant, charming, and hilarious look at how love works or tries to, and all of the characters have strong, playable arcs.
Recently, Playscripts published my new play 'Late Bus,' which functions in a similar way to 'Almost, Maine' but in a specifically high school setting. In 'Late Bus,' over the course of a school week, a collection of high school misfits and mavericks with no other way home wait to be picked up after their after-school activities. Each scene is a new day, Monday to Friday, and can stand alone as a self-contained one-act of sorts. But taken together, like in Cariani's play, the scenes become a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Just how is the vignette play a powerful tool for theatre educators? Let's break it down.
They Translate Beautifully to the Classroom: Because each vignette operates essentially as a one-act, many of these scenes are perfect material for a scene study class. Scenes are usually around ten or fifteen minutes, a good classroom length. Moreover, students and teachers can skip the challenge of where to cut a scene when picking from a differently structured play.
Democratize the Process: In vignette plays, the length, depth, and importance of each scene tend to be comparable. Every student involved in a production gets a nice slice of the pie and a good chunk of material to work on, making for ensemble pieces that foster community and teamwork.
Flexible Casting: Because of the nature of how they're written, vignette plays are often flexible enough to allow for relatively small or relatively large cast sizes. Generally, all of the characters in the play are never on stage at the same time, so a production could easily double-cast if needed. On the other hand, without doubling, these casts easily accommodate up to ten or more actors.
A Complete Arc: Actors in plays like 'Almost, Maine,' and 'Late Bus' get to do something that generally not all actors in a play get to do - they get to work on a complete character arc. Because of the comprehensive nature of each scene, actors get to experience needs, obstacles, conflicts, and change within the span of their individual scenes. It's a fun and exciting challenge and makes for excellent scene study.
Other titles that come to mind when thinking about the vignette play (some more suitable for high school students than others) are David Ives's 'All in the Timing,' Eve Ensler's 'The Vagina Monologues,' Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide,' Kennan Scott II's 'Thoughts of a Colored Man,' and 'Spoon River Anthology' by Edgar Lee Masters and adapted for the stage by Charles Aidman.
These plays, like 'Almost, Maine' and 'Late Bus,' use the vignette format to delve into various themes and stories, creating a mosaic of experiences that collectively provide a rich and multifaceted exploration of their central topics. These are a great place to begin if you need somewhere to start your summer reading list. And if you can think of other plays that fit the vignette play category, please share!
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B.D. Samuels is the author of 'Late Bus,' a play now available from Playscripts.
‘The 39 Steps’ to Return to West End for the First Time in Almost A Decade by Katie Chambers, The Stage | The Olivier award-winning comedy is set to return this summer for the first time since 2015. Read...
Lights, Camera, Action: How A Video Revolution Is Transforming Theatre by The Stage |Two decades ago, theatre audiences had never experienced live video on stage. It is a craft that has since exploded in popularity and technical complexity, with shows such as The Picture of Dorian Gray being hailed as an entirely new art form. Fergus Morgan finds out how we arrived here and what’s next. Read...
John Tiffany to stage musical adaptation of the award-winning film ‘Wild Rose’ by Fergus Morgan, The Stage | A musical adaptation of the Scottish BAFTA-winning film Wild Rose will premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh next spring. Read...
‘Muriel’s Wedding,’ the musical set to have its UK Premiere next Spring by Alex Wood, WhatsOnStage | The show plays at Curve, Leicester. Read...
American Theatre Wing Relaunches National Theatre Company Grants Program by Andrew Gans, Playbill | Five grants of $100,000 each will be awarded annually to regional theatres supporting the work of American playwrights. Read...
Kate Baldwin Will Lead ‘The Prom’ at Connecticut's Sharon Playhouse by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | The company is also staging productions of ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Steel Magnolias,’ and ‘You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.’ Read...
Milwaukee Theater to Receive $78M Accessibility, Theatrical Upgrades by Ethan Duran, BridgeTower Media | Construction will be delivered in three phases, including an overhaul of the Powerhouse Theater and Studio Theater, a larger lobby, a dedicated space for students, a new donor lounge and more, said Melissa Vartanian, the Milwaukee Rep’s managing director. Read...
Watch Christian Borle, Krysta Rodriguez, Ephraim Sykes Perform Songs from ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | The Kennedy Center is mounting a new version directed by Marc Bruni. Read...
Free Read of the Week
You can read entire plays for free! Free Reads titles are perfect for your theatre, school, and competition performances. Click on the image or the button below to be taken to the Play’s page; once you are there, click the "READ NOW" button and enjoy!
Anna Bella Eemaby by Lisa D'Amour
The Story: Ten-year-old Anna Bella and her hermetic mother, Irene, live in a ratty trailer on the edge of town. When their trailer park is slated for demolition because of interstate highway expansion, Irene refuses to leave. In this moment of crisis, Anna Bella creates a new girl out of the mud behind their trailer home. This mud-girl helps Anna Bella and Irene channel the supernatural and face the life they must live in the world outside their trailer home. A richly imagined tale of a fierce mother/daughter bond, spoken and sung by three women.
Dramatic comedy with music | 75 - 90 minutes | 3 W, (3-6 actors possible: 3-6 W) | Content Notes: Adult language | Set: 3 chairs, 3 TV trays, and an assortment of kitchen utensils and found objects used to create an on-stage soundscape.
