By Margaret RhodesContributing Writer
Rebecca Gilman has had a lot of success in the theater world.
The acclaimed playwright and Northwestern professor received a Guggenheim Fellowship, won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright and was even a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
One might think she has found the perfect recipe for creating all different types of plays. But she hasn’t.
As she told an audience of about 20 people Wednesday afternoon at the Block Museum of Art, the best part of theater is its ability to break free from conventions.
“The beautiful thing about theater to me is that theater breaks all the rules,” Gilman said. “Figure out how to break them.”
The speech, “So You Want to Write A Play,” was part of a once-a-quarter series produced by the Center for the Writing Arts that helps prospective writers hone their craft.
Gilman, whose works include “The Glory of Living,” “Boy Gets Girl” and “Spinning Into Butter,” which was recently adapted into a screenplay for a film starring Sarah Jessica Parker, said good playwriting starts with a love of theater.
“You probably don’t want to write unless you love going to the theater,” Gilman said. “That is where you have to start, by exposing yourself to other drama.”
One key to attaining a confident voice is to avoid reading reviews, Gilman said. She stopped reading her own reviews five or six years ago and now chooses not to even read the reviews of her contemporaries.
“I advocate (not reading reviews) in all walks of life,” Gilman said.
For her, the inspiration to write a play originates from simple acts, from listening in on a stranger’s conversation to reading the newspaper.
“Plays come from a seed of an idea that I actually became really obsessed with,” said Gilman, who creates her characters from observations of people in situations she finds engaging. “I’m always eavesdropping. I find it musical, lyrical, the ways people talk.”
Gilman also shared two important ideas for aspiring playwrights to keep in mind: Always revise and edit your work, and keep a positive outlook in the face of writer’s block.
“It’s comforting to me to hear that she isn’t a writer who gets up at the crack of dawn, before coffee, to write,” said Sarah Gubbins, a first-year graduate student studying screen and stage writing. “She takes away the romanticism (of writing), but doesn’t take the mysticism.”
Jenn Dobby, a first-year graduate student in the same program, said Gilman affirmed Dobby’s career aspirations.
“Hearing these people talking about their huge careers,” Dobby said, “I know I could do that.”
Reach Margaret Rhodes at [email protected].
