Usually, a playwright creating a new script imagines all sorts of people who may eventually play the roles. Similarly, the playwright imagines a number of stages and set possibilities.
But, when working with a specific theater company, as did Will and Jean-Baptiste, the playwright knows certain actors and their strengths and looks, and is familiar with their usual sets. However, in the 16th and 17th centuries, there were no complex sets as we know today. In fact, many of their sets existed only in the dialogue and in the minds of the audiences.
But they were able to write scripts and rehearse and produce them right away, testing them and refining them. And work with casts that were already familiar with their works and with whom they were already familiar.
I have had the fortune of similar experiences, and in each case, my writing was better because, having particular people in mind, the characters I created were more developed than they may have been otherwise.
The story lines also benefit. While it is helpful to know the people who will likely be bringing the play to life, I believe it is equally helpful to know the audiences who will likely attend the productions, and take consideration to keep those audiences in mind while writing, too.
It is a wonderful feeling to be in the audience watching a play of mine come to life and seeing the audience enjoy the show. It is also wonderful, yet different, to return to the theater that originally premiered the production bringing copies of the script, now published, and listing that original cast. There's a pride and benevolence that goes along with showing people their names in print, forever associated with the history of the play.
So, how does one go about finding such a group? The obvious and simple answer is to locate theaters in your area that regularly produce the kinds of plays you write. This may be harder than it sounds if you're in an area with fewer theater groups. And even finding such a group does not guarantee that your scripts will be produced any time soon, if at all. But there's still the chance.
I was acquainted with a Houston theater group for about 10 years, having seen many of their productions and submitted some scripts to them, without success, as the scripts were just not right for that group at that time. However, persistence won out, because after attending a production of their annual summer mellerdrammer and socializing with them afterwards, they informed me that they were having troubles finding melodramatic scripts that were of the right length, had a suitable number of characters, and a plot line that worked with their audience. So we came to the conclusion that I would write a script just for them ... on spec of course ... and then see how that turned out.
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