Apple Box Children’s Theater performed my play Beowulf last month, just after the Fourth of July. We rehearsed for almost six weeks, with a cast of children ages 8-14.
We also had an insane amount of talent with our costume, art, props and set builders. Dedicated parents filled in the gaps for painting, kid wrangling, snacks, and whatnot.
Part of what I love about theater as a writer is that I not only get to see my characters walking and talking in front of me, I also get instant feedback from an audience…200 of them on good nights.
As a writer of novels, I sometimes have a reader approach me and tell me their favorite parts of a book, but I’m not with them in real time watching them experience it. Reading work aloud at events is similar to theater, but theater is so collaborative, the cohesiveness of audience and author and performer is amplified.